TitleIII Learning Experience

Learning Context | Procedure | Instructional/Environmental Modifications | Time Required | Resources | Assessment Plan | Student Work | Reflection

LEARNING CONTEXT

Purpose or Focus of Experience

 The purpose of this experience is to act as a front loader for and to create background knowledge of the Holocaust in order for students to properly understand a larger unit on Schindler,s List, Night, and "The Lottery". This is also meant to be an introduction to two of the skills necessary for the writing of a documented research paper, and a public speaking exercise.

Connection to Standards

ELA - Standard Language for Information and Understanding
 

• Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts, and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.
• Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one's own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.

Social Studies - Standard 2 World History
 

• Establishing timeframes, exploring different periodizations, examining themes across time and within cultures, and focusing on important turning points in world history help organize the study of world cultures and civilizations.
• Study of the major social, political, cultural, and religious developments in world history involves learning about the important roles and contributions of individuals and groups.

• Information technology is used to retrieve, process, and communicate information and as a tool to enhance learning.

 Essential Question

The essential question for this learning experience is different for each student and could be stated as: Who or what is __________ and what is the significance of that person, group, or event to the Holocaust?
 
 

Content Knowledge: Declarative, Procedural

Declarative Knowledge

The students will understand a piece of the Holocaust well and will have a general concept of the important events and people of the time period.

The students will have a general concept of the scope of human misery, depravity, and glory exemplified during that time period.

Procedural Knowledge

The students will use the library to investigate a particular person, group, or event of the Holocaust.

The students will use computers to investigate the Internet for appropriate sources of information.

The students will take notes on 3 x 5 cards using a system of coding and slugs (a method of categorizing note cards - i.e. a notecard on a person's college degrees might be given a slug of "education".)

The students will follow a specific guide for various work cited entries and will compose a works cited page (work cited page equals bibliography).

The students will organize their information using the slugs they have used on their note cards.

The students will give oral reports on the subjects they have researched.

The students will take notes on the oral reports given by other students.
 
 

PROCEDURE

(Chronologically ordered description of all teacher & student activities and interactions.)

1. Students will be given a detailed assignment sheet with instructions for each part of the project including: overview of the assignment, a list of suggested bookmarked websites to facilitate research, information on grading, detailed instructions for organization of their note-taking, a listing of the accepted work cited formats for various types of sources, an example of a work cited page with instructions on the process, hints for giving a successful oral presentation, and the rubric for the oral presentation (this booklet is available upon request from the author).
2. The teacher will go over and further explain the process.
3. Students will chose a lottery number at random and will be assigned the accompanying topic from a chronologically organized list. No topic will be assigned to more than one student. The number of their topics will determine the order in which the oral presentations are given.
4. Students will go to the library for research which must include a part of a book (books will be on reserve in the library), an encyclopedia, and the Internet (may use bookmarked websites or other computer sources).
5. Students will take work cited information on note cards.
6. Students will take notes from their sources on 3 x 5 cards using a coding system from the work cited cards.
7. Students will put "slugs" on their note cards identifying main ideas or concepts.
8. Students will organize their note cards using the "slugs" and prepare an oral presentation using note cards to aid them in their presentations.
9. Students will prepare a work cited page using their work cited cards.
10. Students will give their oral presentations.
11. Students will take notes on the oral presentations given by their classmates.

INSTRUCTIONAL/ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATIONS

 There will be a special education teacher available to help those who need extra help. In some instances the teacher will be in the library and classroom with the student and in others the teacher will be available to help as needed out of the classroom.
 
 

TIME REQUIRED

 Day 1 Introduce project, hand-out and go over instructions, have topic lottery.

 Day 2, 3, 4 Do research in the library, take work cited information and take note cards.

Day 5 In classroom review how to make work cited page, go over the rubric for the oral presentation again, and give instructions on how to take effective notes from a lecture.

Day 6, 7, 8 Student presentations (collect work cited page and note-cards at the end of each presentation and notes taken during the presentations when all presentations are done).
 
 

RESOURCES

1. The library and its staff.
2. The social studies teacher who created the list of topics for me and who ( at the conclusion of the project) requires that a paper be written for him on their topics.
3. Information from any documentation handbook of your choice.

ASSESSMENT PLAN
(Include samples of rubrics, checklists, etc.)

 Formative Assessments

Throughout the time spent in the library, the teacher will be walking around, checking to be sure that each student is doing work cited cards as required and that each student is taking notes on the note 3 x 5 cards as instructed. Ample opportunity will be given for corrections and questions.

Summative Assessments/Performance Based

Note cards will be graded.

Work cited page will be graded.

Notes taken during the presentations will be graded.

Oral presentation will be graded.
 
 

Grading Sheet for Oral Presentation

Name- ______________________

 Assignment- ____________________

 Date- ________________________
 
 

 Just for doing it – 60 points (This is based on a passing grade of 75.)

 Up to 8 points for each of the following:
 

STUDENT WORK
(Include samples of student work showing different levels of performance.)
 
 
 
 

REFLECTION
 
 

 I believe this was a very successful learning experience for my students. They were truly engaged with the topics assigned and were interested in the material. I was impressed by how well organized their material was and by how fully they covered their topics. It worked well as a front loader by stirring interest in the subject matter and creating a prior knowledge for the appreciation of the larger unit.

An additional plus for this learning experience is that it can easily be adapted for any historical period for which the teacher would like the students to have additional prior knowledge to add to the appreciation of the literature. Also, it can be used either before or during a larger unit. In addition to the Holocaust unit which this learning experience introduced, I have done this using the French Revolution and placing the learning experience just before beginning "Book the Third" of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

On the other hand, in retrospect I was somewhat disappointed with the work cited page, the note-cards, and the note-taking. They were too frequently incomplete sloppily done. When I do this learning experience again, I will correct this by having rubrics for these activities so that the students know precisely what the are required to do in order to receive a good grade. I believe that having the rubric helped them to give the kind of oral presentation that I was hoping to receive.