Project Based Learning... Effectiveness?!?

The Importance of Project Based Learning Blogs by Suzie Boss

I have been struggling with incorporting more PBL activites in my classroom. Ultimately, I would love to have differentiated PBL projects for all of my units. However, when I spend countless hours arranging the project, finding reliable resources, and motivating intros, I find that my students are not as engaged in the project itself as they are working with each other. Sure, I have a few groups of students that excel in each class. But then I have about 2-3 groups that I find need constant monitoring. With these groups I spend so much time overseeing their progress that I find that I tend to ignore the groups that are borderline or excelling with the project. How do I motivate these students who would rather sit and do nothing? They sit and do nothing when I lecture, during lab activities, demonstrations, and even projects. So what do I do to get through to these students. Ultimately, I think students are more successful when they have to work on projects. Not only are they gaining knowledge on a content, but they are developing real world skills that are neccessary to be successful in the real world. Skills such as leadership/teamwork, responsibility, work ethic, and time management. These skills are not utilized to their fullest in traditional classroom setting and I highly believe these skills are extremely important. But why would I want to continue to put so much time and effort into establishing PBL if I feel drained at the end? If I am the one feeling like I am doing all the work? I want to discover a way to make project based learning more succesful in my classroom and a major problem I am struggling with is motivation... How do I motivate the unmotivated?