Grace Althoff Unit Portfolio Presentation
Unit Summary Phrase One: Build a motivational guide and a rationale to learn and use the rules. Start by playing an “unknown game.” Example participants stand in a circle, passing around a ball or other object. Only the teacher knows the rules, such as: Anyone who receives the object quietly and passes it on stays in the circle. Anyone talking while receiving, holding or passing the object leaves the circle. At the end of the game, or if you make it that far. Ask the students if they know what the rules are for this game. Ask questions, such as What happens when we don’t know the rules? How do we feel about playing a game with our rules? Would some information be helpful? Can anyone tell me the rules of this game? Rules are natural and helpful.
Curriculum-Framing Questions Essential Question Why do we need rules? What happens when we don’t know the rules? What is Sportsmanship? Unit Question What happens when we don’t know the rules? How do we feel about playing a game without rules? Safety? Purpose? Fairness? Success?
Curriculum Framing Questions Content Questions What are rules? What are some ways rules can help us to get along on the playground, games or sports. What is the “Golden Rule” and how does it apply to the “Game of Life”
Days of Rage Project This project will help my students develop 21 st century skills through: Collaboration with peers. Research on the Internet to find information Evaluation of the relevance of music/pictures to their topic. Composition/creation of a “digital story” to communicate their learning.
Gauging Student Needs Assessment Purpose of the Anticipation Guide Pre-Assessment To gather information about what students think about the Essential and Unit questions related to the content—to activate their prior knowledge and stimulate interest in the topic. Purpose of the K-W-L Pre-Assessment To determine student prior knowledge regarding unit content What I want to learn from my students? What do students know about the events of the 1960s? How I have tried to promote higher-order thinking? The anticipation guide asks students to evaluate, apply, and judge based on their own opinions and experiences. The K-W-L chart will be used to help students determine what they need to research about their topics.
How the assessment information helps me and my students plan for upcoming activities in the unit? If students do not have any knowledge of the topic, I will know if I need to direct them to specific websites rather than allow them to search for information without guidance. Students will be able to use the K-W-L to create questions for research and to gauge their own learning. Gauging Student Needs Assessment
My Goals for the Course Help students understand that people react different ways to the injustice in their lives. Help students evaluate others’ reactions to injustice/think about how they react to injustice and evaluate the effectiveness of choices people make. Learn about digital storytelling and how it can help students become aware of how media can be used easily to create bias/show one side of an issue.
Goals for My Students To be a leader: Exploring multiple causes of events Looking at multiple perspectives of events Identifying the immediate effects of events Identifying long-term implications of events To improve their technology and research skills by: Asking questions about reliability and accuracy of websites and information sources Learning to download video, pictures, and music Use a “digital storytelling” program to create a multimedia presentation that is content-rich yet emotionally moving
Request for Feedback How do I fit in a component where students can write about or do something related to perceived injustice in their lives or in society today? How do they think they would react— violently or nonviolently? Why? What type of activity would fit?
Works Cited Slide one picture: Fit City 2009, Scottsdale AZ 1996 Peace Education Foundation Unit Summary slide: “School Days, The Simpsons