TL;DR:
- An ooch is when we conduct a small experiment to teach us more.
- Instead of jumping head-first into something new, take one small step first.
- Small steps to project-based learning can include connecting with community partners, giving students voice and choice, and utilizing structured grouping.
Ooch Your Way to PBL
Should you ooch?!?! The Heath Brothers say, “Yes!”’ In their book, Decisive, the Heath Brothers have created a decision-making process that allows us to make decisions that are in line with our beliefs. One of the tools they provide is the ‘ooch’. An ooch is “when we conduct a small experiment to teach us more.”
Ooch Examples
Instead of completely changing your classroom seating, bring in a few bean bags.
Instead of switching to a completely flipped classroom, flip a few lessons.
Instead of vlogging every day, record a couple of videos on your phone.
Instead of completely switching to standards-based grading, create one standards-based rubric.
Ooch Your Way to PBL: My Challenge For You
Instead of deciding Yes or No in regards to Project Based Learning, ooch with one of these three PBL core tenants.
There is a lot of Project Based Learning work that is being done very well across the world that you can learn from. You don’t have to jump all in right away. You can ooch your way in! Click To Tweet1st Ooch: Community Partners
Community partners bring the real world into your classroom and answer the age-old student question, “Why do we need to learn this?” A community partner can come in at the beginning of your unit to give background information around your topic of study. No matter your content or grade level, a community partner can come in and give a presentation to your class that adds importance to your content from an outside voice.
How do you find a community partner for your first PBL ooch? Museums, zoos, and nonprofits often have a presentation already created for classrooms. When you call or email them, you are doing their job for them! These emails are always welcome. To help you brainstorm other possible community partners, ask these three questions:
- Who is doing your content work in their job?
- Who cares about this work?
- Who can we help?
For more help finding a community partner, try these free online resources.
2nd Ooch: Voice and Choice
When your students get to decide what happens in your classroom they are more engaged. However, I’m also quite certain that anarchy is very engaging! Where is the balance? Whether you have a seating chart or open seats or couches, you are already making voice and choice decisions.
The voice and choice ooch is working to move you toward more student voice and choice in a way that doesn’t give you hives just thinking about it. An ooch allows you to experiment and collect experience without having to fully commit before you or your students are ready.
At the end of your next unit, ask your students what they liked about the unit and what they wonder about for next time. Or ask your students what they like about your classroom setup and what they wonder about changing.
Pick the ooch that feels most comfortable to you and have students put their likes and wonders on post-it notes and stick them to the wall as they leave your classroom. As you read the Post-it notes, you will get to see what your students resonate with and where they would like to see some change.
The next day, make one of the changes and let your students know it was because of their suggestion. You don’t have to put a cotton candy machine in your room, but by taking one of their suggestions and noting that you appreciate their feedback, you are showing that you will listen to them.
Students are not accustomed to adults listening to their suggestions, let alone taking them. You will begin to build a culture of trust and a safe place to speak, which in turn brings student engagement. Give it an ooch!
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3rd Ooch: Structured Grouping
Grouping is a core tenant of teaching employability skills through Project Based Learning. Grouping is also typically awful for students, parents, and teachers. To help make groups less awful and to give your ooch the best chance of success, you need a group contract.
A group contract allows you to start teaching your students about proper group interactions. If we are honest, adult groups do not always go well. Should we expect student groups to work well without teaching grouping skills?
A group contract also lets you see the reasoning for having groups. Group contracts should spell out in detail the role of every member of the group. Roles will help you decide how many students should be in a group. If you have three relevant roles, you should have three students in each group. If you have three relevant roles, but you have groups of five students, your grouping is set up for failure.
To help you with this grouping ooch, you can download group contracts created by teachers in the classroom. The contracts are in word processing format, so you can adjust as you see fit. As with any resources you bring into your classroom, you should customize them for your students.
Any one of these three ooches will give you a small experience with Project Based Learning.
If your first ooch goes well, jump in with the other two. Whether these two go well or not, you should seek out more Project Based Learning resources such as books, podcasts, or YouTube videos to get a better idea of what others are doing.
There is a lot of Project Based Learning work that is being done very well across the world that you can learn from. You don’t have to jump all in right away. You can ooch your way in! If you take one of these ooches, I’d love to hear from you and send you resources to help with you next ooch. Teach Inspired!
About Ryan Steuer
Ryan Steuer is an author, speaker, CEO, and thought leader who specializes in changing the world through Project Based Learning.
His core philosophy: Improving education creates generational world change; therefore, educational change will save the world.
When we get education right as leaders, leaders have launched their vision, teachers are fired up to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and learners are moving from passive to empowered. While Ryan has done this work (and fought for it) in the classroom, his joy comes now as he sees district after district adopt the PBL mindset and free their learners up to find their true potential and opportunity.
Before starting Magnify Learning, Ryan worked for a multibillion-dollar company in Chicago. He left that work to teach English to 8th graders in urban Indianapolis. He made a big leap to chase his passion and has never looked back. Now, he travels the country writing his next book, looking for another mountain to climb, and always hanging out with his five kids and wonderful wife – all this while recording the PBL Simplified Podcast, recording the Magnify Learning YouTube Channel, and leading Magnify Learning – the premiere Project Based Learning organization in the country.
