TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.
Introduction (p. 4)
2.
Step 1 – Concept and Standard Development (p. 5) a. Develop a year-long concept map for each subject area b. Decide which concepts must be taught sequentially c. Select concepts for a particular project i. Know which concepts, skills, or knowledge must be taught outside of the project and which ones will be taught within the project. ii. Try to teach the most important concepts within the project iii. Don’t forget art and music.
3.
Step 2 – Map the Experience a. Tie Concepts to Experience(s) i. A project may have a series of experiences around a set of concepts ii. Do not overload a project. Have the right number of concepts and the right number of experiences … not too many and not too few iii. The strength and number of concepts determines the length of the project iv. Project must challenge the imagination and excite curiosity and interest b. Experience(s) i. Have an introductory experience to introduce students to the project and to seal student interest in the concept cluster ii. Use experts to make the concept cluster real and applicable iii. Tie the experiences to former experiences and real life applications iv. Have one or more culminating experiences with a final Wow experience v. Keep project to a length appropriate for the concepts and the developmental age of the students involved vi. Use groups to assist students through the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), to build a common knowledge, and to enhance the experience (and therefore the learning)
4.
Step 3 – Develop the Chronological Rubric(s) a. Have a thorough understanding of the subject matter, concepts, and where each student is in terms of mastery b. Design rubrics for mastery, but incrementally and chronologically c. Have a rubric for each concept but with common elements so that you don’t experience rubric fatigue d. Provide the tools necessary for student success e. Master small bits of knowledge (vocabulary, building concepts, etc) early in the process and tie this knowledge to the larger project for long-term memory f. Use the chronological rubric to move the ZPD
5.
Step 4 – Assess as you go and then assess again a. Use frequent formative assessment i. Oral ii. In groups iii. By presentation iv. By conversation v. Written work. vi. At all times know where EACH student is on the journey toward mastery. b. Use summative assessment to determine mastery c. Write frequently about the concepts to determine understanding and progress d. Authentic assessment is as good as and better than “slice of time” assessment
6.
Step 5 – Get the Wheels Turning a. Produce a movie trailer that will draw student into the project b. Have a tag line that will raise excitement and interest
7.
Appendix A— Forms & Sample Projects a. Blank Forms i. Project Summary Form ii. Organizing Your Main Concepts iii. Translating Concepts to Experiences iv. Blank Calendar v. Quarter sheet vi. Mastery Rubric b. By Grade Level i. Primary ii. Intermediate iii. Secondary
8.
Appendix B—Research Foundations
9.
About the Authors a. K. Patrick Moore, Ph.D. b. Jason A. Moore, ED.D. c. Jeffrey Proctor, M.Ed. d. Kelli Schiller, M.Ed.
Annual Scope & Sequence
Concepts for the Semester
Concepts for the Quarter
Concepts for the Project
I. Develop a year-long concept map for each subject area. Let’s say that it’s July and you are going to be teaching Spanish I. You have the school calendar, a textbook, and the state framework for Language Instruction to tell you what concepts you need to teach and how long you have to teach them. For Spanish I (as per our example), I may realize that I need to teach 9 core themes—Introductions, Food, Pastimes, School, Family, Home, Shopping, Community, and Media. If you teach more than one subject to the same body of students (and odds are that you do), you will need to do this for each subject, side-byside, so that you may see if any overlapping occurs. This will help you be able to collaborate across the curriculum. II. Decide which concepts must be taught sequentially, if any, and cluster these in order. Going back to Spanish I, I may look through those nine concepts and realize that I must teach concepts 1 and 2 first, as they contain building blocks upon which the other concepts are predicated. However, I may discover that units 3-9 are really up to my discretion, and I may alter their placement when I teach them, thus making my tentative schedule more flexible. Again, if you teach more than one subject area, you will want to lay those out side-by-side and identify where the concepts overlap so that you can “kill two birds with one stone” and make connections across the board. At this point, I will look at my concepts and brainstorm ideas for engaging projects.
