Free PBL Resources to Launch Your School Year with Confidence

One saying that rings true every school year is that the days are long but the years are short. The fastest point of the year for all of us, I think, is those summer months. Yet here we are with the start of the new school year upon us, and I am stocking up on all those Crayola marker and Papermate Flair pens sales.

A new school year brings new hopes and excitement, and if you're thinking about trying project based learning (PBL) but feel unsure how to begin, you're not alone. Many educators want to launch the year with more student engagement, but they hesitate to try PBL until after testing or once routines are established.

But here’s the truth: PBL isn’t an add-on. It can be the framework that builds your classroom culture, routines, and academic momentum from the very first year.

That’s why we created the PBL Starter Pack, a free download of 10 easy-to-use tools from our most popular blogs (and some from our future ones) that will help you plan, launch, and lead high-quality, learner-centered projects this year.

Why Start the Year with Project-Based Learning?

The beginning of the school year is an ideal time to introduce PBL, as it sets the tone for what learning will look like throughout the year.

When you start with project-based learning:

• You build classroom routines around collaboration, reflection, and inquiry

• You engage students with purpose and voice right away

• You connect standards to real-world contexts instead of abstract worksheets

• You set the tone for deeper learning and student ownership all year long

Waiting until after testing season often means missing the opportunity to build PBL habits early, when students are most open and relationships are forming.

Also, learn from my mistakes! In my first year of implementing PBL in my classroom, I jumped right into a project, and it actually went well. However, as a very traditional high school social studies teacher, I eventually reverted to a lecture-style approach as soon as the project concluded.

When I launched my second project in March, my students rebelled, and it turned into a disaster. At that point, they preferred compliant, passive learning because that's how I was teaching for months. I realized that if I wanted to truly embrace PBL, it needed to become an integral part of my teaching style and way of being, not just something I did occasionally.

So let the start of the year launch and shape your class around authenticity and curiosity from the very first unit, and continue it all year long.

What’s Included in the Free PBL Starter Pack?

We've compiled our most helpful tools, drawn from popular blog posts, exciting upcoming blogs, and frameworks we use in our workshops, to make this pack powerful, practical, and easy to implement. Each one-pager supports teachers, coaches, and school leaders in launching meaningful project-based learning.

Here’s what’s inside:

1. The 6 Core Features of Effective PBL: An overview of the foundational components that define high-quality PBL experiences.

2. Top Conditions That Support a PBL Culture: A reflection tool to assess and grow your classroom or school-wide readiness for PBL.

3. The PBL Learning Experience: A visual journey of how students learn through authentic inquiry, feedback, and product creation.

4. The Project Learning Experience Steps: A clear breakdown of each project phase: the launch, investigation cycle, and public showcase

5. The 3 Cs of Quality Entry Events in PBL: Plan launches that use Clarity, Curiosity, and Commitment to engage students from the start.

6. Keys to Actionable Assessment in PBL: Shift assessment from grading to growth with these three powerful strategies.

7. People Management Skills in a PBL Classroom: Support student collaboration and leadership with interpersonal and SEL-aligned tools.

8. Integrating Test Prep into the PBL Experience: Learn how to embed test-readiness into projects without sacrificing engagement.

9. 8 Tips to Get Started with PBL in Special Education: Inclusive, actionable strategies to make PBL accessible for every learner.

10. Top 5 Mistakes New PBL Teachers Make (and What to Do Instead): Save yourself time and stress by learning what to avoid and what works instead.

Who This Is For

Whether you're a:

• Classroom teacher looking for practical tools

• Instructional coach supporting colleagues in their PBL journey

• School or district leader exploring learner-centered redesign

…this starter pack was designed to provide you with actionable support and professional growth options from the outset.

Get Your Free PBL Starter Pack Here

An email is required to subscribe.

Want to Go Further? Take Our Self-Paced PBL Course

If you're ready to go beyond one-pagers and dive deeper into designing your own powerful projects while enjoying your last little bit of summer, our self-paced PBL Reimagined course is here for you.

Whether you're planning your first project or refining your practice, this course will help you:

• Align your projects to standards, inquiry, and meaningful assessment

• Scaffold student voice, feedback, and reflection from the start

• Build culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate projects

• Launch projects that support authentic learning and learner agency

Get PBL Reimagined Course Here

Let’s Start the Year with Purpose

Project based learning helps students think critically, collaborate meaningfully, and connect content to the real world. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect when trying something new. One of my favorite quotes that I got from Gina Olabuenaga is by Arthur Ashe: "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Let this be your motto for the upcoming year.

With the right support, you can begin your year with relevance and purpose. You don’t need to start from scratch; you just need the right tools, and that’s exactly what this free resource provides. I hope you enjoy it as much as we had fun creating it.

---

At ACP, we are committed to transparency in our content creation. Learn more in our AI Policy.