Be The Change You Wish To See

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This is the final week before a holiday break for many schools. One more week, teachers. You can make it!

Students often become very energetic near Christmas break, making it hard for them to concentrate on their assignments.

For this final week, I encourage you to invite students to practice writing by having them reflect and set goals for the new year ahead.

Students usually focus on setting personal goals for this assignment. They want to make better grades, eat healthier, or exercise more. However, I push students to think outside of their own personal goals. I challenge them to not only set objectives for personal growth, but also consider goals for their family, community, and the world. This helps them reflect on ways they can positively impact others.

                                                                                                                   

FAMILY: Many students often say they don’t spend enough quality time with their families.  This activity prompts students to start family game nights or create new routines to ensure their family eats dinner together each night.   Other students may choose to focus on reconnecting with their grandparents and helping them with their yard or housework.  Most often students will make plans to cut back on television or cell phone use in order to spend more quality time with their families.  While many children in this generation are addicted to video games, iPads, and cell phones, they do value spending quality time with their families. They enjoy fishing and working on projects with their fathers, shopping trips with their mothers and aunts, and listening to the stories of their grandparents.  I’ve had several parents thank me for this assignment over the years because it gave them the opportunity to reflect on the quality time their family spent together.

COMMUNITY: I ask students to reflect on how they are making their communities a better place and encourage them to set community service goals. Many students make goals to start volunteering or begin helping their local neighbors. I often share how I spent time when I was in high school volunteering at a local nursing home in my community called “The Vintage Inn.”  I spent many weekends talking with the residents and that’s where I learned about World War II, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights Movement. I heard real stories from people about what their lives were like and the lessons they learned throughout life.  I gained invaluable wisdom and knowledge from listening to stories that no textbook could ever teach me. This understanding sparked my interest to be a history teacher.  Students need to understand that community service will also have a positive impact on their lives as well.

WORLD: Students need to think about their role as global citizens and their goals for our world.  I ask students the following questions: What are your hopes for the world? What would you like to see in the headlines—world peace, no more violence, or a cleaner environment? What can you do to make sure that positive changes take place? It’s important to encourage children, at any age, to start processing how they are impacting the world.

After setting goals, students will revisit this assignment regularly throughout the year. In June, we complete a self-assessment of our progress towards our goals. We hold class discussions on the impact their goals not only had on their personal growth, but also on their families, communities, and society.

All students need to understand that they can make a difference.

They can use their voice to communicate ideas.

They can take action to improve others’ lives.

They can be the change they wish to see.

Stories of The Year

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Throughout December, I will be sharing my favorite activities to keep students engaged and focused on learning, while also celebrating the holiday season. One of my favorite assignments during December allows students to be an investigative journalist. I tell students TIME magazine has hired them to write 3 articles for their “Stories of The Year” feature to commemorate the 2017 year.

You can download this assignment with all the specific requirements here.

Students will write and publish articles on the “Story of the Year,” “Man of the Year,” and Woman of the Year” after conducting research. Students can research events in their school, community, state or world. Many students will research mainstream media, politics, and sports events. Be sure to remind them they can create stories about people in their own school and communities. Many of my students choose the custodian, principal, school resource officer, or cafeteria staff as their man or the woman of the year. They will take time to interview individuals in the school and use their quotes for the articles. I give people within the school and community the students’ articles after I grade them. These individuals always tell me how much the students’ articles encouraged and inspired them.

Every content and resource teacher should give students opportunities to practice researching and communicating ideas effectively. This assignment is one that any teacher can use to give students opportunities with these 21st-century skills. It also offers student voice and choice, which allows greater ownership and differentiates the assignment based on their interests. For social studies, I encourage students to think about the “impact” their event or person had on the society. It isn’t enough for a student to explain the surface details, they must explain the impact this event or person had.

You can also differentiate this assignment across multiple content areas using the following ideas.

Students may conduct their research on Google, magazines, newspapers, or by conducting surveys in their school or community. If you have access to technology, I suggest you use Flipboard for this assignment. Flipboard will allow you to create a customized search engine for your class. This will limit the students’ research to specific websites you would like them to use. Search Flipboard to find content on the topics and flip (or include) that content in your magazine. Students would then use your customized magazine to conduct their research. For example, a North Carolina teacher, Zach Marrow, created a magazine devoted to eighth-grade science standards called Science Class. This will give you an idea of what your students will see when conducting their research.

