As teachers began to finish off their school year, MiddleWeb editor
John Norton asked them to share a teaching or learning highlight.
Well, summer is almost upon us, and it's time to begin the summer Question
of the Week. This first question is resurrected from last year, when it
produced some great posts with lots of good ideas and insights. I'll just
repeat my prompt!
-- What's the most successful teaching/learning experience that's taken
place in your classroom this year (give us some details)?
-- What made it successful?
-- What will change about your teaching as a result of your success?
I'm sure we have a lot of good stories and ideas to share!
- John
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Laura explained a lesson she used that not only gave students an opportunity
to practice their problem-solving skills but to learn how to use software
designed to implement mind mapping strategies.
I have a few units which always produce a real life connection, but
the one lesson I'd select was a problem-solving situation. Instead of leading
students through how to use the program Inspiration, I set up the procedure
they needed to learn in order to diagram the upcoming book report. We had
been using mind mapping for many concepts so this was the next step.
I had them, as a class, give suggestions for learning a new software program.
They created a list together or possible steps to take. The next day in
the lab they were to record their progress in learning how to use Inspiration.
They could not talk. I let them work this way for 1/2 the class. I then
let them collaborate, recording what they learned from each other. I had
students print out what they had on their screen. I was surprised as some
had used the program to web out the problem solving activity.
We then discussed how helpful collaboration was in problem solving. We talked
about the fact many times we're given something to learn on our own, such
as a computer program. I also had students then ask the "How did you
do that?" and we made sure everyone was up to date before working on
the Book Reports.
I felt this lesson was successful because it made a real-life connection.
Students were building on previous knowledge as well as experiencing the
frustrations that come with a new problem. I believe this lesson helped
me see ways to build on what they know more effectively and not feel the
need to just deliver instructions.
- Laura
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Annie described an exciting journal approach to teaching Social Studies
in which learners established their own theories by using primary sources.
One of the most successful lessons was my "Journal" lessons.
I do two of them: one for the Lewis and Clark Journey and one for Aztec
Daily Life. Most of the ideas I generated and some characteristics of it
I took from the "History Alive!" series.
I teach Social Studies for grades 5-8. For these Journal lessons the kids
make their own journals using construction paper and lined writing paper
stapled together. They decorate the covers in anyway they choose. The students
are then placed in mixed ability groups (made by me) in which they will
work for the next week to two weeks.
As soon as they enter class they get into their groups and look to the board
for directions and materials to gather. The materials they need will be
placed on a central table. The board instructions might look like this:
"Please gather the following materials for your group- 1 set of markers,
2 photos, 1 textbook per student." etc.
Once all are settled with materials I do a mini lesson (about 5-7 minutes).
This might include a dramatic reading from a primary source (I might read
from Lewis and Clark's actual journals or a letter from Cortes describing
the Aztecs), to a list of facts and content information to a review of what
we had done the previous day. It might sound something like this: "Ok,
you are in the middle of an unknown continent. You have been traveling with
Lewis and Clark for three weeks now and have seen many strange animals and
plants. You have no idea if or when you will reach the Pacific. You suddenly
encounter a group of hostile Native Americans..." etc. I basically
'set the stage' for that day's journal.
Then the students engage in hands-on, inquiry-based learning. Instead of
me telling them what happened in history they create their own historical
theories and gather facts and data (using photos, reference books, textbooks).
They place these discoveries and theories in their journals in the form
of letters, pictures, and sketches based on guided questions that I list
on the board.
Year after year kids come back to me and remember these Journal lessons
the most. They recall the facts and the historical theories more than from
a lecture style lesson. They feel like accomplished historians as I tell
them that they have done what PhD historians do (look at 'artifacts' and
evidence and create a theory of what happened).
I believe it's successful as it engages the children not only in learning
historical/subject content but in the methodology of history itself. The
children are creating a scaffolding of learning, not just copying notes
from the board. They are engaging those brain cells in answering critical
thinking questions. During these lessons I NEVER have a behavior problem
as they are so busy and engaged. After about 2 weeks of Journal exploration
we have a 'debriefing' of the lesson.
It has changed or will change my teaching in that I am working toward creating
more of these guided discovery lessons. I'd like to grow as a teacher by
including more varied lessons of this type in my curriculums.
