Weekly Objectives for 12/1/14 - 12/5/14

Overview - The Greek Fest came to an amazing end.  Congrats to to all of the students on their well deserved successes.
       My classroom has also taken a new direction.  I will now be instructing your children in Social and Science.  Not much will change, as I will still be using Project Based learning strategies.  We will also continue to develop our writing skills.
       Here is a quick breakdown of what will be happening in Social Studies over the next two weeks.  The students will be learning about early civilizations from all over the world.  They will be required to work in a group of 5-7 students and present their information through a Power Point about their chosen civilization.  The groups must also create a timeline, and an assessment that they will give to the rest of the class after their presentations.  There will be 6 grades given to each student over the next two weeks.  

Monday 12/1/14 -
       Today, the students were broken into groups of 5-7 students, and balanced out according to learning styles and comprehension abilities.  They were given the task of uncovering as much information about their civilization as possible, and fit that information into a 35 minute Power Point presentation.  The groups also had to create an assessment with a variety of questions, ranging from multiple choice to true/false to short response.  The other students will take notes on the presentation and then take the test using the notes.  Sounds like a lot of work, but if they work together, then this will prove to be another problem solved through collaborative efforts.

Tuesday 12/2/14 -
       The groups are now working completely on their own.  We are following the common core recommendations of having the students drive their instruction.  They are working as teams to figure out how to deliver as much possible information about their civilization, using Power Point as their instructional tool.  We worked together on deciding what the best topics would be to cover: physical features of the region, government structures, agriculture, economy, laws, rulers, trade, animals wars, shelters, religion, and timelines.
      Students were given specific content areas to research and were responsible for taking proper notes.  These notes would be used in the creation of the Power Point Presentation.  Each students is required to instruct for a minimum of three minutes on their specific topic.
       We will see how this all plays out.  I believe that over time, the skills will become stronger and more proficient.  We are hoping to build strong research and analysis skills, along with collaborative and problem solving strategies as well.

Wednesday 12/3/14 -
       The groups are now well into their research topics.  They were using post it notes to organize information into specific categories.  The power points are slowly beginning to take shape.  The skills are being developed slowly, but surely.
       We are hoping that their hard work and collaboration will produce a strong presentation on their civilization.  The students are now beginning to realize that the content isn't what is important.  The skills that are being acquired are so much more valuable.  Employers are looking for people who can work in team environments, problem solve multiple tasks without assistance, communicate their finding to outside sources, and persuade perspective customers that they need what is being produced.  I would venture to say that our students are well down that road already.