TEACHTHOUGHT
PROJECT BASED LEARNING
GROW 23 PBL CONFERENCE
Our 4th Annual PBL Grow Event Returns!
June 26-28, downtown Louisville, KY!
Join educators from around the world to grow your teaching craft in an intimate and unique setting!
We’re excited to resume our PBL Grow event which has been on hiatus due to Covid! Just as with prior years, PBL Grow 23 will be centered around our popular Foundations of Project Based Learning Workshop and held at the amazing Lynn Family Soccer Stadium (Fifth Third Club Room), home of Racing Louisville FC and Louisville City FC Soccer teams!
We’ve been excited and honored by the growth of this open-registration professional learning event that has drawn pre-k to post-secondary educators from right here in Kentucky and across the US to places as far as Cambodia, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea!
Looking for a more intimate and affordable alternative to big summer PBL conferences? Join us for this 2.5 day workshop to recharge, grow, and create in the heart of bourbon country! Grow your teaching craft through project-based learning! You’ll leave with a project for implementation in your setting.
Read: What To Expect From A TeachThought PD PBL Workshop
*this event is limited to 40 seats, lunch is included, no refunds within 30 days of event. $50 discount per person for groups of 5+. Please choose “offline payment” if paying by invoice and purchase order
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*please note, this event will include a minimum of 10 participants and a maximum of 40. We will notify registrants when we reach our minimum number of registrations and we recommend waiting to purchase any non-refundable travel accommodations until receiving that notification. All registration fees will be fully refunded in the event we do not reach that minimum number.
Schedule

PBL Day 1 – June 26
8:30-3:30
Focus: Project Design & Planning
You’ll start the day diving into the foundations of PBL and effective project design. Make meaning of the TeachThought PBL Design Levers like “Rich Inquiry” as you explore the critical pedagogical relationship between your Driving Question and the Need to Knows that align with your content and skills. Begin your project ideation and development before getting some peer feedback to help you refine your thinking.

PBL Day 2 – June 27
8:30-3:30
Focus: Project Scaffolding & Assessment
Today you’ll collaborate with your peers to explore and deepen your understanding of “Meaningful Assessment” in PBL. Grading? Presentations? Products? Rubrics? Yes to that and more! As you start to scaffold and sequence your project you’ll get coaching and feedback to help ensure students are learning through the project. Before the day ends you’ll get more peer feedback as you refine your project towards “Craftsmanship“.

PBL Day 3 – June 28
8:30-1:00
Focus: Project Implementation & Management
As you head into the homestretch of project development you’ll refine your project design with practical activities examining PBL management issues like student grouping, accountability for individuals/teams, and tools to help keep your project flowing and growing the “Aligned Thinking and Learning” you’re after. Finish your morning work with a tuning protocol to help you give and get peer feedback deepening your understanding of PBL.

Drew Perkins | Facilitator
Director, TeachThought PD
As TeachThought’s Director of Professional Development and co-host of the TeachThought Podcast Drew helps design and deliver workshops and learning both on-site and virtually as well as coordinating PD work with our array of skilled facilitators. A graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Political Science in three years, he was decidedly against the idea of being a teacher. With a mother and grandmother both educators, a stint as a substitute teacher lured him back to earn a teaching certificate in secondary social studies. Thus began a journey that includes 15 years in the classroom and leadership in Michigan, California, Texas and most recently Kentucky and spanned middle and high school, Special Education to Advanced Placement and basketball and golf coaching.
Formerly with the Buck Institute for Education (now PBL Works) and the Collaborative for Teaching and Learning he has designed and contributed to several PBL models, including the TeachThought PBL Model. Drew continues to deliver professional development and speak internationally. He has been light-heartedly referred to as a professional thought stretcher due to his emphasis on leading through inquiry and questioning.

Micki Ray | Keynote Speaker
Chief Academic Officer, Kentucky Department of Education
Micki Ray began her role as the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) chief academic officer in the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) in September 2021. In this role, she serves as a leader for policy development and provides support to schools and districts with an emphasis on highly effective teaching and learning.
Ray, a native of Anderson County, has been at KDE for five years, previously serving as a literacy consultant for program standards and as a policy advisor for OTL. She was most recently director of the Division of Program Standards. Ray has an additional 15 years of service in Kentucky public education working as a high school English teacher and also served as an adjunct English professor at Hocking College in Ohio.
Ray earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Kentucky and graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown College with a bachelor’s degree in English, with minors in history and sociology.
Learn more about previous year’s events.
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Get in touch:
502 373-0040
grow@teachthought.com
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