Webquest Idea for Ed 414

Ms. Tszuska's Slavery Webquest

4th grade social studies

Introduction

You are next years 4th grade social studies teachers. You are now preparing to teach your students about the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Tasks

• Get into groups of 4 based on the color I assigned you(red, blue, purple or orange). Each group must have one of each color.
  •Each group will receive their organizer and review the links.
  •On the organizer each question will be color coded. Each student will answer the color question that matches the color they were assigned in the beginning of Class.
  •The students will then come together to discuss their findings and put together their presentation for teaching next years 4th grade class.

Information Sources

http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=369&Itemid=145

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p277.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h280.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p268.html

Process

Each student should click on the link that relates to their assigned color. Then, answer the questions in your organizer that related to your link.

For the red link answer…

•What is the triangular trade?

•What were the stops on this trade ______ to______ ,

______to_____, and _______to______

For the blue link answer…

•What is the middle passage

After reading the passage, draw a picture of what a slave ship looks like and the conditions the slaves had to face.

For the Purple Link…

•Describe what the ship captain did when a disease spread through his ship.

For the orange link…

•Answer these questions

•What was the punishment for a slave who committed murder?

•What was the punishment for a slave who stole?

What would happen to a slave if he or she associated with white people.

 

Organizer

The organizer will be handed out in class. It is a worksheet with spaces to answer the questions above.

 

Conclusion

After discussing your findings with your group you will present them to the class.This will be done next class to ensure that each group has enough time to present their webquest findings.

My Lesson Plan Podcast

Observation Journal 2

            As of this post, I am a little more than half way through my observations at PS 48. I have had many interesting experiences in Mrs. Whalen’s fourth grade class. I am really enjoying my time at PS 48 and have learned a lot so far.

            The fourth grade class that I am observing in is deep in the throes of test prepping. It is interesting to watch the teachers in the room scramble to cover all the material on the standardized test while trying to teach other subjects. Mrs. Whalen and her student teacher have both explained to me how hard it is to plan all the lessons of the day while trying to focus so much on the reading and math material of the standardized tests. They also invited me to watch and help them prepare the lessons while the students went to gym class. They examined the math quizzes the students took the day before and decided they could move onto other material. According to the quizzes given as an assessment, the students had mastered multiplication and were ready to start division. The next day during that math class, the students were having trouble grasping their new math lesson. As a result, during the next planning session I attended, Mrs. Whalen told me and her student teacher that they were going to have to spend two periods of Math the next day so that the students would all master the skills they were having trouble with. Mrs. Whalen’s flexibility impressed me. Even though she would have to rearrange her day and find different ways to fit in all of the other lessons, she was dedicated to making sure all of her students understood division.

            Another thing that impressed me about this classroom was their use of technology. In the class they had a smart board and a document projector. Many of the student’s lessons are taught using the smart board and projector. For writing workshop, reading workshop and math workshop the students sit on the floor. The teacher then uses the document projector to show the students examples. When the student teacher was teaching a lesson about essay writing, she projected a sample essay on the smart board and went over it step by step with the students. I think that it is helpful for the students to actually see an essay clearly in front of them then go over the steps. I only have one suggestion for the use of technology in this classroom. That is using a blog to publish their work. During one of my observations the students had writing workshop where they were about to “publish” their essays. They had been working for weeks on drafting and editing and finally were getting ready to hand in their essays to Mrs. Whalen. If they actually published their essays I think they would have more fun writing them and then they could share their essays with each other online.

            Something I saw at PS48 one day did not impress me however. One morning, the Science teacher came in for science workshop. She had planned on completing a magnet lab with the students. It seemed like a fun and interesting lab but the teacher had no control over the class and it soon became chaotic. Once the materials were handed out magnets were being stuck to things all over the classroom, ruler fights erupted, paper clips were all over the floor, and one student thought it was a good idea to put masking tape in his hair. Even with all this going on, the science teacher just kept talking over the rowdy students. She kept threatening them with parent teacher conferences that night and she even said once “Today is the day I get my revenge”. Needless to say, not much was accomplished in that science class. They didn’t even review the lab and there was no assessment to see how much the students had learned. Her direct instruction was the explanation of the lab in the beginning of class (which the students didn’t listen to) as well as the directions about each lab experiment. Indirect instruction was the lab that was accomplished by the students.

All of what I have seen so far has been helpful in aiding my learning process. I am happy to be in PS48 and overall my experience thus far is positive.

Observation 1

On Wednesday February 29, 2012 I went to PS 48 to observe for my first time this semester. I was assigned Mrs. Whalen’s Fourth grade classroom and I must admit I was a little nervous. I had never been in a 4^th grade classroom before as I had completed my other observation hours in a High School or Middle School. My fears were quickly lessened as I walked through the doors of the school and began meeting teachers and students in the Halls. Everyone seemed happy to be there and they were quick to say hello, smile or wave.

            My Fourth grade class had gym first period and it was a very interesting experience watching them. Mrs. Frascati was the gym teacher and she had a basketball lesson planned out for the students. It was interesting to note that the students did not have a specific uniform or dress code for gym and many were running their warm up laps in jeans and some even had Ugg boots. After the warm up Mrs. Frascati called the students to the middle of the gym and made sure they all sat around her quietly. She then explained the lesson and made sure they understood how to play the game. After, she divided the students into two teams and assigned each student a number. Once their number was called they would see which student could get a basket the fastest. Whichever team scored first would get a point. Once during the game a few students were saying negative things about their teammates. Mrs. Frascati stopped the game and stressed the importance of teamwork and encouragement. She warned the students that if they said any bad words or started criticizing their friends, the game would end and they would sit in silence the rest of the period. It was also interesting to note that Mrs. Frascati included adding and multiplying into the gym class. Instead of simply calling out one number she would call out an addition problem for the students to solve together and the sum of the two numbers would be the number called. For example two plus three equals 5 so the students who had the number 5 would run to score the basket for their team.

            After gym the students lined up in two lines and headed upstairs to their classroom. Their teacher stopped them half way up the stairs to regain control of the very rowdy class. She managed to get the students to walk the rest of the way in silence. Their next class was English. The students sat in tables seating 4 students each. The classroom was very small and cramped. Mrs Whalen told me that they couldn’t even have a teacher’s desk because there was no extra space to put it. In the classroom there were 10 girls and 18 boys and they all seemed to work well together. There was also a Para for one of the students and currently there is a student teacher as well. The Student teacher in the room called all the students to the reading rug where she would conduct the reading lesson for the day. They were reading and discussing a story called Freedom Summer. The student teacher recapped the lesson from the day before and then had the students work in pairs to show inferences. As an assessment after she went over the group assignment the teacher asked the students to put their hands up if they understood. She counted the number of hands and then asked the students to raise their hands if they were unsure. There were more students who understood then didn’t so they quickly went over it again for the students still confused and then moved on.

            My first few hours in PS 48 were very informative and interesting and I can’t wait to go back next week!