This resource uses the HTH PBL Kaleidoscope to help you integrate community partners into your PBL teaching. On the second page you can find an email example and template you can use to reach out to community partners.

What is the essential question of the project?

• What open-ended question(s) guide the project and learning?

How might you launch your project?

• Consider your community: who might you invite or visit to help start the learning?
• Consider your context: Where might students authentically experience the project’s big ideas?

Critique and Revision

• Who might be able to provide valuable feedback during stages of learning in the project?

How might students exhibit their learning?

• How will we celebrate and share student learning with authentic partners interested in their work?
• What location(s) would be well suited to share student learning or curate their products?

What community partnerships make sense for this project?

• What organizations or individuals can collaborate, enhance, or even drive portions of the learning experience?

How can you make the most of community partnerships in the project?

• Are students helping them solve issues in their community?
• Are partners sharing their stories and expertise?
• Can students create products for their community partners?

Sample Email

Good morning Addison,

My name is John Santos. I’m Amber’s biology teacher this semester at High Tech High. As you know, we are a project-based school where students engage in relevant, impactful work and learning that we hope to share with our community.

My students will be starting a project in mid-January that focuses on the impacts that feeding our community has on our wellness and the environment. The essential question for the project is “How does feeding our community impact our health, values, and environment?”

One component of this project is to better understand the metrics of wellness. As we were making our way through a unit on Macronutrients, Autumn told me that you work at Dexcom, where glucose monitors are produced. 

I’m wondering if you and I might be able to find a time where we could explore possible partnerships that could range from Dexcom allowing me to wear a glucose monitor for 3-4 weeks (to make the specific metrics of my wellness available), a class visit to your Dexcom, or possibly hearing from scientists at Dexcom about their research and work.

Let’s try to find a time next week that works best for your schedule. I’m available before school from 7:45-8:30 am, during my prep period from 11:00am-12:05 pm and then after school from 3:45-4:30 pm. Let me know if any of those times work for you. 

I am excited for this potential partnership. Thank you so much for your time and consideration!

            John Santos

A.I. Prompt: Personalize and use a prompt like this with your favorite generative A.I. application to create a list of potential community partners in your area.

I am a 12 grade biology teacher at a project based learning school in San Diego. We are currently learning about how feeding our community can impact our own health as well as impact the environment. The essential question for the project is “How does feeding our community impact our health, values,  and environment?” Our school is in the 92106 area code. Please suggest 10-15 potential community partners or organizations that we might partner with.

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