For the third year in a row, Piedmont hallways have been taken over by flashmobs, furry critters, and student creations as our sixth graders engaged in a choice-driven genius-hour project called "Love of Learning."
Students had a class period over the quarter to explore a topic of interest to them in greater detail and then to share their new knowledge and skills as well as learn from others at the annual LOL showcase. I first wrote about the innovative PBL we call "love of learning" last year, but the best way to learn what genius hour is all about it is to watch these videos and hear first-hand:
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The six grade and eighth-grade teams today each showed one aspect a fabulous test prep, as seen in the two photo collages. Eighth-grade teachers went the extra mile and created goodie baskets for their almost grads in honor of their hard work during their prep rotations, where they ran special review sessions to make sure students mastered their core content. Sixth grade teachers Mrs. Lyttle and Ms. McCarthy got their students ready for test day tomorrow with a yoga relaxation lesson for their students to help them focus and get a good night's rest. Thanks to all the teachers and students who've given their best and worked so hard this year. You're prepared and you have a lot to be proud of! Now take a breath, get some rest and enjoy the test. Related Posts:
http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/test-review-game-ideas http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/scavenger-hunt-test-prep http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/photos-of-the-week http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/back-to-school-at-piedmont http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/6th-grade-active-learning http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/overlooked-test-prep http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/incorporating-vocabulary The gym has transformed into a civil rights museum, with exhibits designed and created entirely by 8th grade history students. Here are a few of the projects For the second year in a row Piedmont 8th graders have built their own Civil Rights Museum. This year the museum was visited by two distinguished leaders of the civil rights movement, Mr. Harvey Gantt and Rev. Dr. Jesse Douglas. Please read more about their historic visit and advice here, however the students work is the star of this post:
The photos speak for themselves as students did not shy away from topics that are hard, nor did they dumb down or sugar coat the era into a simplified story that makes it all seem easy. Hats off to the 8th grade social studies team for their leadership in the value of a true and deep study of the past. Everything from auto engines to handicrafts were on display. And since the topics were 100% student-chosen, passion was evident in each one. Arrows point the way to Love of Learning exhibits as Ms. Bailey checks out one student's hand sewn fashion designs and a parent high fives a student who made his own suit of armor. 21st Century learners in action: parents and students make their way through the diverse exhibits on showcase day. Introductory video explaining love of learning http://youtu.be/CIsIEKUuBZU
Active Learning in Language and Humanities
Check out the awesome 7th grade team in these 2 new videos:
First is a video of Mrs. Alexander-Brown's classes Whirligig novel projects. After reading the novel as a class, students used their own interests to create something to consolidate what they learned. They had a choice of creating an annotated soundtrack, movie trailer, story re-write or symbolic whirligig. They ended up learning about the novel and about themselves as the participated in this literary maker movement. Pair it with Mr. Milligan's Pigman live court reenactment videos for examples of active student engagement!
Speaking of active student engagement, next is a video of 7th grade social studies World War I reenactment. Students answered review questions for a chance to charge the enemy, but had to watch out for the barbed wire and gas attacks if they wanted to win. As Mr. Egnot and students note in the video, the real lesson is there were no winners!
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Author"Celebrating Piedmont" logs only a small fraction of the learning magic the teachers of CMS' Piedmont Middle School, an IB World School. create daily. In that sense, it is authored by all the staff and students of Piedmont. It is curated by Ms. Gurthie who can be reached at the icons above. She'll be happy to brag about Piedmont's teachers and students any chance she gets! Please note this blog has only just begun and we have so much to show off! Come back again soon! |