Steve Laatsch’s Curriculum Blog

Where Art and History Merge!

If you are in Laura Odom’s World History class at Saline High School, you better be prepared to work in groups.  Why is that important? Acquiring the ability to work in groups is a critical skill that our students need to well versed in by the time they leave high school. If you can’t work well with others, in this day and age, you really are less employable as potential employers are seeking quality individuals who can assimilate and be part of a team.

When I visited Mrs. Odom’s class last week, At first glance it appeared that she was teaching art history.  Reproductions of famous paintings were posted around her room.  But, as she explained to me, you can’t really teach the Renaissance without teaching the art that really characterized the era.  Art and architecture really defined this time period.

The lesson began with students assembling into groups. Their charge was to move around the room, analyze the reproductions, and determine what techniques were being used to define these masterpieces as renaissance art.  Her students were very knowledgeable in this area. They were able to identify realism, shading, vanishing point, and linear perspective in these paintings.

After they finished the activity, there was an interesting de-brief.  Mrs. Odom had several of the paintings displayed on her EPSON projector so all the students could see the video image of the paintings.  Individual students then came up to the front of the room and showcased the various renaissance techniques using the “magic paper” that she provided.  The “magic paper” is really just a blank sheet of paper, but when you hold it in front of the EPSON projector it is capable of highlighting certain aspects of the painting like the vanishing point.

Now, it was time to move on to a quotations activity that Mrs. Odom had prepared. Students re-assembled into groups. An activity sheet that had quotations from many famous individuals including Johann Gutenberg, Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas Moore, Queen Elizabeth 1, and William Shakespeare was explored by the students. Their goal was to determine what the “interpretations” of the quotes were really trying to say. Again, I was very impressed with the students knowledge base in being able to grasp an understanding of some difficult language.

Try your knowledge on famous Renaissance  individuals.  Out of the five individuals listed above, Who quoted the following?

“Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honor, cannot exist without sin”

(answer at the end of blog post)

I was really impressed with Mrs. Odom’s understanding of how students learn.  She knows that students, much like adults, are not capable of sitting in a desk for 70 minutes at a time without some movement, stimulation, and group work.  To really get the mind moving, you have to present multiple transitions throughout your teaching lesson.  In the end, you are trying to engage students and get them to understand the “big ideas.” History needs to come alive and it can’t happen if kids are strictly buried in a textbook throughout the course.

Answer = Erasmus

National African American Parent Involvement Day

Saline Area Schools was pleased to support NAAPID (National African American Parent Involvement Day). This event took place on Monday, February 8, 2010.

National African American Parent Involvement Day was founded in 1995 by Joseph Dulin, the principal of Roberto Clemente Student Development Center in Ann Arbor. NAAPID is a national call to action to get parents, all parents in general and African American parents in particular, more involved in their children’s education. Further, it is designed to address the serious achievement gap facing African American students.

NAAPID is celebrated annually on the second Monday in February in 47 states. Since its inception, NAAPID has also been celebrated as far away as Japan, Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

NAAPID at Night was organized in 2004 in response to requests from parents. Some parents did not have the flexibility to leave work to make a classroom visit and yet they publicly wanted to show their support.  They welcomed the opportunity to participate in an evening program.  This event is designed to showcase the special talents of our children during the evening.  This year’s event was held at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor.  The event featured a showcase of talent that was simply outstanding. Performers from Saline included, Middle Schooler, Noelle Caprarese who played guitar and sang AND the trio of Saline Twirlettes, Haley Williams, Conner Potter, and Chrissy Houle who performed the finale in front of a great crowd!

Please click on the following link to see Noelle in action:

Noelle Caprarese performing at NAAPID at Night at Skyline HS

Next year, Saline High School will host the NAAPID at Night celebration on Monday, February 14, 2011.

Lattice Method - Everyday Mathematics

Recently, I have been taking a closer look at the lattice method of multiplication in our Everyday Mathematics program that is being practiced in grades 3-6.  Some parents and teachers have questioned the value to this approach when multiplying.  There are some people who feel the lattice method is flawed because it provides a crutch for students in regard to understanding place value.  In other words, if the student knows their basic facts and understands how to plug those facts into the lattice then they don’t internalize what is happening in terms of place value.  Other people feel that the lattice method is a good method because it provides another alternative for students to multiply and therefore allows for more choices to help differentiate their learning. I recently sent out a survey to our elementary teachers, grades 3-6, to have them weigh in on their thoughts about the lattice method.   In addition,  I will be scheduling some time at future grade level meetings to discuss the matter. For those parents and/or community members who have been exposed to the use of  the lattice method in multiplication, I am curious about your thoughts?  Please comment if you have an opinion.

