Tuesday, January 31, 2012

531 Journal 1



Hello, my name is student A at school B in Mr. F’s US History class. This class is OK because my friends are in it and Mr. F doesn’t really make us do homework, unless we don’t finish it in class. I would say he’s cool but he doesn’t let us text, game, or mess around. We learn some crazy stuff about the presidents, world wars, and the economy. I hate the way he makes us sit in groups of 4 and we’re always doing stuff in groups. I used to hate the people in my group but now we’re cool, so I guess it’s cool. I can tell Mr. F likes to teach and he tries really hard to get us excited about stuff but he called me out for taking a 30 minute bathroom break, so…
My school is better than most because they let us wear what we want, we get to listen to our iPods in most classes, and we only have 4 classes a semester but it’s still school. I like that we can go off campus at lunch, we have lots of electives, and there’s no hardcore jocks. My school is pretty cool.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Reading Response #6


My PLN includes this blog http://0112358mrfsclass.blogspot.com/, a Twitter account @John0112358, an edmodo account Mr. John, a YouTube page John0112358, and I decided to use the gmail account provided to me by csusm fesse002@cougars.csusm.edu. Additionally I am using iGoogle, TweetDeck, and Diigo to streamline my PLN.   

Reading Response #5

Our theme will be genealogy/family history, but perhaps we can call it “Where do we come from” or “Origins”.
Possible cover sheet:


Reading Response #4

I feel confident in helping my team with all the tasks involved in our ITU. However, I feel particularly skilled to contribute to these tasks:
Theme for Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit, Cover Sheet, Context Information - Community, School & Student Population, Unit Rationale - Enduring Understandings, Essential Questions, Unit Calendar, Social Justice & Equity, Unit Differentiation – Strategies for each of the 5 Students, Final Poster Presentations. 

Reading Response #3


One of the most important resources I found from A Complete Guide to Integrated Thematic Units was the list of subjects and how ITUs could be applied to each one.
Anthropology
In the role of an anthropologist. The students can ask, "How can we investigate the cultures and the ways of organization of a society and make generalizations about the society's life?" or "How can our experience(s) in our culture help us understand the way other people live?" or "How might ethnocentric views and limited experiences hinder someone's understandings of other cultures?" When the students take this role, they show that they are getting involved in direct observation/participation as a primary way to gather data. They focus on a relationship between people's behaviors and their beliefs. While taking this role, students can see each culture as one variety of human behavior among many possibilities and can inquire, "What direct observations can we make to see a relationship between the behavior of people and their beliefs?"

Economics
In the role of an economist. The students can ask, "What economic problems can be identified related to scarce resources and unchecked human wants?" and "What resolutions to the problems can be identified?" or "What work is done in the economy by the people?" and "What changes happen in the economic system and in the people's values as the people respond to new needs and problems?" In this role, the students can show that they are interested in an economic system and in the resolution of problems (such as assistance for the unemployed and the need for conservation of limited resources) that exist in our society.

Expressive Arts
In the role of an artist. The students can ask, "How can we show what we know about the theme (topic/subject) through the visual and performing arts such as drawing, painting, music, dance, and sculpture?" Taking this role, the students can demonstrate they are interested in art, artists, and the messages that can be sent through visual and auditory representations.

Geography
In the role of a geographer. The students can ask, "How has geography influenced the theme (topic/subject) and what we know about it?" In this role, the students show that they are interested in several aspects: (1) the land- human relationship-the features of the Earth's surface and the effects of nature and humans on the features; (2) the cause-and-effect relationship of land inhabited by humans; and (3) the relationship of urban geography to other areas.

History
In the role of an historian. The students can ask, "How has information about this theme (topic/subject) changed over time?'' and "How have ways we receive information about this theme changed over time?'' In this role, the students can demonstrate that they are interested in a record of facts about a person, place, or event, including ancestry, environment, and past experiences.

Mathematics
In the role of a mathematician. The students can ask, "How can we express what we know about the theme through mathematics?" and "How can mathematics help us learn more about this?" In this role, the students can demonstrate that they are interested in a record of relations about known quantities related to the theme/topic/subject.

Political Science
In the role of a political scientist. The students can ask, "How have people organized themselves to express their values/information about the theme?" or "How well does the political system under study work in resolving problems/issues/conflicts related to the theme?" and "How close a match is there between the selected theme, people's values, and the functioning of the governing system?" In this role, the students expand their knowledge about government with its processes, institutions, and values.

Science
In the role of a scientist. The students can ask, "What problem do we know about and what is our guess about explaining its cause?" and "What experiment can we design to test the hypothesis, and how can we collect and analyze the data and arrive at a conclusion?" In this role, the students expand their understanding of ways science helps them learn more about the theme and discover which scientists operate to help them get information about the theme/topic/subject.

Sociology
In the role of a sociologist. The students can ask, "What groups operate in the society to bring us information about the theme?" and "How can we help in the community to resolve a real problem related to the theme?" In this role, the students can show ways they understand aspects of sociology that show the relationship between humans and their communities.

Other Disciplines                  
Disciplines selected by the students and teacher.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Reading Response #2


Activity 7.1
1.    1. Having  general knowledge of State standards, curriculum, and student textbooks led our ITU team to agree on Genealogy/Family History as an exciting and interconnecting themes.


3. 2. Our process of deciding on Genealogy as a theme was easy because all member of our ITU group (representing expository writing, social science, and chemistry) all immediately saw how their subject could be represented and connected to the other subjects.
Activity 7.2
1.  1. How do you find information on your family lineage?
2.   2. What else was happening at certain points in your family history that might have affected your family?
3.   3. How can Chemistry be used to better understand how we became who we are?
4.   4. What can we gather about our ancestors based on what they’ve written or infer about them based on has been written about their possible experiences?
5.   5. How has the newfound knowledge of this unit effected what we know about ourselves and our families? 

Thursday, January 26, 2012

541 Reading Response #1


As a Social Science teacher I will employ many research-based instructional strategies in a comprehensive and beneficial Integrated Thematic Unit. First of all, student backgrounds will be considered when creating lesson plans so as to spark interest for all students in the given topic and the broader purpose. For instance, I plan to provide a family history project to the ITU, wherein students read and write about the histories of their families in source documentation and come to understand the science (Punnett Square) and math (2,4,8,16,32,64,etc.) of their genealogy. In presenting their projects students will get to teach one another about the own cultures and family histories.  Throughout this process I will maintain a classroom goal structure of High Help and High Perfectionism; ALL students will be given lofty goals and ample assistance to reach them.

OK...so...

I am very excited to learn the digital tools necessary to facilitate education in the 21st Century. Let's remove the walls and let the classroom breathe.

Wow

Blogging is fun.