| Outcomes
to be met: |
- Write to inform
and to express personal ideas
- Read to be
informed and for pleasure
- Work cooperatively
to evaluate situations and make informed decisions to solve problems
using multiple strategies
- Add, subtract,
multiply, and divide whole numbers and decimals through the thousands
and in monetary notation
- Use multiple
representations to display data
- Analyze and
internalize the reasons for westward expansion and the hardships
found along the way
- Discuss cause
and effect relationships of traveling west in the 1800's and through
the physical features and climate of the U.S.
|
| Technical
needs: |
- Access to a
computer with large screen presenting capabilities and an Internet
connection
- Firewall permissions
for chatting
- Networked printer
and computer lab for possible extension projects
- Scanner and/or
digital camera for archiving assignments or activities to be used
in the closing activity
|
| Procedures: |
- Register for
the event on the website. (3-4 weeks prior to beginning the event.)
Begin plans for involving other classes if reasonable. Discuss possible
firewall restrictions with tech office or tech facilitator.
- Layout a timeline
for the 5 weeks and look for connections between scripted events
in Westward Ho! and those in the Open Court Series. Reserve
lab time for weekly chat sessions and general work time for the
project. Discuss scheduling changes with administration for chats
that may occur during instructional time originally planned for
another subject.
- Visit archived
chats with teachers and plan for problems that have been experienced
in the past. (See below)
- Preassess students
to see what their current knowledge of the subject is, then give
them the background knowledge they need in order to benefit the
most.
- Decide on extension
projects that fit with student interests and learning styles. Plan
for computer lab time in which to complete these projects if web
enhanced. Develop grading rubric for these projects and due dates
if they will be done primarily at home
- Each student
is given an identity they will be portraying throughout the journey.
Each person has a different fate and different perspective on the
trip itself. These identities are grouped into "families"
which will be the smallest decision making unit in the project.
Organize students into families and assign them identities. Discuss
how gender, age, and occupation might have affected the perspective
of each traveler.
- Have students
begin a travel diary, recording their thoughts of what they think
the trip will entail, and how they will cope with the difficulties.
This will be an ongoing assignment for the duration of the project,
and part of the closure of the assignment.
- Get involved
in the discussion board with other teachers to further familiarize
yourself with the layout and design of the project. Talk with the
creator (Wagonmistress) about a final checklist before starting
the project with the students.
- Day one of
the official project involves a wagon train kickoff, where all of
the classes meet in an online chat to wish each other luck and share
concerns over their upcoming journey. Students can begin to offer
concepts to others as well as receive them from their new companions.
Pique student interest early by making a sample of a traditional
meal from the time period and celebrating the onset of their journey
west.
- From this point
on during the scheduled Social Science time and a portion of Reading,
use a combination of the planned itinerary from the website and
classroom decided extension projects to cover the content standards
set forth by MSDE and Open Court. These include daily use of the
Travel/Fate cards, where students are put in a situation that will
require them to think critically and make a decision as a group.
These decisions will cover a variety of curricular goals as mentioned
at the top of this table. Student's daily requirement of a journaling
activity should be met as a closure to every lesson. One time a
week, the class will meet in the computer lab to take part in the
chat session to exchange thoughts from the week and to take part
in a Travel/Fate situation as an entire wagon train. Extension projects
will be completed at home (with support from the teacher) on their
own schedule as laid out previously.
|
| Foreseen
difficulties and backup plans: |
-
While
all Internet dependent activities have their chances of being derailed
due to extraneous circumstances (connection failures, etc.), this
project has some safety nets built in. In the event that a weekly
chat with the other classes fails, each discussion is archived so
that it may be downloaded at an alternate time. The fireside chats
with the other teachers allow for debriefing in the event of a problem.
Also, the project has been intentionally overplanned to allow for
differentiation of classes, as well as giving the teacher options
should a technical difficulty arise unexpectedly. If
firewall problems can't be overcome, downloading the chat sessions
can be another solution. However, this will drastically limit the
amount of peer collaboration students will experience.
-
Since
the weekly chats are synchronous in nature, scheduling a time to
use the lab at the time set by the project may be difficult. The
computer lab is the only place in the school with access to an LCD
projector to view the chat with an entre class. If scheduling falls
through for this, the school owns a mobile lab that could be used
for this purpose. This will of course introduce other problems,
but it is an option.
|
| Closure
and evaluation: |
- By this time, students will have had formal assessments of their
knowledge through county made assessments and Open Court assessments.
The evaluation of the Westward Ho! project will come by
way of the daily journals the students have kept. Each student will
self-evaluate their journals for their best work (based on a rubric)
and prepare them for the construction of a class photo/memory album.
The album will be a summary of the events and problems of the previous
5 weeks and will include the perspective of the students themselves.
As had been done in the kickoff to the event, the last day will
include a celebration of the families that made the journey successfully.
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of this project will come partially
from student responses in their journal and on assessments, and
partially from an overall response seen from the students throughout
the project. A teacher needs to know if their instruction is getting
through to the learners and whether or not the mode of instruction
is effective. There must be an ongoing evaluation of the activities
as the project moves forward so the teacher can adjust if necessary.
Choosing Westward Ho! simply because it takes place partially
online is not enough. If the outcomes can be taught more clearly
and efficiently in a traditional setting, then it should be done
that way. Debriefing of the experience with other teachers in the
project will help with the introspective evaluation that will be
done by the teacher.
|
