Standard 1:Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
a. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness
b. Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources
c. Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes
d. Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers, Second Edition Copyright 2008, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), www.iste.org. All rights reserved.
This assignment was created for a six week unit on Native American groups. The target grade level is fifth grade and encourages students to apply their understanding of Native American power shirts. Students gain understanding of what power shirts are for the Native American culture as well as the common symbols used and their meaning from the Power Shirt lesson I created in Moodle. Students apply that knowledge in order to create their own power shirt using authentic Native American symbols to represent themselves.
This video and accompanying assignment encourages students to consider what would happen to the world if one day the Moon disappeared. Students explore real world issues that would occur if the Moon disappeared. Through this exercise students learn how important the Moon is to Earth and predict how the world would be affected if the Moon did not exist.
This group assignment is a part of a six week learning module on Native American groups and targets fifth grade students. This assignment would be used for students to collaborate and create an online presentation on a specific Native American Cultural Region. Students conduct research online and share their new knowledge with their group members in order to synthesize all their information into a presentation. My role in this process is to provide guiding questions throughout each group's research process. I also created a presentation on a Native American Cultural Region to share with students in order for them to get ideas for their own presentations.
In this assignment, students work in small groups in order to investigate how an ancient civilization interpreted the Moon and its changing appearance throughout the course of a month. Students work with their group members in order to plan and execute a cohesive report on their ancient civilization. Students then share their research with their peers and work with their group to identify similarities and differences among the different ancient civilizations.
Power Shirt Lesson and Assessment
Earth Without the Moon Lesson Page and Introduction Video
Ancient Civilization Group Work Assignment Page
Native American Cultural Regions Group Presentations