Family & community project-based learning

Including families and the community is critical to providing a multicultural learning experience that is applicable and relevant. One way to do this is through project-based learning (PBL) where students engage in critical thinking to address real world issues that face their community. This provides an opportunity for students to create meaningful connections between culture, community, and themselves.

Assignment Instructions:

Using the following template as a guide, create a culturally responsive project for the grade level of your choice that includes parent and community participation.

You may choose to construct this assignment in a table as seen in the template or create separate sections with headings in an essay-format document.

Your Project must include:

1. Project Title
2. Content Standard & Objectives (list at least one of each of the following):
3. Class demographics description: This can either be fictionalized or an outline of your current classroom, but you must include a description of at least two students with a recognized disability and a description of two ELL students (anonymous).
4. Project idea: A brief summary of your project including previous learning that occurred (prior knowledge) before the project and how the project represents multiculturalism.
5. Process Description: Write step-by-step directions (see Manage the Process section of template) for this project that you would follow during instruction and present the requirements for your identified class to follow. Remember to use concise language, detailed directions, and as much information as possible as you want to make sure your students complete this project exactly as you intended and envisioned. Your student directions must cover:
   • How parents will be involved in the project
   • How students will connect with their community
   • How technology will be incorporated either in their project search or project presentation
   • How the project aligns with standards and outcomes
6. Project Evaluation/Evidence of Success:
   • How will students demonstrate mastery of the learning objective
   • How will you measure the student’s success at meeting each outcome and learning objective? Go beyond merely referring to the rubric you will create.
7. Student Rubrics:
   • Create a rubric that will evaluate the group’s presentation (You may use RubiStar to develop the rubric or develop your own grading tool)
   • Create a separate rubric that will evaluate each student’s individual participation and level of mastery within the group
8. Personal Reflection: Explain in one page how this project addresses real world issues that face their community as well as how it provides an opportunity for students to create meaningful connections between culture, community, and themselves as well as the role technology plays.

If you create a project based off of a lesson or project you researched or previously used, you must give credit and include in your personal reflection what changes you made to the existing project (there must be changes, you cannot simply recycle something you’ve found) and how it improves student learning.

Additional requirements:

You must include at least two outside scholarly sources such as peer-reviewed articles or journals, in addition to the assigned readings from the text Human Relationships and Learning in the Multicultural Environment. If applicable, also reference to original project if enhancement of an existing project occurred. All sources must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and included in the final section of the template.