One of our groups chose to study Mystery as their theme. Katie and I weren't sure how that was a theme until they argued that one of their members wanted to research and study crime scene investigation, another was interested in police work (becoming a detective), another wanted to research the literary concepts of mystery stories, and still another student thought it would be interesting to look into the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries. We approved their argument and are waiting to see what essential question they will come up with to guide their group discussions. Our model then gives students the independence and choice (they were allowed to pick an area of interest to pursue and Katie and I grouped them into like groups) to work on their own interests yet provides them with the critical element of collaboration. They collaborate on processes, resources, and final group presentations which ties their individual research into the overall theme of the unit.
We will encourage the students to not only research but try to become active participants in their pursuits. We want them to interview authors, detectives, scientists, etc. perhaps visit locations, or skype authors for conversations about writing, etc... We will keep you posted on our progress!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
We Skyped!
This week has been a rollar coaster as far as feelings of efficacy both on our part and our students. As teachers, we are struggling with pacing. We are not quite sure if we are going too slow or too fast. We are experiencing feelings of uncertainty about exactly what our model is going to look like authentically. We know what is should look like; what it looks like in our heads and in our plans, we just don't know if our plans are idealistic or realistic. We have already adjusted our project model to one novel per themed unit. We felt the 2 novel requirement was somewhat stressful for the students.
During the last week and a half we really concentrated on setting up the expectations of our new class model with our students and setting them set up with the various technology accounts: Twitter, Edmodo, and Symbaloo.
One of the students asked why we had so many accounts to manage and we had a class discussion about how we use different tools for different jobs. However, Katie and I will be monitoring the technology tools we've established to ensure they're necessary for our program.
We discussed the purpose of edmodo was to create a network center for our class. This is where we can post questions, find and post resources, turn in links to their daily learning blogs, etc. We also had them create a Symbaloo page to act as their personal learning portfolio - They can use the bookmarks to attach the electronic artifacts and products, google docs, and videos. They will then use the webmix to present their findings. We also had them sign up for a twitter account to use for quick surveys, class activities, quick resource sharing etc.
We also had a great conversation via skype with TESLA - a school we partner with for PBL (project/problem based learning). We were able to connect with each other at ISTE in Philadelphia this year. The students at TESLA skyped in and gave presentations about what they were doing in PBL and what technology they use. They shared their animals and talked about their unique school. They also left us with a challenge. They told us their mascot was an axolotl and challenged us to find out more about what that was. We also agreed to perform a part of thriller for each other as and an element of our health and wellness program (getting kids moving in the classroom). We ended the conversation with both our populations feeling excited and happy.
Katie and I then asked our students to research Axolotls and tweet and interesting facts about them. One of our students suggested we create a hashtag and coached the students to use the hashtag in their tweets so we could do a search and find all of their facts. We will share the search with TESLA so they can see what we've discovered.
Finally, we had a whole class discussion about creating essential questions. We talked about what makes a good essential question and agreed to do some independent web searches on essential questions. I twittered a furly link that contained 4 websites I thought might help them in with their search.
We will begin writing essential questions and focusing our project next week. Monday, our students will be visiting the library for some tips on how to use library resources for research.
During the last week and a half we really concentrated on setting up the expectations of our new class model with our students and setting them set up with the various technology accounts: Twitter, Edmodo, and Symbaloo.
One of the students asked why we had so many accounts to manage and we had a class discussion about how we use different tools for different jobs. However, Katie and I will be monitoring the technology tools we've established to ensure they're necessary for our program.
We discussed the purpose of edmodo was to create a network center for our class. This is where we can post questions, find and post resources, turn in links to their daily learning blogs, etc. We also had them create a Symbaloo page to act as their personal learning portfolio - They can use the bookmarks to attach the electronic artifacts and products, google docs, and videos. They will then use the webmix to present their findings. We also had them sign up for a twitter account to use for quick surveys, class activities, quick resource sharing etc.
We also had a great conversation via skype with TESLA - a school we partner with for PBL (project/problem based learning). We were able to connect with each other at ISTE in Philadelphia this year. The students at TESLA skyped in and gave presentations about what they were doing in PBL and what technology they use. They shared their animals and talked about their unique school. They also left us with a challenge. They told us their mascot was an axolotl and challenged us to find out more about what that was. We also agreed to perform a part of thriller for each other as and an element of our health and wellness program (getting kids moving in the classroom). We ended the conversation with both our populations feeling excited and happy.
