Author Archives: rcbarden

My introduction to PBL

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This past week I had the great opportunity to spend three days at the PBL World conference, which, fortunately for me, was held very close to home at Parramatta Marist High, Westmead.  The conference was hosted by our own Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta and the Buck Institute for Education (the people who know Project Based Learning)

I went into the conference knowing very little about the specifics about Project Based Learning is, and without any particular opinion as to whether it is something I should be doing.  I also had the benefit of attending and participating with a number of my colleagues from my school, so that we can look PBL together.  Certainly when a school makes such an investment into professional learning, it can be incumbent upon the attendees to do bring something back from the conference.  Each day began with a keynote address.  After morning tea, the rest of the day was primarily spent engaging in ‘101’ workshops that had us working, hands on, through the process to designing our own PBL experience and learning by doing.  For our group, these workshops were led by the talented and engaging Gina Olabuenaga.  There was such a positive atmosphere throughout the room all the time, and what quickly became evident was the risks we were prepared to take as learners because we were able to challenge each other within a safe environment.  Yes, this is part of what PBL is and requires.

There is a lot I could say about what PBL is, and try to explain it in ways that would not do it justice compared to those with much greater experience than I.  The explanation that resonated with me most over the three days, however, came from keynote presenter Glen O’Grady, who said that PBL is not just a method, it’s a philosophy.  It managed to sum up exactly what I had been thinking.  PBL is not about having to do different things or stringently sticking to a ridig process.  Yes, there are essential elements within a project that are essential if it is to be effective.  That said, however, from what I can see, you don’t abandon everything you once did as a teacher in order to ‘do’ PBL.  What I did see was all the best practices teachers use and want to use, and all the great hopes and beliefs teachers have for learning and for their students, drawn together.  What I saw was learning that was relevant, engaging, demanding, inquiry-driven, and that shapes people as learners and as people who can engage in society just as much as it shapes their academic knowledge and understanding.  Certainly those of us who were there are now eager to go back and give it all a go.

Finally, if you want to browse through an amazing record of what was being said, done and thought about at PBL World, you must check out the hashtag #pblaustralia on twitter.  I’ve been on twitter for a while, and used it sparingly, but during this conference, I tweeted like I’d never tweeted before!  It helped me see just how powerful twitter is, and what can be gained from it.  The end result from those three days (and from anything that follows) is an phenomenal bank of crowd-sourced information.

A prayer in the wake of tragedy

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Loving Father,
you created the world and all it contains.
Bring an end to the storms that have torn through parts of South-East Asia.
As you guarded Noah and his family from the flood,
Guard your loved ones from any further harm.

We ask you,
Loving Father, protect us.

Compassionate Son,
you destroyed death and gave new life.
Take those who have died into your loving care.
As we struggle to come to terms with this disaster,
let the glory of your resurrection give us hope.

We ask you,
Compassionate Son, comfort us.

Holy Spirit,
you lead us along the path of holiness.
Be with those who are called to respond to this tragedy.
As we view the destruction from afar,
help us to respond with generosity of heart.

We ask you,
Holy Spirit, guide us.

Eternal God,
Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Protect us, guide us, comfort us.
Be with those who mourn.
Bless all of us who trust in you,
both now and for ever.

Amen.

It’s not just leaders who need to be courageous

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While skimming over Twitter posts this morning, I came across a link from a colleague to a book on having fierce conversations with colleagues.  Within our leadership work in education in recent times, much has been said, written and done about ‘courageous’ conversations.  I’ve been involved in professional learning myself on how to communicate your concerns to colleagues, without having the issues lost in a sea of off-topic talk, or in spin that attempts to make you feel like you said what you wanted to say, while not upsetting anyone.  When the conversation is not ‘courageous’ it often either doesn’t happen, gets aggressive, or is so passive that the person you are speaking to doesn’t perceive the need to change.

The post this morning sparked a thought within me.  It’s probably one that plenty of other people have already had, but I’m writing about it now because it’s the first time it’s really entered my consciousness.  So far, much of our work in promoting courageous conversations has been within our leadership team.  It is important that our leadership teams can have courageous conversations, certainly, but to only focus on the leadership team can only be a starting point.  Otherwise, it can contribute a culture where the leadership team ‘are in charge’, that they always know what should be done, and will tell you what to do and what not to do.

