Well, actually learning is never complete--but we did manage to tie our (for lack of a better term) "Learning Journey" up in a neat little bow this week. One of our goals is to have concrete data in our hands, and it felt like we all needed gasp! actual paper in our hands with said data recorded in some type of ink. Of course it is digital as well, but since this is our first LJ, we felt the students needed the stability of paper in front of them.
Our plan was inadvertently witnessed by representatives from Edutopia, but we're used to visitors at Wildwood (partly because of the IB program) so we just do our thing on every given day and if someone really important happens to come in, great--if not--well we still have the most important people of all--the kids.
Here's a rough timeline of our "Learning Journey":
We started by showing them how to access the documents from this site (see the above blog)
Students worked on the three documents in whatever order suited their fancy
They responded to the questions on a google doc
We moved on to THEMES. Due to their lack of familiarity with themes (murder is not a theme), we did a 5 corner (yes, I'm making up these terms as we go along) activity on themes. We referenced the video, and gave them these 5 choices: poverty, culture, identity, technology, and religion. This led to a rich discussion etc.
Next, we had them write their 9 themes (3 for each document) on post-it notes, gave them an old-fashioned piece of construction paper (like they did in the olden days) and asked them to sort, arrange and rearrange their themes, connect them in some way, word doodle around them, and finally, to narrow their 9 themes down to one solid theme that all 3 documents have in common. Not as easy as it might sound.
The next day, my esteemed colleague, Brigid Jennings, retyped their responses to the documents onto strips of paper and, working in groups, students assessed this anonymous student work according to a pre-taught rubric (Developing, Meets, Exceeds). This rubric can be seen on Aubrey's NGC Weebly page.
This led to an eye-opening lesson/discussion on what distinguishes a response as Exceeds vs Meets. For example, a student's BEST response is not automatically EXCEEDS. A fascinating discussion ensued, which led to the students truly understanding the level of depth inherent in one Common Core Standard when measured against student work. Again, not as easy as it sounds.
Students then looked at their response to the video document, and REWROTE it in order to EXCEED the Standard RH6-8.6 Incidentally, we also taught them how to paraphrase the standard.
Lastly, we gave the students a Reflection Template with questions. We chose to do this because we wanted concrete data (Reflections), and based on our formative assessments--Oh by the way--everything is formative!!!--we knew they needed guiding questions. I am also attaching the Reflection Template.
Our goal is to eliminate the need for specific reflection questions, but now in the beginning phase of this "Learning Journey", we know the students in front of us still need the training wheels.
And the Learning Journey continues...
Our plan was inadvertently witnessed by representatives from Edutopia, but we're used to visitors at Wildwood (partly because of the IB program) so we just do our thing on every given day and if someone really important happens to come in, great--if not--well we still have the most important people of all--the kids.
Here's a rough timeline of our "Learning Journey":
We started by showing them how to access the documents from this site (see the above blog)
Students worked on the three documents in whatever order suited their fancy
They responded to the questions on a google doc
We moved on to THEMES. Due to their lack of familiarity with themes (murder is not a theme), we did a 5 corner (yes, I'm making up these terms as we go along) activity on themes. We referenced the video, and gave them these 5 choices: poverty, culture, identity, technology, and religion. This led to a rich discussion etc.
Next, we had them write their 9 themes (3 for each document) on post-it notes, gave them an old-fashioned piece of construction paper (like they did in the olden days) and asked them to sort, arrange and rearrange their themes, connect them in some way, word doodle around them, and finally, to narrow their 9 themes down to one solid theme that all 3 documents have in common. Not as easy as it might sound.
The next day, my esteemed colleague, Brigid Jennings, retyped their responses to the documents onto strips of paper and, working in groups, students assessed this anonymous student work according to a pre-taught rubric (Developing, Meets, Exceeds). This rubric can be seen on Aubrey's NGC Weebly page.
This led to an eye-opening lesson/discussion on what distinguishes a response as Exceeds vs Meets. For example, a student's BEST response is not automatically EXCEEDS. A fascinating discussion ensued, which led to the students truly understanding the level of depth inherent in one Common Core Standard when measured against student work. Again, not as easy as it sounds.
Students then looked at their response to the video document, and REWROTE it in order to EXCEED the Standard RH6-8.6 Incidentally, we also taught them how to paraphrase the standard.
Lastly, we gave the students a Reflection Template with questions. We chose to do this because we wanted concrete data (Reflections), and based on our formative assessments--Oh by the way--everything is formative!!!--we knew they needed guiding questions. I am also attaching the Reflection Template.
Our goal is to eliminate the need for specific reflection questions, but now in the beginning phase of this "Learning Journey", we know the students in front of us still need the training wheels.
And the Learning Journey continues...