Description: "Although there are a few other titles related to project based learning in ELA, they are no books that focus specifically on the ways that the design principles of project based learning, universal design for learning, and social and emotional learning can be used to anchor an ELA curriculum and the learning experiences that students engage in throughout the school year. Other PBL books focus almost exclusively on implementing and designing PBL Projects, whereas this book centers around a set of design principles that can be used to teach existing projects (which we share), to create new ones, or to create authentic learning experiences that are project enhanced. Our book brings PBL to life through classroom vignettes and teacher and student voices. Whether you are new to PBL or a PBL veteran, this book provides classroom resources that facilitate customization to educator's unique instructional contexts. We share ideas for developing teacher communities that hold a space for collaborating around PBL practices and that revitalize teachers and teaching"--
Review Quotes:
" Compose Our World offers English teachers welcome hope in these difficult times. In its pages, we see students--and teachers--whose experiences in school have been transformed by a turn toward meaningful projects they design and work through themselves, projects that can even change their communities for the better. And although these projects are not made primarily for a grade, the authors describe how students can be brought in on generating the specific criteria used for assessment. The work certainly fulfills state standards, but it goes far beyond them. This important book, which should be read by all high school English teachers, is both inspiring and practical. It shows that positive change in education is possible, provides practical guides to that change, and features exciting projects students made as they became agents for composing their world."
-- "Teachers College Record"