I have chosen to participate in a project that is ongoing. The project is titled "The Day I Was Born - Discovering YOUR Place in History" It started in August 2007 and is to end December 2010. Students from around the world have become part of this project. The age range is from 9 to 19 years. When I looked at the map for what classes are participating, I saw many middle schools and even some high schools. This is good because I wanted a project that my middle school students would feel was geared for them.
As the reading specialist and reading team leader for Folly Quarter Middle School, I do not have an actual class of my own. I do co-teach some classes and also oversee the entire reading program in the school. My plans are to have either the 6th or the 7th grade reading teachers incorporate this project into their classes. It would fit well into the objectives for either grade. The 6th grade unit links information literacy to everyday life situations which this project does. The 7th grade unit focuses on primary and secondary sources which is also addressed in this project. I am not sure which grade the teachers will like to attempt this project.
This is the full project description that was given at the Global SchoolNet's Internet Project Registry:
Online Project where students are guided to a variety of links to find out what was happening in the world on the day they were born--news, literature, music, television, etc. Students collect, record, and organize data in the form of a report. Student handouts are posted on the site and may be copied by teachers. The site contains animated graphics and audio clips. Collaboration is encouraged. Grades 4--12.
Objectives:
To find and share information about what was happening in the world on the day students were born. The result will be an online, interactive, student authored "History Book".
I do need to say that I retyped this project. I have written permission from the Catherine Campanella who created the project. Catherine Campanella is retired from St. Phipil Neri School, Metairie, Louisiana, US.) If you would like to see the original project it can be found at this link.
This is a map of the participants in the project during school year 2007-2008. If you go to the original site, you can see comments by some of the people.
Both the 6th and 7th grades use the Big 6 in the unit Information Literacy. The steps of the Big 6 could be followed as the students complete this project. The following steps of the Big 6 are part of the objectives of each grade:
Define a task and develop guiding questions.
Determine and evaluate the most appropriate resources.
Locate and access information in resources.
Extract relevant information from appropriate sources using a note taking process.
Organize information from multiple sources, and present information.
Evaluate the Big6 process.
The other objectives can be seen at the following sites:
Grade 6 What is Information Literacy?
Grade 7 Information Literacy- Searching Sources
See Project Activities. - this is a teacher site to understand the activities and the curriculum connections.
See The Day I Was Born Online Lesson - this is the online lesson that students will follow to complete the project.
See Extra Information - this page gives some more information along with a scoring rubric for the project.
Contact Beverly Barnes for questions or comments.