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BOBs- Sure Things in Unsure Times

As I was saying goodbye to my class in our final Monday Morning Meeting of their elementary school experience yesterday, I asked them to add 1-3 words through the Mentimeter link describing their favourite parts of our year together. It produced this word cloud:

Eight of the features of my class mentioned as highlights of the school year were projects that I call BOBs. BOB is the name of my consulting practice, and Building Outside the Blocks projects are fondly referred to as BOBs. Each project is unique and the outline frames a task that allows students of different grade levels to build curricular skills while also building autonomy, class community and connection to one's self. These projects have been powerful for my students for two decades. Before my projects ever had a name or were connected under the BOB umbrella, they helped my students go on a meaningful self inquiry in order to produce something creativity that exercises voice.

I've been sharing my projects for around 5 years now, and I especially love hearing about their impact on students and class community. During remote learning, I know people have used Master Storyteller (something I'm excited to use again now that I'll be teaching Grade5 next year), What's in a Name, the Personal Playlist Project (P3) and History Beats. Many different educators across North America and beyond have my BOB outlines and have shared how they have used my personalizing projects to help their students learn in memorable ways. Between all of the grades I've taught and the amount of BOBs I use in a school year, I have developed over 10 One-off BOBs and 6 Tri-BOBs (3 part Building Outside the Blocks projects). That is around 30 projects. That includes the outlines, rubrics and artifacts from my students to show the depth and breadth of what these projects can look like and become in the hands of students.

When I present on my projects, people often think they're cool and get excited. They are not, however, fill-in the blank TPT-type handouts, so they do require some thinking and planning to implement. I am working on a three part Build-a-BOB workshop to support teachers doing just that. Until that time, I want to share why BOBs are timeless and timely learning experiences.

With choice boards becoming so prevalent for remote learning, it was great to hear Carol Salva refer to BOBs as choice projects. Carol Salva has also explained that it wasn't just the projects that made them so effective; it was the reframing of time that was the greatest shift for her when using BOBs. When learning from home, being able to choose when and how you "present" or"share" something with the classroom audience is another example of the agency that BOBs provide for learners. They are also easily modifiable and accessible for all kinds learners including English Language Learners.

There are many resources on modern learning and design that reflect the need for ways for students to bring themselves into the learning equation. In the article The Future of Learning from UNESCO, for example, it says on page 5, "The motivation and capacity to learn independently is crucial to personalization, because it reduces dependence on the teacher and traditional class-based styles of instruction." Independently learning is not just students completing activities on their own. It is about them owning their learning and using their agency to drive it, create and make meaning. BOBs are self paced, self-driven personalizing learning opportunities that align with the future of learning, right now.

I have previously differentiated personalizing and personalized in a post on Medium, but I will quickly share on differentiator. Personalized learning experiences puts the ones of knowing the student's learning needs and interests on the teacher. Personalizing learning experiences allow students to bring who they are and what they love to a project that also helps them meet learning needs for the individual as well to meet standards or curriculum expectations. As such, BOBs help students look selfward as they undergo this learning experience, gleaning as much from their own work as they do from the work of their classmates.

I have always loved creating my projects and they are a learning highlight for my students every year. Getting to share them was was a huge evolution of my work. It was especially wonderful to do my recent TEDxKitchenerEd Talk on the P3 (outline pinned to my twitter profile). I have tweaked my BOBs over time based on student feedback and how they were being used at different grade levels and in different places. These are projects that I use all the time, and I facilitate up to 8 BOBs each school year. I also use PBL but those projects are different because PBL's are class-based while BOBs are mostly completed at home. I call BOBs a twist on PBL's. These projects were tweaked for remote learning delivery, but the essence of what they are and how they impact the individual as well as the class community are almost as powerful for remote learning as they are in the classroom. Almost. If you are looking for a sure thing in unsure times, check out the BOBs on my site or just email me. They are mentally and socially uplifting learning opportunities that are worth an investigation into how to incorporate them in and beyond a unit of inquiry. I wholeheartedly believe in BOB.

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