From beekeeping, to gardening to providing food for the community, many school districts are turning to Project Based Learning to engage students in real world learning experiences. In this podcast, Diedre Roemer, the Director of Leadership and Learning for the West Allis West Milwaukee School District discusses the how and why of project-based learning and how her district has found success using this interactive approach to educating students. Dr. Roemer is joined by two high school students that share their experiences in PBL and rate their engagement in school as a “10” (on a 1-10 scale).

About our guest:

Deidre Roemer has served as the Director of Leadership and Learning for the West Allis West Milwaukee School District for the last five years. Prior to that role she served as the Coordinator of Special Education, an instructional coach, and a classroom teacher for twelve years in Illinois, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Iowa, and Minnesota in a variety of grade levels. Her philosophy of education has always been to empower every learner with an absolute faith in themselves to be curious, try anything, work hard and prepare for life after school. She models creating inclusionary communities when she coaches teachers and leaders and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to be a part of growing into the next version of what we need for kids. You can connect with Deidre on Twitter at @deidre_roemer or follow her blog at http://leveragepoints.home.blog.