I continue to review, revise and respond to student needs and interests as I revise and refine the endangered species research project this year. I imagine that this is a process I will employ each year as tools, information and my students change.
Providing a content preview and vocabulary review has begun as a successful process. In small groups, the class is reading and discussing background information. We're building vocabulary through targeted word study.
Many of the students are eager to get started so I added a research resource Google site to guide their independent work and study. I'll provide more formal support for this activity after the preview work is done, but if students are eager to learn now, I don't want to hold them back.
If you're in the process of revising or refining a signature unit for deeper, more meaningful, responsive education, what pieces are you revising? What process are you using? Are you doing it on your own, or is there a systematic, collaborative process in place.
With the evolution of education, we will find that processes of reflection, review and revision will become a mainstay in the work we do each year as we rewrite learning units and endeavors.
If you're teaching this unit or a similar one, do you have any suggestions for me? I'll continue to blog on this process both to share with colleagues and to inform my practice next year as I review the approach once again.
Related Links:
2011 Endangered Species Unit
Endangered Species Preview: Informational Text Groups
Project Base Learning: An Evolving Process in Education
School-Zoo Partnership
