Project Sketch

PROJECT SKETCH:
CLASS: GRADE 7 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION EXPLORATORY (one-quarter class)


PROJECT: FAMILY HERITAGE PROJECT
One of the three main units for this class is “My Cultural Heritage.” The culminating project for this unit asks students to interview parents (or other family members) about one of three topics: pregnancy/birth, marriage, or death/funerals. I'll share the essential questions and enduring understandings, learning outcomes, assignment sheet, rubric, and some exemplars with the group in class.

I would like to adapt this project to use a new tool: Voice Thread. Several of my colleagues have told me about the advantages of Voice Thread: that it allows students to easily incorporate audio and visual images, and that it allows the presenter to rehearse oral presentations. The compact time frame of the class does not allow for every student to orally present their project, but students could be asked to include the part of the interview which they think is most interesting/illuminating. And, if the interview was conducted in the native language, the student could translate it as well.

Projects could be posted on my blog, and students could be required to view and comment on two other students’ projects. This would have them learning in a “connectivity” mode, and I would be nudged to start using my teacher blog.

The NETS student standard to be met would be:

Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. process data and report results.

I would be touching on most of these NETS Teacher standards:

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources tomaximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:

a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity
b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become
active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress
c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using
digital tools and resources
d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology
standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching