Weeks 10 and 11

The past two weeks have been pretty much like the rest. The students continue to respond to the design of class. It has been a lot of business as usual, except for one major success this past week. The topic we have been covering the past two weeks has been the expansion of the U.S. from 1800 to 1850. I used PowerPoint for about ten minutes twice. No problems with that, students took notes and were engaged. They received three readings on the information that they worked with in a couple of different ways. One reading I had them read and answer the questions. We then went over the answers and expanded on the information in a large group discussion. The middle reading, I had the students HUGS it. This is a reading strategy that I wanted to try to help increase comprehension and also mix it up from reading and answering questions. The H stands for highlight. I demonstrated the process of highlighting and we discussed that they should only highlight about 1/3 of the reading. The U stands for underline. They were to underline words they did not understand. We then went over the words to help understand the words. The G stands for gunk. In their notebook, they were to write any obstacles that they are facing that is blocking them from understanding the reading. Once again, we went over this piece as a class. Finally, the S stands for summarize. Their homework was to summarize the reading. The next day,s in their PODS, they read each others summary, and picked out the one they thought was the best. I read those back to class, and we discussed why these were chosen as the better summaries.

In order to assess their understanding, I tried another new technique I learned in my OB1 class last weekend. It is called academic choice through power learning. Once again, in their PODS, they worked together to accomplish the assessment. This activity puts them in charge and allows them to make choices. The first task is P, plan. With the three readings they were to discuss the main points of the information. O is the part where they go over their options of what they want to produce with the groups main points. W is the work stage where the group creates a visual that expresses the key concepts they chose from the readings. E is the exhibit stage where one member stays to explain the visual while the other members go around the room and see what others created and ask questions of the other groups. R was a whole class reflection of the content and the process. In order to keep the students focused and use their time effectively, I gave them time limits for each task. Using my handheld stopwatch, I told them how much time they had for each task, and provided them a countdown. By keeping the time from them, it allows me to stop early if they finished early or give more time if I felt they need it. This was very effective and kept them on task and the process moving. The response to the activity was overwhelming. They loved it. They chose what they thought was important from the content. I facilitated the activity, but they were in charge. All day long, every class was fully engaged. The students said they liked being in control, felt the timed stages kept them focused, and most importantly they realized they had understood a lot of the content. They really enjoyed the entire process and want to do it again. Finally, fro homework, I had them evaluate each others contributions to the group as well as evaluating themselves.

It was a great two weeks that culminated in a way I never expected. This was as big of a success as I have had this school year so far. It was wonderful seeing them engaged and having fun, and most importantly, the products they produced demonstrated understandings of different concepts that proved they got the content. I will definitely use this strategy again later in the year. Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving!!