The 2021-2022 school year has been a wild ride for everyone, and for teachers in particular. Many of us are feeling the lingering effects of a learning lag, in addition to socio-emotional changes stemming from all of the things that happened. It’s been a tiring, wearing year.

However, there have been so many bright spots. Students and teachers back together at school–full time without masks! Teachers are still doing the teaching thing, and carrying over learning gained from remote teaching. On a personal note, I was able to join teachers and students as they engaged in the authentic learning of PBL. It was so exciting to see students from second grade to high school push their thinking, engage with learning in new ways, and feel the aftereffects of their own successes.

What’s ahead for PBL in Jeffco? We have a couple of exciting happenings- August will see the start of a PBL Learning Lab, with teachers from second to seventh grade, and across contents. In addition, we will host a year-long series of workshops with author and teacher John Spencer. He will start the year with a day-long kickoff in September (mark you calendars for September 22nd. Everyone is invited!), and will teach a series of four workshops across the year with a smaller cohort.

Have a safe, well-deserved rest this summer. See you in Fall.