Why so many projects, Ms. Beane?

Why so many projects, Ms. Beane?, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

MY FINAL DRAFT OF MY PROJECTS PUBLICATION. BEST VIEWED LARGE (CLICK ON THE IMAGE AND THEN CLICK "ALL SIZES")

I get ahead of myself

Learning objectives for food unit:

Identify method of growing (organic, conventional, combination)and conditions for growing (life cycle)

Describe harvest and shipping

Map trade route to distribution

Create marketing campaign to promote healthy diet (can do radio spot, poster, commercial)

Paulo Coelho Poster

Paulo Coelho Poster, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

An independent semester-lng project for level 4.

Essential question: what drives us to follow our dreams?

Bloom's: Translated, analyzed, illustrated, and blogged.

Pablo Neruda Poster

Pablo Neruda Poster, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

For my Spanish class. We will do a poetry unit at Dirigo.

I'd like to study Sabines, Mistral, Storni, Guillen...

The technology/creation portion will be to use Pages to create a literary poster, with a bilingual quote of a poem, a picture of the author and some literary image (in my example, I use the red poppy).

The essential question is "What is our relationship to common things?"

Bloom's taxonomy: create a poem in Spanish that relates with common, every day objects. Analyze Neruda's work for examples of his relationship with common things. Translate a significant work.

21st century skills: share this information in a relevant way. Keep a blog. Audience.

¿dónde está?

¿dónde está?, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

I know that my unit plan will have something to do with maps.

How to boost geographic literacy? Anything and everything that gets these kids to study a map (and not for pointless reasons) is good! I wish we could make an interactive map--I wonder what program we can use to design a clickable, interactive fruit and vegetable map. My salad is international, this is where it comes from, type deal.

Food literacy is my other main focus. We are what we eat, so what exactly are we eating?

The standards that govern organic production vary worldwide. I know I care about what I eat but will the kids?

project poster

Click for the whole image!

module 1

How can projects help my students meet standards and develop 21st century skills?

need to know the standards
we share the standards
facilitator or coach

How can I use projects to enhance student learning?

Students are proud of their work (sometimes)

Start something that isn't immediately finished, can continue

"By looking at the artifacts of students’ thinking, such as discussions, graphic organizers, and notes, teachers can learn a great deal about the thinking processes of their students and use that information to make good decisions about individual and group instruction." -source

Bloom's Taxonomy

Content taken from TcacherVision.com

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, human thinking skills can be broken down into the following six categories.

1. Knowledge: remembering or recalling appropriate, previously learned information to draw out factual (usually right or wrong) answers. Use words and phrases such as: how many, when, where, list, define, tell, describe, identify, etc., to draw out factual answers, testing students' recall and recognition.
2. Comprehension: grasping or understanding the meaning of informational materials. Use words such as: describe, explain, estimate, predict, identify, differentiate, etc., to encourage students to translate, interpret, and extrapolate.
3. Application: applying previously learned information (or knowledge) to new and unfamiliar situations. Use words such as: demonstrate, apply, illustrate, show, solve, examine, classify, experiment, etc., to encourage students to apply knowledge to situations that are new and unfamiliar.
4. Analysis: breaking down information into parts, or examining (and trying to understand the organizational structure of) information. Use words and phrases such as: what are the differences, analyze, explain, compare, separate, classify, arrange, etc., to encourage students to break information down into parts.
5. Synthesis: applying prior knowledge and skills to combine elements into a pattern not clearly there before. Use words and phrases such as: combine, rearrange, substitute, create, design, invent, what if, etc., to encourage students to combine elements into a pattern that's new.
6. Evaluation: judging or deciding according to some set of criteria, without real right or wrong answers. Use words such as: assess, decide, measure, select, explain, conclude, compare, summarize, etc., to encourage students to make judgements according to a set of criteria.

Bloom's Verbs

Knowledge	Comprehend
Count Define Describe Draw Enumerate Find Identify Label List Match Name Quote Read Recall Recite Record Reproduce Select Sequence State Tell View Write	Classify Cite Conclude Convert Describe Discuss Estimate Explain Generalize Give examples Illustrate Interpret Locate Make sense of Paraphrase Predict Report Restate Review Summarize Trace Understand

Apply	Analyze
Act Administer Articulate Assess Change Chart Choose Collect Compute Construct Contribute Control Demonstrate Determine Develop Discover Dramatize Draw Establish Extend Imitate Implement Interview Include Inform Instruct Paint Participate Predict Prepare Produce Provide Relate Report Select Show Solve Transfer Use Utilize	Break down Characterize Classify Compare Contrast Correlate Debate Deduce Diagram Differentiate Discriminate Distinguish Examine Focus Illustrate Infer Limit Outline Point out Prioritize Recognize Research Relate Separate Subdivide

Synthesize

Evaluate

Adapt Anticipate Categorize Collaborate Combine Communicate Compare Compile Compose Construct Contrast Create Design Develop Devise Express Facilitate Formulate Generate Incorporate Individualize Initiate Integrate Intervene Invent Make up Model Modify Negotiate Organize Perform Plan Pretend Produce Progress Propose Rearrange Reconstruct Reinforce Reorganize Revise Rewrite Structure Substitute Validate

Appraise Argue Assess Choose Compare & Contrast Conclude Criticize Critique Decide Defend Evaluate

Planning a Presentation to Gauge Student Needs

Planning a Presentation to Gauge Student Needs--from the Intel Essentials CD


A multimedia presentation and discussion can be an effective tool to allow you to gauge student needs, check for understanding, conference with students on their progress, and make project expectations known. Consider ways you might use a multimedia presentation to assess your students’ prior knowledge of concepts:

How can your Essential and Unit Questions be used at the very beginning of your unit to help gather assessment information?

