Wrapping Up The Integration

For the past month, the Junior school have been learning through an integrated unit about the Olympics, which I previously discussed with reference to my Year 10 PE class. I also blogged about the sketchnotes the Year 9's were completing in SOS about the Olympic values. This week has been about bring the integrated unit to a close.

The students task, was to use all of their knowledge and skills they developed throughout the unit across all subjects to create a website. For some parameters around the site, students had headings to shape their ideas; society, anthem, kai, and an athlete from the country their group was recognised as, and also a description and evaluation of their game they created in PE.

Today the students presented the website they created and explored some of the key knowledge they had learnt throughout the creation of the site. I was interested to see how students collaborated with one another, and utilised their skills/knowledge across subjects, rather than keeping math in math for example. Unfortunately I was sick while the students created their sites, but I was thankful to see some of their presentations.

For future integrated units, I think the teachers need to begin to brainstorm, plan and create lessons much earlier. Possibly there could be overall aims of the unit - what we actually want the students to get out of it (not the final product they produce, but the major objectives), I think this integrated unit was possibly left a little too open, which many of us struggled with. We also need to be clear on whether we are teaching our own subjects, or whether we have daily objectives we all work towards, to create some collaboration and cohesion across subjects. 

Nevertheless, the students generally enjoyed being in the same room for the month, with teachers moving to them, and I learnt a lot along the way for sure. I like the possibly of another integrated unit next term, look forward to seeing how we manage this one!

Getting Artsy in SOS

Our Linoit to represent what we have learnt

For the past two weeks in Social Studies we have been discussing the Olympic values; Friendship, Excellence and Respect. After a few lessons learning about the values and what they look like, feel like and sound like with both reference to the Olympics and their own lives, this morning we begun a sketchnote to summarise our learning.

Yesterday we brainstormed key words, phases, and ideas associated with the values, to conclude the learning. From there I explained the three key components of sketchnoting (text, image and structure) and showed my own examples so the students had some knowledge and insight into the phenomena. From there, I suggested some possible layouts, texts and images the students could use and let them go for it.

Key ideas and learning about sketchnotes

Although some students struggled to start, eventually nearly all of the kids had started their sketchnotes, and what they have come up with is incredible. Many of the kids wanted to stay in class and keep going, and similarly at the start of the period I had many eager beans ready to go inside and start sketching before I was even there! I was pleased how engaged most of the students were, including some students who I really struggle to get engaged in classroom activities.

A few of the boys are known for their 'artwork' some may call it, sometimes in inappropriate places. I have seen some of the block writing and drawings they do, and am often blown away - so this activity was aimed to cater for them and their interests. Although they didn't complete the whole task, they were completing a sketchnote and able to explain the values to me, which was a huge step in the right direction.

Although I cannot include everyone's on here, these are some of the sketchnotes which have had the greatest progression so far, and some really cool ideas. I am so proud of the efforts the students gave!

If you are interested in the Olympic values, here are two clips to learn more!

Handing Over the Whistle

Aim to get the ball into the container, cannot be over 3-point line

Currently the Juniors are completing an integrated unit based around The Rio Olympics. In PE, their task/challenge/goal is to create a game in small groups, which is then played in class. For the past week we have been playing the games in my Year 10 classes, and I am quite impressed with what they have created.

The students are responsible for setting up the equipment, teaching the game (including rules, boundaries, penalties), putting the groups into team and refereeing. Once the game has momentum and the class are engaged, our role as the teacher is to ask the group who is leading the lesson to ask questions to elicit thinking. For instance - why do you think the group are having difficulty scoring points? or How do you think you could make the game more difficult? After reflection and discussion, the group then modifies their game to increase engagement, interest and/or enjoyment.

Capture the flag style with Swiss balls and rippa tags!

This reflective process is important for students to be able to put a critical eye on their creations, and also enables them to see how simple modifications can change a game considerably. We hope through this reflection and evaluation, as well as the holistic process of creating and teaching lessons, encourages students to think about how it feels to be in the teachers shoes, but also that more brains than one can create some amazing things if you are open to feedback and feedforward from others.

I look forward to the remainder of the games, yet to be played!