Less Teaching More Learning

I have noticed that the less I "teach" the more learning my students do.

I don't think that this is because I am a bad teacher, in fact, I know that I am a good teacher because my students are learning.

The more Project Based Learning that I do in my class, the more I can visibly see that learning is in fact happening in my classroom. Sure, it has it's down sides too. Students are more likely to be off task instead of working on the assigned project because they are given more freedom that sitting listening to a lecture, but they are also learning time management and how to work in a social environment, life skills that they will need for the rest of their life. Sure my students are going to run into problems that they are not equipped to solve, but that is where being a teacher means that I am supposed to step in and lead them to find the answer. Sure the project may be a failure, but in life people have way more failures than they do successes. Sure they have fun when they are learning things, but THEY ARE HAVING FUN WHEN THEY ARE LEARNING THINGS! (I didn't know this was an actual objection, but one that I have recently heard from a parent. I quote, "My Child can't possibly be learning in here because they are having to much fun." Really? Really!) This type of work in class is creating such an amazing environment to work in, teach in, and be in each day. I thoroughly enjoy coming to work. The less time that I spend lecturing, the more close relationships that I am able to create with my students. The closer our relationships the more of a mentor I am. The more of a mentor I become, the more respect I have from my students. The more respect I have from my students, the less discipline problems I have. The less discipline problems that I have, the more PBL we can do. The more PBL that we can do, the more learning that happens.

More Learning. Less Teaching. PBL. Can you tell I'm a fan? What are your experiences with Project Based Learning? Successes, Failures? Questions? Comments? All are greatly welcomed and appreciated.