The constant hum of November is over and the bright rush of the holiday season of December are upon us at my school. The group of geometry teachers that I work with are all settled in for their “long winter’s nap”. Well, OK, not really, but that’s something of what it feels like. We have passed the “three month” period of teaching with problem-based learning and it seems that most students, but not all, have caught the fever. One of my colleagues, whose class was still clearly retaining a negative feeling toward the class and how it was taught decided to do something drastic one day. She went into class, after a day before where the students had actually been rude to each other, and asked each student to go around the table and say one positive thing about this course. Was she taking a risk? Most definitely, but for this teacher it paid off. The students all had different things to say:

“I like that it’s OK to be wrong in this class.”

“I like that we can share our ideas and don’t have to have the homework all right every day”

“I like that my opinion matters”

These were just some of the comments that she shared with me. I saw a weight lift from my colleague when she told me this and I feel like it was a turning point not only for the students, but possibly for her as well. I have the utmost respect for the two teachers who had faith in my ideas and theories around PBL and who were brave enough to take a chance on this curriculum with me. They both are pioneers in this method at our school and it has taken a toll on them this semester. But, no matter how down they got about the classes, they still believed that what they are doing is in the best interest of the students. We clearly have a strong team of dedicated teachers working on this project and I feel very lucky to have them.

So, as the kids say in the car, “Are we there yet?”. Have things settled and we won’t have issues with students for the rest of the year? Are we at our best in our teaching with PBL? Do we sit and rest on our laurels? Well, first we take a break and relax. Then we meet at the beginning of the new year and start again.