Submitted by: John Marshall
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

Students will learn the similarities between the problems that face America today and those encountered by the Roman Empire just before its fall.  They research information on both current events and Roman History and develop a method to share these ideas with the rest of the world with the goal of making people award of these problems using History to preview what could happen to America.

After a review of the factors that contributed to Rome’s fall and of the current events readings assigned for homework, students will work in small groups to decide the best method to share information with the rest of the world. (examples: create a website, a viral video, a twitter feed, etc.).  They’ll then be asked to ‘pitch’ the idea to the instructor who will approve it and give them the assignment rubric and instructions, or be sent back for more project development.
The final product will show its audience the parallels between 3rd and 4th century Rome and 21st Century America with warnings about America’s situation.  It will be appropriately published to the outside world for all to see.

Submitted by: Kate Duffy
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

Students will demonstrate a comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of the relief printing process through the creation of an original 2 color reduction print depicting a historical figure that has advocated or was engaged in positive change. Before starting print making process, students will study artist and print maker, Käthe Kollwitz, an advocate for social justice who lived during the 20th c. in Germany. Students will look at examples of Kollwitz’s artwork identifying key components of composition and discussing the work’s ability to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. Next, students will brainstorm a list of characteristics and compose a class list of criteria (using activeengage-vote) to use when identifying and researching a rebel, radical, or revolutionary. The individuals that are identified and research will become the subject of the students’ original 2 color reduction print. Students will conclude the printmaking project by completing both a self and peer evaluation and participating in a student directed class critique.

Submitted by: Pete Anderson
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

This lesson explores the difference between theoretical solutions and practical solutions by using “Points of Concurrency” which is an extension of the Geometry SOL topic of “Constructions”. Therefore constructions must be taught prior to this lesson. Students, in small groups, will begin with a problem-based learning activity of exploring the application of an SOL construction to a triangle. Students are then presented with the day’s problem: Determine a centralized location for a warehouse that will service 3 local grocery stores. After brainstorming on what information is needed to solve the problem, (question the question) students submit their questions via ActivEngage. The Teacher then leads to the students through directions on how to locate the stores using Google Earth and inserting a graphic of the map into Sketchpad. Students’ apply what was learned from the problem-based learning activity to this situation and then asked to respond to questions that ultimately lead to the essential question: Is a mathematical solution practical?

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Submitted by: Drew Baker
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

Through the creation of community websites, the students will instruct their classmates and invited friends, families and peers in the psychological and neurological aspects of sensation and the major senses. Each group of 4-6 students will collaborate by researching a specific sense and create a webpage that will serve as a part of the overall group’s site. They will conduct original research as well as define, explain, and incorporate all major AP Psychology terms that relate to their topic. All citations will be collected and organized by the group and then placed on a citations page, so that their original research will be showcased. Upon completion, these sites will be shared with students from other classes, family members, faculty, and friends outside of Glen Allen. The students will be assessed both as a group and individually using a rubric given to them at the onset of the assignment. The webpages will remain live and can be used as a review throughout the year, before mid-terms, and the AP Psychology test.

Submitted by: Jamie Cooney
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

In the beginning of Spanish II, students will review and synthesize knowledge acquired in Spanish I in order to create a 30-45 second audio recording, using Audacity. In this recording, each student describes his/her own personality, appearance, likes, dislikes, and hobbies/interests in Spanish. The students will not reveal their names in the recordings and will slightly distort their voices using the effects feature in Audacity, so that when the recordings are played for the class, the students will have to listen to and comprehend the Spanish in order to identify the speaker. Students will become familiar with online resources that are available to them, such as www.wordreference.com and www.tomisimo.org, during the drafting phase. Through a collaborative peer-editing process, students will develop and refine both writing and speaking skills by critiquing, reflecting and providing feedback. Finally, the students will listen to each recording and, using listening comprehension skills and knowledge of the relevant grammar and vocabulary, students will guess who the speaker is. Once the speaker is identified, he/she will stand up and introduce him/herself to the class in Spanish.

Submitted by: John Marshall & Tim Towslee
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

Students in two classrooms (History and English) chose opposing sides of a debate that would answer the question: “Was Henry David Thoreau justified in his refusal to pay his poll tax in protest of Antebellum American policies?” Both classes learned prior knowledge of the time period and historical events that Thoreau was questioning and read his Civil Disobedience in class. Students formed small groups to prepare an opening statement and probing questions to be used in a debate. These debates took place through the use of Skype and online SchoolSpace chatrooms. Judges were selected to monitor the cross-curricular debate and report a “score” using a Google Doc. Students completed research in their groups and prepared opening arguments and questions. Only one student from each class, however, would be able to deliver the opening address to the other classroom (using Skype) and the Promethean Board. Students had to independently select their best speaker and combine their arguments before the debate began. After these opening statements, students continued the debate in online chatroooms with judges keeping score and reporting out to both classes (via Skype) periodically. The instructors added a “secret document” during the debate to forced students to quickly analyze and incorporate into their arguments. Finally, closing statements were delivered in the chat and the judges gave their final decisions via webcam, prompting celebration of the winning sides of each mini-debate. Instructors assessed the performance of each student by reading the online chat logs and each group’s opening argument.

