Africa Day Collaboration- 10 Grade English

This program was created by Mrs. Heather Slay (10th Grade English), Mrs. Misti Bell (Library Media Specialist), and Mrs. Peggy Schaeffer (Library Assistant). Mrs. Slay wanted to create a program in the Library Media Center that would bring the culture of Africa to our school learning community. We had several meetings to plan this large event. The students had read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe as a class. It was decided this would be a two day event.

The first day featured a parent guest speaker (Dr. Igbokidi) who also happened to be from Nigeria. She shared information with the students about the culture and traditions of her home country. She addressed the entire 10th grade class during a special lunch program in the auditorium.

The second day was conducted in the Library Media Center. We had several different learning stations (each focused on a different part of African culture).

African Tribal Masks (created by our Art Club). This was a student led station. The student presenter described the different meanings of each color and design on the masks.

Click here for a short video "commercial" of the event.

Africa Mosaic - Students would tear small pieces of construction paper and glue it on a map of Africa. We saved the finished product and will display it in the program next school year.

Gallery Walk- this station had different works of art from Africa. We also had a teacher donate African artifacts for this display (for the day). 

Video station- this station featured a video showing the importance of rhythm in the African culture.

Taste of Africa- our food service department (Chartwells) prepared African cuisine for all students to sample in the courtyard outside the library.

Tribal face painting- some students from our Art department painted students' faces with traditional African tribal designs.

 

Mrs. Bell invited a local musician from the community (True Mark Alisandre) to come and perform during lunch. They brought an assortment of African percussion. Many students joined in the fun!

Read about our collaboration based on The Crucible by Arthur Miller. 

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Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

           misti_bell@lakesidesd.org

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Debate Library Collaboration Project- 9th Grade Civics

Debates in the Library Media Center

This project was designed by our 9th Grade Civics teachers (Mrs. Linda White and Mr. Joe Hobbs).

Curriculum connection: More student-led projects are needed to emphasize college and career readiness expectations (CCR/CCSS). Students need to improve skills in critical and analytical thinking, social and oral communications, and multi-faceted research. Our goal is to improve student engagement (Domain 3c) by challenging students through the use of collaborations between Civics classes, using such vehicles as debates on current issues.

 Actions: Meetings were scheduled to plan the debates. Civics teachers and Library Media Specialists were included in all meetings. Current event topics were considered, discussed, and a ballot was developed for students to vote on the top three issues of choice. We involved the community by inviting two school board members to participate: one as a moderator, the other to discuss law and arguing cases in court. We also invited one of our Assistant Superintendents to serve as moderator. The Library Media Specialist and Library Assistant served as moderator/ time keeper. An instruction packet was created to inform students of the research schedule and debate format. The Library Media Specialists showed all classes library databases (EBSCOHost and Opposing Viewpoints) prior to their research. The teachers acted as facilitators. There was total student-to-student engagement in small group and whole-class planning and research. Debaters were elected by each of the classes, and non-debaters were given an evaluation form to complete during the debates. Post-debate discussions were held immediately following the debates with written reflections in classes and official results of the debates disclosed during this time.

Below is a brief video about this program in a "commerical"style. If the video quality is poor, click here.

Go here to read about our Dust Bowl library collaboration.

This link will show you how we hosted our first Mysteryskype with a social studies class!

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Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

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Civil Rights / Jazz Day Collaboration - 9th Grade English

This is a collaborative library program created by our 9th Grade English Teachers (Mrs. Linda McInvale and Mr. Blake Campbell).

Related to our Curriculum:
"Gettysburg Address" (PowerPoint on slavery), To Kill a Mockingbird (Jim Crow Laws & legal injustice of the 1930s), Warriors Don't Cry (integration of Little Rock Central, 1957), and "I Have a Dream."

General Description: 2 days - 8 stations - students were allotted 12 minutes per station. PowerPoint on slavery, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights Movement was displayed on large library projector screen with 1960's music playing in the background. Student groups were divided using cards with 1960s issues. Teachers wore 1960s t-shirts. Students were given a handout of questions to answer at each station.

