What I want my students to know....

Today, one question sparked a conversation in which I, honestly, wasn't prepared to answer. Actually, if I am completely honest, I thought I had already successfully addressed the question weeks ago. Wrongo. I realize now that even though I 'think' I am being super careful in explaining the purpose of what we are doing in class and when I ask, "Do you have any questions?" and no one responds, many students still don't see it. Soooooo.... this blog is addressed to my juniors and seniors so that they can see the method to my madness! I will do my best to not be defensive; instead, I hope to simply clarify the expectations of what I hope they will take from my classroom.

First and foremost, I want my students to know that I care. I really, really do. I care about their learning. I care about their world. I care about what they do outside of school. I care about what they want to learn about. I care about their time and how much of it I am asking them to give my class. I care about their opinions. My commitment to research this summer, my long nights prepping for the week, and my time away from my family all demonstrate just how much I truly care. Having said that, however, it takes a lot more than just 'caring' to be a successful teacher. And this is where today went downhill.

As we launched a second day of researching their need to know questions, I was given push back I wasn't expecting. I found myself giving push back right back and began to blame the students for being 'lazy' and not taking the initiative to want to learn more and discover information. And then in front of 20 seniors, it hit me. It was my fault. I hadn't piqued their interest. I had failed them with the entry event; I did not grab their attention, and they certainly did not care what tomorrow was going to bring. Then, in typical fashion, I find reasons as why it reeeaaalllly wasn't MY fault per se as we had a crazy couple of first weeks to school. Early outs because of heat gave us 20 minute class periods for about a week and half.  Nothing was really accomplished, and it felt so scattered that I wasn't even sure which way was up; can't imagine how confused they must have felt. So, no more excuses. No more placing the blame. My students are not seeing the purpose, and that is my fault.

The overall idea of  project based learning is to provide students with an opportunity to learn significant content (directly from the Iowa Core) while also promoting communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking skills. I want my students to know SO much more than just the content from a text book. I want them to be able to analyze, to raise awareness, to start conversations, to find answers to their own questions, to make a difference, to push for change, or to push for the status quo, and just simply - take action. Do something to prove they were on this planet. I want to teach them skills that they can use in the real world; skills that they can apply to various situations in the 'real world.'

I am not interested in whether or not they can give me the date of the Battle of the Bulge, but rather, what can they use from the event, Battle of the Bulge, for a bigger purpose. What information can be used from our major time periods in history to help us answer our driving question, "Must U.S. citizens be accepting and tolerant in order for our country to be productive?" is our current focus. In American Government, we are learning about I Can Statements that will help us answer, "As a US citizen, what is expected of me and what can I expect from the government?" I want my students to realize the significant content from the Iowa Core in which I wrote in the form of I Can Statements.  By researching the Need to Know Questions about the actual I Can Statement, I am hopeful they will gain information in which we can actually DO something.

It literally took days to complete a serious analysis of my non negotiable N2K ?s for the students to figure out under which I Can statement it would most closely be associated with. Now, it requires much thought to actually do the research in such a way that the I can statement requires. It is so much easier to sit and get information and be a passive learner. However, I just can't settle for that; I want my students to DO. I want to give them the foundation of knowledge and then for them to dive in and to think about what they are doing and to do this learning in the context of the real world.

So what do I want? I want students to think using higher order thinking like analyzing, synthesizing, and creating something new. I want students to gain an understanding of the critical concepts; I want to remove any extra 'nice to know' bits of information and allow the time to explore concepts and skills needed to apply to situations, issues and problems in the real world. I want students to want to learn. To Want to make a difference. To WANT to be a better, more effective citizen using the skills we are developing within the class each day. I want them to build skills that they will be able to transfer from situation to situation. I want them to be better, more educated people.

Ah, the inquiry process; this is the time where real learning is supposed to happen. Imagine my sinking feeling, when today a student says, "I really don't think I am learning anything." Sigh. This situation is my fault. Not his. I failed. Not him. BUT, as I told the students -- Fail means first attempt in learning -- so, here goes... 2nd attempt at getting the students hooked into the driving question......

I am thinking for the next couple of days, I need to reinvest time to get my students back and interested in the learning process.  Let's each pick ONE I can statement that they REALLY want to know about; create some need to know questions and INQUIRE. What can we find out about ____? Is the goal for the rest of the week.

The Steps of PBL:
1. Entry Event -- Activity in which I should be able to grasp the attention of the class and to really begin the inquiry process.
2. Analyze the I Can Statements (from the Iowa Core) and create Need to Know ?s
3. The Need to Know Questions should be matched up to the I Can statements and be used to begin the research process
4. INQUIRY process!
5. Share out to the group - individual meetings - group meetings
6. INQUIRY
7. Prepare presentation

What do you guys think??  Help me help you understand this better.

2013-2014 Is Off and Running!

The start of this year has definitely been a blur as we have been battling heat; the first days of the school year have flown by! My 7th and 8th graders as well as the juniors and seniors started the year with a focus on  learning the meaning behind the four C's: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. As I will actually assess their growth of these skills, we first established a baseline of their own perceptions of their skills; we will measure their future perceptions as well as their demonstrations of each as we continue our studies. We also spent time uncovering our learning styles and writing resumes in which they will use to create groups in which to collaborate with during the learning process.  They have been patient as we set expectations, as they learn my teaching style, and as I learn their learning styles, and  of course, their personalities!

Just this week we are beginning studying content... Finally! Because I follow the BIE's Project Based Learning Model, the students are actively engaged in the learning process; this is an adjustment for some. We also incorporate a lot of technology as the students each get a laptop and log in each and every day; this also is an adjustment for some students! Although we will have plenty of hands on learning opportunities, the course is set up on www.starmontss.weebly.com, and for junior American history and senior American government, we will also use the learning platform called Moodle. As many students are beginning to take online courses, it is paramount they begin to become familiar with this platform. Each class has begun their Entry Event of the respective units and will soon uncover their assigned Driving Question. Once we determine what we Need to Know in order to further discover the Driving Question, the students will embark on the inquiry process with my guidance and feedback from not only me, but from their critical friends (classsmates).  We will further discuss the framework for giving feedback as we get closer to this aspect of the learning process. Our end goal of each unit is to create something new with our new understandings of the content; I hope to challenge the students to stimulate conversations, question set beliefs, and most importantly make connections with our understandings to applications in the real world.

My goal for the year is to push the students into an area of thinking and reading in which they may not have experienced; this often comes with discomfort and uneasiness. As I have assured the students, my classroom is a safe place in which to fail. FAIL for me stands for "First Attempt In Learning." I want them to be comfortable to share their opinions, try things they never have and to open up to new experiences and ideas. Social Studies is a subject that is alive everyday in our society; I am challenging my students to realize these connections and attempt to make a difference in our community, state, country, and heck, our world. They have amazing ideas if given the chance to reflect on their knowledge, and I can't wait to uncover what they have in store for me!