Part 3:  Reflective Essay

Goals:

1. For the students to demonstrate an ability to reflect on the past two weeks of lessons.
2. For the students to practice basic grammar skills in writing a reflective essay.

Time Frame: Approximately one to one and a half hours.

Procedure:

1.  The teacher will ask the students to reflect on the past two weeks of lessons.
- What were your favorite parts, and why?
- What aspects of the lessons did you not like, and why?
2.  Ask the students a question in regards to each aspect of the unit:
- Novel
- Discussions
- Essays
- Mapping
- CPR
- Research (including library and internet)
- Field Trip
- Movies
- Final Projects
- Presentations
3.  The teacher will instruct the students to write a reflective essay on the past two weeks.  They will be expected to comment on a minimum of five of the above mentioned topics.  The students will be asked to not only give their opinions, but the reasons they hold such opinions.
4.  The teacher then allows the students time to complete their essays.
5.  The teacher will be walking around helping students who may be struggling.

1.  The students will demonstrate thoughtful reflection on the past two weeks of lessons (Criteria for success = An opinion with support for that opinion on five of the topics mentioned earlier in this lesson).
2.  The students will be assessed based on general writing concepts such as sentence phrasing, organization, spelling, grammar, etc. (Criteria for success = A thorough, well- organized, and clear journal. Determined using the writing rubric).

1.  The students could share their journals in small groups.
2.  The journals could be put in a growing file so that future classes can compare their thoughts with those of past classes.

Goals:

1. For the students to work in a cooperative and beneficial manner with one another.
2. For the students to successfully present their final creative projects.

1. Each group must have its members and all material they wish to use when presenting.  This may include, but is not limited to, overheads, maps, pictures, handouts, and anything else the students wish to use.
2. A hat or, or something of the sort from which to draw group numbers to determine the order of presentations.

Procedure:

1.  The instructor will inform the students that they will now present their final creative projects. The students will be reminded of what the teacher will be looking for. Among these aspects; organization, thorough research, and a fundamental understanding of the subject matter.
2.  Determine presentation order by drawing names out of a hat.
3.  The students will be instructed to get into their groups. A thirty minute to one hour preparation session is given for the students to make final adjustments to their report.
4.  The teacher will spend this preparation time walking around helping the students fine tune their presentations/ projects. If they did a paper have them read it clearly, and explain where they found their research. If they chose to build a ship, they should be able to explain why they designed it they way they did.
5.  The teacher will remind the students that it is important that they are attentive to all of the presentations, and that part of their grade will reflect this behavior.
6.  The groups then take turns presenting their final project. Each group will be given roughly ten minutes, although more time will be allowed if necessary.
7.  Following each presentation, the teacher will lead a brief dialogue reflecting on the previous project. The teacher can ask some of the following questions;
- What did you like/dislike about the presentation?
- What did you learn that was new to you?
- What parts of the presentation did you already know about?
- How could the group have improved their presentation?
8.  Only some of the groups will have time to go today, while the rest will finish the following day.

1. Positive review of cooperation and teamwork within the group (Criteria for success =  an average of 3 or 4 from the peer evaluation rubrics).
2. Positive group interaction and equal distribution of work in presentation (Criteria for success = an average of 3 or 4 on group presentation rubric).

1. The students could display their projects around the school.
2. If there is a nearby store related to the topic they could display their projects around the store, or the community in general.
3. The students could have their parents come in on some weeknight, and perform their presentations for them.

1. History - A connection with the past will be made. The students will research factual and historical information when compiling the matter for their project.
2. Language Arts - The students will most likely be doing a great deal of reading through their research.

Goals:
For the students to work in a cooperative and beneficial manner with one another.
For the students to successfully present their final creative project.

Resources:
Final creative projects
Chalkboard/chalk
Hat or other container to place names in

Time Frame:  Approximately 5-6 hours

Procedure:

1.  Introduce the conclusion of project presentations.
2.  Remind the students what they are expected to do, and give examples from previous day's presentations.
i.e.. - remind them to speak loudly and maintain eye contact with the audience, like Joe's group did in their presentation.
3.  If necessary, allow the students time to get their projects organized for presentation; make sure the group list is on the board so the students know in what order they will present.
4.  Begin presentations.
5.  Allow time for question/answer after each presentation.
6.  After final presentation, let the students know how they did as a class. i.e. "In general the presentations were all excellent/ good/ fair/ bad. . . . ."
7.  Hand out group evaluation rubrics.
8.  Allow the students time to evaluate themselves and their teammates with the rubrics.
9.  Collect rubrics.

Possible Extensions:

1.  Presentation night for parents.  Set aside an evening for parents to come in and watch student presentations.
2.  Have students present projects to lower grade levels to promote positive interaction between the age groups.

1.  Language Arts - oral presentations, listening skills, question/ answer.
2.  History, Social Studies, Science, Art, etc. - depending on content of presentations, most of these will be covered.

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Survival developed by: David Didier, Justin Brandt, Travis Glandt, and Steve Raethz for the St. Norbert College Ocean Voyagers Program