Learner Description -Heterogeneous group of regular education students.

Overview - Students will view the list of vocabulary for Chapter 5..

•Students will create a individual list of the eight words that they deem important.

•Students will work cooperatively to share their list of words.

•Students will create a group list of eight words to share with the class.

•Students will develop a group list of six words to know and understand

•Students will use this list to study the cultures of all the countries they study

•Students will create a final product using technology to teach the word to the class.

•Students will create a visual aide to be displayed in the classroom.

•Students will devise a learning activity for the class to do to practice their knowledge.

Rationale - Purpose for the unit as a whole. The WHY questions.

The purpose of the unit is for students to focus their study of the cultures of the worlds by understanding the major parts of culture.

 Why would this this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit?

•Students will receive first hand experience and knowledge about speicific aspects of all cultures.

•Students will direct their own learning by deciding what words should be taught.

•Students will take responsibility for their own choices by choosing the visual & final product.

•Students will be engaged at all times because they are responsible for all parts of this activity.

Why is technology an important component of this unit?

•Students will be accessing web sites to gain information.

•Students will create a visual display.

•Students will create a learning activity for the students to particiapte with.

•Students will create a final product with hyperstudio, appleworks or powerpoint.

Why is this project authentic/meaningful, and challenging for students?

•Students will have experiences in analyzing other cultures.

•Students will use the information from other cultures and compare with their own culture.

•Students will contribute their thoughts and ideas during brainstorming.

•Students will be required to contribute opinions with reasons.

•Students will be allowed to collaborate on decision making.

•Students will facilitate group work while maintaining individuality.

Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social - The WHAT questions

•Students will learn and use cooperative learning structures to work in groups.

•Students will learn and use social skills including attentive listening.

•Students will understand aspects of culture.

•Students will learn more about their own culture by learning about other cultures

•Students will learn teach each other about culture and practice what they learn.

What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are addressed?

SOCIAL STUDIES STATE GOALS:

17.A.3a Explain how people use geographic markers and boundaries to analyze and navigate the Earth (e.g., hemispheres, meridians, continents, bodies of water).

 

17.C.3a Explain how human activity is affected by geographic factors.

 

17.C.3b Explain how patterns of resources are used throughout the world.

LANGUAGE ARTS STATE GOALS:

3.C.3b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.

4.A.3a Demonstrate ways (e.g., ask probing questions, provide feedback to a speaker, summarize and paraphrase complex spoken messages) that listening attentively can improve comprehension.

4.B.3a Deliver planned oral presentations, using language and vocabulary appropriate to the purpose, message and audience; provide details and supporting information that clarify main ideas; and use visual aids and contemporary technology as support.

4.B.3b Design and produce reports and multi-media compositions that represent group projects.

5.C.3a Plan, compose, edit and revise documents that synthesize new meaning gleaned from multiple sources.

5.C.3c Take notes, conduct interviews, organize and report information in oral, visual and electronic formats.

Learning Activities - The activities required to achieve the goals.

•This project includes a group activity and an individual activity which was produced with the use of technology.

•Individually, the students reviewed a list of vocabulary for Chapter 5 in their textbook and created a list of words they deemed important to know.

•As a cooperative group, the students shared their words with explanations with their reasons. Together, the group created a list, of eight collectively to share with the class. As a class, we decided on the six most important words for the class to define and know in order to apply them to all the cultures that are studied throughtout the year.

•Each group was randomly assigned a word and the students defined the word and brainstormed ideas to teach the word to the class and display the definition and examples in the classroom. •Each student created one fourth of the visual dispaly and teaching activity to present to the dass.

•Students presented the visual display with the defintion and the .examples After teach group presented, the class partiicpated in the learning activities which allowed the students to apply their knowledge.

Student Assessment-

•Students were assessed on the research they gathered using a variety of resources.

•Students were assessed on quality and quantity of the information presented in their final product using a rubric.

•Students were assessed on their knowledge of the words by taking quiz.

Resources - What resources will you need to do this unit?

 •Students will need to access to computers for research on the internet as well as word processing and different programs to create their final product.

•Students will need access to Hyperstudio, AppleWorks presentation and scanners.

•Students will benefit from the help of their teacher and the gifted teacher.

•Students will use resources in the school library.

Management

 •Students will work with their cooperative groups during both parts of this projects.

•Students will maintain research notes and all handouts in a group folder.

•Students will keep track of their progress using a checklist.

•The teacher will check with students on the progress of their work using the checklist.

•The teacher will works as a facilitator and guide assisting students as the need arises.

Unit Evaluation

 What was effective?

•Allowing the students to choose their own words

•Allowing the students to create their own visual display and learning activity

•Allowing the the students to choose the type of technology they wanted to use to create their visual & learning activity

What wasn't effective?

•Not having a specific list of websites for students to use to direct student work.

•Not having a specific cooperative structure to guide student work.

•Not requiring the students to use a variety of sentences

What will I do differently next time?

•Separate the two projects, so the students are only working on one at a time

•Make available more specific web addresses that will help students research more effectively

•Asses the students on the process of their work using a rubric

•Give the students the rubric before the project begins