I like giving students options of how they will publish their magazines. Some students choose to draw their pictures and write their articles by hand. Others may use Microsoft Word or publisher. If students want to use technology to create their articles, I would use any of the following tools. All 5 are free, but they do require a sign up from students.

Glossi: Enables students to create professional, yet simple digital magazines.

Joomag: Enables students to create magazines. Allows students to draw shapes, write texts, add video and audio players.

Zinepal: Enables students to create an eBook or magazine from posts and articles of blogs.

Scoop It: Allows students and users to “Scoop” articles from the internet, write their own thoughts about it, and publish it online.

Scribd: Allows students to upload their own content and turn it into a magazine.

This activity provides opportunities for students to reflect on the events and people in their lives that impacted them the most during the past year. It’s a time to stop and be grateful for the wonderful people in schools, communities, and the world in general. It helps us appreciate all the good that happened during the past year. You will be amazed and inspired at what your students create if you allow them research and be creative.

Letters To Santa…

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December is a crazy month for most schools in the United States. There are performances, celebrations, benchmark test, and field trips. Kids are excited and teachers are ready for a break. Educators must be diligent to ensure students stay focused on learning during December with so many distractions. As teachers, we always want every lesson to be engaging, relevant, and purposeful. But with so many distractions during this month, teachers need to think strategically when planning activities and tasks to make sure students stay engaged. For the month of December, I will share my favorite activities you can use with students in multiple grades and subject areas to help keep student learning engaging and purposeful.

One of my favorite assignments for December is for students to write letters to Santa. The catch is, students must write their letter from the perspective of someone we have studied in history. I borrowed this idea from my favorite teacher, my Aunt Violet. In fact, about 99% of my best lessons come from her. She taught 4th grade, and I taught 8th grade, but the beauty of this assignment is that it works in multiple grades and content areas. The students will love it and it will enable them to practice writing skills and apply their knowledge of the content.

You can download my Social Studies assignment here. Teachers of any subject can change this assignment for any class.

  • Elementary Teachers: Students write letters to Santa asking for things they “need” and “want.” Students should be able to differentiate between needs and wants in their letters.
  • Math Teachers: Give students a budget and allow them to do comparison shopping for items they would like Santa to buy. Students can tell Santa the stores that have the best-priced items on their list. You can also give students a credit card and allow them to calculate interest for their items.
  • Music Teachers: Students write from the perspective of their favorite musicians and create Santa a playlist for his sleigh ride.
  • Science Teachers: Students write from the perspective of their favorite scientist or write what scientific invention they would like Santa to invent.
  • Language Arts Teachers: Students write from the perspective of any character from books they have read this year. Students can practice “persuasive writing” to convince Santa to bring the presents they want.
  • Physical Education Teachers: Students write letters to Santa giving him healthy eating and lifestyle advice for how he might trim his waistline.
  • Art Teachers: Students draw or create Santa a piece of art they studied this year. Another idea may be, to raffle off the students’ art for your school or raise money for families in need during winter.

 

This assignment allows students creativity to shine. Students will often take on the full character of the person they choose and write in the dialect of that person. Many students will enjoy making their letters look authentic, by burning the edges of the paper or soaking the paper with tea bags.

If students do not believe in or celebrate Christmas or Santa, you should offer an alternative assignment. The alternative assignment can be downloaded here. Allow students to choose which assignment they would like to complete. It’s also a great idea to invite students to read or present their letters to the class on the due date. This gives them practice in public speaking. It was never a requirement for my class, but many students enjoy reading their letters and expressing their creativity.

I find that this is an assignment that sticks with students. They may not remember the causes of the revolutionary war, the great migration, or the impact of the dust bowl in Ms. Knox’s class. But students will remember writing this letter. Students will learn the historically relevant concepts and knowledge focused on their person and time period through their letters. Students will also be able to develop their research and writing skills and apply them through this assignment.

So embrace this crazy month, get into the Christmas spirit with your students, and bring learning to life by allowing them to see how fun learning can be!

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