- Annie
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Using a backpack, Caron created an opportunity for her seventh graders
to practice their ratio and percentage skills.
My lesson this year was a practical investigation.
We were studying ratios and percentages. So I lined the halls one day with
two scales and made each seventh grader weigh with and w/o their backpack.
They were told to bring the bag, just like it was, to class the next day.
We did a "line item" inventory in class and broke the contents
out into categories of texts, notebooks, supplies, and "stuff."
Then we calculated the approximate weight of their bag based on their weight.
Then compared the actual with approximate.
I had them write an essay discussing specific ways they could reduce the
weight of the bag.
We analyzed the data of the grade in each class, by gender, class, anyway
we could. We looked at weights that stood out and tried to find justification
for them (Some kids counted their sports bags....some had two sets of books
and they had less to carryetc.)
In the end, we came up with very workable ideas for saving backs. I plan
to do it again this year.
- Caron
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Joanne commented on an area of concern in the ratio/percent lesson.
Caron, this sounds like a grand assignment, but as the mother of an overweight
child, the darned danger bells start clanging in my head. She would be mortified
to have to weigh herself in class. Kids can be cruel, especially around
non-sleek kids.
I love the idea of the assignment, but wonder if it couldn't be done with
posted weight ranges... then assign students different weights, work out
the ratios, etc, and post them. Students could then privately find their
own weight on the charts and learn appropriate backpack weights, etc.
I know this isn't AS personal, but I truly worry about the "non-norm"
kids....... too skinny, too heavy, etc for whom weighing could become a
cause for unkindnesses.
For what it's worth,
-Joanne
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Caron responded to Joanne's concern.
I took that into consideration. Several students were not comfortable,
and that was fine, we did it later. Also, we charted weights of book bags,
not weights of students. The kids were the only ones who saw their own weights
and then determined if their bags were within the accepted range.....They
provided info (not identified by name) and I tallied all the answers.
I was borderline anorexic for years and worked very hard to remove the threat
but make it as personal as possible. All the essays were very positive.
- Caron
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Trish told how one of her colleagues avoided the trauma of being weighed
publicly.
You are absolutely correct. We have a teacher in 7th grade who helps
his students change pounds to kilograms (or whatever gram it is) by using
weight. He first gets on the scale and uses his weight as the first example
in conversion. He then ASKS who in the class would like to be the second
conversion example. It is strictly volunteer. If no one volunteers he just
makes up weights. Having been overweight as a child myself, this would have
been very traumatic for me to be weighed and I probably would have refused
and been sent to the office.
- Trish
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Joanne replied to Caron
How terrific! Thanks for explaining, and understanding. I can see how
it can be done now without embarrassing anyone. The students simply have
to do a subtraction that no one else has to see. Whew.
- Joanne
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Kathy shared ways she used hands on and real world topics in her classroom
teaching this past year.
Two of the most successful learning experiences this year had to do
with Antarctica. In the first one we made salt flour maps of Antarctica.
The second one was the students wrote persuasive essays abut the importance
of the Antarctic treaty.
The first one was a hands-on experience. Students created the maps. They
drew the maps on corrugated cardboard first. They painted the oceans &
seas. Then we mixed up the dough and they made the 3D map. After the map
dried they painted it white. They were then given a list of places and sites
to locate on their map. They were given a list of 25-30 sites; they needed
to do at 15 to meet the standard. Eleven out twelve kids used all of the
sites on the list.
The essay was on a topic that was relevant to the kids. Environment and
international peace are very important to my Vermont kids and they really
got into it. One of the essays talked about Palestine and Israel and how
it was too bad they couldn't figure out a way to get along as all these
countries did. They discussed the importance of scientific research.
In the future I will try to incorporate more hands-on, real world topics
in my classroom.
- Kathy
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Dollie explained how she used the students themselves to model successful
writing skills to their peers.
OK I'm one of those lurkers, but this time I really have something to
share.
I started implementing a writer's workshop in my classroom this year, and
although I didn't feel like it was implemented fully it was very successful.
