Standard Overview:

Knowledge of content is absolutely necessary for good teaching, and it must be combined with an understanding of the complex and sophisticated relationships within the content and made relevant to the learner. The teacher uses his/her knowledge of content, process and development of 21st century skills to move beyond being a provider of knowledge to being a facilitator of learning.

The teacher designs instruction that engages students in meaningful instructional activities that support the WV Content Standards and Objectives and that result in intentional student learning.

CSOs for this lesson included these two Objectives:

Relevant Description:

I designed the WWII lessons to purposely set aside the Holocaust and Japanese Internment as a separate lesson. The idea is that a small section in the chapter was not enough to fully discuss the scope and nature of these to events in the history of WWII. I presented the class with a short Power Point Presentation outlining the events. I wanted to only give a brief overview that would encourage the students to seek meaning and understanding from their unique perspective. I then presented the assignment, a two-to-three page essay or a visual essay about what the Holocaust / Japanese Internment meant to them. I gave them a basic outline of the material I would like to see in the projects, but basically gave the students free reign over what they wanted to do. I provided the students with a rubric that outlined the criteria for the project. I scheduled computer lab time for the students to do research and begin outlining their projects. I instructed the students to reference, MLA style, any material that was not an original work of their own, which included any photographs. I answered questions about what a visual essay was: I informed the students that it could be anything that could tell the story using visual prompts instead of words, like a collage, painting, drawing, doodle, Wordle, Power Point, Prezi, graphic novella....

Reflective Analysis:

The projects the students turned in far exceeded my expectations, given that the timeline for the project was less than a week start to finish. I was absolutely thrilled with the original works of art many students turned in, even those filled with historic photographs took an original appeal due to the unique arrangements. When I explained what a visual essay was to the students it seemed as though the room lit up and the churning sounds of engines came life, it was like the path to freedom had just been opened. If you are able to let students  show you their understanding of subject material in ways different from standard forms of assessment, it may be quite refreshing and amazing to see what they share. Some students really wanted the safe boundaries of a standard style research based essay and others thirsted for the creative release that allowed them to express their individuality and offer deeper insight into how and what they understood about those events.

Plans for Improvement:

The area that I felt needed the most improvement for this type of lesson is a venue for presenting. While many students are reluctant to present I found that many of the students were eager to share with me and their classmates the projects they had worked so hard on. I had the students do a "pop culture" project that required them to research a topic and present that research to class as an expert (this was a project initiated previously by the host teacher). I saw then the mixed reaction by the students about presenting their information, but this was somehow different because they all had the same topic and they all found things about these horrific events of WWII that they desperately wanted to share. I made accommodations with the art teacher to display some of the work, but need to find a better venue for those that want to present their work for others to see and learn about these events. The other thing that needs attention is the amount time students need to complete a project this size. On one hand a short time line demands focus and immediate attention, but  realistically most students could have benefited from having at least one weekend coupled with the week to fine tune their ideas and projects as a whole.