If we’re serious about collegiality and the professional contributions of every teacher, then every teacher needs to be able to have a courageous conversation.  If they can’t, you often end up in the situation where staff are complaining amongst themselves about directions taken within the school, or about other colleagues, rather than naming the issues that are getting in the way of learning and a positive school environment.  Many school leaders (and I know I’ve had this experience myself in the past) can at times feel like they’re in an information vacuum, where no one is prepared to tell them (or doesn’t know how to tell them) directly what concerns they have, and the only way of finding out is along the grapevine from your more sympathetic colleagues, or when the whole situation blows up suddenly.  Everyone needs to develop the skill set required for contributing to the ongoing professional conversation that takes place in a school.  It would also then empower staff to see themselves as part of the solution, rather than part of a problem.

“Every member of staff did their job”

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Areas surrounding Sydney have been affected in recent days by destructive bushfires.  While there is something of a reprieve at present, the danger has not yet passed, and hotter weather predicted for coming days will potentially exacerbate the already fragile situation.

Two schools in our system, one primary and one secondary, were the subject of emergency action on Thursday.  St Thomas Aquinas Primary was evacuated, while St Columba’s High School was locked down pending later evacuation.  All students of both schools were safely evacuated and returned to their parents during of the course of the afternoon and evening.

While news of the emergency made its way through our system of schools yesterday, this story appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald today:

Teacher hid loss during exodus

What this story reminds us is that working in a school often requires so much more than trying to ensure the highest possible learning outcomes for every student; something that is a big enough challenge in itself.  It often involves many other things that are necessary for the wellbeing of students, staff and families, including first aid, meals, counselling, social skills and, sometimes (fortunately not very often), getting children out of harm’s way and being surrogate parents until they can be reunited with their parents and guardians.

Being a teacher can be costly.  Not necessarily a financial cost (but perhaps so if you want to start comparing professional salaries), but certainly a social and emotional one.  Teaching is demanding, not only of your skills and knowledge, but of your time, your energy and your complete and total commitment to the cause.

So why do they do such a demanding job?  The answer for Serge was simple: it’s their job.  Some people might not fully comprehend what that means and implies, but teachers do.  And from what the story suggests, so too now (if they didn’t already before) do the parents of the St Thomas Aquinas school community.  They saw it modelled for them, in a selfless, Christ-like manner on Thursday.

To the teachers and school staff who have had to respond to this disaster, you have done us proud.  Your commitment to the safety and wellbeing of your students, and our appreciation for that, cannot be expressed strongly enough.  We are sorry for the losses you and your school communities have faced, and may still have to continue to face.  Our thoughts and our prayers are with you all.

Live in the moment

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While watching the great race that is the Bathurst 1000, I saw for the first time this advertisement for a mobile phone:

Anyone who is, or has, worked in a primary school in recent years has more than likely seen the development of this phenomenon (albeit not quite so exaggerated), especially when there are Kindergarten students involved. There’s a almost desperate urge to try and capture every ‘Kodak moment’ (showing my age, I know) of a child’s life (says me who took over 3000 pictures whilst in Europe earlier this year). The ever-increasing ubiquity of portable technologies, with ever-increasing data storage capabilities, make such moment capture not just possible, but even expected.

Concerts nowadays are another context in which we see this phenomenon developing. There are both performers and audience members who aren’t really concerned about it, while others question how you can be capturing the moment without compromising your ability to experience the moment.

Back to the school environment (particularly the Catholic school environment), and as a religious educator, I fear about the impact of this phenomenon on our experience and participation in the liturgy. I’ve already heard about and seen situations in liturgical celebrations in schools where capturing a child’s ‘ministerial moment’ has proven to be a distraction, both for those using the cameras and phones, and for everyone else who has gathered to pray.

The Second Vatican Council very firmly declared that participation in the liturgy is not only the source and summit of Christian life, but also (particularly in terms of liturgical reform) “the goal to be achieved above all else” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10, 14). At the time of the council, a major priority amongst those concerned with liturgical reform was changing the prevailing mindset that it was the priest that was the almost exclusive human participant in the liturgy, reducing the assembly to the role of pious spectator.  We still face the challenge of spectating during the liturgy, perhaps not so much from pews while praying rosaries, but certainly more through the screens of mobile phones and tablets than in the 1960’s.  Fortunately it doesn’t happen often.  It does warrant consideration though, given that it can happen in the school context, where the liturgy has a crucial formational aspect to it.

How do we help people realise that there is so much more to gain if we resist the urge to ‘capture’ and instead try to engage in the experience?