My students began to see themselves as writers. They strived to improve
their writing, and we did beautifully on the state writing test! (10 scored
at the highest level where usually I have 2 at that level)
The key was to model using mini-lessons. I often looked for a student who
had done something exceptional -- ex. used interesting verbs, similes, had
a great lead etc -- and let them demonstrate/share with the class at the
overhead. They really strived to improve their writing so that they might
be selected to teach the class a new skill. Anyone out there using writing
workshop I'd love to hear your management ideas. As a beginner I know I
have a lot to learn. Anyone not using a writing workshop- you should give
it a try. Check out the books by Katie Wood Ray for help.
- Dollie
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Marsha affirmed Dollie's approach to teaching writing.
Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, but our last day of school was
yesterday. It's crazy around here. I saved your message because I was so
thrilled to hear about kids taking on the role of being a writer. That's
the measure of success, at least in my mind.
When you can motivate students to take responsibility for their own learning,
to find internal reasons for working to improve their own work....well,
I can't see how it gets better than that. Perfecting the craft (grammar,
transitions, sparkling language, etc) will come with practice and instruction.
Keep it up and thanks for sharing this bit of encouragement.
-Marsha
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Brenda shared an exciting collaborative project that connected her class
with students in Israel.
Sorry for replying so late to this question. This week I transitioned
from being a mom to becoming a grandma -- a step that turned out to be pretty
amazing. This life-changing event happened last Wednesday and the computer
has been the last thing on my mind. Now that I'm back from my soul vacation...
I am thinking about my most successful lesson this year. I guess I've had
a few "successful" ones but this one was successful because I
actually saw the cool, savvy middle school personae broken through.
The activity came out of our "We the Children..." online project.
For this project, my students had a chance worked alongside a Grade 6/7
class from Magan International School in Tel Aviv, Israel. The students
had been emailing back and forth and I wanted my students to get a feel
for the reality of life in Israel. One morning I pointed them to an extensive
"photo essay" presentation from the CNN site.
Up to this point, I would say my students viewed their Israeli peers as
they would any other 12 or 13 year old. This was largely because the emails
from Israel were void of any mention of the suicide bombings and violence
that were part of daily life if Israel. The kids wrote about the things
that concern most middle school kids -- sports, boy/girls, music etc. The
photo essay was very descriptive and graphic and took my students by surprise.
You could have heard a pin drop in the room as my students flipped through
the pictures of a war-torn country and read the accompanying explanations.
The kids who naturally default to joking around, suddenly took on a very
serious demeanor.
After they were done, we met together and discussed what we had seen, the
implications for their new foreign friends and their overall impressions
and feelings. The students were somber and talked about how different they
felt about terrorism since they now knew someone in Israel, how they watched
the evening news with concern, wondering if one of the suicide bombings
had occurred in Tel Aviv, and if so, had it touched the lives of one of
the kids from the Grade 6/7 class.
One boy told how he had attended a rally at his synagogue that week in support
of peace in Israel -- he even brought the program folder in for us to see.
We discussed some of the "We the Children..." writing that the
Israeli students had sent us...writing that spoke of the fear and terror
that they felt (but couldn't seem to discuss in their emails). We discussed
why it may be easier to write their feelings in poem form as opposed to
in their emails.
We talked about one poem that compared "dangerous" Tel Aviv with
"safe" Chicago. They learned what the term "relative"
meant as we discussed how even Chicago could appear like a safe haven when
compared to an environment where people strap bombs to themselves in support
of their "cause".
As I looked at their serious faces and passionate words I realized that
Internet access had not only broadened my student's world view but that
learning and compassion had penetrated their hearts. If you'd like to read
the writing from Magan International School in Tel Aviv, you can access
it at:
http://www.abccharter.com/StudentWebIndex/Rights/Israel/index.html
Sincerely:
Brenda Dyck
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Myrna commented on Brenda's project.
This was a most touching lesson. I plan to share it with my students
tomorrow. We just returned from a trip to NYC and I would say that the visit
to Ground Zero made the year's events come alive for the students. Our bus
was totally silent as we rode past and the students looked out and wondered.
Our yearly trip to Israel was cancelled due to this violence and while I
know the kids are disappointed, I don't really think they can imagine what
is really going on there. The essays from the school in Tel Aviv will be
so much more vivid than teacher talk. Thanks.
- Myrna
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Ellen Berg offered a lesson from her summer school session.
