Category I: Planning and Preparation

Holocaust Research

Snakes: Friend or Foe?

SSR/SSW Project Options (http://mrsauld.wikispaces.com/SSR+%26+SSW)

Name Research Project

Holocaust Research Assessment

This assessment and teaching experience met the Planning and Preparation standards. This assessment showed my understanding of PA teaching standards through Library Science and Literacy. Students were asked to use technology and the Big 6 Process to make a plan, research, and generate a biographical writing piece. Students were able to choose their own Holocaust survivor through research in books, online databases, and websites. Students used all possible research resources available through the Upper Moreland community. This assessment was rigorous and challenging for the accelerated learners in the single period Literacy course. The assessment crosses disciplines, much like the accelerated Literacy counterpart course, Humanities. Students explored a real-life event using a historical lens. I tailored the assessment and teaching to the needs of my high-level learners. They were asked to use many resources and understand a rather broad topic through one person's story. Students were also scaffolded into the historical context through an allegorical children's story.

Snakes: Friend or Foe?

This was the block Literacy’s informational research piece. These students also researched a topic: snakes. Students were asked to investigate snakes and decide whether snakes are friend or foes to the world as a whole. This assessment and my teaching were tailored to the mid to low-level achieving students. The topic only had two sides and no historical context to understand. Students were able to just look at the facts instead of really needed to sort many facts from opinions. My instruction scaffolded students into looking only at facts through my technology instruction and Mrs. Atonuccio's mini-lessons on Boolean Searches. Students also used several resources available to the Upper Moreland community. Students used websites, online databases, and books to support their conclusions and choose a side. This level of choice allowed students to truly focus their research while traveling through the Big 6 model.

SSR/SSW Project Options

Students are asked to complete one independent reading or independent reading assessment per marking period. These assessments and my teaching meet the Planning and Preparation standard as students are able to choose through their own interests and use various options available to the Upper Moreland District including, but not limited to, Photo Story, Animoto, Movie Maker, Wordle, or Tagxedo. Students are able to gear their own learning independently throuhg one-on-one conferences with me and independent work. Each student is working on a unique task. They meet various standards through this investigation and creation; a love of reading and writing are fostered through this choice. Students are able to work on their own level since they can choose any of the ten options, allowing for tiering and differentiation. Students also choose their own reading materaisl with help from Mrs. Antonuccio and me. This gears their reading toward the appropriate level. Students also then reflect on their work after the end of the marking period and reflect on their own reading for the marking period for metacognitive skills.

Name Research Project

Students took on another independent role when completing the Name Research Project. Students were given several resources to locate information about the origin, popularity, and meaning of their names. Students were able to then explore the meaning of their name in their own way through a creative project. Students could create anything that they wanted and were able to use their own interests to guide their analysis and creation. Models were used to set expectations for high quality work. I made my own project to model what I would expect from students.