K.+Feedback+Field+Test

Since I am not teaching in a school at this time, I relied on feedback from teaching peers who are in the classroom. Given the time frame for the project, they were not able to field test the lesson due to the restrictions of the curriculum they were already focused on this time of year. Each of them was able to review some form of the student materials I created and respond to me by email with their impressions of the student learning materials.

Chuck B. is a social studies and language arts teacher in Bedford, Indiana. He teaches sixth through eighth grades and has taught Number the Stars as part of his sixth grade curriculum. I sent Chuck a copy of the lesson plan I created for the 6th grade.

His e-mail comments are included: //Stacey, I think the lesson looks great overall and it works well as anticipatory set prior to beginning the novel. I liked the fact that students were able to read the Karen Heese picture book first and talk about the Jewish resistance in Warsaw. A lot of the 6th grade students choose to read that particular picture book after we read Number the Stars in class. I also thought is was important to complete the graphic organizers that you included in the lesson. Students keep those organizers for later reference. // //I think it would be a good idea to have students go ahead and read the first few pages of the novel together in class to that they could discuss early impressions or add questions to their list of inquiry questions. //

Debbie H. is a special education teacher in Orleans, Indiana. Her current caseload includes first through third graders. Debbie has taught upper grade elementary students in the past. She also has experience team-teaching high school language arts classes and designed sole-provided instructional lessons for high school language arts students. I asked Debbie to examine my student resources page.

Debbie's comments: //The resources page is self-explanatory and both 6th grade and 9th grade students should feel at ease using it. I liked the variety of suggestions for exploring information regarding the Holocaust. How did you decide which sites to include in the list? Would the sites be bookmarked for students to use as well?// //I found it easy to navigate the wiki and organization is good. You may want to add some more internal links so that users are able navigate using them.//

Theresa B. is currently at home with her two children, but was teaching middle schoolers last school year. She has experience teaching language arts to sixth grade through eighth grade students. I asked Theresa to look at my student models which included concept maps and Glogster samples as well as the ninth grade lesson since she has read the novel //Night.//

 //I thought the ninth grade lesson prepped students to read the novel. It might be helpful to include a list of the vocabulary you would need to introduce students to before they begin the novel. // //I think the mapping tool is convenient. Is there a way to save it online or do students need to print it each time they finish? // //Glogster is awesome. I haven't heard of it until you sent me the sample. Do you think it could be used as a progressional tool as well a final product tool? //