I'm going to cheat a little bit here and share my most successful lesson
this summer. I have been playing around with various aspects of RW-workshop
to work out the bugs before I try to go full-force in September. Our project
for the summer is a personal memory book. I've been reading biographical
picture books as read alouds to give them a "feel" for the genre
and giving writing mini-lessons on various writing techniques.
My students' first assignment was a "childhood memory" narrative.
The concepts I focused on were writing strong leads, including a beginning,
middle, and end, and peer revision. I avoided my usual weakness of rushing
kids through writing assignments because of my fear that my principal will
be unhappy that it takes us 2 weeks to complete a piece (which I found out
is no big deal to her--quality over quantity!). We also did lots of talking
about what they thought "good" writing was and about the books
we've shared.
The results? The papers my students have written are honestly the highest
in quality I have ever seen, even though this group is lower academically
than any I've had in the past 3-4 years. I had no one complain about writing
or revising because they really understood what I was looking for and I
had given them that "just in time" support.
This experience has really helped theory move to practice for me. I can't
imagine going back to the old way and the tedious writing I had to grade.
So far, no one has received less than a C according to the scoring guide,
and most of the narratives are A's and B's. Better yet, my students are
proud of their writing--one of my boys asked me to make 25 copies of his
narrative so he could distribute them at his family reunion--this from a
boy who statistically should be flunking out of school because of his situation:
abandonned by mom, adopted by grandma who just passed away 4 months ago,
now living with an aunt.
This experience was a big A-ha for me.
Ellen
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Ellen Berg delivered her lesson plan!
Okay, it's been more than a couple of days, but here is the lesson as
promised!
First, Rick pointed out the complete burn out on autobiographies his kids
have experienced. I would agree on that IF it were the type of assignment
that asked students to write about their entire lives. I think that type
of assignment is too broad and does not accomplish much.
The difference with this assignment is it's not so much an autobiography
as it is narrative writing about students' personal experiences, zeroing
in on one memory or another. Students MUST write from what they know, and
this forces them to do that. We did talk about taking liberty with the truth
(like adding reasonable dialogue though we didn't really remember exactly
what was said at the time).
The one project my students completed this summer was a personal memory
book that, ideally, will be added to over time.
The assignment I spoke of was a childhood memory narrative. Essentially
I did the following things:
1. Freewrite about a sad, happy, scary, funny, etc. time in your childhood;
something that REALLY stands out in your mind that seems like it would be
a good story to tell.
2. Reading lots and lots and lots of biographical and autobiographical writing
to get a feel for the genre. Kids' books especially. (Fictional texts that
had the feel of biographical/auto were also included like Rylant's "The
Relatives Came")
3. Mini-lessons on:
-- a. writing effective leads: we practiced writing leads for our papers
in each of the styles I introduced.
-- b. including the whole story--beginning, middle, and end.
-- c. considering your reader/audience--students exchanged freewrites and
wrote questions they had about what had been written to draw out details
-- d. revision: using my paper as a model, give feedback using a simple
Like/Needs Improvement two-column revision being sure to be specific
4. Time to write EVERYDAY.
5. Expectation and credit for two drafts, a critique by another student
and the final copy--demonstrates the importance of the process rather than
just the product.
6. Individual informal writing conferences. Students who showed frustration
through off task or inappropriate behavior usually needed me to sit with
them for a while to talk through their ideas. They had a real fear of putting
ideas to paper, but once they heard from me they were on the right track
or cleared up confusion, they were my most dedicated students. I saw PRIDE
in their writing, and that's worth more than the product itself.
I am not thinking very clearly right now, so if you have any questions or
there's information you need that I haven't included, please ask away. I
think my real pleasure with this unit/approach is the change in attitude
I have seen about writing. My kids have shown excitement and insist on sharing
their writing with me and anyone else who will listen!
Ellen
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LeeAnn shared a reading lesson.
My students and I read a story from Read magazine called "A
Letter from the Fringe." The main character of the story was explaining
what it felt like to her and her friends to be on the outside, or the fringe,
at her school. It was written like an open letter to all the other students
who looked down on them or harrassed them. After we read the story, I asked
my students to write their own letters to anyone that had ever made them
feel bad about themselves--to explain themselves to this person (or group),
not to get angry and defensive. They wrote to other students, teachers,
parents--and their letters were very powerful. We shared them in class (those
who wished) and we hung them in hall with all names blacked out. It generated
a lot of discussion in the halls too, among all the grade levels.
