TfU Reflections

Last week you gave a series of wonderful presentations, thank you. Today we will complete last weeks blog - and do this one here.

I want you to rewrite the 4 overarching goals from the Teaching for Understanding handout, and tell me how you feel we have been reaching these goals. Please take time to write thoughtful reflections.

Steve

Report Based on Your Research Project

Dear 2FB,

Here is the outline we would like you to have for your written report on your chosen country. We are going to be working on this for the rest of this week and part of next week. Please put the sectio titles into your Word document, and have the introduction and one other section complete by Sunday. We would like to see writing connected in paragraphs as this is more useful for you to practice your writing skills (don't just write a list)

Title Page

Contents page

Introduction

- Flag
- Leader
- Population etc.
- Religion/Culture
- Main cities (and capital)

Justification - why did you choose this country? Why does it interest you?

Wildlife + Endangered species
- also choose one endangered animal and find some extra information about (like numbers)

Ecosystems + Physical Geography
- include the highest point in the country

Environmental Issues
- talk about all of them, but choose one and explain it in detail, with more information

References - where did you find your information?

We will also put this onto the Blog (please don't forget your 100-word reflection on your presentation).

Best wishes,

Richard

Presentation Reflection

Write 100 words on how you feel todays presentation went.

Presentation Week

We all understand what is required from last weeks practice presentations - please summarise here what you will present on this week:

1) The Nation
2) What color is the flag?
3) What is some current news there?
4) What is a university there?
5) What is the main city?
6) What do some of the ecosystems look like?
7) What are some endangered species there?
8) What are some environmental issues there?
9) Who is the nations leader?
10) What is most interesting about the nation thus far?

Thanks

Wildlife and Ecosystems of .......

One of the overarching goals that we need to discuss is the environment. Yesterday you: 1) selected a nation, and 2) found out about 10 things (schools, people, population).

Today find out more about the nation, and specifically about the environment there. Open a power point today and collect the following:

Refelect

The Nation's Flag (1)
The Nation's Map (political map)(2)
The Nation's Physical Geography (topographical map)(3)
Write a short introduction about the nation from yesterdays findings.(4)

New information

1 slide with images of the nation's nature(5)
1 slide with images of the nation's animals(6)
1 slide with images of the nation's plants(7)
1-3 slides with images of the nation's ecosystems(8)
1-3 slides with endangered species from this nation(9)
1-3 slides with the causes (why the animals/plants are endangered)(10)
1 slide with images of the nation's environmental issues(11)

So, by the end of this session you should have a minimum of 11 slides.

Post here: endangered species of ___________ are: __________, ___________, and ________. environmental issues within ____________ are: __________, ____________, and _________.

Narrowing in on a Nation

In week 1 you were give 4 articles, from different nations. On the final day of the week Richard had asked you to think of a Nation of interest. Today - I will get you to take a look at this nation in more depth - BUT - I will encourage you to select a nation different than others.

I will also ask you to sign in to two other online sites: netvibes and nicenet. For netvibes go to: http://www.netvibes.com. For nicenet you need: Class Name: 2FB Global Awareness: Collective Intellect Project, Your Class Key: T287468253.


For today, here, Post the following:

1. The nation you are researching: _______________________
(i.e. Sierra Leone and according to the US State Dept in 1652 the first North American slaves were taken from Sierra Leone)

2. The capital city of Sierra Leone is __________________
(i.e. the Capital of Sierra Leone is Freetown)

3. A main univeristy in Sierra Leone is?
(i.e. Fourah Bay College and was opened in 1827. A second is Njala University and is in the town called Bo. Neither have a working website)

4. Some environmental concerns in Sierra Leone
(i.e. water pollution, population increase, deforestation)

5. Physical geography of Sierra Leone is
(i.e. coastal mangroves, wooded hills, and mountains)

6. The population according to the World Bank is 5 600 000.

7. Famous people from Sierra Leone

A famous person from Sierra Leone was/is: Madieu Williams and has become a famous football player in the USA, see: http://www.madieuwilliams.org/

8. On National Geographics Website, I found the following page about Sierra Leone:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/sierra-leone-guide/

9. A of the money Sierra Leone makes comes from Diamonds

10. According to Google news (20 minutes ago at the time of this post) diamond sales are down 20% in Sierra Leone.

For today - this will be enough, but have fun doing this.

Steve

Day 3

#1 If you were unable to post the 4 overarching course goals - do so please.

#2 You were given 2 newspaper articles today, what were the titles and how do they connect? Which nation(s) is/are involved?

You were given 4 articles this week - what are 12 new vocabulary (3 from each) that you have learned? If it was a cartoon use 3 words needed to describe this.

Day 2

In the first session we had a nice start, thanks for this. We talked about what you did in semester 1, and how this helps you develop English. We discussed how reading and writing are very important skills, and that reading is especially important. Just because you memorize a kind of writing, does not mean you really have writing skills - you have shown skills at memorizing a genre of writing. We talked about our young brothers and sisters that can read a few things - but still not write. So,although both are very important, we agreed we need to push reading.

We looked at a world map, and came to the conclusion that in 2010 we can use the real world as a interesting source to build our reading skills. We read and reflected on news stories.

Today we will develop 4 overarching goals under the framework of TfU, and will decide if this is a good way to go and why. Lets make clear goals together for 1) the course, 2) yourself, 3) the class, 4) the college.

Write a short reflection on:

Overarching goal 1 (gggggggg) is important because ......
Overarching goal 2 (gggggggg) is important because ......
Overarching goal 3 (gggggggg) is important because ......
Overarching goal 4 (gggggggg) is important because ......

Course goals should be to .........
My goals are to ...................
The class should try to ...........
For the college we might try to ...

Thanks for your time - and for Wednesaday think of a nation you would like to learn about. Find a partner.

Creating Throughlines, Objectives, and Goals

Today is our first class, and we should de a little negotiating. We should talk and discuss what we will do from now to the end of the course. One thing I do know, is that in general, HCT students have difficulty reading. We need to develop this skill, and we need to work hard at it.

First write a little reflection from the post it notes you had. Write you first impression (what you thought at the beginning - post it note 1) and how you felt after (now I think - post it note 2).

Today you will have a newspaper article and will need to reflect on the following questions:

1) What are some new vocabulary or ideas you got from your article?
2) What was the main idea of it?
3) What were three connections you made with other articles?
4) How can newspapers help you a) develop reading and writing skills, and b) be a more critical thinker of the world?

Together we will discuss more about course goals, but save your notes in a file for this class in your H drive.

Steve Pellerine