Monday, September 23, 2013
Virtual Pen Pals Assignment
What type of assignment do we want to do with the virtual penpals? We could have the students compare and contrast the similarities and differences between their regions in terms of the local history. I think this would work best if the virtual penpals were from any city in Europe, Asia, South America, etc. where cities were established much earlier than in the United States, and cultural differences would be obvious. What city should our virtual penpals be from? Do you have a different idea for this assignment? - Jessica
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I think this is a great idea! I think we should do a country like England or Germany because it also opens the floor for discussing different types of government. I see kids being interested in Germany for WWII purposes, however since England still does have an active monarchy (maybe not a true one but still one none the less) in place I'd personally prefer to do an English city. Although I'm open to any city, of course. For me, I see this happening at the 5th or 6th grade level since that's when you talk about local history (5th) and world wide history (6th). What do you ladies think?
ReplyDeleteChoosing a city in England sounds good to me! As far as which grade, let's go with 5th grade, since our project focuses on local history. Now, which city exactly should we choose? Do we pick the largest city, London, or choose a smaller city?
ReplyDeleteSome of the questions that I think our students should ask are:
In what year was the city established?
Who established the city?
Is the city known for any famous people, inventions or companies?
These are just a few to get us started.
Also, what will we have our students do with this information? We could have them make a venn diagram on computers that compares and contrasts their local city with the city in England. Does the website that the concept map was made in also make venn diagrams?
I sent an e-mail to your wmich addresses inviting you to the google doc for this project, just an fyi.
ReplyDeleteI agree we should do 5th grade! I think London would be great because the kids have heard of it prior and can easily find it on a map. Not to mention it has such rich history to be shared! I think in addition to those questions, (which are great by the way!) we should also ask some cultural questions. For example, we celebrate 4th of July here, something that is not celebrated there. However, they celebrate the 5th of November which is called Bonfire night, where they build a scarecrow and burn it symbolizing burning Guy Fawkes who tried to burn down parliament.
How long do we see this particular aspect of the project spanning out in the classroom? 2-3 weeks? Longer? Shorter? I think we should have the kids contact the other kids a minimum of once per week. The initial email should introduce themselves and tell their pen pals why they're writing, including questions they want to investigate.
I love the idea about the van diagram comparing and contrasting the two cities. Maybe we could also have the pen pals work on google docs in preparing this van diagram? That way they're learning collaboration through internet means as well?
Kaitlyn, thanks for starting the Google doc! I was going to do the same thing today, but you beat me to it :) Since this spans several class periods, I'm not sure we need a lesson plan that includes an anticipatory set, modeling, assessment, etc, so much as we need to answer the key questions in our assignment. Our assignment describes this as a writing, not a lesson plan.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to add my thoughts to the lesson that you started, and we can decide how we want to lay it out from here.
That's fine, I just figured I'd start something. I took out a few sections already, feel free to take out whatever. I just figured it'd be a good starting point. We don't necessarily have to use the lesson plan, it's more so a guide. :)
ReplyDeleteI messaged Sharon to ask for clarification, and I copied both of you on that email. She just wants a brief written description that answers the four questions that are posted on elearning for this assignment. I think we've pretty much answered those questions in the Google doc. Sam needs to add something to it, so she can receive credit for the assignment. Maybe she can add a few more questions for students to ask their pen pals. Right now, half of the layout is a lesson plan, and the other half is a written description that answers the questions. Kaitlyn, can you fix this, and submit the final document on our blog?
ReplyDeletejust wanting to clarify, you want me to delete the lesson part portion, wait for sam to enter some new questions in & than submit that to our blog? correct? I can do that no problem :) I just want to make sure that's what you meant!
ReplyDeleteYes, that's what I meant. Thanks!
Deletehey guys! I am sooo sorry I have not had a change to get on here this week. It was my first week of teaching in my practicum and with 7 classes, its hard to get everything done during the week. I will look over the assignment and what you guys have put together. I will be more than happy to add some questions and anything else I think we should have!
ReplyDeleteNo problem! Seven classes is a huge load!
DeleteHey ladies, I finished editing the google doc & created a map of the museums. Take a look at it & let me know what you think. I'll post it after I get out of work on sunday around 4 if it looks good to you two! :)
ReplyDelete& Sam, no worries! The questions you added were great!
The Google doc looks great! Both of you came up with some great questions!
DeleteThanks for creating a map, but our assignment instructions are that the Google doc and map need to be started by two different people.
Sharon, what do we do now?
Oh no...I didn't even think about it when I did it. :/ maybe we can have someone just recreate it, it literally took me like 5 seconds to do. just copy & paste the addresses I used.
DeleteWell technically two people did work on it, I had sent you guys a map of all of the museums around Kalamazoo and the ones that Kaitlyn picked were ones on that map. Then she put in the driving directions to a select few? Yes, no, maybe so?
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way they both look great!
ReplyDelete