[valery]

is it for History or / and literature ? what age are the kids ?

[cory-schwartz]

For Social Studies (History/geography)

[valery]

I come a Town (in France) where History and literature is very much linked to that time so I really enjoy this topic 🙂 I am not sure if it matches your program, or even what your program is about on that topic is, ofc, but here is a 1st pre-reflexion

1. – focus : study the impact of the Humanism on the [education system] or [women condition] or [whatever topic that matters to the students] – (interdisciplary project with Literature and/ or theater and/or arts ?)

It can include : research on the concept of humainsm and its main figures (in literature included, in arts too, for example) / a reseach on education before (classical or medieval time) , and during the renaissance, in the humainist schools (real or utopic – like Thélème) through text from Rabelais, Petrach etc… (primary sources)

creation of a play of mini scenes where humanism is explained and illustrated, a day at school … etc. There would be some presentations to share the knowledge at several different moment, and for the creative writing, many peer and teachers feedback. If with the art dpt, a fresca can be done, etc.

presentation of the final play / exhibition / movie… to the rest of the school,

2. the goal is the creation of a (student lead) renaissance day at school, with different workshops (art, discussions, presentations… ., even cooking !) which allow the whole community to participate.

I am not sure if it is matching what you would like to do. but without the context, those are my ideas 🙂 I hope it helps.

take care 🙂

[cory-schwartz]

Thank you Valery these are fantastic ideas – Really appreciate it

[Louie Barnett]

@cory-schwartz when you say assessment, what would you be assessing in this unit?

[cory-schwartz]

We want to focus on the ATL skill of communication with the students to create some form of a timeline and incorporating the 6 historical thinking skills.

[Louie Barnett]

ah so is the challenge your facing something like: being able to assess communication skills and historical thinking skills, even when students are producing different final products?

[cory-schwartz]

Yes Louie the rubric is my concern when students are completing different types of final products.

[Louie Barnett]

@cory-schwartz what follows is very much a stream of consciousness!

Could you take this up a level to look at what impact you want students to have on their audience? For me, history is all about studying the past in order to gain insights on human behaviour, that can inform the present. So could we say something like “students will enable their audience to gain insights into human behaviour that they can relate to issues/challenges in the present”. Then perhaps the project is that students need to investigate a period of time or event interesting to them. They could be given the task of presenting this history, where they have to explain what they’ve learned about human behaviour as a result of their research and how this might be relevant for understanding the present. They could then give their audience (other students) a short survey where they ask something like: “what have you learned about human behaviour as a result of this presentation and why?” and “how can you apply what you’ve learned to a challenge/issue in the present day and why?”. Both you and the students can analyse the survey results to see whether they actually had any impact on the audience.

Then the “teaching” before this becomes about learning how to investigate a time period and how to communicate learning from this in an effective way. So you could have a rubric that focuses on the impact, and has some tips on how to have this impact e.g. speak clearly during your presentation etc. Then, feedback after a presentation becomes: 10/15 students in your audience could outline how they would apply their learning from your presentation to an issue in the present day. Something I think helped this is…Something that could have helped more is…[insert constructive feedback about comms skills, research skills etc].