Sharing Everything Pebble Creek Curriculum A Place Called School
Welcome to our new sharing center. These forums are for anyone interested in sharing or discussing educational issues in general or Pebble Creek related topics specifically. As a non-registered user, you may read any of the posts. However, we invite you to register using the link at the top of this page to contribute to a current discussion or begin one of your own.
- Index
- » Everything Pebble Creek
- » Curriculum
- » A Place Called School
A Place Called School
A Place Called School
We started "A Place Called School" last week and the students are very enthusiastic. Because Activity 9 (Designing the perfect school) is so massive, I've been breaking it into small parts, and the kids are excited. They were very cute coming up with their schools' mottos. They also worked on what the goals of the school would be as well as the feel. It was interesting. For the most part the students kept it serious and I had 100% of students engaged. In fact, sometimes I can barely contain their enthusiasm. On Friday, we started Activity 2 (Writing about school memories), and every student had stories to share. When I finally got them settled down from "sharing" and writing, I could hear a pin drop in the classroom. I can't wait to see what the unit brings and I'm trying to figure out how to showcase the students' work for a larger audience.
- lkhoekstra
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
If I'm allowed to say so, "A Place Called School" is my FAVORITE Pebble Creek Literacy unit! It's great to hear your students are excited about starting the unit and I hope you will keep us posted on how it goes. I'd love to hear some of the school mottos they come up with as well as what you decide to do to showcase their work for a larger audience. A PCL school in Houston did a Place Called School Exhibit/Fair last school year. I'll see if I can get their rubric and if so, I'll post it here. Thanks so much for your post!
Cynthia
- cynthia
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
Last spring Lee HS in Houston, TX put on a "Place Called School Fair" in the library on the last day of the unit. We put students' projects on display and other English 2 (Pebble Creek - grade 10) classrooms came to visit. Students had time to view all of the projects and had to leave positive, thoughtful comments for three. During each class period, we also hosted a panel discussion. One or two representatives from each class responded to some set questions about their classes' opinions about different topics and RAs during the unit and to general questions from the audience. One class period turned the tables and wanted their teachers on the panel, so students asked the teachers questions about their opinions on school-related and unit-related topics.
- lindsayralls
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
I would love to see the rubric and hear more about how the fair was coordinated. I think it's a fabulous idea!
- lkhoekstra
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
On Wedensday I had students write about their ideal school's schedule. I'm amazed how much they are sticking to what they know. For the most part they would keep the school schedule and classes as is with a few tweaks. Most would have school start later (no surprise) and they want lunch to be more fun, longer and with better food (in fact, where they spent their most time is writing about how they would design the lunch schedule, from time to entertainment to food). Almost all of them would require math, English, science and history but they would offer more electives. There are a few breaking away and they seem to be modeling their schools on colleges. I wonder why this is... Is the current educational system working for them? Or they don't know any better? Is anyone else experiencing this with their students?
- lkhoekstra
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
Here is our agenda for the day...
AGENDA
Before School
7:45-8:30 – Help display & number your students’ projects (Teachers put address labels/post-its with their last number and a number on each project to help facilitate feedback)
2nd Period
8:40 – Panel Discussion (facilitator: Lindsay)
9:00 – Open viewing & feedback
9:45 – Classes regroup & debrief
4th Period
10:25 – Panel Discussion (facilitator: Kenda)
10:45 – Open viewing & feedback
11:25 – Classes regroup & debrief
6th Period *panel discussion in middle of period to allow all 6th period classes to participate
12:00 – 2nd & 3rd floor classes: Open viewing & feedback
12:35 – All classes: Panel Discussion (facilitator: Emily)
12:55 – All classes: Open viewing & feedback
1:05 – 2nd & 3rd floor classes: regroup & debrief
1:45 – 1st floor classes: regroup & debrief
8th Period
2:15 – Panel Discussion (facilitator: Toni)
2:35 – Open viewing & feedback forms
3:20 – Classes regroup & debrief
- lindsayralls
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
We copied three reflection forms to a page:
Presentation jos___________
What I saw:
Reaction:
Respectfully Yours, ______________________
- lindsayralls
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
These are the panel discussion questions. Classes discussed them in advance and prepped 2 members of the class to share the clas response.
Do you feel listened to in school? Why or why not?
How would your learning be different without tests and grades?
Who was your favorite teacher in elementary or middle school? Describe him/her.
Why do students misbehave or act out? (Think of the Corelle incident)
How important is “fun” in school? Is it necessary for classes to be “fun” in order to learn?
How important are a person’s family to his/her success in school? How important is one’s friends?
How can teachers and schools create an environment in which kids WANT to behave properly?
What makes you work harder in school?
What do teachers do to keep you interested?
Describe your perfect school.
- lindsayralls
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
I posted everything I have about school fair logistics document-wise. I don't have copies of any of the rubrics teachers used last year to score projects or students' participation in the fair...
- lindsayralls
-
-
Re: A Place Called School
Thank you so much! Fabulous stuff!
- lkhoekstra
-
-
- Index
- » Everything Pebble Creek
- » Curriculum
- » A Place Called School
