Month: March 2019

Analyzing children’s books was an eye-opening activity.  I don’t understand why some authors feel that it is alright to promote stereotypes and biases within their books, or why authors wouldn’t be more selective in their verbiage unless their goal was to offend.  Describing two people as extreme opposites because one is fat and the other is thin is completely inappropriate.  Having an image of a toddler drowning is repulsive.  If I had been reading the book that used the terms fat and thin, I would have definitely noticed as I am sensitive to that type of categorizing.  However, I am not sure that I would have seen the drowning toddler if I had not been critiquing the book.  That kind of worries me and makes me aware of the amount of scrutiny I need to utilize when selecting a book to read to students.  I am afraid that I will miss something offensive or overlook biases that I am not aware of.  It’s going to be difficult for me to stock a classroom library.  I also an not sure where I would draw the line if a book was incredibly valuable for one group of students, but slightly bias towards another.  How do you make that call?

Though I understand the reasoning behind being asked to write a lesson plan in class, it was overwhelming for me.  I am not very good with a productive struggle when I am not in the correct mind frame to work on whatever I am struggling with.  I normally like to brainstorm and think for a while before I start writing a lesson plan.  I also had difficulty using an activity that I would not have selected.  Through the process of working with a partner, I learned that I have developed a personal formula for writing a lesson plan.  I hope that this is a good thing.  Being able to discuss our lesson plans with the class and learn why some ideas are better than others will be very beneficial.  Maybe we could create a quality lesson plan as a class to better grasp what is expected?  I know that getting a sample unit plan in science was unbelievably helpful.  I do want to thank you both for your guidance, suggestions, and support as I have struggled through my own lesson plans!

The map lesson video was fun to watch.  It was great to see the students observe different aspects on the John Smith map and then compare the map to a modern map of the same area.  I was really hoping that the students would be able to puzzle out why the older map had detailed rivers instead of roads.  It was fun to do the same activity in class to see what we would come up with.  Even though our class is decades older, we pointed out similar characteristics and had some of the same questions.  I even learned a few new things about maps that I had never thought about before, such as the meaning of the fleur-de-lis on the compass rose.

I wonder how the activity would work out if the video was shown in the classroom.  The students could try to find what the student in the video found and then try to find additional items.  Or maybe, the class could watch a video of students examining a different map of Virginia and pick out similarities/differences between all three.

It amazes me that a map that old can be so accurate without modern technology to assist.  How did John Smith learn to create a map like that?  How did he know where he was located in relation to the map he was drawing or have the spacial awareness to know where to draw items on the map?  I am directionally challenged so this skill completely baffles me.

I wish we would have had more time to look through the Jamestown lesson box or would have been able to complete one of the activities included.  It looked very intriguing and I can see why students would like to examine the primary sources.

 

 

 

I am inspired by problem-based learning and cross-curriculum lessons.  There are some many different paths to take and an unlimited amount of knowledge and learning that can be wrapped into each activity.  How often do the students’ ideas get incorporated into teaching the lesson next year?  Can you modify the activities based on the students’ interest as the project progresses?  Because they are able to talk things out while they are experiencing, I am sure the students mention what other cool stuff they like to learn.

I’m not sure how accurate this is, but… I have heard of high school classes that take on a single project at the beginning of the year, develop it throughout the year, and end up doing dramatically better on their end-of-the-year testing than the typical class.  From what I gather, it is a student-driven activity where they are allowed to take the project down any path they feel is worthwhile.   As long as the students meet milestones along the way, they are able to fully explore the topic choice.  This would be an excellent way to learn.

As much as I would like to implement PBL and cross-curriculum teaching into my classroom, I find it completely overwhelming.  How do you ensure that the standards are met when some activities are student-driven?  How do you provide documentation that the timeframe requirements of each subject are being met?  If the lesson is genuinely cross-curriculum do you need to have specific time slots for every subject or can it be all lumped together in a way that allows it to flow naturally?  If there is a writing lesson for social studies that takes 15 minutes, is that time deducted from the language arts block?  Having a specific time table for each area of learning is so much more cut and dry.  If students are 100% engrossed in a topic, is it possible to expand the timeline for the unit and incorporate other aspects into the lessons that meet standards that were not initially in the plan?  Is social studies the best area to combine this all-encompassing style of learning?