Project Citizen 2011 Student Examples

Every year students in my class participate in Project Citizen. This is a problem solving unit where students vote on a topic, research the information, brainstorm possible solutions, evaluate these solutions, and create an action plan.

This year the topic was Bullying - my students work for 9 weeks on the topic. I will be posting each periods final projects this week. I was happy and impressed with my students work. They always deserve all the credit.

https://sites.google.com/a/nssd112.org/2010-project-citizen-final-projects/home/2011-projects

Project Citizen 2011 Period 9

Period 9

• Group 1 and their solutions:
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4
• Group 5

Project Citizen 2011 Period 8

Period 8

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3 and Video
• Group 4
• Group 5
• Group 6

Project Citizen 2011 Period 7

Period 7

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4

Project Citizen 2011 Period 5

Period 5

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4

Project Citizen 2011 Period 2

Period 2

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4
• Group 5

Group 5's twitter account StopBullying123 has over 1,000 followers.

Project Citizen 2011 Period 1

Period 1

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4

Green Week Movie

Every year my students participate in Project Citizen - this unit has students identify a local problem, research the topic, brainstorm possible solutions, analyze their feasibility, and formulate an action plan to present to a local board of community leaders such as the Mayor of Highland Park, city council representatives, and state politicians. The past two years the students have investigated Green Schools - this year we my students created a Green Week at school where we are spreading the awareness of the importance of becoming more environmentally aware - one of my students created a video compilation of all the projects from the past two years as well as describing the process of Project Citizen - I really thought the student did a good job of making this video -

Project Citizen Student Work Examples 2010 Period 9

Period 9 Group 1 Website

Period 9 Group 2 Website

Period 9 Group 3 Website

Period 9 Group 4 Website

Project Citizen Student Work Examples 2010 Period 8

Period 8 Group 1 Website

Period 8 Group 2 Website

Period 8 Group 3 Website

Period 8 Group 4 Website

Period 8 Group 5 Website

Project Citizen Student Work Examples 2010 Period 7

Period 7 Group 1 Website

Period 7 Group 2 Website

Period 7 Group 3 Website

Period 7 Group 4 Movie

Project Citizen Student Work Examples 2010 Period 5

Project Citizen Presentations

Period 5 Group 1 Website

Period 5 Group 2 Website

Period 5 Group 3 Website

Period 5 Group 4 Website

Period 5 Group 5 Video

Project Citizen Student Work Examples 2010 Period 2

Day 2 of student work from Project Citizen 2010

Period 2 Group 1

Period 2 Group 2

Period 2 Group 3

Period 2 Group 4 - video unable to post but they had lyrics to the song Tik Toc

Project Citizen Student Work Examples 2010 Period 1

My students have been working on Project Citizen - a problem solving unit for the past 8 weeks - these project used to finish with a final presentation based upon poster boards - I have changed this to imovies and website creation - students create these presentations and then conduct a mock legislative hearing in front of a panel - I always am proud of how my students perform and I am going to include their links one period per day for the next six days -

Period 1 Group 1 Website

Period 1 Group 2 Website

Period 1 Group 3 Website

*Period 1 Group 4 Website

Period 1 Group 5 Website

My students extra credit math video

Several of my students created this video for extra credit in math -

Money's Value

The concept of money - this is an idea that my 7th grade students do not understand yet - the article provided by a friend: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_economy_grinds_to_halt_as - as well as my friends commentary: "It's funny because it's true" - hits upon a lesson that I often try to explain to my students. We investigate current events that often discuss the economy or the idea of value - in addition, we examine the Holocaust - the Germans dealt with hyper-inflation which without a good understanding of value is difficult to understand - I try to provide the parallel of extra credit points in my classroom - while I rarely provide extra credit opportunities - I have become more willing over time - I often provide a point or two as prizes for class competitions (I have my various classes compete in quizzes) or as part of testing various theories - even a point or two of extra credit despite my total points for a quarter being in the 800-900s truly motivates my students - but back to the main point of this tiny rant - money and value are something that students struggle to comprehend - I try to establish a connection to their lives through the idea of extra credit points - I create a certificate with the proclamation of 1,000 Extra Points - with my signature on the bottom of the page and as how much would they pay for such a certificate - this begins a dialogue of value - each student carries a different desire for these points and this they explain motivates them to pay real money for the certificate - again I will then explain what happens if there are 20 certificates versus one - this highlighting the point of supply and demand - but my next point hits upon the idea of the Onion Article - what if after the quarter ends I did not give 1,000 extra credit points to the person who held the certificate? What if I instead tore up the certificate? Or what if the certificate was only worth 100 extra points instead of 1,000? Does this change the value of the certificate? Or if you are an 8th grader does the certificate hold value? Students, or at least a lot of the students, begin to see that money is truly worth only what people agree that it is worth. This idea that money is a set in stone price is untrue - some could argue that the gold standard before had created a set price - this is a longer and different argument than what I will mention here - but it is fascinating to see these students grapple and think about this idea - it is an idea that needs to be spread because in our society many of us do not realize that while this Onion article is funny - it is also, as my friend explains much more simply and elegantly - true.

Annotating Text

I know that the English teachers at my school are feeling a push for the upcoming ISAT tests - and one of the failures of our system as I have ranted before is the failure to mark growth versus measuring versus a static bar. The English teachers at my school are fantastic - one of ideas they use and that I am still trying to work on myself is the use of annotating with the text - this article prompted me to continue to consider on how to best use this in my own classroom.

Originally posted: Students Annotating Text from Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo

CNN Challenge

I enjoy challenging my students, especially with current events. I push my students to understand the who? What? When? Where? How? And why? With current events every Friday I am always looking for different ways to teach the material. I am excited to see how this challenge works in the classroom.

Originally Posted: Review the News With the CNN Challengefrom Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)

Using Wikipedia to help students learn how to research

I really enjoyed this lesson originally posted by:

Textbooks, Wikipedia, and Primary Source Research from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)

I plan on adding this to my lesson on learning how to research - 

Olympic Science

Very cool site: http://www.nbcolympics.com/science-of-the-games/ - I allowed several of my students to explore this site after they finished their work today - it allowed for great differentiation.

Originally Posted: Physics and athletics team up at Science of the Olympic Winter Games
from Instructify by Bill Ferris