Recently, I have read a lot about Genius Hour, Passion Projects, and the like. As one might expect, "Choice in the classroom has been linked to increases in student effort, task performance, and subsequent learning" (Marzano). It makes sense that if one chooses their learning activity they will be much more engaged, right?
So how could I blend PBL and the reading standards? Investigation Lab!
Investigation Lab is where students choose a project from a list that corresponds to the standard we have been studying. Then they complete the project based on any text we have read in class. There is a very specific rubric and tracking system that I use to ensure everyone is participating and learning.
For example, here's a free sample of the theme menu:
Students can choose any project as they all require knowledge of theme. It's great to have students present projects before a common unit assessment on the standard. Many projects can also be placed on bulletin boards of excellent work and even saved to display for Open House. I used to hang them all over the room during the course of the year. Not only did that build community, but it was fun to reminisce at the end of the year.
I call it Investigation Lab because students get to investigate the standard more deeply in an environment that allows them to drive the learning. My students honestly loved having choices and the opportunity to be creative. We had a set day each week we worked on projects and students looked forward to it. Of course, we had already established our classroom agreements, and all agreements applied during this work time.
Interested in trying this out with your middle school students? You can spend hours making your own projects, rubrics, and trackers, or you can save TONS of time and get all 91 projects for 8 reading standards with 91 templates in one ready to go download!
