Presentations of Learning

I’m sitting at Pleasantview Academy, a project-based learning charter school, watching a presentation of learning by students here. The kids are showing multimedia projects, websites and . The kids have archived their learning in these presentations and are sharing them with parents and teachers and it is fun to watch them nervously showing them to the audience. There was the history of the Hutchinson salt mines, The history of the railroad, math and statistics form the recent trip this class took to New Mexico, a podcast made in the national park and a website archiving what one student learned. All of these projects were inspired by the trip that the kids raised money to take through a variety of fund raisers. I watched as shy kids took the stage and showed their thinking and supportive parents urged them on. These were Jr. High kids but no grade-level lines of demarkation were visible this night. The POL’s or presentations of learning that kids do in this school are verifications that real learning, (student directed) has taken place. Parents and teachers sit on the POL review boards, guiding kids in their thinking and suggesting ways to make future learning deeper.