Taking the Driver's Seat

I find myself, after reading "Let Kids Rule the School" by Susan Engel, comparing my school experience to the eight students who taught themselves; the experiences were total opposites. It depresses me. I did well in school but never had the motivation or excitement to answer not only one but two history questions at the same time. I did what I did in school because it was what the teachers required. And it was what I required. To feel good, I needed good grades, not valuable knowledge. I memorized facts, sweated out the tests and then forgot all information I studied the night before. If you do this process continuously then information will stick, but not nearly as much as learning with purpose. Learning to enrich yourself and not just your report card. When I was in school teachers told me what to do. I did my work like a robot. These students in Massachusetts taught themselves. They read novels that they chose instead of novels that were required by the teacher. I find choose and independence have a profound affect on students school habits. I remember while attending my community college my history professor gave us the option to choose out of five historical novels to read. I chose what I liked and I  read the book (instead of going to spark-notes). Teachers still have a role in the school and the classroom. Students discover what they want to learn, find the questions that interest them, and then use the teacher as a resource. Of course, this will not work for every school, classroom or student. Some students need a push to learn. As a teacher I want my students to have independence in their learning and their choices, but at the same time guidance and direction from the teacher.       

Unit Plan: Progress

Our first lesson plan is developing nicely. We have allocated responsibilities for each aspect of the lesson plan evenly. Kat, Christina and I are all doing our part. When we meet as a group we are productive and efficient with our time. I am learning a lot of new things because our lesson plan is interdisciplinary. I have learned about the topography of South America, where gold is most likely found in a region and the enslavement of Indians to mine gold. South America has mostly gold and Mexico has mostly silver. I have learned there is a greater interaction between geography and people than I realized before.

There has been modifications to our first lesson. First, I did not fully complete the standards for Earth Science and Social Studies. I went back to the appropriate websites and found the standards addressed in our lesson plan. This will help me in the future when teaching lessons to make sure I provide a full and completed list of the standards addressed. Second, we included the procedure of how to use the Smart Board. As we learn more techniques for the Smart Board and Smart Notebook we will add more specified steps, but for now they are basic steps. Third, we modified our maps in Google Docs. I learned how to link websites to a Google Docs document. Fourth, we added a rubric for the student activity of writing in their journals. This will help us assess the students knowledge on the subject after the lesson is completed. Overall, our lesson planning is improving.    

Geography and Culture

When we were asked to do an interdisciplinary lesson plan I was skeptical it would not work well with social studies, Spanish, and earth science. What lesson could possible encompass all three content areas? Off the top of my head I had no ideas. We decided to start brainstorming. We knew we wanted to talk about some event in history that dealt with Spanish culture and people, and then find a historical event in which science was a major factor. We landed on Spanish exploration of Latin America. The discovery of the Americas was one of the greatest events in history; the Spanish explorers came for gold and silver- minerals learned in an Earth Science classroom. Geography (Earth Science) shapes the way people move (social studies) and defines culture; dialects and language (Spanish). We got our unit plan on paper... see I told you it would be easy, why did you worry?

    Now the question arises: How do we connect our unit plan to the community? There are plenty of ways to connect our unit plan to the community since we address three subject areas. If a student is of Hispanic descent we could ask them if their grandparents would want to come to the class and discuss living in Latin America during the revolutions. Additionally, the class, as a field-trip, could go to various parts of the community and take samples of soil to determine what minerals preside there. Then determine if their community would be a good location for explorers to exploit the resources. If the community does not provide valuable minerals what else makes the community valuable? Why do people want to live in the community? The students can find out what jobs citizens of the community have. Is the community growing in population or diminishing? Why? These are some sample questions that will get the students thinking about their community.