How do I impact the world?

I believe that using inquiry-based learning for this subject is perfect because students are already extremely curious about the world around them and themselves as well. Asking open ended questions, such as my essential question and first unit question; What people, organizations, traditions, and cultures influence you? helps to guide the students to really dig and think outside the box. There is no wrong answer to these questions, it merely opens up a world of discussion, realization, and discovery.

In my next two unit questions; How can we change to better the environment? and What are some short-term goals you can make that will influence your impact on the world? I was trying to use questions that would facilitate students to think about themselves, and talk to their classmates. I want them to ask each other questions, and share stories and ideas. My last question I believe is more project-based learning. This question invites students to really come together and think of themselves as unique individuals who can make a difference, even now.

Unit Plan

Blogs in the Classroom

In my future classroom, I can envision my students using blogs in almost all subjects. I'll start with math. The students can start a blog that is solely designated to math. As long as the students post is related to math this blog can be used. They could use it for helpful tips they found or they could help each other with difficult problems. For Language Arts, students could respond to a class book, or an individual book they read. They can talk about books they liked, or maybe even ones they didn't. They can even posts questions about grammar. For science, maybe an assignment on introductions to writing a lab report. Students will have to conduct an experiment and discuss it in a blog following certain criteria. Social Studies, students can talk about their favorite historical figure, and provide research and interesting facts on that figure.

So much can be done, I can see blogging as a great way, or maybe even an outlet for students to be able express themselves more through their learning. Blogs are also great to connect students interculturally. As mentioned in the following link (http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/), most students are comfortable with blogging already. "It's part of their culture". So allowing them to use tools that they are familiar with, especially in the classroom gives the student a huge advantage.