KONY 2012

Want to know more about the KONY 2012 movement that is exploding all over Facebook and Twitter?  Check out these links:

 

• KONY 2012 Invisible Children Web Site
• KONY 2012 Movement's Response to Critics
• Visible Children - KONY 2012, Viewed Critically by Grant Oyston
• Let's Talk About KONY by Daniel Solomon, Georgetown student and National Director of STAND
• The Problem With Invisible Children's "Kony 2012" by Michael Deibert, author of Democratic Republic of Congo:  Between Hope and Despair
• Kony 2012 and the politics of sending a brutal villain viral by Nicky Woolf, reporter for the Guardian

SPRING BREAK EXTRA CREDIT SPECIAL!
Visit the sites above and some others too.  Think through all sides as best you can.  Then respond to this question here on this blog (2-3 beefy paragraphs minimum):

SHOULD STUDENTS SUPPORT THE KONY 2012 MOVEMENT?  WHY OR WHY NOT?

[worth +10 pts on your next DBQ; ex. if you earn a 75%, you would get an 85%]

Teaching Project Reflection Assignment

Choose three of the following prompts.  Write one paragraph for each prompt (three paragraphs total).  It is okay if you want to combine two prompts in one (say #1 and #3 for example), but this will only count as one of your three required prompts and paragraphs.  Email your reflection to both Mr. Kelly and Kristen by Friday 3/9 at 10 pm!

1. I was surprised by...
2. I really enjoyed...
3. I am most proud of...
4. The hardest part was...
5. I wish...
6. I wonder...
7. My favorite moment was...
8. I learned...
9. If I could start all over, I would...
10. My advice to Kristen and Mr. Kelly if they do this project next year is...

PETE&C: Civil War Experience Podcast Project

We are so excited to be presenting in the Student Showcase at PETE&C on Tuesday, February 14th!  Please check out our project packet and our podcast examples below.

Emma

Marie-Louise

Mini-Lesson: Wrap Up Ideas

Every good lesson includes a 3-5 minute wrap up activity.  Sometimes this is called closure.  The purposes of a wrap up include:

• reinforcing the major points to be learned
• providing time for processing what has been learned and students' organizing of the information
• encouraging individual and group reflection on the lesson
• giving the lesson concepts further meaning for your students by connecting to present day issues and/or past units of study
• teacher assessment of student learning (did they get it?  what questions do they still have?)

Here are some ideas for lesson wrap-ups:

• ask students to fill out a "ticket to leave" in which they write 2 things they learned in the lesson (or variation); can also use footprint shapes for students to record what lessons they are "walking away with"
• ball toss:  write questions on a beach ball ball and toss it to students. whoever catches the ball must answer one of the questions on the ball.  can also use a ball without writing and just ask the questions orally

Questions might include

I learned...
I'm beginning to wonder...
I have a question about...
I'm beginning to understand...
I want to know…
I feel…
I think…
Today, I understood…
I was surprised that…
I would still like to know more about…
I am still confused about…
This lesson was valuable because…

• circle out:  have students stand in a circle and share something (what they learned, what they liked best, what they still don't understand, what they're wondering about... a zillion ways to do this)
• whip around:  students share one word or phrase that summarizes the lesson for them (could also create a group wordle or tagxedo with the words)
• 1 minute picture:  give students 60 seconds to draw a picture of the most important thing they learned in the lesson; have them share with partners
• headlines:  students write a one sentence headline summarizing the lesson (can be combined with picture)

For more ideas, check out 40 Ways to Leave a Lesson

Mini-Lesson: Warm Up Ideas

A typical lesson plan includes a warm-up or motivating activity.  The purpose of a warm-up can include the following:

• generate students' interest in the topic
• find out what students already know about the topic
• wake them up and get them excited to learn more

Warm-ups can take many forms.  Some ideas include:

• music!  listen to a relevant song
• movies!  share a relevant movie clip
• art!  analyze photographs, posters or paintings
• stories! share a relevant story (fiction, historical fiction, oral history) that will pique students' interest
• poetry!  read a relevant poem
• vocabulary!  share important words related to the topic; perhaps using a wordle or tagxedo
• drama!  give students short scenarios and ask them to act out the scene in 30 seconds or less (want to give them props?)
• statues!  give students a scene or image and ask them to recreate it using their bodies as statues (perhaps project backgrounds for them to use)
• comics!  share a political cartoon or relevant comic
• games!  play a quick jeopardy review, hangman, tic-tac-toe (have to get question right to place an X or O), etc.
• connections! show students how the topic connects to today or a past unit of study

Here are some links for more ideas!
About.com 10 Warm-Ups for Lesson Plans

Mini-Lesson: Bibliography Reminders

The project rubric includes a section for your resources.  You must prepare a bibliography to submit along wtih your final lesson plan.  The rubric reads:

Bibliography – list of sources used includes at least 6 well-chosen sources, including the 2 or more primary sources used in the lesson, and is formatted in proper MLA style in alphabetical order; bibliography is due the day the lesson is taught

Mini-Lesson: Lesson Plan Format

There are a zillion ways to teach, and thus a zillion ways to develop a lesson plan.  Because this is your VERY first lesson plan, we are going to follow a fairly traditional lesson plan format.  There is plenty of room for creativity within this format:

1. Title of Lesson:
2. Teachers:
3. Date and time:
4. Objectives (include content and skills):
5. Anticipatory Homework:
6. Introductory Warm-up:
7. Activities:
8. Wrap-up:
9. Materials/Resources:

Today we want you to start working on your lesson plan.  The most logical place to start is with OBJECTIVES.  Before you can plan homework, or decide which cool videos or images you want to use, you need to figure out your goals.  Your objectives should include content (what the students are learning about - Ex. Daily life inside the Warsaw Ghetto) and skills (how the students are learning - Ex. Detect cause and effect relationships ).

Here is a list of some BIG picture Social Studies skills from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Information Literacy
• Flexibility and Adaptability
• Initiative and Self Direction
• Social and Cross-Cultural Skills

You should also take a look at the National Council for Social Studies Essentials of Social Studies Education list for more specific skills.

By the end of workshop today, we'd like you to submit a draft of your objectives to us.  You should have anywhere from two to three objectives for your lesson.