See the Do Now video in my strategy folder to see my beginning of class routines. Often, I create do nows that have problems that connect to the task that students will be working on that day. Today I want students to think about the survey data they analyzed and whether or not they were surprised. This will serve as a warm up for the writing that students will do later in the lesson.
I ask students to raise their hand and share one of their observations or questions.
I call on students to talk about the Miniature Earth video and our video. I also call on students to describe the process that they went through to create, revise, and administer the survey and then analyze the results.
We watch the video and I ask students and visitors to jot down notes on their observations and things that stood out. After the video, I give the guests an opportunity to share observations or questions. I tell students how proud I am of all of their hard work and effort!
I show students their groups for the next part of class. Students take their packet and pencil and move into groups. I explain that for the next 10 minutes they are going to think and write about the reflection questions. We are going to have a group and class discussion and this will help students think about their ideas and opinions before we share out with each other.
As students write, I walk around and monitor student progress.
I explain that for each question, students will have 2 minutes to discuss it with their group. During this discussion I expect each person to participate. If a student has not participated in the discussion of a question, I encourage group members to ask that student what he/she thinks. Then we will discuss the question as an entire class for 2 minutes. For some of the questions, I will call out a number and the students with that number on their post it will share what their group members talked about it. Students are engaging in MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
I want students to feel that their voice is being heard. I also want to encourage students who do not volunteer as much to share. By incorporating small group and whole group discussion I can accomplish these goals.