--basket of fruit
--map

What ideas are you thinking about for introducing your Essential Question and Unit Questions to your students?

--doing a presentation with cooking...making juice, mango salsa, different foods from various Spanish-speaking countries and then asking the question

What kind of assessment information do you need to gather from your students? How will you gather it?

--have them do projects on where the food comes from

How can you use questioning in this presentation to help ensure your unit targets higher-order thinking skills?

--

How do you plan to promote 21st century skills in your unit?

--


Use the following planning area to help you think through the content of your presentation.

Introducing the Essential Question and Unit Questions

--Bring in basket of fruit. Name each of the fruits in Spanish. Guess where each fruit comes from. Assign fruit to each student to learn about.

Prior knowledge information needed

--Names of fruits in Spanish, names of Spanish speaking countries

Setting up higher-order thinking

--See Bloom's

Promoting 21st century skills

Click here for 21st century skills framework

--

Other discussion starters

--Health and nutrition, organic vs. conventional, cooperative vs. corporation, American interests on foreign soil, free trade agreement, marketing, shipping

wow!

I am a regular reader of a blog out of Tanzania. The Hillman family moved there to start a school for orphans, and their own children go to an international school. The most recent post was about the culminating activity for a semester's worth of guiding questions for the whole school!

Please click in and read about the project-based learning they did. It sounds amazing.

For class

For class, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

I created this image at Big Huge Labs.

VEGGIES

VEGGIES, originally uploaded by LAZY LIGHTNIN.

Name as many as you can!

Where does our fruit come from?

Where does our fruit come from?, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

The Dominican Republic!

MAINE LEARNING RESULTS

Click here for the complete document.


My unit will meet the following standards.

A. Communication

2. Interpretive

Students comprehend conversations, narratives, and recorded material in familiar contexts that are longer and/or more complex than those in the 6-8 grade span.

c. Identify main ideas, topics, and specific information in a variety of authentic oral/signed materials. (9-Diploma)

3. Presentational

Students use simple sentences and strings of simple sentences to produce short oral/signed and written presentations based on familiar topics and including a level of accuracy in form and pronunciation that could be understood by speakers accustomed to interacting with language learners.

b. Produce and present simple creative works orally or in sign language, and in writing.

4. Language Comparisons

Students compare the target language with English in order to better understand language systems.

d. Recognize that there are regional and/or historical variations in spoken/signed language.

B. Cultures

1. Practices and Perspectives

Students identify and explain how perspectives of a culture(s) are related to cultural practices of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.

a. Identify and explain the reason behind significant practices of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.

2. Products and Perspectives

Students explain how political structures, historical artifacts, literature, and/or visual and performing arts reflect the perspectives of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.

3. Comparisons with Own Culture

Students explain how products, practices, and perspectives of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken contribute to the culture in which the student lives.

C. Connections

1. Knowledge of Other Learning Results Content Areas

Students apply information acquired in other Learning Results content areas to further their knowledge and skills in the target language.

a. Use the writing process learned in English Language Arts when writing for the target language class. *

b. Apply research skills to further knowledge in the target language.

c. Apply knowledge from other Learning Results content areas including literature, social studies, science and technology, and/or the visual and performing arts to tasks in the world language classroom.

Students use the target language to enhance their knowledge of other Learning Results content areas.

2. Distinctive Viewpoints

Students recognize some distinctive viewpoints available only through sources from the target language.

a. Identify examples of simple narrative selections from a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.

Students locate authentic resources, available only through sources in the target language, and identify ideas about a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.

a. Locate media or other authentic sources from the target language and a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken and identify a perspective and/or practice of a culture(s) different from the students’ own viewpoints and/or behaviors.

Students locate authentic resources and describe ideas about the target language and associated culture(s) that are available only through sources in the target language.

b. Locate selected magazines, newspapers, authentic entertainment media and electronic media in the target language and use these media as the basis for describing the viewpoints of the culture associated with the target language(s).

c. Locate selected magazines, newspapers, authentic entertainment media and electronic media in the target language and describe viewpoints of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.


D. Communities

1. Communities

Students include family, friends, or peers in activities using the target language.

Students demonstrate understanding and use of the target language and their knowledge of a culture(s) in which the language is spoken through community involvement.

a. Demonstrate use of oral/signed and/or written forms of the target language with family, friends, or peers.

b. Participate in activities using the target language which can benefit the school or broader community.

c. Ask questions and share knowledge about aspects of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken to demonstrate an interest in the target language and an associated culture(s).

d. Access online resources or resources available in the community to understand aspects of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken.

Students demonstrate an understanding and use their knowledge of the target language to communicate with target language speakers, obtain information on familiar topics, and gain understanding of another culture(s).

a. Participate in and summarize school/community events related to the target language or associated culture(s).

b. Identify community and online resources that can be used to gain information about the target language or associated culture(s).

c. Communicate with students in the target language.

d. Describe language skills and cultural insights gained through real or virtual travel.

Students demonstrate an understanding and use their knowledge of the target language to communicate with target language speakers and to understand the importance of culture and language in the 21st century.

a. Interact with people, either in the community or online, who use the target language in their professions

c. Explain how personal, educational, and career opportunities are expanded and enhanced by knowledge of the target language and associated culture(s).

d. Communicate with target language speakers using the target language.

STANDARDS FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Click here for the standards.

My unit will meet the following standards:

Communication

Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

Cultures

Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied

Connections

Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language

Comparisons

Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own

Communities

Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting

banana processing

banana processing, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

A trip I took in 2005 with my dad is what is inspiring me for my essential question. I saw bananas being grown, processed and shipped by Savid, the largest organic banana company in the Caribbean.

I am very interested in the historical side of the fruit trade. The heyday in Montechristi, in particular.