The first two years that I taught seventh grade German, I had students make a travel brochure about sights they could see in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. Then, I morphed my project into a report on a specific aspect of German culture. My current project is a RAFT assignment, where the students can write a journal entry as though they were a prisoner in a concentration camp, or a travel log of their visit to Berlin, or an advertisement for BMW.
I watched videos from Jerry Robinson's classroom in Michigan. He has his 9th grade World Geography students plan a two week trip for three people in different European cities. The students are given a budget of $15,000 to complete the trip, which needs to include airfare, hotels, car rental, train fares, etc. They are required to visit historic sights in different countries, and then present their trip to their classmates.
Mr. Robinson had to teach many things along the way:
1. He taught them how to take and save pictures to the correct folder.
2. Then, he showed them how to chart their mileage and expenses in Excel, creating charts.
3. The third thing he showed them was how to find pictures of tourist/historic sights on the web. The students would then need to photoshop themselves into the picture.
4. Finally, he taught them how to compile all of this information into a powerpoint presentation.
He had a website set up for them as a springboard. It included links to real flights, train information, and currency and distance conversions.
I think that if I had seen this video before drastically changing my seventh grade project, I would have tweaked, rather than changed the project. However, I think it could be a great project for my eighth graders to work on, depending on how long it takes them to complete their literature circle. (I have never done a lit circle in German class, so I am curious as to how accurate my timeframe is!)
I also enjoyed all of the little nuainces in the video. For example, a student who was getting his picture taken so that it could be photoshoped, was chomping on his gum! And, the digital cameral took a 3.5 inch disk!
Here is a link to the videos: http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/021mihs/8/
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What a great idea - and the use of spreadsheets came up - looks like many things can be incorporated and used as you examine your lessons and add resources.
ReplyDeleteI noticed how you gave your students choices as to which project they'd like to complete--ties right in with the best practices we're learning about. Your ideas sound fun-filled and refreshing!
ReplyDeleteI wished I had seen this video. It's just the kind of thing I'd love to incorporate into my curriculum as well. In addition, I'd love to tap into the social studies and language arts teachers to collaborate. Often times I feel like I work in isolation.
ReplyDeleteYour ideas are great as well, Erika. I have a unit on Gimp - a photo editing software - and so could add the postcard assignment as a compliment to the research. Students take a digital picture of themselves, cut it, find a background from anywhere and then transpose their picture onto that background. I'm loving all this. Thanks for generating the ideas!