LeeAnn
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Cossondra shared a not-so pleasant "teachable moment" lesson.
Plagiarism !!
The English teacher and I collaborated on a unit about the 1960's (I was
teaching 8th grade American history). Unfortunately, a huge number of the
reports/projects were plagiarized, either in part or whole.
I had a long classroom discussion about plagiarism and assigned a 750 word
paper about plagiarism - what is it, why is is wron, how did students feel
towards other who plagiarize and get away with it, what punishments should
be, how they as an author would feel if someone plagiarized their work,
etc... They moaned and groaned initially -but EVERY student did the assignment
- the ONLY homework assignment all year the be completed 100% - the essays
were awesome - the students showed an incredible amount of maturity in their
thoughts on this issue. I was shocked at how many students confessed they
had plagiarized but not been caught, some on this assignment.
This assignment was the most thought provoking I have seen. I got the feeling
for some, it was among one of the first thing they had ever completely done
on their own!
Cossondra
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Marsha offered a lesson that developed from her work as a staff developer.
The best lesson that I taught to students came when I was working with
the library media specialist and art teacher who collaborated on a Women's
History project. Their idea was to build on Judy
Chicago's Dinner Party idea and let students do their own research about
a famous woman in history, then design a placemat, dinner plate and goblet
that symbolized that woman's achievements.
My job was to help them synthesize their research. The library media specialist
had done a terrific job of setting up their notetaking tool by having them
divide a 12 x 18 piece of paper into small boxes, each box having some kind
of fact inside. The problem these 7th graders were having revolved around
not being able to translate all those facts into symbols. They just didn't
get it. They were bored and wishing they were back in math class(not really,
but it was pretty bad!!!).
So I was lucky enough to draw that duty. Using an interactive whiteboard,
I hotlisted several dozen examples of symbols in three categories. The first
category was pretty straightforward and right out of the kids' media awareness
realm. The second I displayed those symbols, the classes were able to shout
out what it stood for (the golden arches, the "O" from Oakley
sunglasses, etc). Once they had that idea, I moved onto the next set of
symbols on my hotlist. Those were things I had created in Photoshop ---
a bus with a petite older African American lady who had crossed arms sitting
in a bus seat and the kids almost immediately recognized Rosa Parks. Next
I used several more: an outline of the state of Israel and a legislative
chamber(Golda Mier), a space shuttle morphed with engineering tools(Sally
Ride),a covered wagon, sodhut, and book (Laura Ingalls Wilder) etc. They
loved this part of the activity.
Finally we got to the moment of thinking. I had them look over their list
and think about what symbols they could use from their research notes. They
talked about it with a shoulder partner to refine ideas.
Then I showed them the last part of my hotlist, the part where the symbols
were not so straightforward. Again I had used Photoshop to create images.
My first one was the image of a Civil War Hospital, a lantern, and a pair
of inquiring eyes (Florence Nightingale), another image was of a woman leading
young children, dishevled people as she looked forward imposed on top of
an outline of Argentina (Evita Peron), a cropped image of the Vietnam nurses
from the Memorial.
At this point, the library media specialist whipped out all the arty books---you
know those coffee table types that have beautiful images --- and the kids
scoured through them looking for things that could be used to symbolize
their woman.
As a last touch to this, I had bookmarked the National Gallery of Art website
which has wonderful images and we looked at several pieces I had preselected.
Especially the goblets and all their detail. Then they went to work sketching
and searching books to find the perfect blend of symbols --- for two class
periods you could hear a pin drop.
When my part was over, the art teacher took back over and they went back
to her room to create the ideas they had imagined. Several weeks later I
had the pleasure of viewing the visual feast of women from all over the
world and time. Students had transformed symbols onto batiked placemats,
dinner plates and goblets. My favorite piece was usually the goblet because
it just seemed to inspire the kids to show the spirit of freedom --- like
a person reaching upwards ( they loved the goblets from NGA website that
showed this).
The art teacher is working in a different building next year. So I'm figuring
out how to teach this lesson as a cooperative, distance learning project.
