[born2teachk]

This is what I am planning on video taping this week and I want to make sure it works. To me it sounds wonderful but someone else might see things that won't work.

The topic this week for social studies is Martin Luther King Jr. For an assessment, I am going to do a KWL Chart over three days. I am going to explain to students why we celebrate his birthday and read books about him. The day I want to use for this entry is the day I will be reading The Crayon Box That Talked. We will be making the connection from the story to Martin Luther King's experiences. That will be whole group. Then I was going to have the students to use paper bag puppets to act out the story. Then I'm going to let the students discuss different questions I will ask.

Will this meet the Social Studies, Speaking and Arts requirements? Is there anything you see that won't work or that I'm not including?

[Mrs. R :)]

You may want to think a little more deeply about the paper bag puppet. I can see the connection that acting out the story helps deepen their content. Here are a few questions for you to ponder:

What story are they acting out? Will you use a checklist or rubric to assess their understanding of the content?

How does the actual making of the puppet help them understand the content? Are they drawing his face or just using precut materials?

How will they make connections from the Crayon Box to MLK? Do you have guiding questions? Are they using some conversation protocols?

What about your students lets you know that this is THE activity that will allow them to deeply understand and engage in this activity?

Hope this helps a little. Best of luck! Integrating the arts was tricky for me until I "got" how students need to use the art to deepen their understanding of the content.

[born2teachk]

In social studies right now we are in the Amercian Celebrations unit. We will be talking about MLK and I wanted to use this lesson to help my students understand what happened. In our whole group discussion we are going to discuss how things changed over time in the book and relate that to MLK. They also have to discuss similairtites and differences of themselves and others. Is the whole group discussion enough for social studies?

I am not having the students make the puppets. I am making them. I was going to use the puppet show as my arts component. Do I need to do something different then? I didn't want them just coloring puppets. In centers they will be making their own crayon but that won't be in the video.

[born2teachk]

I was going to have the students dress up like the crayons but that was going to take forever to make so that's why I decided to make the puppets. The students aren't making them. The puppet play was supposed to be my arts component. Is that okay or do they need to make something? I thought the puppet play would be okay for the arts. I also thought that would be a good way for them all to be engaged.

They are acting out The Crayon Box That Talked. Each student will have a speaking part. I was planning on using a KWL chart for the assessment part over the course of the week. I was also going to see if they understood the concept by the conversations we had afterwards.

THe connection that needs to be made is that everyone isn't the same. We are all different and that's what makes us special. I also want them to make the connection on how things changed in the story and in when MLK impacted laws. Is this okay?

[born2teachk]

Wow! I didn't realize they wanted all of that from what I read. I must not be understanding what they are wanting at all. So the play wouldn't have to be seen in the video? The directions are so vague to me. It leaves a lot to be wondering about.

I was going to have the students to "Turn and Talk" during our discussions and then share with me and the rest of the class.

I am not a memeber of ecgen.org but I would love to be. I just don't have the money I don't have a mentor or anyone I'm working with I can talk about things with. I really appreciate everyone helping me!

I'm really worried because I was going to start video taping tomorrow. Now I don't know if what I'm doing is good enough. I'm all confused and very overwhelmed!

[lkelly46]

What Works has given you great advice already (as she always does!). I want to encourage you to turn to the NBPTS Early Childhood standards. The score given to your work will be based on the evidence you show of those standards (NOTE: NOT your district or state's standards - but the NBPTS ones!) Standard #4 is about the various content areas we teach. I suggest you spend some time reading those over and over --- paying particular attention to the section about Social Studies - and about the Arts.

This entry requires that you select an important Social Studies concept (think economics, history, geography, and civics). Decide which you are using as an over-arching element --- and then think about what understanding you want them to gain through this study. You mention doing a KWL chart over three days ---- from that you'll have input from the children, right? Do you then sort of tailor your instruction based on what their prior knowledge is?...and what they note they want to learn? What you have described sounds like you have every inch of the way planned out already. I don't see where the children's ideas are included in how you will approach this learning.

You state you will make the puppets. How does you making the puppets increase their art learning? What is your art goal - what art concept are you teaching that will tightly connect to the Social Studies goal? Study the prompts you'll be required to answer to complete this entry. You will be asked specifically about how the arts work together with the SS goal, etc.

This entry (and each NB entry) is very deep. You don't want to miss giving evidence of the depth of the understanding you bring to your students.

I also suggest that as you begin to teach a sequence of lessons about anything for NB you begin to tape, too. Tape EVERYTHING --- you never know when a great discussion pops up - and you wouldn't want to miss it!

Kelly M
lkelly46 at sbcglobal dot net

[Mrs. R :)]

born2teachk you must be encouraged by the responses from Kelly and WhatWorks. You need to know that these two were SO HELPFUL to me when I was a candidate. Their refusal to let go of pushing me back to the standards and back the drawing board is what helped me achieve my EC-Gen cert on my first try. You may feel overwhelmed and underprepared, but that is what this process is all about. Digging deep and thinking, thinking, thinking non-stop about those standards and how they play out in your classroom.

This is one of the trickier entries in my opinion. If you can access any on-line NB support site, please do. You will get a wealth of support from people feeling and experiencing what you are right now. This is a great board, too, but the others are bit busier which is helpful. If there is ANY WAY to get the $40 please do!!!! The EC-Gen site is amazing. Really. It carries you all the way through to the exam and beyond. I actually miss hanging out there! That's why I am back here.

So, I have no additional advice right now, because what you have from Kelly and WhatWorks is amazing. Keep digging and keep asking. The more refined your questions become the more lightbulbs will go off. You can do this!!!!

[born2teachk]

Thank all of you for all your help! I have been busy thinking and dreaming (yes, dreaming) about all of this! I have made my lessons more student centered and changed some other things that I think may work. We will see. Too much going on at the same time. I still don't have "the video" I want to use yet. Still trying. The weather here has really messed me up on the sequence of lessons I wanted to do. At this rate I won't be finished with this unit until next week.

I plan on letting the students plan the play with me guiding them Hopefully, I will get the result I'm looking for. The Arts component will be the students planning the play. Does the actual play need to be in the video?

Thank you again for all of your help!