Katie and I then asked our students to research Axolotls and tweet and interesting facts about them. One of our students suggested we create a hashtag and coached the students to use the hashtag in their tweets so we could do a search and find all of their facts. We will share the search with TESLA so they can see what we've discovered.
Finally, we had a whole class discussion about creating essential questions. We talked about what makes a good essential question and agreed to do some independent web searches on essential questions. I twittered a furly link that contained 4 websites I thought might help them in with their search.
We will begin writing essential questions and focusing our project next week. Monday, our students will be visiting the library for some tips on how to use library resources for research.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Our First Week - August 15-19
Our first week went well. It is quite overwhelming to have 44 students crammed into one classroom but we quickly acclimated ourselves. Our first hurdle came when the students entered the classroom and instinctively separated themselves into 7th graders and 8th graders. We spent most of the first week with teaming activities centered around helping the students become one team instead of two teams.
We are a systems approach school so we started out with analyzing and clarify our learning objectives for the year. We split students up into groups (integrating each group with both 7th and 8th graders) and gave each group a section of the learning objectives (i.e. Reading - Key ideas and details). The groups discussed the meaning and requirements of each objective within their anchor standards and clarified them as needed in a new document (we wanted to use google docs for this activity, however our students did not possess the required skill set - we will be working on those skill sets starting next week). My co-teacher and I will post the clarified learning objectives on the class dashboard (in-class bulletin board) and on edmodo. Reflection - next week we will have groups present their findings to the whole group during the class meeting times. We think this may help students become even more familiar with the learning objectives.
The next step we took was to have the students choose a name for their class (in our school, a K-8 btw, the students use the nicknames Sevies for 7th graders and Ochos for 8th graders). Again we wanted to do away with the inherent segregation of these two groups so we had them work together to find a common name for their class. After nominations and voting, the students unanimously chose "The Nerd Heard". My co-teacher and I had initial reservations for this choice in the beginning, however the students seemed to take pride in their choice and where able to defend their selection with logical arguments. ( I will post a picture of their dashboard when they've completed their banner and it's ready to go)
The students then worked together to formulate a class mission statement that will help them work towards their class goal and keep them focused on their learning.
Their class goal is: 100% of the Nerd Heard will score an exceeds, or if already exceeding show growth, on or before the 3rd quarter district reading assessment.
I will post their mission statement on Monday, August 22nd.
Finally, the students brainstormed possible unit themes and chose their top three favorite themes. My co-teacher and I will try to place students in groups that combine grade levels and choice. For instance we would like to create teams of four with two 7th graders and two 8th graders. The members of the groups will be chosen based on the themes they've selected. Because their reading levels are all comparable, we will give the groups a choice of choosing a common literature novel connected to their theme and conducting book discussions together, or the members can choose to read a novel independently and then post summaries and theme connections to edmodo. The groups are strictly for advising each other on processes and discussing commonalities among their projects due to their common theme choice. They will be required to meet weekly and will be allowed to present as a group their individual findings.
The grouping will occur on Monday and we will let you know how that goes. We will also be conducting our first one hour session of technology immersion in which students will create their twitter accounts, join the edmodo group, create their blog (using blogged.com) and sign up for a symbaloo account.
I forgot to mention earlier that we sent out a letter on the first day explaining the program and giving students the option of "opting out". We had three students opt out but were able to bring three new students in. Also, in the letter we noted that all students were required to have an email account. If the student is under the age of 13, we asked parents to create an account for their student. We now have all students registered for a gmail account and they will use their accounts for blogs and online collaborative processes (google docs and forms etc...)
We'll keep you posted!!
We are a systems approach school so we started out with analyzing and clarify our learning objectives for the year. We split students up into groups (integrating each group with both 7th and 8th graders) and gave each group a section of the learning objectives (i.e. Reading - Key ideas and details). The groups discussed the meaning and requirements of each objective within their anchor standards and clarified them as needed in a new document (we wanted to use google docs for this activity, however our students did not possess the required skill set - we will be working on those skill sets starting next week). My co-teacher and I will post the clarified learning objectives on the class dashboard (in-class bulletin board) and on edmodo. Reflection - next week we will have groups present their findings to the whole group during the class meeting times. We think this may help students become even more familiar with the learning objectives.