It was too powerful not to do again. We'll just have to adapt to being in
different geographical locations...no big deal!!!
marsha
PS: I loved this lesson because I was a part of two other teachers who I
dearly love, respect and treasure. I loved this lesson because the kids
who had dreaded an art research project were fired up and interested. I
loved this lesson because I was able to use technology to amplify what the
learning objective was in ways I couldn't have done otherwise. I mostly
loved this lesson because I witnessed the miracle of student learning, discussing
big ideas and lots of light bulbs going off as their minds raced to make
the connections.
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Charles Lindgren came through with an engaging science lesson.
My best lesson this year had to be on asteroids. In February 0f 2001
the NEAR spacecraft made its closest approach to the asteroid Eros. I think
it actually "landed" on it on Feb. 14th. I wanted to try and duplicate
that event in my class. I darkened the room and suspended a small sphere
from the ceiling using clear fishing line to duplicate Eros. I then placed
a digital camera on a cart and had a student take a series of photographs
of "Eros" starting at a distant point in the room and continuing
until they "landed" taking one photograph every .5 meters. The
images were then projected on a screen and the students had to describe
the changes they saw in "Eros" as the "spacecraft" came
closer and closer.
The first image showed "Eros" as a little dot. Each succeeding
photo showed more detail as the "spacecraft" came closer. The
major problem with the assignment was that the students could see "Eros"
right in front of them. As a result they ignored the images and simply wrote
details about the sphere suspended before them.
After the 4th or 5th image some of the students actually started to seriously
look at the images and see things that weren't on the sphere. What they
didn't know was that I was actually showing them a set of images from the
previous class, and I'd changed "asteroids." Instead of a sphere,
they were looking at images of an irregularly shaped piece of lava.
We had a great discussion about preconceived ideas on what scientists thought
objects would look like and what actually appears. We then went back and
looked at the images a second time. Then they gave more realistic observations
on "Eros."
The software I used to show the images was "NIH Image" for the
Mac or SCION for the pc. This is a fantastic piece of software, and it's
free! Teachers can stack a series of images and animate them, create false
color images, make measurements, create 3-D images, etc.
Send your science teachers to
http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/
for a free download.
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Staff developer Melba Smithwick modeled her favorite lesson for the year.
My most successful lesson this year was when I went into an 8th grade
science classroom to model an activity on summarization. The students were
just beginning a research project and their teacher wanted to do something
different that would get the students more actively involved and not just
do the "same old stuff". The kids call it chunking, but it is
actually paired reading.
The students were given a xeroxed copy of one of the pages from a source.
They were asked to break up the reading into small chunks and number them.
Student A read chunk #1 while student B listened or followed along. Student
B summarizes what Student A read, they discuss and agree on the summary
and each write it down on a sheet of paper. Next, Student B reads chunk
#2 and Student A summarizes. They continue the process until the entire
passage is read and summarized. Finally, the each write their own summary
on the entire passage. This is an independent activity.
All of the students, 100% of them were engaged and seemed pretty enthusiastic
about it. The teacher followed me around as I monitored the class stopping
to coach students who were not working, encouraging them and teaching them
one to one if they needed it.
After the class was over, the teacher told me about the kids who usually
do not work, "so I'm giving up too soon, huh?" He then taught
the rest of his classes (3-90 minute blocks) while I moved on to another
classroom to model another reading strategy. During his last class, he sent
a student to get me so I could observe him teach this strategy for feedback.
This was my second modeling I had done for the year 2001-2002 as the new
staff developer on my campus.
I think the successfulness of this lesson was twofold. One, the teacher
had an "ahha" moment and continued to implement this strategy;
his 7th grade collegue heard about it and asked me to do the same for her
and her students. Two, my former students were so impressed that I actually
knew how to read, "how to do 8th grade science", and that I knew
other subjects besides math and algebra! Kids, aren't they wonderful?!
Melba
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Myrna, a teacher/principal in Atlanta, modeled an integrated project.
My idea this year was to model a project for the middle school teachers
that would integrate several disciplines and encourage independent research
for the students. I teach the Facing History and Ourselves program to eighth
graders and each year try to add several hands on projects to the units
in the book.
