As I continue my development of the project-based learning (PBL) initiative on the book, Flush, by Carl Hiaasen, I utilized my 2nd visible thinking routine (VTR).  It went well, as it provided many insights on the students’ perception of the environmental threats to the Florida Keys, which is the setting of the book.

This week, I implemented the VTR ‘What Makes You Say That’ in order to understand how students would rank the environmental threats so I could group them for further investigation.  Since we had studied six threats (based on an article by the University of Florida “Threats to the Florida Keys”), I hoped to distinguish student choice for my next step in the PBL.

The picture below shows one of those threats, Water Pollution, and the eight students who selected this as their biggest concern.  They based their choice on what they saw or knew about water pollution and they were able to build explanations for this choice.  This invited students to share their interpretations; it also encouraged them to understand alternatives and multiple perspectives as students talked about the other five environmental issues in the Florida Keys.

I was very pleased with this VTR as it elicited debates in the classroom when students wanted to defend their choice.  While this was not an intended activity, I knew that this was an important skill to develop in our students so I let it run its course.  At times they were trying to shout over the other students, which was a real teachable moment!

While this was a wonderful classroom routine, the results did not provide the grouping of student choice for the PBL.  So many students chose Water Pollution, that I am now investigating this one concern to identify issues for discussion related to this threat.  But that is how a PBL works; I need to be flexible with students’ interests in order to integrate Student Voice into this project.