It is important to stimulate students learning in many different ways. Keeping teaching interesting for students and allowing them to be the engine that drives the learning environment is key. This blog will follow one teacher's quest to Make Learning Interesting!
My students have finally finished their first versions of their 2 Minutes to Make a Difference movies for this year. A change from last years movies is that we are encouraging them to solicit feedback from classmates and around the world. It would be great if your spring included having students watch the videos and adding comments and ways in which they would make the video better. I will include the playlist from the spmath channel on youtube. I have also included 2 screencaptures of the rubrics we will be using to make give the final marks.
What is important is that there is a global audience for these videos. Please when commenting leave where you are from geographically so the kids see the power of audience.
Thank you in advance
Here are all the videos up to Tuesday. These are first versions of the movies. Please use the following criteria if you are interested in leaving feedback behind:
Use the arrow on the right hand side to switch videos. Thank you for your time
Part of the changes we made to the 2 Minutes to make a Difference movie project this year was an expectation that the students find an "expert" to talk to. What was impressive was the amount of students scouring the internet to find people that might talk to them or correspond with emails.
Out of 75 marks the interview is only worth 5 but many students are having long conversations with people from around the world. They are learning how to ask questions and how to collect information from these experts. It is ironic how many of the "experts" do not have a great grasp on technology. Many use email but when asked to skype or use a different online tool they had little knowledge on how to connect with my students.
Welcome back the phone. Here the students and the experts were comfortable and the information interchange was excellent.
Part of the reflection at the end of the project will be to explain how the students found their expert and how the "expert's" information helped their movie project. I am impressed with my students. They constantly rise to the level of the challenge provided to them. I need to remember this. Set the bar high and they will achieve more than if they had the bar set lower.
With the days rapidly dwindling before the Movie Project is done crunch time is upon us. It is evident that this years students are different than last years students.... go figure. Some reinventing of the Movie Project has evolved over the year.
More work needed to be done during school time. This is fine. Problem is that most of that time came out of my math classes. The "team" did not figure out that they too had to donate some time to the cause. Oh well. Perhaps next year the "team" will recognize the importance of the project and jump on board earlier... here is hoping!!
We have given the students a rubric for them to use.
They should have a first draft of their movies done by the end of the week. Next week we will use the rubric and student responses to edit and critique the finished movies. My goal is to have the students leave comments behind at youtube. The groups will then have a chance to redo their movie and resubmit it. Peer feedback will be important to a better finished product. The top groups will benefit from this editing time. Last year we found many groups with grammar and topic errors. A good peer edit will eliminate many of these small errors.
A problem will occur when the other groups do not finish on time and hand in inferior work. It is a fine balance with due dates and students. Some make the due dates others do not. With the movie being 20% of the third term I hope this motivates them to complete it on time.
We held our student meeting today. The turnout was good and the students were excited to get to work. They decided we would have a FINE FRIDAY. Students can pay a fine and be allowed to listen to Ipods and wear hats inside the school. It allows all to participate for a minimal fine. In a school of 1000 students we should be able to raise up to $1500. We are allowing students to pay a double fine if they wish.
The group decided to create posters to create awareness, get a PSA spot on the announcements and make presentations for the rest of the school. Each group would be responsible for different grade levels. There are many gripping images out there. Some just are not appropriate for the younger students. On Wednesday the groups will fan out throughout the school talking about the earthquake and how it has devastated Haiti.
Here is a draft of the parent letter that have sent for proof reading...
Dear Parents
On Tuesday January 12 Haiti was devastated by a large earthquake. Haiti already one of the poorest countries in the world scrambled to save its citizens. In recent days aid agencies have been working hard to help the people of Haiti. These agencies require money to keep the supplies going to people in need.
On Friday the school is holding a fundraiser. It is called FINE FRIDAY. Students are encouraged to bring a dollar or two and participate. The Elementary students will be allowed to wear a hat during the school day or bring a stuffed animal to school as their "fine". For the Junior High students the will pay a fine to be able to listen to their Ipods or wear a hat. This is a fun way to raise awareness about this important world event.
All students received presentations about what was happening in Haiti. For more information please check out the following websites:
Thank you for your understanding. All donations will be donated to UNICEF. This agency looks after children. The students felt it was important to have all donations go to children. The Canadian International Development Agency or CIDA will match all donations. Any donation is greatly appreciated.
It was great to give the power to the students. See them take charge of the situation and start to get the message out. To often we adults take control, this takes power away from the students when they need it the most. With all the work the students have done on their movie projects this year they are finally learning what it is to be global citizens.
I showed the students another photoessay on Friday. I also showed them the comments other students have left behind. All students agreed that something had to be done. As I read the comments to them the more head nodding I was seeing. They have decided to meet a lunch on Monday to come up with a fund raising idea.https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1019297942530526331&postID=7854468568988799374
While we were doing our own investigation of the Haitian Earthquake the other teachers in the school came to the room. They wanted to make what the Grade 8 students had thought of a whole school project. This was fantastic. I was impressed with how the students ideas were spreading already.
Now the students will be running the show on Monday and taking responsibility for fundraising. Here is one way to make students become activists. I will update this post on Tuesday to tell you of how the meeting went and what the students have decided to do.
In recent weeks the students have been working on choosing a topic for their Movie Project. With the recent earthquake in Haiti it is time to see if they are learning that one person can make a difference. I am going to introduce the classes to what happened in Haiti and see if any of the students pick up on the need to do something. Odds are they might not do anything but it will be interesting to see what does transpire. Keep you updated.
Here is the post that the students will use.
Yesterday a great tragedy occurred in Haiti. It was hit by a earthquake that was a 7.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale.
Why is it important to care?
Can you make a difference?
Leave a comment about what you can do.
I am truly blessed to work with some incredible students. This year the Grade 8 team decided to take groups of students to a local food agency. Winnipeg Harvest supports food banks, soup kitchens and many other organizations throughout Winnipeg. Harvest feeds over 47 000 Winnipegers a week. This in a city with a population of only 800 000 people.
They are located only a few blocks away from the school.
3 teams of four students and a teacher supervisor went to Harvest for three half day shifts. The first day saw the students work on creating emergency kits for harvest. These kits have one can of protein, one can of vegetables, soup and a grain (pasta or rice). These kits are then placed into a larger bag with 7 other kits. These larger bags are then put on pallets to be shipped around the city.
Here are the students working on that first day. They packed enough kits to fill 1 and a half pallets. Sadly we would have done more but we ran out of protein and could not finish the task.
The next 2 crews of students were on onion and potato detail. Harvest receives produce from local Hutterite Colonies and Peak of the Market. These items come into Harvest in large pallets. They need to be repacked into smaller boxes (banana boxes each weighing 60 lbs). It was fun to go through the large pallets and find mushy onions and potatoes. We even found an Alien Onion and a Heart shaped potato. In the two days the students repacked 4000 lbs of potatoes and onions.
What impressed me the most was when we were about to leave. Onion skins on the floor and a bit of a mess to clean up. No one asked but the kids took it upon themselves to clean up the area for the next crew.
Since the trips to Harvest students have been asking if they can go and help. I do not see any reason to say no. After all Harvest is just up the street. Kids can be amazing if you let them be. Give them a chance and inspire them to become activists and see their world as something more than just a school experience.