While in the airport I found a small book called, Postcards from WW.II which
contained both pictures and writings from American soldiers. I adapted this
idea and worked with the art and English teachers. Each section (3) had
a topic- rescuers, resistance and world response. Pairs of students in each
section chose a subtopic to research and then create a postcard from one
person in their study and then also create an illustration (which we tea
dyed to age). For example, one pair of students studied Raoul Wallenberg;
their postcard was from him to his government and the illustration was a
picture of him issuing false passports.
This project took about 3 weeks to complete-with weekly checkups using a
rubric.The students in each section presented their postcards and research
as a walking display through the hallway. What I learned was that the students
were totally involved because they chose their topics and were given the
responsibility of setting up the display.
Myrna
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At the urging of Trish, who had heard Rick Wormeli talk about a plagiarizing
lesson during a workshop, Rick shared this:
The lesson about which Trisha is speaking is a lesson that I've done
each year for the past dozen years or so and it's worked well. So well,
in fact, I have students coming back from college who say they were sorely
tempted to plagiarize on various projects in high school and college but
didn't after recalling the lesson.
This description comes from a rough draft I wrote for Meet Me in the
Middle (Stenhouse), so it's not as smooth as the final version in the
book, and it doesn't have the statistical research added to the manuscript
before publication. It appears in its final form in Chapter
Three of the book, "Brain Research Applied to Middle School."
Here's the draft:
Recently, I pretended to share a part of this chapter with my students on the pretext of seeking their critique. I actually shared an already published piece on teaching, but it was hidden in a notebook from which I read. A parent "plant" was in the room for the period, pretending to observe the lesson. I often invite parents to stop by, so it wasn't unusual.A speaker at a recent in-service training session in my school said that the amygdala on the hippocampus encodes emotions on to information before sending it to long-term memory. The emotion acts like a beacon. The stronger it is, the more easily retrievable the information. This is why learning experiences with a strong emotional component are retained longer and with more accurate recall than experiences that lack emotional attachment.
While I read and claimed the words were my own, the parent acted increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, she interrupted me and said that she just couldn't let me go on. She had heard the exact ideas I claimed as my own in another book. I assured her she was confused and continued. She interrupted me again, this time angrily. She said she was not confused, and she was sure I had lifted the material from another source. At this point, I let my face become red and I appeared more anxious about her words. Her anger grew until I finally admitted that it was "borrowed" from other authors.
She let me have it then. The parent spoke to me about being in a position of trust as a teacher. She said I was being a terrible role model and that my students would never again trust me with my writings or teaching. She decided this was a breach of professional conduct and that my principal would be informed. Throughout all of this, I countered with the excuses students often make when caught plagiarizing: It was only a small part, the rest of the chapter is all original. What does it matter that these few lines are not my own if nobody suffers from it? I've never done it before, and I'm not ever doing it again, so it's not that bad.
The students' jaws fell open in disbelief. They felt the unease of being trapped in a lie and having one's reputation impugned. At the height of the emotional tension between the parent and me, I paused and asked the students, "Have you had enough?" All thirty heads cocked to one side and mouthed, "What?"
With a smile and a thank you to the parent assistant, I asked how many folks would like to hear about six ways not to plagiarize material, then I went to the chalkboard. Notebooks flew on to desktops and pens raced across the page to get everything I taught for the rest of class. Students wanted to do anything to avoid the "yucky" feeling associated with plagiarism from moments ago.
I taught them how to cite sources, how to paraphrase another's words, and for how many words from an original source it was generally accepted you could use before you weren't paraphrasing any more. We discussed the legal ramifications of plagiarism and later we applauded the acting talent of our parent assistant. As the students left, they all said they would never again be tempted to plagiarize.
When my teacher got "caught" plagiarizing by my mom, I know I'll never forget it. The sensations were simply too real --..although my teacher is extremely moral, it was frightening how close to home it stuck. The moment when my teacher admitted it, the room fell silent. It was awful, all my life teachers have preached about plagiarism and it never really sunk in, but when you actually experience it , it's a whole different story. -- Laura, 7th grade
My English teacher's lesson on plagiarism was the most memorable lesson I'll have in his class all year. I'll never forget that tension we felt in the classroom. -- Pam, 7th grade
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