Internship 2/19 - Research, Research, Research!
Last week I had a week off from observations and interning in the classroom because it was only a three day week, and my Teacher Ed class had a trip to Emporia for the Educators Rising State Conference (more to come on that later!). It is yet again a three day week again this week, but I still have a couple days planned to be in my 7th grade classroom!
7th grade had an adjusted schedule again today because of their travel agency project. Their travel agency project comes to an end next Friday (Feb. 28th) and what I learned was that until then they will have an adjusted schedule every day until this project ends, in order to provide more time to work on this massive grade-wide project. But like before, even though there was an adjusted schedule I still got to observe my regular two social studies classes.
Today in their social studies classes they were in the middle of a three-day research project that was connected to their travel agency project. They have just finished their unit on Bleeding Kansas and have taken the unit test, but before starting their next unit they decided to take a couple days between units to do this mini-research-3-day-project related to their travel agency project. For the research project, instead of doing something "boring" like taking notes, the students are using their notes to make an online, creative infographic! I think this was a great idea as it's a fun project and it keeps the students engaged. Here is a breakdown of what they have been doing each day for the project...
As mentioned above, today in class they were learning about infographics. They started off class by watching a video about what an infographic is and what key elements make one effective. I thought showing a video was a great idea because the students were much more engaged by watching that than they would have been listening to their teacher lecture about the information. They then followed up the video by reading and annotating an article that went along with the video. I learned by observing the students do this that students usually have a hard time focusing on reading an article, but when you tell them to annotate it helps them retain what they have read and helps them to focus better on the task at hand (reading). With the remaining time they had (5-10min) the students started to apply what they had learned about infographics by reviewing their notes and planning out their own infographics.
What I learned today was that breaking up a research project into three days helps the students because the workload is more manageable, there is no homework, and it provides more time for them to discuss, clarify, peer edit, and revise before the final product is turned in. Also, that the best time to do a research project like this is between units!
7th grade had an adjusted schedule again today because of their travel agency project. Their travel agency project comes to an end next Friday (Feb. 28th) and what I learned was that until then they will have an adjusted schedule every day until this project ends, in order to provide more time to work on this massive grade-wide project. But like before, even though there was an adjusted schedule I still got to observe my regular two social studies classes.
Today in their social studies classes they were in the middle of a three-day research project that was connected to their travel agency project. They have just finished their unit on Bleeding Kansas and have taken the unit test, but before starting their next unit they decided to take a couple days between units to do this mini-research-3-day-project related to their travel agency project. For the research project, instead of doing something "boring" like taking notes, the students are using their notes to make an online, creative infographic! I think this was a great idea as it's a fun project and it keeps the students engaged. Here is a breakdown of what they have been doing each day for the project...
DAY ONE/LAST CLASS = The students researched and took notes over travel and culture info for their assigned countries for their travel agency projects.
DAY TWO/TODAY = They learned about what an infographic is and how to create an effective one.
DAY THREE/TOMORROW = They will be using their notes to actually create the infographic and peer review each others before submitting.
As mentioned above, today in class they were learning about infographics. They started off class by watching a video about what an infographic is and what key elements make one effective. I thought showing a video was a great idea because the students were much more engaged by watching that than they would have been listening to their teacher lecture about the information. They then followed up the video by reading and annotating an article that went along with the video. I learned by observing the students do this that students usually have a hard time focusing on reading an article, but when you tell them to annotate it helps them retain what they have read and helps them to focus better on the task at hand (reading). With the remaining time they had (5-10min) the students started to apply what they had learned about infographics by reviewing their notes and planning out their own infographics.
What I learned today was that breaking up a research project into three days helps the students because the workload is more manageable, there is no homework, and it provides more time for them to discuss, clarify, peer edit, and revise before the final product is turned in. Also, that the best time to do a research project like this is between units!
The first time I learned to annotate was not until 11th grade!
ReplyDeleteAnnotating equals deeper retaining of the material, no doubt. Interesting report!
ReplyDelete