Complete WWW assment#5 WWW assignment #5 Joan Ware Lesson plan: Environmental sustainability. Students: 6-8, Middle School, Service learning, Social Studies Learning objective: (Critical thinking) How can we determine if a service project accomplishes what it says it will and is sustainable in the long run? Assessment Criteria: Students can clearly describe a personalized research process that includes rational criteria for evaluating the efficacy and sustainability of a service project or a charity organization. Assessment: Students must create a power point, video, or an essay that includes the following: 1) A stated goal for the philanthropic project or organization 2) A description of the criteria they will use to evaluate the efficacy and the sustainability of the project/organization specific to their goal/project and related to "S.M.A.R.T." goals. (Specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, timely). Their plan is not required to fit that mold necessarily (some of the most important and heart oriented tasks are challenging to measure), but they have to explain how their plan does or does not fit into "SMART goal" criteria. 3) Information on at least three separate versions of the project or three separate organizations with a bibliography on the research they did. (7 separate resources which must include library/internet resources as well as personal interview of someone working in that or a related field.) 4) A conclusion and next steps. 5) Work must be presented in a rough form, then a publishable form after receiving feedback on writing and presentation conventions advice from classsmates and teacher. Learning activities: 1) Brainstorming re: worthwhile projects- idea maps (Ecology, Hunger, Poverty, Equality, Conflict, Crises, Education . . .) 2) Discussion of credibility and sustainability issues regarding charity work. Worksheets and explanation of "S.M.A.R.T goals". 3) Whole class, guided research on credibility and sustainability issues- directed questions/ specific organizations. 4) Class list created of project ideas- students choose two projects without knowing their classmates' choices 5) Teacher puts them in groups based on student preference and numbers. 6) Student groups create criteria with feedback from teacher on the criteria, write how the do or do not fit into 'SMART goals". 7) Students research three separate projects or organizations related to their topic of interest. - support given for "personal interview" portion of research, as well as Media support from media center specialists for internet research. (List of contacts/ help with intitial contact) 8) Prepare final project 9) Peer review.revise and edit of project, followed by teacher review, revise and edit 10) Final presentation. How did the lessons go/changes/next steps: Part 2 WWW assmt #5, part 2 (Social Justice) Joan Ware Learning objective: Students apply what they have learned regarding sustainability and efficacy of charitable work to create or further a work that is being done that increases social justice. They present verifiable work on improvements or new service project. Assessment criteria 1) Students can define and describe a variety of social justice work and can identify one that they are connected to personally. They can clearly and professionally describe their connection to the area of social justice of their preference. 2) Students can concisely describe what they learned regarding sustainability and efficacy in part one of this Unit, and describe how they can apply this in a school project. 3) Students can document either 1) Specific evaluation, revising of ongoing service projects based on this research. (** The school I may share this with does two service projects- one is a "blanket project", another is a mentorship program with the local elementary school in which they work with at risk kids in supervised settings with a variety of acvtivities). These can be the projects already being done at the school, these could be service projects in other communities that they belong to OR Students create and implement a service project based on their previous research and can write an essay describing how this went. Assessments: Essay grade and check on work done. Learning activities: 1) Concise bullet pointed summary/ review- whole class of what they learned in the "Efficacy and sustainability" portion of this unit 2) Individual personalized summaries. Students should be able to do this individually without notes after practice. 3) Brainstorm a small list of projects they can be involved in either revising or creating. 4) Provide contacts/support making sure all students are in a service project group 5) Sufficient time to complete the project (Timely/Realistic) 6) Document the changes or project in relation to the evaluation criteria. 7) Rough draft, revising and editing of essay, 8) Final draft of essay. Part 3 WWW assmt 5 (part 3) Learning objective: Students can write a clear evaluation regarding their beliefs, feelings about what participating in charitable work does or doesn't do to support their own personal growth and beliefs. Assessment criteria: Students can write in clear and picturesque language what they have learned about themselves in the service work we have completed. They can explain how this knowledge may guide them in future career or hobby exploration. Assessment: Students create a journal with illustrations (hand done) that has appropriate language conventions, includes a "hooK' to get the reader interested, that has language that refers to the five senses and that communcates in an engaging and passionate way their experiences and thoughts on philanthropic work. Learning activities: 1) Create a journal of your experiences that finishes the following statements: a) The best thing about this project was . . . b) The most frustrating part of this project was . . . c) My expectations before doing the project were . . . d) What I learned about the community or service was . . . e) What I learned about my interests, abilities, skills . . . f) In the future I hope to do/not do . . .