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Dora Leland
09
Project
Summary
1. General Overview of the Proposed
Project:
I would like to do a
podcasting project on the Revolutionary War. In groups of four,
students would be assigned an event during the Revolutionary War to
report on. Students would create a news report on their event.
Initially, students would research information on their event. Once
information is gathered, students would put together either a video
or audio presentation. The lesson would culminate in a viewing of
all the class presentations in which students would provide feedback
on each presentation, including suggestions for improvement.
2. Clear Purpose and Objective:
The purpose of this lesson is to engage
students in researching events that occurred during the
Revolutionary War. Students will research various key topics of the
Revolutionary War such as key battles, major political events,
treatment of loyalists, etc. Students will be given the opportunity
to organize and present information to class in which they have
researched.
The main objective of this lesson is for
students to gain research skills as well as gain knowledge of the
American Revolution and it’s impact on history.
3. Stakeholders: grade level, who will
benefit, who will participate in this project.
Stakeholders in this
project are seventh grade social studies students in my classes. All
108 students in my classes will participate in creating an original
Revolutionary War podcast as well as observing other student’s
projects and providing evaluative feedback.
4. U.S. History Content Area
US History content is the Revolutionary War
period._
5. Outline Describing Content
1. Early events
leading up to the Revolutionary War
a. political events-
taxes
b. protests- Boston
Massacre; Boston Tea Party
2. Political Organizing
a. Sons of Liberty
b. First Continental
Congress
3. Early Battles
a. Lexington & Concord
b. Bunker Hill
4. Hardships of War
5. Turning Points
6. End of War/Treaty of Paris
6. Software to be used, internet
materials, contacts, etc.
Software used
includes Microsoft word, toolboxpro classroom resource, Microsoft
Moviemaker program.
7. Level of Student Involvement
Students will be
involved in all aspects of this project. Once assigned groups, they
will conduct research on their topics and decide upon a format in
which to present their information. Students will create an original
presentation as a group. There will be periodic monitoring from the
teacher to insure that students are making progress with each step
of the project.
8. Evaluation process (include students
when possible)
Student projects
will be evaluation through the use of a grading rubric as well as
through student generated feedback.
9. Timeline: how you envision the
project being carried out between start up and conclusion
Projected timeline
for project is four weeks. This include one week of introductory
lessons of the content, two and one half weeks for project
completion and one-half week for student presentations.
Final
Project Reflection
Dora Leland
Horseheads Middle School
Social Studies-7
The Revolutionary War Broadcasting project was
immensely successful and rewarding in many ways. The most rewarding
aspect of the project was that it was a collaborative effort between
the English language Art teacher on my team and me. We were able to
create and implement a multidisciplinary project that engaged the
students in many modalities and at many levels. Students were able
to use their knowledge of the Revolutionary War to create original
radio broadcasts. This addressed various NYS learning standards in
both Social Studies and ELA.
Working collaboratively with Chuck Donovan,
the ELA teacher on my team was extremely valuable. Since we teach at
the same time periods, we were able to combine our classes and
implement a “block” of 80 minutes for students to work on their
project, rather than the traditional 40 minute individual class time
that they would have had. By co-teaching the lessons, we were able
to offer students various teaching styles as well as provide
different levels of technological assistance to students.
Additionally, we had the help of our library/media specialist who
was very helpful in guiding students to research and library
resources.
One way in which I feel the lesson was
particularly effective and rewarding is that Mr. Donovan and I
completely organized the project prior to presenting it to the
students. The structure of the project was very tight. Students were
guided through each step of the project and had to provide evidence
of completing one aspect of the project before moving on to the next
step. For example, when placed in groups, students had a planning
page in which they had to write a script of their broadcast.
Students had to have this script approved by Chuck or me before
moving on to creating an audio file. This prevented students from
getting distracted by playing with the audacity program and not
getting the critical content completed. Having clear expectations
and a tight structure greatly reduced off-task behavior and made
students much more focused.
Prior to beginning the project, students had
completed the unit on the Revolutionary War. This was essential to
the success of the projects. Since students already had prior
knowledge of the content, they could immediately begin to create
radio broadcasts. They did not have to take time to research and
learn the content. This was critical to reducing frustration for
some students. Because students felt confident and familiar with the
content, they were freer to be creative with their radio broadcast.
I believe the level of student interaction was greatly increased
because students had the knowledge needed to create accurate and
original projects.
One thing I would have done differently with
this project was that I would have given a lesson how to use the
audacity program prior to beginning the project. When students had
their scripts written and approved, Mr. Donovan took small groups
aside and worked with them to record a radio broadcast using the
audacity program. Initially, this worked well, but as more students
finished, there was a “waiting list” of groups to work with Mr.
Donovan. This led to behavior issues and off-task behavior because
students had too much idle time. If students were taught how to use
the program ahead of time, they could begin to record as soon as
their scripts were approved. Mr. Donovan and I could then just
monitor and give help to groups as needed. This would have decreased
the amount of off-task behavior and classes would have completed the
projects in less time, thereby giving more time to present.
Another thing I would have changed is the
Power Point aspect of the project. Students had the option of
embedding their mp3 radio broadcast into a Power Point project.
Students who did this had fantastic projects but I think it made
students who chose not to add the Power Point element feel bad about
their project. In the future I would add a day to the project
timeline and require that all students include the Power Point
element. I believe it would add to the lesson as well as to student
achievement.
Overall, I was very pleased with the project.
It was the first interdisciplinary project that I had done in years.
The collaboration gave me an opportunity to see teaching history
from a different perspective. I enjoyed the interaction with Mr.
Donovan as well as with the combination of students from both of our
classes. I think the most rewarding aspect of the lesson came from
the power that using technology gave us. I have one student in my
class who has cerebral palsy. She has an extremely difficult time
talking fluently. Mr. Donovan encouraged her to speak her part in
the script the best that she could and he would be able to edit the
recording. When her group presented their project, her part came on
and it was amazing to hear how well she did. The students in my
class were so enthusiastic about how well she did. I think it gave
the student a chance to be just like all the other kids for once. I
will always remember that.
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