Project-Based Learning in English Language Arts
English Language Arts are one of the most creative subjects on the school curriculum that can have a major impact on the minds of young students. In many English Language Arts classes, the teaching follows a linear path where students read a novel and work on a project once the novel has been finished. Before finishing the project, students take quizzes, participate in discussions about specific parts of the novel, complete worksheets and sit through lectures. The project is then designed to be a culmination of all they have learned while reading the novel. With project-based learning, projects in the ELA classroom become less of a culmination of what students have learned at the end of a unit. Instead, students work on the project as they read and use the project as a tool to help them learn, not just to show what they have learned.
Project-based learning focuses on a specific problem or task, and through collaboration, peer instruction, authentic tasks and using the teacher as a guide, culminates in a presentation or performance. Through this type of learning in the ELA classroom, students can meet standards by producing texts and presentations that develop literary ideas and experiences. They can also respond critically to texts on the syllabus, and hone in their English language skills both orally and on paper.
Drilling down into more detail, project-based learning takes multiple forms in the ELA classroom. It can be used as students read a novel or short story as a way of helping them analyze and understand the text. For example, while reading a Shakespearean play, students may be asked to answer the question, “How is Shakespeare still relevant today?” and conduct research, note instances in the text and create items to show that relevance. Project-based learning can also be used as the central focus of a grammar or writing unit, helping students build their skills as they solve a problem or complete a task. A common example of this is when students learn about persuasive writing and propaganda while creating a campaign for school president.
ELA Project-Based Learning and Technology
Research has found that using technology, such as laptops, in ELA classrooms can improve grades after a year compared with traditional teaching tools. The key to successfully implementing project-based learning for ELA classes is to scaffold activities around the goals and objectives of the lesson. Technology is full of resources to help with this. For example, when tracking a theme in a novel, students can use a mind-mapping app such as Idea Sketch or Popplet to organize their thoughts and connections to the theme. Programs likeEvernote, and all of its connected applications, are also ideal for project-based learning in an ELA classroom because they help students access, annotate, organize and present all sorts of information.
Getting an Audience
One of the key elements of project-based learning is providing students with an audience for their learning. Through games, students can access a much broader audience for their projects. For example, students can create and interact within a virtual world while playing Minecraft, using the game to create visualizations related to a text, interact as a specific character or write about their experiences with the game. Those who want more of a pre-planned project can build their reading and writing skills through websites such as Youth Voices and Evoke, which feature games full of texts for students to read and discuss, as well as problems for them to solve.
Developing a Game
Many project-based learning activities have students develop games of their own. Typically, students create the games by hand, using markers, scissors, glue and poster board. However, students can also create games online. EdCreate, Purpose Games and Zondle allow students to create simple educational games, particularly those that involve quizzes and riddles. Resources such as Sploder and the CBBC Game Builder are slightly more complex and encourage students to think more about the instructions that go along with their games.
Project Presentation Tools
Students can also use different app-based presentation tools to help document their learning in the ELA classroom. Students can summarize a novel they read or turn one of their own stories into a short book with the FlipBook or StoryKit apps. Photographs can be doctored and turned into entertaining slideshow presentations with apps such as SonicPics and StripDesigner. Presentation apps such as Keynote, Animotoand even Sock Puppets help students to share their research or visualize answers to overarching questions in creative ways.
The key to project-based learning in the ELA classroom is figuring out what students should learn, providing them with a few overarching questions to consider and then giving them the tools or suggesting specific mediums for students to use to answer those questions. Students may keep an online diary to help them analyze a character while reading a novel, create a game to go through the process of writing a short story or develop a sock puppet presentation to highlight some common propaganda and persuasive techniques. Whatever students are tasked with and however they display their learning, the goal is that students are discovering and learning for themselves.