Overview - This week in Social Studies we will be presenting Ancient Civilizations through the use of Power Point. The groups have been working diligently over the past two weeks in order to ensure that their presentations will be a total success. Each group is responsible for a 30-35 minute presentation, followed by the administration of an exam. The exam must then be graded by the group. After this has been completed, the other groups will provide a reflection piece letting them know of their strengths and weaknesses. Their will be six overall grades provided: Power Point presentation, group grade, independent work grade, timeline grade, test creation grade and actual assessment grades from taking the test. All grades will be collected using rubrics, except for the actual test grade.
Monday 12/15/14 -
Today is the last day for the students to work on their projects. They have been given two weeks to prepare a lesson to teach to their peers. They have learned how to work collaboratively in groups to produce results. Teacher modeling has occurred throughout the process to ensure that they understand what they are doing. Each group will be assessed using six grades and from rubrics.
Tuesday 12/16/14 -
The first round of presentations were completed!! The groups really performed well for their first time presenting in front of their peers. The Power Points were filled with organized details about their civilizations, as well as their timelines. The students do need to work on learning their lines and speaking more directly to the audience. This will come in time with their confidence levels. They were able to answer questions effectively as well. They seemed to have a strong grasp of the content. They then administered their exams, and for the most part the audience took wonderful notes. They used those notes to answer the exam questions. They quickly learned how valuable note taking is in the classroom and in real life situations. The students then filled out peer rubric forms on each other, while the audience completed presentation forms on the presenters. At the end, their was time allowed for reflection between the audience and the presenters. Nice job for the first day!! Tomorrow the expectations will be raised as the other groups were allowed to see what they had in store.
Wednesday 12/17/14 -
We held our second round of presentations today. The first class was amazing. They learned how to adjust their presentations to be more accommodating for the audience. The group had memorized their lines and truly understood the content they were teaching. They modeled how to take the assessments and worked extremely well in their collaborative peer review. Everything went well for them. Congrats!!
The next two classes did not run as smoothly as we would have liked. The major issues came down to students not being prepared. They did not hold themselves accountable for the requirements and when the final presentation came, they suffered the consequences. A valuable lesson was learned today, by both groups. They reflected on their failures, and then discussed what they would do differently the next time they get a chance to work collaboratively. They understand now that no one is going to come in, swoop them up, and take care of the situation. Once this fact becomes a reality, then the students rise above and meet expectations head on. Failure is okay, and it is fine to be let down. What you do with that bad taste taste in your mouth afterwards, is what defines you as a person.
Thursday 12/18/14 -
The students had a surprise substitute in class today. Mrs. Russell, our Middle School Principal, was the guest "evaluator." From the conversation I held with her after class, she was very impressed with the student work. Nice job!!
Friday 12/19/14 -
Today is the final set of presentations. The classroom content focused on Ancient India and Persia. We were entertained with wonderful slides and graphics that depicted what times were like in early civilizations on the sub-continent.
The students were able to cover most of the content effectively, but there is still room to improve upon our presentation skills. We need to work on solid eye contact, and knowledge of the material that is being presented. The only way to get better is to practice sooner, and to be more prepared. All the groups agreed that they needed to plan out the next presentation more specifically.
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