The next step we took was to have the students choose a name for their class (in our school, a K-8 btw, the students use the nicknames Sevies for 7th graders and Ochos for 8th graders). Again we wanted to do away with the inherent segregation of these two groups so we had them work together to find a common name for their class. After nominations and voting, the students unanimously chose "The Nerd Heard". My co-teacher and I had initial reservations for this choice in the beginning, however the students seemed to take pride in their choice and where able to defend their selection with logical arguments. ( I will post a picture of their dashboard when they've completed their banner and it's ready to go)
The students then worked together to formulate a class mission statement that will help them work towards their class goal and keep them focused on their learning.
Their class goal is: 100% of the Nerd Heard will score an exceeds, or if already exceeding show growth, on or before the 3rd quarter district reading assessment.
I will post their mission statement on Monday, August 22nd.
Finally, the students brainstormed possible unit themes and chose their top three favorite themes. My co-teacher and I will try to place students in groups that combine grade levels and choice. For instance we would like to create teams of four with two 7th graders and two 8th graders. The members of the groups will be chosen based on the themes they've selected. Because their reading levels are all comparable, we will give the groups a choice of choosing a common literature novel connected to their theme and conducting book discussions together, or the members can choose to read a novel independently and then post summaries and theme connections to edmodo. The groups are strictly for advising each other on processes and discussing commonalities among their projects due to their common theme choice. They will be required to meet weekly and will be allowed to present as a group their individual findings.
The grouping will occur on Monday and we will let you know how that goes. We will also be conducting our first one hour session of technology immersion in which students will create their twitter accounts, join the edmodo group, create their blog (using blogged.com) and sign up for a symbaloo account.
I forgot to mention earlier that we sent out a letter on the first day explaining the program and giving students the option of "opting out". We had three students opt out but were able to bring three new students in. Also, in the letter we noted that all students were required to have an email account. If the student is under the age of 13, we asked parents to create an account for their student. We now have all students registered for a gmail account and they will use their accounts for blogs and online collaborative processes (google docs and forms etc...)
We'll keep you posted!!
Planning our year
The journey begins! I was lucky enough to attend the ISTE conference in Philadelphia this year and I made a contact with an individual at a PBL school. Through emails, we were able to set up some supports and a mentor relationship with them which puts both my co-teacher and I at ease. I have to say at this point we are nervous because our program is very different from what our school student population is used to.
Our planned program will look something like this:
We will then split the group in half. One half will go to the computer lab for an hour, the other half will participate in teacher conferences, book discussions with their literature groups (placed through theme connections), independent research in the library, process group meetings, writing, or independent reading. After the hour, the groups will switch.
Students will be required to keep a private blog that will help them reflect on their own learning. They will also be encouraged to use symbaloo to keep track of their on-line resources and our class will be using edmodo to keep track of class information and resources.
I will post copies of the artifacts we have established up to this point. Wish us luck!
Our planned program will look something like this:
- A combined 7th and 8th grade class (44 students) - this year we started with our advanced language arts population.
- Co-taught (two middle school language arts teachers)
- Students will analyze learning objectives based on the new national common core standards and clarify them as needed.
- Based on pre-assessment data and qualitative data (student reflections), students will choose the learning objectives they will include in their unit.
- Students will pick a theme of interest and develop their unit based on the requirements we have developed as teachers. Students will be asked to integrate their units with a combination of their choice using literature, social studies, math, science, art, and/or humanities Technology will be integrated in all units. Students will be required to make current event connections, use scholarly articles, conduct research, write a formalized research paper, and present and defend not only their findings, but the mastery of their learning objectives as well. They will also be required to solicit both peer reviews and expert reviews.
- Students will present a summary of their findings and mastery of their learning objectives using an electronic presentation format of their choice.
- Formative assessments will be conducted through teacher/student conferencing and unit progress monitoring.
- Summative assessments will be conducted through expert reviews and final presentations.
We will then split the group in half. One half will go to the computer lab for an hour, the other half will participate in teacher conferences, book discussions with their literature groups (placed through theme connections), independent research in the library, process group meetings, writing, or independent reading. After the hour, the groups will switch.
Students will be required to keep a private blog that will help them reflect on their own learning. They will also be encouraged to use symbaloo to keep track of their on-line resources and our class will be using edmodo to keep track of class information and resources.
I will post copies of the artifacts we have established up to this point. Wish us luck!
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