You asked Why?!!!
Because our students need to read, write, and think critically, and we need to help them!
The rationale for both the need to incorporate project-based learning and my own teaching is that I aim for student engagement and investment into their learning through varied text “includes authentic, interesting, and current issues that affect your people’s daily lives” (Daniels & Zemelman p. 15). They will contextualize the information due to the theme of Ebola, which is an important world-wide issue. Furthermore, I have incorporated several forms of reading which Daniels and Zemelman define as successful content-area reading such as up-to-date articles, primary sources such as audio and written diaries, related fiction and nonfiction text, and various media sources.
However, having the reading material is not enough, but how it is read and used to promote student writing and critical thinking is also a key. Through the student-centered approach, I have created weekly projects that my students will work on based on their choice, which will increase in demand from the students as weeks progress, thus providing scaffolded learning. Furthermore, students will do various readings and have incentives to do the reading through the use of blogging that they will be required to do. Not only do they have to read, but also have to write, and not only write, but think critically about their reading and how it affects their investigation. This plan supports the statements made by Rycik and Irving that “Young adolescents need the opportunity to learn literacy through experiences that provide both challenge and security” (p. 7). Furthermore, according to Rycik and Irving, “When readers show a high level of engagement, they have an inclination to find interest in what they read, and they feel confident that they can make sense of even a difficult text” (p. 10). Thus, achieving my desired goal of student engagement and investment into their learning.
Incorporating how students learn best...
Differentiation- Choice Board for Weekly Projects, Audio/Written files, Spanish
Scaffolding- Building creativity, critical thinking, Jigsaw groups throughout unit, Exit tickets, weekly projects increase in task level.
Student-Centered- Projects, group work
Critical Thinking- writing from a view point of a fictional doctor, an inanimate object, how content relates to Ebola, what information is important
Schema Theory- Building schema from basic to more complex through research and relation to academic content
Overview....
Student blogs 3/week
Weekly Projects from Choice Boards
Mondays- Presentations
Tuesdays- Content stations
Wednesdays- Jigsaws connecting content to Ebola
Thursdays- Fictional reading and connection to content
Fridays- Project Workday
However, having the reading material is not enough, but how it is read and used to promote student writing and critical thinking is also a key. Through the student-centered approach, I have created weekly projects that my students will work on based on their choice, which will increase in demand from the students as weeks progress, thus providing scaffolded learning. Furthermore, students will do various readings and have incentives to do the reading through the use of blogging that they will be required to do. Not only do they have to read, but also have to write, and not only write, but think critically about their reading and how it affects their investigation. This plan supports the statements made by Rycik and Irving that “Young adolescents need the opportunity to learn literacy through experiences that provide both challenge and security” (p. 7). Furthermore, according to Rycik and Irving, “When readers show a high level of engagement, they have an inclination to find interest in what they read, and they feel confident that they can make sense of even a difficult text” (p. 10). Thus, achieving my desired goal of student engagement and investment into their learning.
Incorporating how students learn best...
Differentiation- Choice Board for Weekly Projects, Audio/Written files, Spanish
Scaffolding- Building creativity, critical thinking, Jigsaw groups throughout unit, Exit tickets, weekly projects increase in task level.
Student-Centered- Projects, group work
Critical Thinking- writing from a view point of a fictional doctor, an inanimate object, how content relates to Ebola, what information is important
Schema Theory- Building schema from basic to more complex through research and relation to academic content
Overview....
Student blogs 3/week
Weekly Projects from Choice Boards
Mondays- Presentations
Tuesdays- Content stations
Wednesdays- Jigsaws connecting content to Ebola
Thursdays- Fictional reading and connection to content
Fridays- Project Workday