Jayne Diaz shares her journey as an instructional leader in a widely diverse school district, helping teachers realize that stepping out of the structured and routine to try PBL is a move they're able to take. She shares both successes and mis-steps (and plans for correcting her route) with learning by doing, whether that be with makerspaces or Project/Problem/Passion Based Learning.

Jayne is a former district-level instructional coach for Dodge City Public Schools and currently works as Assistant Principal at Ross Elementary School in Dodge City, Kansas. Go Rhinos! (rawr!)

In this episode of the STEM Everyday podcast host, Chris Woods discusses how a simple thing like camping can add so much to a child's summer building relationships, leaving the distraction of social media and video games at home, and finding STEM in nature.

Chris talks about those connections in life that makes things special.  For Chris one of his connections is his birthday, it was on the seventh anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. 

Today, we're joined by 3 educators who have been practicing PBL for many years (remember, this isn't new, folks).  Monika King is the Principal, Steve Murdie is a Physics teacher, and Todd Miller is a Biology and A&P teacher at Maur Hill-Mount Academy, a college-prep international boarding school in Atchison, Kansas.  Teachers at MH-MA are acutely attuned to what colleges of all types are wanting from high school graduates.  Facing a real shift in expectations, they have been shifting what college-prep means for their students.  They are working with Flex-Mod Scheduling (http://www.redesignu.org/design-lab/mastery-learning/resource-bank/flexible-modular-scheduleflex-mod) to better prepare students for beyond-graduation college life.  They each share successes and challenges for themselves and their students and as Steve and Todd head back to class, Monika shares how she, as an administrator, has been able to move parent expectations beyond prepping for the ACT/SAT tests.

 Connect with Monika on Twitter: @ksedleader