Dear Principal Jennings and A.P. Bien-Aime,
I am looking forward to the upcoming year at Science Skills Center High School. As per your request, I have developed a thematic unit that makes use of project-based learning merged with technology. The thematic unit below gives you an overview of how such projects would work with in a thematic unit.
I have also developed on project in depth. It is a project that lasts 9 days and lends itself to the thematic unit as well. It is a project where students design a web exhibition. This project meets ELA, Social Studies, Technology and Art Standards. It further emphasizes grop work, problem solving skills and the development of an expertise in a subject through the use of technology.
Below you will find lesson plans for the full 9 days that the project extends.
The purpose of this project is to deepen students’ understanding of not just The Harlem Renaissance and the people who shaped it, but how the Renaissance shaped America and America’s view of African Americans and their creativity.
The goals of this project are to:
• produce a model museum education program for cross-disciplinary learning that takes into account multiple intelligences and a variety of learning styles
• Introduce high school students to the accomplishments of the artists, musicians and writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
• provide students with a creative and innovative way to learn about the Harlem Renaissance and its impact on American history
• foster critical and interpretive skills for students to better communicate the essence of the Harlem Renaissance
• introduce students to the basic concepts of developing a museum exhibition
• introduce students to the fundamental principles of online exhibition design through the use of online communication tools
The learning objectives for students in this project are:
• being introduced to several of artists, musicians and writers of the Harlem Renaissance
• Understanding the contributions that the musicians, artists and writers made to all Americans.
• being inspired by the creativity that emerged out of such adversity
• being able to understand and demonstrate the basic skills and processes involved in putting together a museum exhibition
• assimilating and presenting a set of ideas in an organized, logical and creative manner
• being comfortable using interactive tools to communicate and illustrate an interactive narrative
• understanding the advantages of and improving their skills with project-based learning
NYS Learning and Performance Standards that are met through this project
The Arts S2, PI Use the computer and electronic media to express their visual ideas and demonstrate a variety of approaches to artistic creation (b)
ELA S3, PI Present orally and in writing well-developed analyses of issues, ideas, and texts, explaining the rationale for their positions and analyzing their positions from a variety of perspectives in such forms as formal speeches, debates, thesis/support papers, literary critiques, and issues analyses
Technology S5, PI Select appropriate tools, instruments, and equipment and use them correctly to process materials, energy, and information
This project will take 9 full days to complete.
Class 1
Introduce students to the project and conduct a class activity. Also conduct an object study exercise to prepare the students to be curators. In this exercise, groups of students are given a container (backpack, purse, etc.), each containing five objects. Students are asked to study the objects for clues about who would carry such a container. Their inquiries are structured around the 5 “w’s”: what, where, when, who and why.
Class 2
Lead a mock exhibit exercise. Students then are introduced to the interactive project site and some of the tools - such as Blogger and Flickr - they would be using to create their online exhibitions.
Class 3
Introduce students to basic exhibition design. Using a brainstorming method, students suggest possible topics for the “big idea” for their online exhibit. Suggestions are grouped into categories by similarity, and students could vote for their top three choices.
Using the same brainstorming technique employed to identify the big idea, I lead students in an exercise to identify five central themes to support that big idea. Following the identification of the five supporting themes, students write down, in order of preference, the themes they prefer to explore. I, the facilitator, am then able to break the class into five groups of three students each, with no student receiving lower than their second choice.
Class 4
With the assistance of the facilitator, each group looks over all the artifacts proposed by the individual students and narrow down the list to approximately six. Again, the focus of the discussion centered on how each artifact related both to the group theme and to the overall central theme. The facilitator also leads discussions on “interpreting” objects and the various means by which object interpretations can connect the object to the themes. Following this discussion, each student in the group is assigned two objects to interpret and write label copy for. Students were offered assistance in researching their individual objects in order to better understand that object’s relationship to the Harlem Renaissance and to the overall theme of choice.
Class 5-7
The next two classes are devoted to working with the individual groups to help students research and write their label copy, peer review each other’s copy, as well as order and label the images and determine a theme title. About halfway through, individual groups present their work to the rest of the class and to ensure that it was on course, keyed to the big idea, and of interest to other students. Students are asked to review the artifacts they selected and labels they had written to ensure that both support the group theme as well as the big idea.
Class 8
The last class is devoted to showcasing the entire website for the students. After students complete the review, they once again are asked to focus on the title of the exhibition to ensure it reflects the site’s content.
The last section of this class centered on students discussing what they liked and disliked about the project. Preparations were made for the formal launch party.
Evaluation / Assessments: Formative Assessments are done throughout the project. A Rubric for the project will be used as a final authentic assessment.
Reflections:
This project not only meets ELA, Social Studies, and The Arts and Technology standards. The project allows for students to debate choices made. Students use a problem solving approach to this project. Students are leading the class and the teacher is facilitating. The best benefit is that students are left with a product that shows clarity of thought, organization, and an expertise on a topic. Isn’t this what we want from all of our students? Project-based learning merged with technology is the best way to prepare our students for their future where they will be required to collaborate, problem solve, and use technology to create a well-thought out product.
Principal Jennings and A.P. Bien-Aime, I hope you are as encouraged about the future as I am. Technology and PBL have made it possible for our students to efficiently reach the highest levels of Bloom's taxonomy.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Qureshi
ELA Year 9
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