Keeping Current Events Current

This past week I worked with the 6th grade history teachers to introduce the students to a year-long current events project. They began this unit last year and had a good deal of success, so the improvements that were made this year really took it to the next level.

I met with Monsie before the project and we decided that it would be good for the students to stick with a couple of "themes" throughout the year; like politics, sports, health, etc. By giving the students a choice, they will be more interested in what they read and if they are unable to find a quality article pertaining to one of the themes, there is always another one. We also wanted to make sure that there was some deeper thinking taking place, so we decided that in addition to a 4-6 sentence summary of the article, the students will answer two "essential questions" in 4-6 sentences.

• Is this a "new" or "old" issue? Why is it old/new?
• Have you seen this theme come up before? When and where?
• How does this issue relate to a topic brought up in class? Explain.
• Is this issue affecting a large or small group of people? Explain.
• Who does this issue affect? Why? Give evidence.
• How is this issue connected to our daily lives? Give evidence.
• Do you share the author's perspective? If not, why? Explain. 

We felt that these questions push the students to question what they read, make inferences and connections, and relate the topics to their own experiences or to the experiences of those around them. With the addition of class discussions and presentations throughout the year pertaining to current events, the students will hopefully come away more aware of what's taking place around them locally and around the world. 

Over the three days of instruction we 

• covered the websites and databases given within the LiveBinder
• created a new project in NoodleTools for their citations
• discussed and practiced paraphrasing
• chose themes
• found one article
• paraphrased that article
• divided into groups of two and provided feedback on the paraphrase
• rewrote the paraphrase
• answered two of the essential questions
• and, FINALLY, cited the article

The students were engaged, for the most part, throughout. The more say they have in deciding what they are working on, the better. Also, I felt that this was one of the more productive collaborations I've had with a teacher in a while. We were able to fill in the the blanks for one-another and were truly on the same page. I look forward to watching how this project progresses throughout the year. 

Fall

Cooler temperatures mixed with busy school days always make me feel like Fall has truly arrived. The past couple of weeks have had plenty of both! I introduced all of the 5th and 6th graders to the book review process we're starting this year and there was a great response, as you can see from the ticket filled circulation desk.

Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas I'll do a drawing for prizes from all of the tickets, so the kids were glad to learn that the more books they read and review, the better chance they have of winning.

Today, I started the 6th grade current events project, which will go throughout the year. The students will select two themes, like science, art, or health, to follow throughout the year. The scope of news that they will focus on will vary from one trimester to the next. The first trimester it will be national, the second will be European, and the third will be Latin America. Each week the students will be expected to find and paraphrase articles, ask essential questions, and make presentations periodically. We went over the expectations, the resources on the LiveBinder, and reviewed the paraphrasing process today:

1. Read the article once through without taking notes.
2. Read the article a second time, underline/highlight, and take notes while thinking about your essential questions.
3. Write your summary and respond to essential questions without looking at the article. Reference back for specific spelling, dates, and names. 

In class, the students read through and entire article and then I asked them to tell me some facts. Of course, they relayed the information in their own words and I pointed out that this is exactly what they will be doing on their own, except writing the information down instead of saying it out loud. 

A couple of the classes met in the Lower School Learning Commons, since the lab was being used. They were excited to sit on the story steps and were in aw of the new smart board. These classes seemed more engaged than usual, so I may change the scenery more often!