Station 1: Hallway outside library: timeline from first slaves in 1620 to present day.

Station 2: Library Television: YouTube video on Little Rock Nine.

Station 3: iPads: changing demographics YouTube videos (white population as a minority by 2043)

Station 4: Tables together: Integrity Situations (pot of problems)- students discussed.

Station 5: Library Computer Lab: Polleverywhere.com "Are You Predjudiced?"- questions on computers and teacher led discussion following the poll students completed. (an example question from poll: At lunch people tend to sit with their own racial group. A. Strongly Agree B. Somewhat Agree C. Somewhat Disagree D. Strongly Disagree)

Station 6: Projector: YouTube video of civil rights protest songs. Students made a mini-protest poster using 4x6 notecards and popsicle sticks.

Station 7: Laptops: Jim Crow Laws booklet. Students listened to a recording and responded.

Station 8: 2 Long Tables: Students matched famous people with events of the Civil Rights Movement (example: Brown vs. Board with ended segregation).

Here is a brief video "commercial" of the event! If the video quality is poor, try clicking here.

Click here for the link to a dropbox folder containing all the documents and materials associated with this unit.

Additional days: Local jazz group came to perform popular music from the 1930s (to coincide with the period of To Kill a Mockingbird). Students also created a Glogster poster on an aspect of the Civil Rights Movement. *9th Grade Civics teachers supported this in their classes.

Click here for a video excerpt of the S'Wonderful (Jazz Group) performance from that day!

Learning result: In addition to supporting our literature, our intent was to make our students aware of the history of racial divisions in our country to reduce our nation's problem with racism in this next generation. Each component was a success!

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Ad Day Collaboration - 9th Grade English

This was a collaborative project created by 9th Grade English teachers (Mrs. Linda McInvale and Mr. Blake Campbell). They used the library as a staging area for the event.

They had read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury in all classes and focused on the following concepts:
dangers of advancing technology, interactive television, focus on selling, everything without value, manipulation of the masses by media, an essay on how Bradbury's predictions have come true in our culture.

They completed a research paper in which students had to take a side and prove a point:
persuasive writing appeals, they created an advertising PowerPoint using propaganda techniques, they evaluated programs on current television, they also searched for grammar mistakes in ads and discovered what television and media are really telling us.

The connection to their Odyssey and Mythology Unit: Students had to present a commercial following the Ad day program. The commercial had to be based on a mythological figure (examples: Apollo Sunscreen, Cerberus Collars, Apollo Flashlights).

Ad Day Library Program Description:

General: 1 day with 6 stations. Students were allotted 8 minutes per station. Each day students went through 4 of the 8 stations. The teachers divided the students into groups using different ads.

Station 1: On wall outside library- 3 poster sized ads. Students had to evaluate the effectiveness of each ad and list what propaganda techniques were used. They also had to list persuasive devices and various appeals.

Station 2: Presented on large TV in library. Students watched YouTube videos about how food is prepared for ad photographs and how professional model's photos are airbrushed.

Station 3: iPad station. Students watched three commercials and compared their effectiveness.

Station 4: Students were given a "shopping basket" with photos of items from the grocery store. They were tasked with identifying what kind of person would be selecting these items. They were also given a picture of a person and were asked to predict what sorts of products would be in their basket.

Station 5: Matching real companies with names from myths to the reason why they have that name- like Atlas Van Lines, Medusa Hair Salon, Starbuck's Siren Logo.

Station 6: Projector. Students were asked to observe product placement and movie trailers. They were asked the question: "How are products being sold in these venues?"

Click here for a link to a Dropbox folder containing all the documents and materials associated with this program.


Next year we want to give them a product and require them to figure out a way to sell it. We also want to bring in an expert on ads/ advertising from a local college and search for other community resources to add to this event.

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