The criticisms I can see coming from administrators revolve around a worry they might harbor about whether or not the PBL project I am engaged in aligns with the criteria mandated by state or federal standards. They might also wonder about my assessment practices and inquire on how I am going to assess such a broad project.

Parents would want to know exactly what their child is learning and how they are going to be assessed. Seeing such a broad spectrum project will probably make them worried and uncomfortable because it does not fit the typical project model employed by most schools.

I might find students complaining as well about the ‘guide-on-the-side’ approach mandated by the PBL. Some students will undoubtedly be lost without worksheets, quizzes, or other more traditional measures of progress. PBL is a ‘messy’ process that may not yield the desired result on the first try so a tolerance for some degree of failure and the resilience to overcome adversity will be new to students.

Colleagues could become annoyed if children are not focused and disrupting other learning environments during the construction of the project. They might also wonder how my project ties in with my topic given the fact that students will be engaged in work that, on the surface, does not appear to have anything to do with music.

To help administrators understand the validity of the Student Driven Performance I would first inform them before introducing the unit to students. Showing the administrator how these project meets state and federal standards as well as the assessments associated with the PBL should help alleviate any apprehension the admin might have.

A letter home to parents at the start of the unit would go a long way towards explaining the unit to parents. In this letter I would inform them how the SDP meets our educational goals as a music department and how their children will be assessed. I also think that once the PBL has run for a year or two the expectation built up by the previous year’s performance will dispel any reservations parents have about the project.

Students will undoubtedly be the most vocal group about their issues with the PBL. I believe the key to answering their criticisms will come from clarity of goals and a unified vision. Once the teams are established and leaders are chosen I believe keeping a close eye on the leaders and their progress towards their goals will help avoid any anxiety amongst the other students. Once they are comfortable seeking answers for themselves and going to their leaders before seeking help from the teacher, I believe the PBL work will go smoothly. It will also undoubtedly help once the PBL has run for a few years and more experienced students are around to help those who do not understand the process.

To help Colleagues understand the PBL better I plan to talk informally to teachers close to me and gauge the feeling amongst the staff as the project progresses. If I detect that there is an unhappy teacher I would approach them for a friendly conversation to learn their individual concerns and address them. I would hope that as the PBL grows I could invite more and more teachers to help participate which would also avoid unpleasant misunderstandings amongst the staff.

Throughout this course I have routinely pointed out that many of the PBL strategies remind me of my work in the MYP curriculum. Inquiry, problem solving, experimentation, addressing broad educational benchmarks, and student centered learning environments are at at home in the MYP and DP curriculums. The Independent Project at the end of grade 10 is a cornerstone of the MYP curriculum and revolves around students asking an authentic question and working through the answer while reflecting. At the end of the project every student displays their final projects and process journal demonstrating their learning. I have seen first hand how these projects inspire students to excel. As a project coach I have worked with students that have created stop motion videos explaining myths behind organic foods and others who have built telescopes to study the stars. All of these projects required months of work, in depth reflection, solid research, and problem solving.

In my own teaching I favor broad units built up over many weeks that emphasize using newly learned skills to explore and overcome problems. One such example is my Trout unit. In this unit students learn to match poetry with rhythmic notation before creating an original song of their own based on a poem called The Trout. The project ends with an in class performance where students perform their work for each other. During the unit students learn and apply new skills as they create their own piece of music. This unit is well documented with a driving question, sub questions, benchmarks, assessments (formative and summative), and several phases. While not completely within the PBL framework this unit hits many of the same points that my more formal Student Driven Performance does.