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jkrauss notes - comments and project ideas 7/23/08

Design a Conceptual Framework

The following prompts will help you define the conception framework of your project.

For individuals: Reflect on this series of questions and record your responses on your own wiki page. Be ready to share at your next team meeting. Don’t become too wedded to your ideas yet.

For a group: When you meet, share and discuss your individual responses, then respond to the questions again together. If you aim for a collaborative project, try to “mash up” your efforts into one shared project idea.

1. What important and enduring concepts are fundamental to each subject you teach? List them. Try to limit the list to two to three big concepts for each subject. Refer to content standards you teach to determine those covered by these big “umbrella” concepts. 

power and systems 

2. Why do these concepts matter? Why are they important?

Understand the roles of the three branches of government and explain how their powers are distributed and shared: to change issues/life you need to have an understanding of how our government works 

Understand participatory responsibilities of citizens in the community (voluntarism) and in the political process (becoming informed about public issues and candidates, joining political parties/interest groups/associations, communicating with public officials, voting, influencing lawmaking through such processes as petitions/initiatives).: important for people to understand their civic duty to form an opinion about issues, they need to know how to become politically informed where to go to access information

3. Outside of school, who cares about (or are most affected by)  these topics? What is their relevance in different people’s lives and in different parts of the world?

 Politicians, citizens who are politically active, special interests group. 

Re: the second part of the question-- I think the disenfranchised are the most affected when they have no voice in decisions that affect them... this might be an interesting angle... thinking... our democratic form of government came into being because people wouldn't tolerate government without representation. I really think you should look at forms of government around the world. You can match standard of living with form of government (I'm guessing, thinking of S.Korea, Somlia, etc). There are indices kids can use, like CIA World FactBook.

4. Select one or two of the most promising of these topics and think about real-to-life contexts to answer: What are the interdisciplinary connections? What other subjects might be incorporated?

citizenship: informed voting

government: 3 branches

5. As you begin to imagine working with these topics, how might you push past rote learning into analysis, evaluation and creation? Incorporate Bloom’s “rigor” verbs in your answer. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

research, analyze political stances, compare and contrast 2 political views on one issue, create a compaign ad, defend why that candidate should be elected

Design the perfect candidate/campaign for dog catcher.  DON'T LAUGH AND SHAKE YOUR HEAD! Let's talk about this. In simulation kids go through the stages of what political groups do to bring candidates forward, develop a platform, ultimately elect.  This simulation could be done in advance of the election (you design so it closely parallels the processes they go through with the processes of the electoral system). Then kids are really ready to appreciate the events that lead up to and result in the president's election.

6. Imagine authentic ways students might engage in this topics within a project and the ways 21st century skills might be addressed. Hint: The terms collaboration, digital tools, and information literacy could appear in your answer! ISTE NETS*S

communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.

collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions

7. What aspects of these topics will interest your students? (A feature that seems superficial or tangential but fascinates students can give you entrée into more essential matters, so brainstorm as many as you can.)

the election 2008 is very current and in the minds of many. Students will see and hear about the election. Because it is current I think this topic will be of great interest to my students

8. What learning dispositions should you cultivate and ask your students to pay attention to? (REINV p. 51-52)

cooperation, motivation

Project Sketch

My fifth grade students study the branches of government and citizenship/voting. I usually have students research the branches of government and produce a powerpoint. Since this is a presidential election year I want to expand this unit so students can compare, and analyze political stances.  Students are going to form news reporting teams. Each groups will be able to choose a piece of election/government to explore and report on, examples: history of voting, presidential history, how government works, importance of voting, campaign commercials. Students will report findings through a news broadcast using video, podcast, web page. As a culminating activity, students decide which political candidate wish to vote for in a mock election.

No matter what leads up to it this last piece is essential. Kids should vote and be able to articulate how they made their choice (final performance task).  In advance of this one activity kids might do (with adult supervision) is do a straw poll of people in the neighborhood, then watch to see if Eugene, the state, the nation mirror their straw poll findings.  One ore idea-- there will be grade 5 kids all across the country studying the election. What could classrooms learn from each other? About the issues and about communities that make up the country? I think this is worth a look.