Price Check: What is the True Cost
Author: | Sonja McKay |
Level: | Middle School |
Content Area: | Environment Science, Biology |
Author: | Sonja McKay |
Level: | Middle School |
Content Area: | Environment Science, Biology |
Whether your partner school is in the same county or a different country, student motivation increases when working in conjunction with students at another school. Students invest more effort into projects when they have an authentic audience. Additionally, when students (not teachers) leave feedback and communicate directly with one another, educators can capitalize on the excitement of working with new students and increase student performance.
Developing a relationship with another school requires a large investment of time. However, it is worth this investment due to increased student motivation and excitement.
Partnerships can be built through connections that may not be initially evident. We partnered with a school in India because an employee at MWV, my Kenan Fellowship sponsor, had a personal connection to the school. Where do you have connections? Perhaps you know a teacher in another state or even at another school within your county. Start there. Students will be excited to work with other students. Although an exotic location is exciting, there are many additional challenges that accompany working with a school halfway around the world. Any partnership is worthwhile, no matter the location!
More important than location, you are looking for a teacher who is excited by the opportunity to work together in this innovative way. This experience should be enjoyable for everyone.
To pitch our partnership we sent a one-page Project Overview to our potential partner school. The summary document allowed the teachers to discuss the project with their administrators. Additionally, this document was used for publicity purposes at the partner school.
We also shared a calender with all due dates before the beginning of the project. Depending on your relationship with the partner teachers you may develop this calendar independently or collaboratively. Even though we carefully planned due dates ahead of time, the calendar was adjusted throughout the process. Creating the initial calendar was challenging due to the holidays, exam schedules, time zones restraints for each school. The dates were selected from the most agreeable times within both the school calendars. Times for web-conferences were chosen with awareness to inconveniences and challenges in both locations. For example, when students participated in the web conferences our students came before school and the students in India stayed after school. However, when the teachers met for web conferences our teachers stayed up late and the teachers in India met before school.
Be open to opportunities to work together. Our partner school was unable to incorporate this project into the regular school day so it became an after-school club. Our partner school selected sixteen students in grades seven through nine to participate in this project. These students met after school, once per week. Our school had sixty-four students in grade seven participating in the project. Our students worked on their projects during the school day because it was integrated into their regular curriculum.
Communication expectations were also discussed. The following expectations were established:
The development of personal connections will make or break the partnership. Invest time in communicating with the teachers at your partner school!
Teenage students thrive on social interactions. For this partnership to prosper these social connections between students must be fostered.
To prepare students for collaboration we went through several steps. First, all students made an introductory one-sheet using Microsoft Word. These documents were shared with the partner school. Second, students read through each others introductions and prepared questions for a web-conference. Third, we held a web-conference so students could introduce themselves “face to face”.
Lesson plans for these introductory steps can be found on this website.
At the end of the thematic unit we held another web-conference to share final projects, insights, and reflections.
Here are other general tips for establishing a successful partnership.
The lessons and projects in the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” address objectives in both the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the 21st Century Learning Goals. Correlations with each are listed below.
21st Century Learning Goals The 21st Century Learning Goals were adopted by the state of North Carolina in 2005. These learning objectives are particularly useful for assessing student learning in the areas of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity/innovation. For a complete list of the 21st Century Learning Goals please go to http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.
As students complete work in this section of the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” they will meet the following 21st Century Learning Goals objectives:
Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04
Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04
Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04
Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04
Goal 3: The learner will refine the understanding and use of argument.
Objective: 3.02
Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objectives: 6.01, 6.02
Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04
Goal 2: The learner will synthesize and use information from a variety of sources.
Objectives: 2.01, 2.02
Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objective: 6.02
Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15, 1.16
Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 2.04, 2.05
Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
Objectives: 3.01, 3.07, 3.08, 3.09
Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15, 1.16
Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objective: 2.06
Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
Objectives: 3.01, 3.05, 3.06, 3.07, 3.08
Depending on the location of the partner school and the grade level being taught, it is possible to meet several Social Studies objectives.