Sunday, May 15, 2011

CBA Launch

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are next on my list. Instead of some of the in-depth work that I wanted to do, I am doing more simplistic reading comprehension work. As I mapped out the final few weeks I saw how little time I really allotted for the CBA. I expected that the question formulation, research, drafting, revising, and completion would take 2 weeks. It should... but not when the 2 weeks have other odds and ends mixed in (like Memorial Day, Field Day, Talent Show, etc). Ugh!

The solution is to condense a few things in order to ensure enough time to finish the CBA in an appropriate amount of time. The goal is to go over branches of government and talk about rights, with a progression into particular issues that kids brainstorm. We'll start the brainstorming together, using a WCYDWT sort of thing. There are a few different approaches I am tossing around. One might be 2-3 images (something like the arrival of construction equipment, a map, and blueprint) and 1-2 questions for kids to wrestle with- how might this impact the community? what are the positives/negatives of this event?. Another idea is to have one image (something like open green space, or a wetland) and start entirely from scratch- what does this image make you think of? how is this image important to the community? I am not 100% how I want to approach it, but I do know that the latter was done (by me) and was successful in some ways.

The ultimate goal is to get kids wondering about issues around them. I want kids to ask questions that naturally lead them into research, and naturally lead them into supporting/refuting their opinion. I do know that I am going to restrict the presentation formats. Just because you have access to 8 or 9 different platforms doesn't mean you need to use all of them. I've got 7-10 instruction days left before it starts. Should be fun!

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