Synthesizing information....Differentiation

Project TimeProjects used to be a bad word in my home.  They meant extra research, expense, fighting with my child to stop playing and start working...not anymore.  Read more to find out how we changed our mindset on projects.

My colleagues and I really believe that students need time to synthesize information....especially in Virginia Studies.  We have a large population of children from low-socioeconomic homes who don't exactly know how to study at home.  So, we decided to help them learn by creating projects. 

First, we teach the unit (duh!).  Then we spend about 2-3 days on projects.  How do we fit this in? Sometimes it is in our Va. History block (last 10 minutes each day) and sometimes it is in our writing blocks.  We have even asked kids to do this at home and believe it or not - it works!

Then, we pass out the study guide.  We specifically believe that the kids need the information to do the project because without this, the parents don't know what is supposed to be on the project.  This ranges from kids who do too little to kids (with parents) do too much.  I have had projects presented that were on a college level and yet the kid didn't understand the fourth grade material.  Sound familiar?

I created assignments for each of the five VS 4 sections:

Procedure: Choose one of the five sections from the study guide to do a project to review.

            VS4A – Agriculture:  Make a poster to show the reasons some Virginians wanted slavery to help with tobacco

            VS4B – Culture:  Make a brochure to show the five main cultural groups living in Virginia in the 1700’s  - show where they lived and how they changed the culture of Va.

            VS4C – Capital Moves:  With a partner, write a script to show why the capital should move to Williamsburg and Richmond.

            VS4D – Money, Barter, Credit:  Make a Jeopardy Game about Colonial Economics.

            VS4E – Everyday life in the colonies – write a diary entry from one of the Virginians – a slave, a freed African, a plantation owner, or a small farmer.          

Here are some pictures of the results:

Of course, the big hit was creating scripts. Oh I wish you could see them...they loved acting out for their classmates and sharing information that they had learned.  A great review and opportunity for speaking in front of a group too...