cait_journal4

Cait Benson February 28, 2009 EDC 452 Assessment Journal # 4

This week in my cooperative classroom was “biography week.” The students were asked to chose a famous person that they admired, research that person’s background and achievements, and complete a “Biography Poster Report.” This poster report was the size of a normal white poster board and contained various questions for the children to answer in order to verify that they researched properly. Some of the questions that the students were required to answer asked them to write the person’s birth date and death date, place of birth and death, nickname, most famous quote (if any), and accomplishments. They were also required to determine five words to single handedly describe their person. In addition to this, the poster asked the students to create and illustrate a scene from that person’s life and name it as if it were part of a movie. For example, if a student chose Martin Luther King Jr. that student could illustrate his speech in front of thousands of people and name it “The Speech That Changed Our World.” After the poster was completed, the students then gave a two minute presentation to the entire class explaining the details about their chosen person’s life. Some of the famous people that the students chose were famous sports players, authors, and movie stars.

This activity was created to be fun, engaging, and educational. My cooperating teacher explained to me that she was scoring the students based on accuracy of the facts, color and neatness, and how well the student presented in front of the class. In order to score well, the students had to discuss their chosen person with the class freely without relying on the poster for the answers while displaying a very colorful and organized poster with accurate facts. These presentations lasted one full week. The teacher hung the posters all around the hallway for all students in the school to view. Overall, all students ended up scoring high and enjoyed presenting and seeing their peers’ favorite famous people. After watching a few of the students present to the class during my visit, I actually liked the activity more than I did when the teacher was explaining it to me. At first I thought it was a silly activity because the “famous” people that the students picked could be anyone; not someone that the teacher already researched and determined was “significant” to a particular unit or lesson that she was teaching or to history. However, I then realized that this activity was created more to provide the students with an opportunity to express themselves as individuals. In addition to this, even though some of the people that the students chose were “silly,” they still benefited from the research aspect of the assignment because they were forced to research by using encyclopedias and the internet. By asking the students to use real-world sources to gain information on their chosen person, the activity and assessment becomes somewhat authentic.

In the future, I can see myself using this activity with only one minor change. I would use the same poster idea, allow my students to choose any person that they admire, and assess them in the same manner because it gave the students a chance to be individuals and creative. In However, on the other side, I would turn the “biography week” into the “biography day” to save time for other activities because I think the week may be a little dragged out. To conclude, I liked the activity and assessment for the most part and I can see myself using it in the future.

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