Research Paper - Statement of Purpose

EMAIL YOUR STATEMENT OF PURPOSE TO BOTH TEACHERS BY 7 PM ON WEDNESDAY 3/21!

A statement of purpose is a beefy paragraph or two which states, in some detail, what you want to learn about in your research project and how you plan to learn it.   As you can see in the example below, a statement of purpose often includes many questions.

Statement of Purpose Example

I will be researching the Crusades for my research paper.  I’ve often heard them mentioned when people talk about fighting in the Middle East now.  I’ve always been fascinated with the Middle East; this is an area of the world that I’d love to see someday.  I don’t know too much about the Crusades other than that it involved Europeans and Arabs and that they were fighting over the Holy Land.  This happened a long time ago, I think in the 1200-1300s.  I want to know why Christians and Muslims fought so hard with each other during the Middle Ages.  I want to know what exactly they were fighting about, how they fought, where they fought and what the results were.  What kinds of weapons did they use?  How did the Crusades affect life at home for both Europeans and Arabs?  Did any women fight?  What about children?  I also want to how, if at all, the Crusades have influenced Muslim-Christian relations today.  For example, did 9-11 have anything to do with the Crusades?  Is the Israel-Palestine conflict shaped by this history too?  Are we still fighting over stuff from the 1100s?  That is kind of what I have inferred from things people have said, but I want to decide for myself if this is true.

I will rely on primary and secondary sources for my research.  Because the Catholic Church was involved, I’m pretty sure I can find some documents from priests and popes that will relate to this topic.  I also think there are pictures of the weapons and armor that I can find, as well as maps.  My father used to teach a Sunday School class about the Crusades so I will also ask him for help.   He might know some good books that I can read.  I will also look on YouTube.  Even though it’s not always the most reliable, it helps me to visualize things and sometimes I can find documentary excerpts there.  Finally, I found a young adult book called Babylonne that takes place in the Middle Ages and involves events from the Crusades.  This always helps me to understand the history that I am trying to learn.  I am going to order the book from Barnesandnoble.com.

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