Project Based Learning leading to a performance.

This term our Driving Question for Project Based Learning was: What is the significance in the 21st
Century of our Cultural stories?

Students were initially exposed to:

• Better understanding their own culture.
• Understanding what a myth and legend is, their value and how they are past down.
• Familiarising themselves with Geography of New Zealand
• Understanding the chosen Myth for the performance ( Battle of the Mountains)
  

Student Agency

Students were given a form to indicate their preferred area they would like to work in.

We had a group of children with the support of a teacher create a script from the Maori story.
Other students were involved in Art, Drama, Music and Dance workshops. Student voice drove how
these workshops evolved.

From this we noticed:  

• Higher engagement: students came into the classroom with a more positive mindset. We noticed
• growth, confidence and teamwork from a range of students.
• Creativity - the children drove the direction we took the performance.
• Art student choice and volunteering.
• Collaboration - We noticed different positive relationships forming amongst the children.

Children stepping up and taking risks through the arts. These children demonstrated positive qualities
we had not observed previously. Some students who are normally quiet and don't contribute stepped
up and shone. Parents commented on their children's improved confidence and risk taking.

If given the time again what would we do?

Lots would be the same, however when reflecting deeply we could have:

• Changed the way we ignited the PBL
• Perhaps do the ‘combining’ part a week earlier.
• Have a clearer direction and share this with the students.
• Have a larger range of independent tasks for when managing students who were in large groups.

This term has definitely been Project Based Learning with a difference. We knew our final product was going to be a performance however we didn't know exactly how this would turn out! Over the last few weeks we have witnessed a quiet girl who struggled to work collaboratively come out of her shell and shine in a dancing role, a couple of boys who don't often share their talents shine in lead roles. We also observed a boy who often refuses to participate in some tasks, enthusiastically jump to the opportunities his group have created for him in terms of the performance. We have been collectively delighted with student engagement and creativity once we got beyond some initial struggles in terms of where we were heading. Seeing many students who at first sat back and didn't want to do anything at all step up and find roles they not only enjoyed but they also shone in has been a highlight.

We now looked forward to sharing the performance with our community and even if the performance isn't a master piece we acknowledge that the contributions students have made the progress in terms of student agency and we wonder how we can move forward with what we have learned to improve our next Project Based Learning experience.