I am hosting the "Images of Greatness Challenge Centre" for Grade 6 and 7 students. Every year the students create new and wonderful projects! This year the students have picked great leaders to do projects on: Napoleon, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, DaVinci... Walt Disney, Terry Fox, Shakespeare, and Einstein!!!!This year, I have had the students focus on leadership while researching their eminent person. How is this person a leader? In what area are they a leader? How did (does) this person contribute to society?
We spent the first day...looking at leadership, and figuring out how to do research on line; the students were able to figure out who they wanted to research right away, and they also were able to begin creating their own products of learning. I liked how original and creative their ideas are. Always a pleasure to see the focus and to experience their ideas coming alive.
I never have a student who can't think of a project. I also love how each student takes the project and learning to their own level. Although I provide an outline of what needs to be accomplished, I also keep the projects open ended so that the students have some freedom to go where they need to.
Tomorrow, the last day, students will be presenting their projects. The assignments are split between more traditional poster board projects and smart board/ powerpoint presentations. Many students are interested in designing quizzes to give to their classmates!
Great job, Grade 6 and 7's!
Working with a new group of Grade 6 and 7 students on Images of Greatness; we are looking at leadership, eminence, and studying some interesting people and the contributions they have made to society. We are learning from the masters, and applying these lessons to our own understanding of leadership.
The students are involved in research and are putting their ideas together. It is amazing how comfortable they are researching on line and brining in portable devices such as iphones and iPads and laptops to do their research.
We've had lots of class discussion on how to do effective research on-line. Although not new to this area, what is new is how I frame it for students. I have been using Internet Literacy in the Classroom
This resource has been helpful in identifying better ways to use google, and how to check websites for accuracy, and how to verify evidence. As well, this resource shows how to cite websites.
I am sure there are many other resources out there, and if you know of any, plese let me know! Happy researching, everyone!
When working with a group of students who you do not know, and asking them to produce a large project in a few short days is a huge "leap of faith". This is the Challenge Centre.....letting the students "Go For It..." and creating something spectacular. I have to rely on the fact that I am asking them to step out of their comfort zone and create projects that are open ended and do not have a specific format. I want them to decide on how they will share their learning and create their own interpretations. I give the students lots of criteria, show them lots of examples, and give them lots of options. However, I rely on them to come up with their projects. I am there to help them and facilitate the learning, but I really leave it up to them to decide what they want to create. For some students, this is new and frightening. For others, this is what they always do. However, I have clear expectations about how we make this place safe so that all of our learning, wherever we are, is encouraged, and accepted. Celebrated. In this particular unit, I wanted students to learn from the lives of "famous" people....and take this learning and apply to their own lives. I want them to ask themselves, "What did this person do?" and "Why are their accomplishments important to us, now?" and "what hardships did this person have to overcome?". I also encouraged students to dress "in role" of the person they studied, to get into character of being this person. Because of time constraints, and depending upon who the person is, some students were able to be in role, while others found it more difficult.Students were encouraged to bring in laptops to work on their projects Many chose to do powerpoint presentations: this one is on Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party A great project on Leonardo daVinci An alphabet book about Steve Jobs
Martin Luther King Jr. Products of learning: a model (bird's eye view) of Washington Monument when MLK jr. made his famous "I have a dream" speech Model of Martin Luther King Jr. Backboard projectsA painting Model of Anne Frank's annex; where her family and her hid; an interesting interpretation of the project....I appreciated the diversity of ideas. Time line of Anne Frank's life Project on David Suzuki; well researched and displayed. Project on Nefertiti, in a question and answer format.An alphabet book was a popular choice. Queen Elizabeth 1 Nefertiti time line...tea stained to make it look like an artifact.Models of DaVinci's famous inventions.I encourage the students to experiment, and make mistakes. I encourage them to try new things.....for example, one student spent a great deal of time on a product of learning and then decided not to use it in her presentation. It was a valuable lesson and learning opportunity to realize we create things that may not be part of our overall plan, but it is still worthwhile to explore.I was impressed with all the hard work and valuable learning. We crammed all of our presentations into the afternoon and a bit of the morning, and we barely had time for questions, or feedback.As well, I had no time to edit and proofread student's work. If I had them for another day or two, I would have built this into the program - so much of the work is not edited and in its "raw format". I am always struggling with this aspect of the program, but since we have such as short time together, I have to "let this go", so to speak.Thank you grade six and sevens; you are well on your way to being powerful and engaged learners!
