As I read more and more books, blogs and articles about PBL and best practices in teaching I have noticed that they all seem to highlight the perfect classroom. They are filled with tales of beautiful plans executed flawlessly and smoothly.

Teaching is messy!

In my own experience teaching and working with teachers I know this is not the case!

We often feel out of control or just barely in control! Even the best teachers make mistakes. Even a wonderfully planned project or lesson can go wrong. These stories seem to be lacking in the literature.

The purpose of this blog is to highlight the mistakes that teachers have made and the things that have gone wrong during PBL or even just during typical lessons.

Hopefully, you, the teachers reading these case studies, find value in seeing that you are not alone in feeling like things can get out of control. I hope you can learn from the mistakes of others.

When all we see is the ideal, sometimes we can feel like we are insufficient if we are not achieving that. Let’s share our stories of the messes that our classrooms can sometimes be. Let’s get real! It isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Let’s embrace the mess!

To share your stories, please email me at emmajchiappetta@gmail.com.

I won’t expect you to write a post (unless you want to!) I’ll ask a few questions and then write up your story for the blog. I’m happy to keep you anonymous as well.