Our class wiki has been getting quite a bit of use. I've used it as a receptacle for information so that students are able to access information at home. This has alleviated sending home the textbook. Granted, the information in the textbook is at a lower level, and a bit more accessible. Nonetheless the wiki has been a useful tool.
This week is when I start to release some of the control. One of the assignments for the week is for the kids will be to describe one of the colonies using some of the information we've been gathering. The information fits into the categories of: Reasons for Founding, Geography, Economy, and Government. We created questions that matched those categories so that we could be strategic in our reading, and more focused when looking for information.
What students will be charged with is choosing one of the colonies, and writing a 1-2 paragraph description of the colony. They will also need to search for at least one link that adds more information for the colony. We'll then group responses by colony, and read them to evaluate which we think is most accurate and descriptive.
Soon after we'll add a section on where you'd want to live if... (you wanted religious freedom? you wanted self-government? you wanted to sow seeds of flax?!). I'm excited to relinquish some of the control (granted I still need to post things, or have kids post during class with supervision).
No comments:
Post a Comment