Weekly Objectives for 12/8/14 - 12/12/14

Overview - Students are now in their second week of Project Based learning in Social Studies.  They have been provided a solid framework to build their research.  Their task was to present a 35 minute Power Point presentation on their chapter of study.  In their presentation, they were expected to include: physical features/geography, timelines, inhabitants/settlers, government structures, rulers, agriculture, military/war, religion, economy, trade and collapse.  Each student within the groups was given a certain task to tackle.  Each piece of their work is key to the success of the overall group.  After the Power Point has been created, the group must them create an assessment based upon their presentation,  The assessment must have 5 multiple choice, 5 true false and 5 short response questions.  All questions must have been presented during the presentation.  Each student must speak for a minimum of 3 minutes during the Power Point.  The remaining groups must take notes during the presentation.  They will then use those notes to take the assessment the group has given.
       The groups will be assessed upon six factors - timeline, Power Point, assessment creation, group collaboration, independent work(grade given by other students), and their results on the other exams. 
       This type of learning definitely is not easy for the educator, not the student, as we are figuring out what our needs are on a daily basis to be successful.  The students, for the most part, are truly more interested in their learning due to the fact that they are responsible for teaching it to the other groups.  It puts a sense of ownership upon their work, which adds pressure, but also a stronger sense of achievement.

Monday 12/8/14 - 
       Today was a shortened class day, due to our Monday Morning Meeting.  We rolled out the election process for the STEM student council, and explained roles of each position.  We had Mr. Cook as our guest speaker today.  He did a wonderful job with the group, as usual.
        Upon returning to the classes, which were shortened to 30 minutes, I discovered that the groups had not made the progress expected while I was out.  We spoke briefly about responsibility and ownership of materials.  We also discussed timelines and expectations of when the teacher is absent.  For the most part, I feel that the students really understood what need to change and were very receptive.

Tuesday 12/9/14 - 
       The groups now have exactly two days left to complete the prep work necessary for the presentations.  They will be given Thursday and Friday to practice delivering their instruction.  We will set up the broadcast room as their area of practice.  They will be given time to make adjustments, but the show will begin next Tuesday.
       It really is exciting to watch students enjoy researching these topics, which in the past have been mildly boring.  All they needed was the ability to create their own way of learning throughout this research process.  The results will hopefully be what they planned for.