Jaime Miller is a coach in a public school district. She works with K through 12 teachers. These teachers are implementing Project Based Learning, design thinking, and maker spaces. Magnify Learning partnered with them very early on in this work. We did a PBL Jumpstart Workshop, a PBL Advanced Workshop and eventually PBL Certification with their staff. 

Jaime shares the mindset shift story of the teachers, coaches, and learners in this episode. We learn about their three year process of creating a mindset shift and discovering what PBL in all of its forms would look like for their district. We talk about community engagement and challenges that teachers had. We also talk about how career awareness was a good “why,” and how digital design processes helped solve problems in more authentic ways. 

Episode Highlights: 

[03:50] PBL has become the foundation of everything they didn't know they needed. It was the catalyst for innovation and learning.

[06:37] Allowing all of the aspects of PBL to come in really creates a great learning environment for kids.

[07:25] Challenges they faced including not understanding what PBL would mean for their district.

[13:23] Community engagement looks different through the different grade levels.

[18:18] Parents are stakeholders in the school and make great community partners along with employers in the community. 

[24:36] Connecting remotely also made partnerships easier and more accessible.

[26:15] If you're just getting started with Project Based Learning, start small and infuse something exciting into the unit that you may not be that excited about teaching.

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