It is my belief that in order to better prepare our students for life outside of school, the distinct silos of instruction and assessment in the classroom need to be blended. “Out there” in the real world, we rarely have the opportunity to learn first, then do, most of us figuring things out as we gain experience. In order to bring this idea into the classroom, I rely on a project-based learning approach where students learn content while creating a project, then sharing and celebrating their understandings with classmates. In combining instruction and assessment, we free up additional class time for more engaging, hands-on learning experiences that would otherwise have to be passed by.