The past two weeks have seen the students really settle in. I am starting to see the true sides to them. The challenges have begun, however, these challenges to keeping them engaged have been easier to handle with my new approach to my practice. The more activities I have them do, be it simulations, games, primary source documents with questions, and discussion have kept these disruptions short lived. Overall, things continue to go well and the students are mostly excited to be in class and are learning the key concepts.
One of the main points of my research is giving the students voice and choice. This past week we participated in a simulation about the period leading up to the Revolutionary War. They loved the simulation, it went great and they had fun. To assess their knowledge I had them write letters to their cousin in England. I had the students create a class rubric. They love doing this. They know what is quality work and what is not. They exhibited a maturity I did not know they had. The next day I had them share their letters with the members of their POD. They graded each others and their own using the rubric. Once again, they enjoyed this. They had the answers and the control. It was fun to see. Tomorrow I will have them write about what they learned from the activity of grading and evaluating.
As far as data so far, the first survey went much as I expected. The students for the most part enjoyed social studies in the past and enjoy school. My observations have been positive. Kids are more engaged and comprehending the main concepts. Their enjoyment is apparent and their responses to questions about class have reflected this. I have only received one somewhat negative comment. It had to deal with the noise level at times. I found this interesting since it came from a student that is one of my talkers. I have thought about the comment and have come to the conclusion that the student does not like the POD they are in. I will change up the groups this week and see if what affect that has. Until next time, Happy Teaching!
Wow, time really flies! It sounds like you have spent a good amount of time getting to know your students and creating motivating lessons.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I read your blog I smile. I would have loved to be in your social studies class when I was in middle school!
ReplyDeleteI really like that idea of having the class create the rubric for an authentic assessment, sharing it with the pods and then self & peer evaluation. Very cool! -VDH
ReplyDelete