Lesson+Designs

Please post your lesson designs here. You can use the discussion tab to provide comments and feedback to members of the class. I have created a discussion link for each of you.

Amy I will have students create a "how-to" video of a word play board game called chunk stackers. With support, they have determined the rules of the game. I have created a graphic organizer for the script, and they are currently working through scripting the introduction, rules/how to play, and conclusion. Next we will do filming. I plan on giving them 15 or so minutes each class to work on the project, as it is an addition to the curriculum I am covering. Each student has been given a role - director/filmer, game players, narrators, and the comedians. Keeping the comedians on task is a biiig challenge. The students who are the filmer/editors are playing around with the technology to get a feel for it. There is a classroom leader who is the director/chief writer. The balance of the class is helping with the script. With much support and guidance, we will produce the short video. After the premier, I will have them reflect and speak about what they learned/how they felt this loose collaboration went/what was comfortable and uncomfortable about the project/ what they liked and disliked.

Rachel I will be doing a debate with my chemistry classes. The class will be divided into teams. They will have to read about a certain topic and then debate why their topic is the best. When this is done in my classroom we will either be covering solutions where they can debate the difference between unsaturated, super saturated and saturated or acids and bases where they can debate neutral, acidic and basic. Each team will be required to make a picture representing their group.

Kemarah I am creating a digital story about evaluating website. The story will be two website creators discussing their work, one is an Egyptologist and the other a psychic. These are real website I have found and the video will end with images of the video and a how-to for evaluating different websites. The students will then have to find their own websites and evaluate them using the same criteria I use. This is a part of a bigger assignment which my students are researching a specific aspect of Greece using limited resources like a Webquest. The girls will then need to make a connection to a different time or place using the subject they are researching. In order to do this they would need to find their own resources.

Alan- My lesson design is for the students in my TV Production class to re-make their favorite movie. They will each successfully complete the project by directing, producing, editing and screening their own 2 minute version of the movie they pick.

Each student will pick the movie, and complete an initial 3 panel story board that identifies the movie and three important scenes, or a beginning, middle and end for their remake. From the initial storyboard, each student will prepare an expanded storyboard. The recommendation is that each expanded storyboard should contain 8 –12 panels elaborating on the details of the scenes they will portray in their film. (This number of panels was arrived at by calculating that there would be approximately 4 – 6 scenes a minute, and that the finished film length would be 2 minutes in length).

Students will work in groups of 4 to shoot the actual movies, but each student will be responsible for their own unique storyboards and editing their own film. More than one student may pick the same movie, however each student must pick different parts of the movie to re-make, and are still responsible for creating their own unique storyboards and editing their own film. The finished film must be P or PG-13 rated.

Dan and Helga I am going to do a rap battle in which students will have to take the point of view of different physicists. They will work in groups of two, each one takes a different physicists. In their rap battle they will have to demonstrate knowledge of their physicists work, tell why it is important, and create a "dis" of the other physicsists that shows that they are familiar with their work as well.

This will be assigned in class with much of the work taking place outside of class. I will give students a list of physicists to chose from and a brief bio or each one. Students will present their final product in class. They can either create a video of their rap battle, perform it in front of the class, or create some kind of visual for students who do not want to actually rap. I need to be careful and make sure I emphasis that the raps need to be school appropriate.

In the presentations I am looking for students understand of their physicists theories and works and the historical significance of the works.

Breanna I am having my students each create a digital story to explain the process of American imperialism in the early 20th century. Over the weekend, they needed to do a webquest to learn what a digital story is and look at a few examples. In class on Monday and Tuesday, the class will be in the computer lab working on their digital stories. We will be using Voicethread to create the digital stories. The students have already turned the lectures that we went through in class into storyboards with images so they are ready to turn it into a digital story. The students will need to have at least 6 slides in their story and use the vocal text on each frame. They will need to choose 3 pictures from the New York Public Library available in Voicethread and 3 can come from elsewhere. I'm hoping that they will have fun with the activity and internalize the learning more through this process.

Gresham/Forrest

During a lesson on making a stable food supply, for a Do Now I listed different food items on the board with prices. Each child could spend about $20 to make the best meals they could for the next week. There was one student who claimed that the prices from Stop and Shop were too high and that he could sustain his family by using grocery items from the Dollar Tree he shops at in Avon. We had some colorful dialogue about his claim and from there I sarcastically offered Bonus Bucks if he could prove that he could stabilize his food supply at the Avon Dollar Tree. About a week later he came in with a recording of his latest visit to his favorite store. On the recording there was an interview of several employees including the cashier in the checkout line. He narrated his trip and zoomed in on price tags, food items and employees to prove his point. This is the foundation for the project we are planning to do for the class. We want students to record an element of civilization as they see it in the world and represent this characteristic through a practical use of math to support the idea that students must be sharp in math to properly understand the world they are living in.

