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Week One: Friday, August 30, 2024

Welcome: 

Welcome to my update blog! Each post will include a brief update about what's going on in the school community and more details about what we did and what we will be doing soon. I can't believe we are already done with the first five days of school! This week has flown by and it was great getting to know the students--we really have some awesome students on the Maroon Team this year. 

Each week I try to take a little time to show a video that includes a lesson about life that is larger than social studies. This week's video is an old one, but it's great. This video comes from a now-extinct segment from Sports Center on ESPN called "Outside the Lines." I love showing this video to reinforce the fact that we all have different challenges--some more visible than others. 



This Past Week: 

  • Monday: Today was the first day of school and it was a whirlwind! We had an extended homeroom and classes were shortened. The students spent some time getting to know one another by completing a "Frayer a Friend" organizer.
  • Tuesday: We had another day of shortened classes for an extended homeroom. The students completed their first "Sketch & Tell." A sketch and tell requires the students to sketch out and answer to a question and then explain their drawing--we'll do these activities from time to time this year as it forces the students to think about the same information in multiple ways. 
  • Wednesday: The students were given the opportunity to watch a video about the school system today. The students looked for the narrator's claim, what evidence he gave to support his claim and the reasoning he used to explain his claims. We'll use this system often throughout the year to create our own arguments and opinions. 
  • Thursday: The students started the day by playing a Gimkit about the geography of the United States. We talked about the answers that were commonly missed and played the game again right away so students can see growth in their learning. They were then given time to build common knowledge about snack foods by completing a Google form that collected facts they find interesting about snack foods. Finally, all of the student responses were shared and they were able to peruse the work of their classmates and select the information they found the most interesting to create a visual slide. Check out some of the work they did here. 
  • Friday: The students got a taste of the self-directed nature of the class today when they worked on the Week One Game Board. This Google Slide deck includes 6 different activities that help the students reflect on the week and make this classroom something they enjoy. 

This Upcoming Week: 

Next week will be based on a few bigger activities: 
  • Should We Study History? The students will do their first mini-"research" assignment this week and then use what they find to formulate and defend an opinion. We will be using a tool called MagicSchoolAI to help the students learn the most effective and appropriate ways to use AI in their education. This will not be graded--it simply allows me to get a baseline for the students. 
  • Quarter 1 Timeline: The students will begin working on their first graded assignment of the quarter this week. We ask the students to complete timeline assignments at the beginning of each unit. These timelines help the students to practice effective research skills, introduce them to the content and then provide for a place to keep track of pertinent information throughout the unit. 
  • Content Bursts: We'll also begin diving into the American history content this week with a few content bursts. I try to keep the direct teaching of content/lectures to around 5 minutes. The students will watch a couple of videos I created this week to learn about how the North American continent came to be colonized and the very beginning of the causes of the American Revolution. 

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