​PBL the anticipation builds…

Kia ora Whanau,

The pressure’s growing, the tension’s building, and so is the anticipation for Exhibition Night, Wednesday 4 December.  All of the students are in the throes of planning how they will exhibit the learning they have done over the last two terms, as well as striving to bring their projects to a close if they can.  So, what are you likely to see at the Exhibition?
 
Learning
You may recall that the point of PBL is to encourage students to build new knowledge and gather information in an area of high interest for them.  This should allow for greater engagement and the authentic development of the necessary 21st Century life skills of resilience, creativity, problem solving, effective communication and working collaboratively.  The primary focus of the exhibition will be the students explaining and demonstrating what it is that they have learned in all of these areas.
 
Project artefacts
For some of the students there will be an actual product that they will be able to exhibit – a trailer, rugs, sugar scrubs, a website or an app for example.  For others, however, they may only be able to show their planning because their project is of such a scale that they may need to continue creating their product next year.
 
I am very excited to see what the students exhibit in two weeks’ time.  While we talk about it having been “two term’s worth of PBL”, I am very aware that in reality the students have only had between ten and twelve school days to work on their projects, some of which are on quite a large scale.  I am very proud of the way that so many of them have embraced this new way of learning and have worked so hard on their projects.  I am also very grateful for the way that the community, sponsors and parents have backed our students whether it be financial sponsorship, sharing of specialist knowledge, rides to and from places, or a willingness to allow our students into their schools and places of work.  Watching this first iteration of PBL has really been watching Compassion, Community and Commitment come alive!
 
See you all on Wednesday, 4th December, 5.30pm – 7pm.
 
Nga mihi,
 
Bridget Ryan
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

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