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You're the Teacher! Students Teaching Students Project

Brief Description:
Students will create a lesson based on one of the stories from Building Academic Literacy--An Anthology for Reading Apprenticeship. During their lesson, students will "teach" the class their chosen story, provide students with information about the author, and demonstrate how to effectively use before, during and after reading strategies, during the class read-aloud.

Research Component:
Students will need to research information about the author including important facts, how literacy has impacted his/her life, and other biographical information. Students will need to create a presentation based on their learning and include this as part of their lesson.

Lesson components:
Students will need to…

· Write lesson objectives
· Create a "do-now" or journal prompt to introduce the lesson
· Create a presentation to go with the lesson
· Prepare discussion questions for their story (before, during and after reading questions)
· Create some type of assessment (homework, exit slip, quiz, reflection piece, etc)
· Monitor and manage their classroom

Addressing the Standards:
Students will…
· demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge and develop innovative products
· communicate and work collaboratively with others and contribute to the learning of others
· apply digital tools to gather information
· plan strategies to guide inquiry
· locate and analyze information from a variety of sources
· plan and manage activities to complete a project

21st Century Skills:
This student-centered project integrates the use of 21st Century Skills by integrating the use of technology and providing students with the opportunity to collaboratively gather, analyze and synthesize information to create a two part project—a lesson plan and presentation. 

-Collaboration
Students work in small groups for this project.  Students will choose a story/author that they want to do for their lesson and assign their group roles and the different parts of the assignment that they will each be responsible for.

 -Communication
Within their smalls groups, students will quickly learn how important effective communication is.  They need to talk to one another and assign roles and keep each other focused and on task.  Students in small groups also need to communicate with the rest of the class as they present their information. 

 -Critical Thinking
This inquiry-based learning project allows students the opportunity to do their own research and acquire their own knowledge and information about an author of their choice.  They will then create a lesson and presentation that demonstrates their thinking and learning.  Students need to work together to problem solve and come up with the best way to present their information to the rest of the class so it is engaging and meaningful. 

-Creativity
This project allows students to get their creative juices flowing.  It allows them choice in regards to who/what they research and how they want to present their information.  Many students use PowerPoint and Prezi to present their information to the class.  Students also have the choice in regards to how to assess the rest of the class.  Students work hard to create their own meaningful assessments, games and exit slips.

These 21st century skills support and enrich the standards stated above because throughout their project preparations and lesson execution, students will demonstrate creative thinking, construct new knowledge, perform research and work collaboratively with others in planning and creating their own lesson and presentation. 

Reflection:
Overall, students find this project to be very engaging, because it allows them the opportunity to be creative and take charge of their own learning.  The project also empowers students because they have the opportunity to be the teachers and share their learning with the rest of the class.  Students take true ownership and responsibility of their work, because they find it to be both meaningful and enjoyable.  They love taking on the role of the teacher and being “in charge."

As teachers, we need to realize how important it is for us to incorporate 21st century skills into our classes and curriculum.  Collaborating, communicating, thinking critically, and creating are such valuable skills for students to have and are necessary skills for the future and job market.  We need to integrate the use of technology and prepare students for all the societal and technological changes.

I know I am sometimes overwhelmed by the new technology out there, but like anything else, it will get easier with exploration and practice.  Also, I sometimes wonder how I can incorporate more technology and inquiry-based learning into my lessons, but I have come to realize it is easier than I think.  Why not have my students create a Glogster rather than make an old school poster out of construction paper?

As teachers, we need to ensure we are supporting the technology standards within our curriculum and that students are acquiring and utilizing these necessary skills. 
 
 

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1 comments:

Mrs. Mitchell's Class said...

Nicole,
What a great response! Great lesson! You are right sometimes it does become overwhelming when it comes to using technology in the classroom. The more you use it, the better you become. It's tough sometimes when you feel your students know more than you. Maybe having a project like this where they teach to the class and you can learn something from them too. Plus the students enjoy learning from eachother rather than us all the time. Is there anything that you would change for next time?

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