(related to this) because g) My personal (may or may not include spiritual depending on you) beliefs regarding this kind of work and how it fits or doesn't fit into my life is . . . 2) Share your journal with a classmate- read it out loud. 3) Discuss with classmate how to rewrite this journal into an engaging story to the reader- create concept map on how to do so with an introductory hook and pictoresque language. 4) Write a rough draft of your story. 5) Peer review that specifically responds to the "hook" (how and why is it engaging? What could make it more engaging?) 6) Peer review that identifies pictoresque language, structure, and issues with writing conventions. 7) Write and submit final draft with illustration. Part 4: questions WW assmt 5 (part 4) Questions Joan Ware a) How can evironmental sustainability be woven into the Social Justice lesson? The "sustainability" portion is already woven in, as students are researching what social justice projects are sustainable before creating or modifying service projects. If students choose to focus on physical environmental social projects (clean air, support of animal habitats etc) then this would be woven in based on their personal interest. Students focussing on the elementary student mentorship program already set up could incorporate reading, worsheets, service for the physical environment if the elementary school is amenable to that change. This might help provide more structure for the program. The lesson on spiritual well being is exactly about how charity work supports the spiritual balance of the one doing the work, so it is already woven in. Likewise with "Spiritual Well Being" being woven into the sustainability. It might be good to add in the first "critical thinking portion" information on how there can be a false, exploitive charity work that makes the "do gooder" feel better spiritually yet actually does not help those who in name are served- however I would need to represent it in a way that was not too overwhelming nor confusing to middle schoolers. I would not want them in researching the charity work to get frustrated at the discrepancies and decide that service work is not valuable. b) The context or actual activities done will most likely be local so the students have more direct contact with what is happening. It could be expanded to global, given enough resources- however I will emphasize the importance of contacting and if possible observing what actually happens vs what is posted on line on what happens. One of my concerns is that it is easy to be involved in "fundraisers" for all sorts of organizations and feel like you are helping. Nevertheless one of the largest companies that is immediately asking for money when there is any crises when looked into has a reputation of not doing the right thing with the money they are given (The Red Cross- particularly in the the country of origen of my spouse- Cambodia). c) The students will broaden their perspectives in everyday life in that this will inform them on how them on some of their skills and passions that they can use in other settings. Students may find that they have or don't have a passion for a specific type of work and this will help them as they make choices for classes in High school and as they do career exploration. It will also increase their application of critical thinking as they will be able to better recognize red flags regarding discrepancies on what people post on websites versus what actually happens after having researched this. This will influence them in their school communities. This may influence what charities they are willing to support in the future, how they will invest their time and how they will encourage their families and friends to invest their time. d) The learning can be experienced both holistically and academically. Students plan to be involved holistically in a service learning project which they can pour their heart into. At the same time, they are also engaging their critical analysis skills both before the project by researching the efficacy and the sustainability of the project abd afterwards when they analyze and journal about the effect the service learning project had on them. e) Yes- it would vary of course depending on what work the student group decides to do. This can again be applied to the servide learning projects already set up at the school and making them better- making them more sustainable for the long term- including the mentorship program at the elementary school. as well as field trips, work in nature etc depending on what charity they decide to focus on. A large part of the decision making will depend on working torards a realistic goal from the "S.M.A.R.T>' goal training- while at the same time incorporating the kinesthetic things such as field trips, mentorships etc.