Homework
for the Teacher
SHARING
Congratulations! Your project is drawing to a close and
you’ve probably learned some valuable lessons, especially
from the mistakes that were made. Now is a good time to send project
participants a special thank you and
to start thinking about ways to help other educators grow and learn
from your accomplishments. A few ideas to get you started:
• Ask the local newspaper to run a news release.
• Let students share project findings at the next "parent night" or
with younger students in the school.
• You can apply to share your experience at local education conferences.
Download
this project checklist, developed
by Tammy Payton, before submitting a news release or inviting
others to join you in a new project. It’s a lifesaver
and a timesaver!
REFLECTING
Last week, you selected and/or adapted various tools (rubrics
and checklists) to assess student learning and evaluate the project’s
learning goals. This week, reflect upon the logistics and management of
the project by taking time to identify strengths and weaknesses.
Take it a step further by inviting project participants to celebrate
successes and to discuss improvements for future projects.
CONTRIBUTING
"To have knowledge and skills is to be responsible.
In a democracy, if we don’t take action to correct problems
or social ills, who will? Educating others is a major responsibility
of us all." (Susan J. Kovalik and Karen D. Olsen, Exceeding
Expectations: A User’s Guide to Implementing Brain Research
in the Classroom) Ask students to reflect upon the project
with questions like, "Now that I know this information, what
is the next step? Where does it lead me? Does it demand that I
take action in the community?" Two books by Barbara Lewis
inspire youngsters to act, while providing tons of ideas for teachers: The
Kid’s Guide to Service Projects: Over 500 Service Ideas for
Young People Who Want to Make a Difference and Kid’s
Guide to Social Action: How to Solve the Social Problems You Choose
--- And Turn Creative Thinking into Positive Action.
PROTECTING
YOUR HARD WORK
One last word of advice: Organize and make a backup of
all your basic procedures, forms, correspondence, rubrics, etc.
used or created during the project.
Reading
Strategy Spotlight
Retelling
or synthesizing requires the putting together of ideas in a
new way. It pulls together the processes of recalling, ordering
and recreating of information into a coherent whole. It invites
students to collect an array of facts and connect them to a central
theme or idea. Giving students the opportunity to synthesize generates
a deeper understanding of what they read.
Student
Activity Sheet
Printable pages designed to complement the current week's Reading
Strategy Spotlight and to help students organize their thoughts,
reflect upon reading material, and look for organizational patterns
in online text.
BBs: Weekly
Nuggets of "Best Practices" and "Brain Research"
"Believe
It or Not" Brain Facts!
TechKnow
Disaster Preparedness Page
Printable Computer Skills Mini-Posters & activity sheets
for those times when the network crashes or equipment is unavailable.
You can print a different page each week.
Fifth
Grade Computer Skills Test Item Bank
Visit the NC
5th Grade Test Item Bank and print all the questions related
to telecommunications objectives 1.3, 3.6, and 3.7. (Videoconferencing
will be addressed in TechKnow Park Weeks 31-36.) Contact your
local Media and/or Technology Director for the user name and password
to access the item bank. Please retain the security of this test
to maintain its validity.
NC
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