Main Concept 1
• Sub-concept 1 or applicable state standards • Sub-concept 2 or applicable state standards
Main Concept 2
• Sub-concept 1 or applicable state standards • Sub-concept 2 or applicable state standards
Main Concept 3
• Sub-concept 1 or applicable state standards • Sub-concept 2 or applicable state standards
Main Concept 4
• Sub-concept 1 or applicable state standards • Sub-concept 2 or applicable state standards
Example 1: Project Idea for Spanish I, Unit I: Introductions—Since this unit introduces students to the “to be” verb and personal adjectives, I think it would be fun to have students compete to be the Super Student. I’ll have nine categories for competition plus one Grand Winner who will be named the Spanish Super Student. For the competition, each student must write a short letter of introduction, fill out an application, perform a talent in front of the class, and explain how this makes him/her super. (This will all be done in Spanish.) My culminating project will be the competition; I can set it up like a game show with a parent-filled audience and students will hand in their work as they stand in front of the class, ready to compete for Super Student. I will arrange a fun prize for the winners, such as putting their pictures of the wall with their titles mounted above them, or arranging for a class party during lunch to which they are the exclusive invitees. Maybe I can get an office supply store to donate some goods and do some sort of school supply give-away to the winners.
By the time
they are done with this concept, they will be able to transition to the next one with ease.
Example 2: Project Idea for Spanish I, Unit 1 in collaboration with Biology, English 9, and Geometry: Introductions: This unit introduces the “to be” verb and personal adjectives. After collaborating with the Biology, English, and Geometry teachers (who are on my team), I have learned that Biology will be studying Biomes. In response to this, English will propose a writing prompt that poses the scenario of being deserted within a certain biome. Students will create journals, timelines, etc… along those lines. The geometry classes will create scale models of the biomes. In order to make this compatible with my unit on introductions, and in order to give the students enough time to acquire the language skills they need for such an endeavor, I will have the Spanish students film a short talk show in which they introduce themselves and describe their ordeal. I can also include concepts from Unit 2 (Food), and this should correlate nicely with the project since I can specify that the students name and discuss foods from their biome when they film their talk shows. When the unit is over, we will showcase the journals, scale models, and talk shows at some sort of grand event like a “Biome Bee.”
III. Select concepts for a particular project A.
Know which concepts, skills, or knowledge must be taught outside of the project
and which ones will be taught within the project. B.
Try to teach the most important concepts within the project, and
C.
Don’t forget art and music
Using the Super Student project or Biome project idea, I will now need to identify specifically what must be taught in that unit. What concepts, skills, or knowledge do my students need to learn from this experience? What concepts, skills, or knowledge do I need to front-load (teach beforehand)? What is the expected learning outcome? (What skills do I expect my students to have learned/ what do they need to learn and memorize?) In discovering this, I will also reveal for what areas I will use direct instruction. Since the purpose of the project is to allow the students to learn by doing, however, contemplate ways to incorporate acquiring those concepts into the project. And, of course, research (such as you will find in the Appendix B section of this book) indicates that the rhythm and patterns of music and art stimulate cognitive connections, so as often as you can feasibly incorporate either, the better off you all will be.
Project Title: Super Student Concepts FrontLoaded
Introduce conjugation, "to be" and numbers 1-100. Chapter vocabulary. Adj./noun agreement, ideas of masculine & feminine
Concepts Learned Within the Project
Master the two "to be" verbs. Will add 10 adjs. to vocabulary. Will learn "I like" plus infinitives. Master adj./noun agreement. How to engage in a conversation.Ge neral greetings. Will form questions. Will speak in the target language both spontaneously and deliberately.
Expected Outcome(s)
Students will be able to introduce and talk about themselves, express likes and dislikes, hold an introductary conversation, and begin to express their feelings about the world around them
Project Title: ______________________________________ Concepts FrontLoaded
Concpets Learned Within the Project
Expected Outcome(s)
Now that you have seen an example for selecting concepts for a particular project, plan your year accordingly (use both our quarter planning guide and blank calendar found in Appendix A), allotting the best-estimated timetable for teaching all of the standards. (Don’t forget to plan in holidays, testing, minimum days, and so forth.) Now, you are ready to move on to:
Wow! Concept Building Experience(s)
Introductory Experience(s)
Experience