** Rationale (work in progress): **

Smith Leadership Academy focuses on discipline and problem solving as the main tenets of being young leaders. I feel strongly that a leader must be efficient in the leading trends of society. Technology opens doors to the world that our young leaders will be expected to change. Our mission will be incomplete if our children leave having not gotten the opportunity to practice the technological skills needed to survive in one of the words leading internet-accessible nations**.** African-Americans represent less than 2% of the latest internet-based start up companies in Silicon Valley. Our children aren’t exposed to technology in a way that promotes creativity, and the learner-centered approach that students need to gain interest in the field. The power of having students control new forms of media could lead to a change in who’s representing our nation in years to come.

By using recording-technology in a history setting we are essentially giving kids the power to re-write or affirm key moments in history. We tell our children that they should approach history the same way professionals would in the field. Students have to understand that in taking the course they are social scientists, so it is important to give them the proper tools to pursue this idea outside of the classroom and in the setting of their choice. Allowing children the opportunity to think critically about their environment and the characteristics that build community is ideal when promoting leadership.

(Add Math reasoning here) Some of the most important guidelines that determine our day to day lives come from math discovery. For example, the Neo-Babylonian empire in Mesopotamia is credited with discovering math principles that lead to the 7-day-week and recognizing 60 minutes in an hour.

This project will be an opportunity to teach children critical literacy. The ability to think deeply and identify driving forces in the community will change their outlook on life and education. This project is key because it allows kids to take their education outside the classroom and into the world. The ability to do this could lead to a higher rate of growth because they are creating problems that need to be answered and solving them in their community. Considering that our school is about leadership, the piece from Goodman Ch. 2 connects to our values and the essence of our project. Our children will get a chance to be critical producers of media as well. **I think it will be interesting to add a piece to the project about what they think about black movies or blacks in the media before we do anything else.**

With our students going out to get footage and investigate their community they will in turn be gaining a deeper understanding of race, gender and society. Elements of scientific literacy are embedded in this project as well. Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. Developing skills in this area will guide college choice, major life decisions and social awareness. This project will allow children to investigate the social ills of American society through the same lens that world leaders look through. Confronting and deeply analyzing these issues will foster a sense of urgency to motivate productivity in school and prepare them for the independence that the cocoon of inner city life strips from our children.

For our pilot this year we had to cap admission at 16 students even though more than 30 volunteered. When I introduced the idea to the students I made sure to be clear that this would be a huge commitment and you would not be chosen if I felt like you have trouble getting homework done consistently or if you ran the risk of getting detentions after school and possibly miss an after-school meeting. **I will be interested to see this group of students grades and discipline reports prior to being selected for the project and during this time as well.**

SLA Mission

The mission of Smith Leadership Academy Charter Public School is to develop high-achieving students of good character who use problem solving, communication and interpersonal skills to inspire others and to catalyze educational, economic and political advancement within their communities and the broader nation.

** Language Goals: **

** SWBAT ** show mastery of key vocabulary through dialogue of visual presentations.

SWBAT demonstrate mastery of improptu speaking while using visual aid

** Content Goals: **

** SWBAT ** develop a practical use of math principles

** SWBAT ** analyze key elements of civilization

** SWBAT ** determine relationship between characteristics of civilization and daily life

** Tech Skills ** use of camcorder, editing,

** Meeting 1 of 4 (12 to 18 children) **

** Goals - Introductions of Project, Schedule **, **Guidleines**

Procedures

1 ) Who remembers the 7 elements of civilization? (Share all 7 as a class)

2) Provide background on how Fernandes got Bonus Bucks in October and show his project at Dollar Tree as an exemplar

3) Allow students to analyze the elements of civilization. Are there any particular staples of our everyday life that fall under one of the seven categories? An example would be sports or fashion falling under the arts category. Are there other elements that should be represented here?

4) Groups will take about 5 minutes to write out some points using a shortened Open Response/ Accountable Talk format to submit project idea to their groups.

5) Final Decisions will be made and submitted at this point.

6) Handout Meeting Schedule (Next Meeting topics: Math Principle, Location Decisions, Narration and Foundation of Facts)

7) Guideline Sheet Separate *