I was sitting with my friend Gayle at a training session for the upcoming EdTechCamp on Air for YRDSB. We were learning all the features of YouTube Live and Google Hangouts. One of the things we were practicing was how to see and respond to questions when someone on your Hangout types it in. After it appeared in front of me, the question really popped. It was something that I had never been asked before but required immediate attention. How have I never been asked that exact question before? Through this exercise, Gayle asked how to begin with BOBs.
I have now presented over a dozen times on the Building Outside the Blocks approach and projects. I couldn’t help but wonder why that question had never come up. It was such a logical thing to include in my slide deck. I was compelled to write an answer to her, to others, and to myself. How will I enable teachers to use or create Building Outside the Blocks projects if I don’t help them consider where to start?
Step 1- Understand the BOB Approach
The BOB approach has 4 main aspects:
Time- Students complete a project in view of their self selected deadline and present it to their class on their chosen date within teacher determined parameters.
Choice- Students choose how they want to present within the framework of the project. All BOBs have outlines. Some projects invite more creativity than others. Within each BOB there is room for choice of product that can include high and low tech options. Presentation take around 5 minutes of class time, making these high yielding projects only a small portion of class even though students work for a very long time to prepare them.
Community- All BOBs are presented to a class community who is an active audience of coaches providing feedback and next steps to the presenter. Through teacher facilitation, this helps to create and ensure a positive, inclusive, nurturing and kind space for learners to take risks, present pieces of themselves and learn skills through confidence building projects that are engaging and breed success
Teacher as Facilitator- Teachers take notes, use rubrics and checklists to give feedback, take pictures or video tape presentations and organize the presentation experience. Beyond that, the teacher doesn’t give public feedback. The teacher communicates feedback and next steps in writing to the individual, and shows support and encouragement in class. This helps to support the class culture where the onus for formative feedback is on all the learners in the class community.
Each of these aspects working in tandem makes this a powerful approach.
Step 2- Which BOB Project?
Decide on the project. BOBs can come from anywhere and be about anything, but they all build learning skills, autonomy, and community, and they promote self-exploration. This step in bringing BOBs into your classroom is deciding what you want the project to be about and what skills you want to help your students develop. You must also consider the age group and interests of the learners in your space. While I developed my BOBs for my Grades 3-8, many of them can be used in High School. Some BOBs, due to higher order thinking, are really better suited for Middle School and above. If you are using one of my BOBs, deciding where to begin can be difficult for me to help with because they are all my favourites.
Here are a few BOBs, the skills they develop, and the age groups I would recommend, just to get you thinking:
If you want to read about some of the other BOBs that I have developed, you can do so on my website.
Step 3- When?
Next, you should determine your timeline. Do you want to projects presented over a week, several weeks or a few months? If they are related to a unit such as Science, for example, you may want to introduce the BOB when you first introduce the unit. You also want them to end when the unit culminates. If you are using this outside a unit of study, or outside the blocks of a unit, there is no timeline but yours to consider.
Next, you want to provide a few weeks before the first set of presenters present. When you use the BOB approach, it is important not to have more than 3 presenters at a given time. That way, presenters get the same amount of attention from their classroom audience, and the presentation time doesn’t take up too much class time. When the students sign up for a date, you show all the possible dates to them and let them choose. The ones who want to go the first week are usually risk takers the first time you introduce a BOB project. By the second or third time, many more students will be willing to go first. Another thing that happens is once those risk takers set the bar, others are even more eager to complete their work. Many students have asked to move their dates up because they have become really clear on the expectations and they are ready to create. I do this as a whole class activity for a variety of reasons but mostly to begin as a community. Here is what your calendar may look like:
Step 4- What Product?
Outlines
I have created outlines for all of my projects. Whether you use one of mine or create your own, think about all of your learners. Make sure the outline is user-friendly and designed as a graphic organizer with a digital version that teachers and students can manipulate to meet their needs. Whether for chunking parts of the assignment, adding individualized mini deadlines or font size adjustments, the design of the outline is important. I like to have checklists using the square bullet feature so that students interact with the outline and literally check off each step along the way. It also helps me teach organizational skills as I sing “check it off” to the tune of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off when I will not accept an outline that does not show a systematic approach to the task with each step checked off as the students progress through the task.
Presentations
Another key component of all BOBs is the presentation aspect. Students share their work with the class through products that reflect the task, but choice here is important. Some products have been more high tech and some lower tech. Without mentioning specific edtech tools, here is a list of the different products I have seen through 20 years of creating BOBs and building the BOB approach (I have only called it BOB for 4 years now):
Step 5- Reflection
Students receive teacher feedback through a rubric with anecdotes and next steps. They also hear feedback from their classmates after they present. After an individual's project has been assessed, the student writes (records on Flipgrid, Photobooth or through a voice note) a personal reflection based on their understanding of their next steps. I call it a SO (Statement of Ownership). This and a parent signature on the rubric complete the experience for the individual reflection but not the class. After all of the presenters have gone, I do a shared writing piece where everyone gives feedback on the entire process: from the title of the BOB, to the outline format, to the experience of preparing and presenting to the class. I use this feedback to help me iterate the project and as a learning artifact from my class.
Like any new experience, people can go into their first BOB a little unsure. You will see after you complete the first cycle why these are projects and an approach worth repeating. Whether you go from a One-Off BOB into a Tri-BOB or use a lot of One-Off BOBs, you will see that there is a shift in perception that comes with incorporating this approach into your practise. Every new unit of inquiry or remaining aspect of the curriculum becomes a blank canvas. There is a real change in how you can see learning "outside the blocks". It's like looking at an optical illusion and finally seeing both sides. You can't go back. Building a BOB has become an art form for me, and it can become one for you, too. It has really improved my teaching but, more importantly, it has improved my students’ learning.
Through these projects, every student has an experience where they have struggled and learned. BOBs aren’t easy, but they are engaging, so learners persevere through them. They also allows students to receive any individual support they may need because no more than 3 students are presenting at a given time. It allows for a lot of personalized scaffolding because you really get to know the students through the projects. The projects are ways that everyone can succeed. The confidence students build from the success in their BOBs is something they can refer back to in other learning experiences because they have visceral schema for success in school.
If that doesn’t help you get started, I have made it part of my business to help teachers and schools begin with BOB. I’m happy to tailor a workshop or hold a Build-a-BOB workshop with anyone to help create these powerful projects that do so much for so many. Reach out, and I can support you in taking the steps to building a BOB of your own or implementing one that I have already developed. Here’s how to get in touch with me:
