Recent Changes

http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00409.html
This response to an LM_NET request for cyber safety lesson plans offers not only ideas, but reviews of available cyber safety software.
http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00394.html
This is a hit from LM_NET that offers individual books and lists of novels that can be used with ancient civilizations and archaeology for grade 7.

Congress Lesson Plan from LM_NET posting, 5/18/10.
This lesson plan for the high school age students is the result of The Dirksen Center's Congress in the classroom workshop where student's compare the three branches of government.
http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00409.html
This response to an LM_NET request for cyber safety lesson plans offers not only ideas, but reviews of available cyber safety software.

In class yesterday we worked on RAFTs, a type of lesson plan that I had never heard of before. I enjoyed working with this form and can definitely see how it will apply in the classroom for all ages. I believe that students will find RAFTs fun and interesting because they are able to choose most aspects of the assignment and typically the assignment itself requires thinking outside of the box. My group chose to create a lesson plan for a second grade fairy tale unit. While it doesn't require large amounts of research like the assignments the other groups came up with, I believe that the students would have a lot of fun with it, creating wanted posters for fairy tale villains, such as the wicked stepsisters from Cinderella and the big, bad wolf from the Three Little Pigs. I believe that this assignment requires mostly lower level thinking skills because the students would have to remember what the villains looked like to draw them and remember what evil acts they conducted to write them on the poster.
Another item the professor had as discuss in class was the choosing of a student who we know and feel struggles in school. We are to keep this student in mind throughout the course always remembering the essential question: What would it take for this student to have a good day and be successful? I chose Jake, a kindergartener who I have seen while subbing in his classroom and in the SLMC during his class' library time. His teacher told me that he has been diagnosed with ADHD, which she explained is actually a medical condition where the frontal lobe does not properly communicate with the rest of the brain. While observing Jake, it is easy to see that he is unlike most five year olds in that he often does not notice or comprehend what is going on around him. The day I found this most pronounced was on field day when I was assisting his classroom teacher because her TA was out. Right before leaving the classroom to going outside for the field day events, his teacher wanted to take a class photo, so she had all the student sit on the floor, smile and say cheese. While every other student in the class executed this action with the precision that was to be expected, Jake seemed to have no interest in or understanding of what was happening. Instead of looking at the camera and saying cheese, he continuously turned away to look at classmates posing. Later on in the afternoon after the end of field day events, the students returned to class to complete a small amount of work before the end of the day. While the other students sat in their seats working, though many had to be reminded that field day was now over and work had begun, Jake walked up to the teacher every few minutes wanting to tell her a story without having completed any of his work. I have started to think about what would make for a good day at school for Jake and, aside from a few generalities like assignments that interest him and going through a whole day without being yelled at, I'm not really sure yet of how to execute actions that would help him be successful and keep him happy.
Week 4
This week I have been working on creating a RAFT assignment, which is a method I have truly enjoyed. RAFTs allow me to be very creative with a topic and make the task of creating an assignment that works for every type of student a cinch.

Song
What it is like to fight in the American Revolution.
The first day that the students are in the LMC after choosing their topics, I would set them up with differentiated learning centers. There would be five centers and the groups would spend eight minutes at each location. The centers would be:
biography books
American Revolution history books
videos
Internet research
songs/poems
Each center would meet the needs of students of different learning styles. The groups would include students who have each chosen a different RAFT so that resources can more easily be shared.

http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00302.html
A list of social studies curriculum materials found on LM_NET created by a curriculum materials librarian. Contains many links and tips for literature and primary sources.
Atlas Lesson Plans from LM_NET posting, 4/9/10.
This is a hit of interesting atlas lesson plans mainly for the elementary age group, but could be altered for secondary school as well.
Congress Lesson Plan from LM_NET posting, 5/18/10.
This lesson plan for the high school age students is the result of The Dirksen Center's Congress in the classroom workshop where student's compare the three branches of government.

"Questions cause students to think even further, causing them to formulate even more new questions". -me
http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00342.html
This is a hit from LM_NET that lists many responses to a request for databases and sites for searching books by curricular subject. This can come in handy for suggesting fiction to classroom teachers for different units.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwbw9KF-ACY&feature=player_embedded#!
Fantastic humorous plagiarism video created by the University of Bergen in Norway. More appropriate for teachers and much older students.
http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00302.html
A list of social studies curriculum materials found on LM_NET created by a curriculum materials librarian. Contains many links and tips for literature and primary sources.

Type in {626raft.docx}
RAFT Activity
Grade: 4th Subject: _Social Studies_ Unit/Theme: American Revolution__ _
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Patriot Soldier
Himself
Diary Entry
Why he chose to become a patriot soldier.
Patriot Soldier
Patriot Civilians
Advertisement
Why civilians should join the contentmilitary.
George Washington
Everyone
Speech
Why they must keep fighting and stay strong against the Brits
Son of your page here.patriot soldier
Cousins
Letter
What it’s like to take over at home when father leaves to fight.
Drummer Boy
Other children
Drawing
Battlefield
Patriot Children
Other children
Game rules
Playing Patriots v. British soldiers
Current 4th Grader
Ancestor who fought for the Patriots
Poem
How grateful he/she is the freedom they gave us.
Patriot Soldier
Future Relatives
Song
What it is like to fight in the American Revolution.

In class the other day, we began discussing Bloom's Taxonomy. While the diagram itself is pretty self-explanatory, I found it to be a bit of a challenge to come up with questions that related to each step of the pyramid. The professor then gave out a ditto, titles "Applying Bloom's Taxonomy to..." that made the creating of questions much less daunting. There is a chart at the bottom that is broken down by Bloom's steps and lists a large number of strong verbs that can be used in lower, middle and higher level thinking questions.
This week I began reading the Manzano text and completed the first related assignment. We were instructed to read through the first few chapters and pick out one methodology and explain how it would be applied to assignment 1 and then another methodology and write what standard it relates to. For the first half of the assignment, I chose student-directed tasks. Within my assignment 1, I allow students to choose their own health topics, which they are interested in researching and focusing on for the rest of the course, which is an example of a student-directed task. For the other part of the Manzano assignment, I chose the summary frame, where students must fill in information about something they have read or learned. For example, a second grade class, which had read Jack and the Beanstalk, would need to fill in the names of the different characters, the main plot points and the setting, just to name a few. This lesson includes lower level thinking because it is mainly the result of remembering details from the story. The most in depth the students go is when they have to figure out what the main plot lines are before writing them down.
I also worked on my Socratic Seminar for assignment 2 this week. I chose to focus on the possible ban on military conscription in Germany, which I discovered when sifting through the latest international new pieces from the New York Times. I feel that this topic can be approached in a couple of different ways, focusing on the history of the German military or the end of many conscription forces around the world. While I enjoyed reading the documents very much, I found it a bit of a challenge to create core questions that flowed properly and hit the different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Week 3
In class yesterday we worked on RAFTs, a type of lesson plan that I had never heard of before. I enjoyed working with this form and can definitely see how it will apply in the classroom for all ages. I believe that students will find RAFTs fun and interesting because they are able to choose most aspects of the assignment and typically the assignment itself requires thinking outside of the box. My group chose to create a lesson plan for a second grade fairy tale unit. While it doesn't require large amounts of research like the assignments the other groups came up with, I believe that the students would have a lot of fun with it, creating wanted posters for fairy tale villains, such as the wicked stepsisters from Cinderella and the big, bad wolf from the Three Little Pigs. I believe that this assignment requires mostly lower level thinking skills because the students would have to remember what the villains looked like to draw them and remember what evil acts they conducted to write them on the poster.

This assignment must be completed in the form of a Madeline Hunter lesson plan, which I have found to be a pretty difficult task. The rigid format is turning out to be a bit of an issue for me because there are so many little steps, all of which are required. The part I am having the hardest time with is the closure section, which I still do not completely understand. The section I find the most interesting is the Anticipatory Set because it forces the SLMS to focus on not just the upcoming assignment, but the lead in, which is where she will either grab the attention of the students or lose them completely. I believe that a fantastically engaging Anticipatory Set can mean the difference between a successful lesson with excited student and great results and a dud. The concept for my whole Madeline Hunter lesson plan actually came from my Anticipatory Set idea of showing a clip from NBC's The Biggest Loser.
Week 2
In class the other day, we began discussing Bloom's Taxonomy. While the diagram itself is pretty self-explanatory, I found it to be a bit of a challenge to come up with questions that related to each step of the pyramid. The professor then gave out a ditto, titles "Applying Bloom's Taxonomy to..." that made the creating of questions much less daunting. There is a chart at the bottom that is broken down by Bloom's steps and lists a large number of strong verbs that can be used in lower, middle and higher level thinking questions.
This week I began reading the Manzano text and completed the first related assignment. We were instructed to read through the first few chapters and pick out one methodology and explain how it would be applied to assignment 1 and then another methodology and write what standard it relates to. For the first half of the assignment, I chose student-directed tasks. Within my assignment 1, I allow students to choose their own health topics, which they are interested in researching and focusing on for the rest of the course, which is an example of a student-directed task. For the other part of the Manzano assignment, I chose the summary frame, where students must fill in information about something they have read or learned. For example, a second grade class, which had read Jack and the Beanstalk, would need to fill in the names of the different characters, the main plot points and the setting, just to name a few. This lesson includes lower level thinking because it is mainly the result of remembering details from the story. The most in depth the students go is when they have to figure out what the main plot lines are before writing them down.
Week 3