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Submitted by: Ryan Conway
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

This lesson was designed to get students to collaborate while working in groups to become an expert on a specific religion from the Protestant Reformation time period. They were then given roles in which they were either an actor, public relations agent, or investigative reporter. Each role had specific research and presentation requirements. The debate topic for the press conference was, “Which religion would you choose?” Actors were required to give an opening speech discussing the major aspects of their religion, while also fielding questions from the reporters in which they had to defend their positions. Public Relation agents were moral support for the actors and would often jump in to help answer a question. They were also tasked with creating a one page flipchart that had visuals and helpful information that could be used during the press conference. The investigative reporters drove the entire press conference by asking tough critical thinking questions in which they made all of the actors justify different aspects of their religions. The students basically ran the class and the teacher was simply a facilitator that clarified items from time to time. Periodically, “Twitter timeouts” were called so that reporters could text in any questions they were unable to ask during the press conference (using ActivEngage). These questions were revisited later in the press conference.

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Submitted by: J. Harvey Stone
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

In this lesson, student groups (3-4 per group) work collaboratively to understand elements of the 1920s culture. They accomplished this by moving through 6 different “stations” that covered the following topics/tasks:

• 4 icon challenge: assessment of prior knowledge
• Jazz music: understanding the roots of jazz and influences on 1920s
• Headlines: researching headlines from the 1920s to gain knowledge & practice advanced search strategies
• Education: identify/understand terms related to the Scopes Trial
• Literature: uncover cultural clues in 2 exerpts from “The Great Gatsby”
• Individual research: time dedicated to research chosen topic for “This I Believe” project

At the end of each rotation, students were asked to reflect on their experience at the station using an online dot voting tool or a class blog. The reflection tool that was used at each station was specific to the topic that was studied.

Click here to go to the instructional site used in this lesson. Site includes directions for students and links to media, blog, & assessment tools.

This lesson serves as an introduction to their “This I Believe” project based on the popular PBS series. Click here to view “This I Believe” project details.

TIPC Ratings



Approaching: Prior to this lesson, students were taught how to use advanced search strategies and given strategies for evaluating the accuracy and appropriateness of a website. Students were asked (in multiple stations) to use these strategies while researching specific topics. Teacher designed the stations to specifically allow students to practice these techniques and synthesize the information acquired. Visual representations (posters) of the advanced search concepts and process for evaluating sites were set up at the headlines station to serve as a guide.



Ideal/Target: Students worked their way though all of the stations in collaborative groups. Prior to the lesson, norms for collaborative work were developed by the students in the class. These norms are posted in the room to serve as a reminder of how students should work in groups. Teacher also reminded students of their group norms throughout the lesson. Groups were selected by students and the tools that were used to communicate the knowledge gained allowed for continued conversation. Since students have been added as authors to the class blog, they were able to post their findings to the blog. They were also asked to reflect at each station using an online dot voting tool. The teacher used the results to guide his instruction.



Ideal/Target: In Station 1, students had to pick 4 icons that they felt best represented the 1920s era. They then had to explain to the teacher why those 4 were chosen and how they relate to the prior learning. Each of the other stations required students to think about their critical thinking strategies. In some stations, they had to summarize, in others they had to recognize themes and understand cultural clues. At the end of each station, students were asked to reflect on the specific topic and assess their learning. In some stations, they used an online dot voting tool that had specific likert scales based on the station topic. In other stations, they contributed their thoughts to a blog to share with the entire class.



Ideal/Target: During this lesson, the teacher modeled strategic risk taking and creativity through the variety of stations that were created. Because of this variety, various student learning styles were addressed. Students created blog posts, iconic representations of the 1920s, and began to create their script for a “This I believe” podcast. The teacher helped to facilitate this experience by giving students the necessary foundation for the lesson (establishing group norms, advanced search techniques, class blog).

Student Artifact



Download Files


Links:

• Lesson Plan
• Class Blog
• Class Group Norms
• Instructional Site for Lesson
• Example of Advanced Search Poster

Submitted by: Carol Edelman
Collaborators: Rocky Marrin, Tuckernut Square Chick-fila Marketing Manager
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

Students developed a new food product for an actual client, Chick-fil-a. Students not only developed a food product people want (market research) make it competitive, and profitable, but they also branded, packaged and labeled, and promoted the product. As in the real world, the students pitched their idea in formed marketing agencies to their client, Chick-fil-a. Chick-fil-a flew in an executive from their Atlanta corporate office to hear the presentations. Also in attendance was a local Chick-fil-a store owner and marketing manager.

Submitted by: Barbara Bonner & Shana Katz
Collaborators: Angie Branyon, Erin Mable, & Jennifer Maddux
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

French III students studied different French impressionist, post-impressionist, and surrealist artists and learned how to evaluate a work of art. The students then chose a particular artist, researched that artist, and chose a work of art to evaluate (in French). They made a podcast of their artist and work of art in French and English. Copies of the works of art were displayed in the art gallery and all of the podcasts were loaded onto iPods so other students could take a “walking tour” of our “museum.” The students were also introduced to a variety of French foods and French cooking techniques. The lesson started with a flipchart where the students had to match the foods and cooking techniques to their pictures. Then they had to write what they thought each food or cooking term meant. Finally, we discussed each term with the students. Mrs. Bonner pronounced the words correctly in French and gave some history and background on the terms. Mrs. Katz explained the foods and cooking terms in more detail so the students would understand. In addition, the students discussed how the foods relate to the regions in France. A “French café” was set up for students, parents and other community members to enhance the visit to the museum of French art. French food and music was provided for the guests.