“T4″ ing, Billy Joel Style!

Students in Mrs. Tressler’s 8^th grade English class are busying “T4″ ing it!  That would be Talking to the Text.  This is an important strategy in Reading Apprenticeship where students build connections with a piece of text by “talking” to it.  Talking to the Text is really a strategy where students make notes on the side of the paper or book in which they are reading.  When they can connect a piece of the text to some thing that has occurred to them in real life, the comprehension of the text is much deeper.

For this activity, students were T4ing the lyrics of the Billy Joel song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”‘. For those of you who know the text in this song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, you understand that the song covers a large spectrum of historic events. .  In groups, students were presented with different sections of the song.  Their job was to “talk to the text” and work together to clarify confusing parts of the song.

It was very interesting to hear the way the students discussed these events.

Next, students viewed the video of this song on laptop computers using a moodle website that was created by Mrs. Tressler. They further identified confusing parts of the song and used the internet to research basic information to clarify parts that they did not understand.

Then, as a culminating activity, students are going to pick a historical area of interest like health care, music or politics and research it from the time frame of when they were born to present day.  This project will be displayed in the format of an iMovie.

This is an excellent example of integrated instruction. Students are engaged in reading, technology, and history all at the same time.  Learning is not disconnected. The more we are able to integrate learning, the more our students can understand the relevance that learning has in their lives.

Not Picasso, Cornell!

Joseph Cornell is just starting to hit the mainstream.  Everyone knows Picasso, but what about Cornell? He had no formal art training.  But, he was inspired by the surrealists which jump started his career.

Click here to see an example of his work.

Students in Cyndi Koppelman’s Sculpture I class are focused on Cornell’s work and the boxes that define his art.

Surrealist artists, like Cornell, are often inspired by dreams.  This is why much of what you see in surrealist art appears unrealistic.

To guide the students, Ms. Koppelman displayed some of the box art that she created after being inspired in a Visual Journaling art class that she took in Traverse City over the summer.  She gathered all sorts of objects and created a work of art inside a box similar to what Cornell might create.

Art is about creation, inspiration, story telling, and dreaming.

So, what will the students in Sculpture 1 be doing for their boxes?

Their charge is to create a box assemblage based on a theme such as habitat or memories.   After selecting a box, students need to create a surreal environment involving exploration, collecting, and assembly.

In addition to the Sculpture 1 class,  Ms. Koppelman has a couple of AP Art students who are mixed in with this class.  They are busy designing works of art to fit with their portfolio theme.

Students are going to present their Joseph Cornell box art project on January 27^th to the class.

What will we find?  Check back with Ms. Koppelman to find out.

How Do You Measure Intelligence?

Intelligence?

What does it really mean to be intelligent?

Students in Lila Howard’s AP Psychology class have been researching this very question.

On Friday, January 8th, I visited her class and had the opportunity to watch a very interesting video of an autistic man, Stephen Wiltshire, who uses his great intelligence to draw a 5.5 yard detailed view of Rome after taking an aerial helicopter ride over the city for only 45 minutes.

This was really amazing and it led to an outstanding conversation from Ms. Howard’s students about intelligence.

Students also viewed a video clip Christopher deCharms who takes an inside look at the brain.

“Soon you will be able to look inside your brain and program/control the hundreds of brain areas that you see here.”

Kids debated whether it would really be a good thing to be able to control the brain or not.  If you were able to do this, would it make all of us robots?  On the other side of the coin, for people with chronic pain and some severely life altering circumstances, being able to control our brain would allow some relief for people living with these conditions.

Next, students had a spirited discussion about IQ, standardized testing, and the general measurements we use to quantify measurement in our public schools.

Then, Ms. Howard turned the conversation so students could discuss how expectations relate to intelligence.

She relayed a study that showed a teacher who was given a list of 4 students at the beginning of the school year and was told that these were the “cream of the crop” students. Consequently, this teacher had very high expectations for these students and as a result they truly performed at a very high level.  All of this, despite the fact that these 4 students were not historically at the top of their class in any categories.

This really led to some great conversation about Saline High School student’s personal experiences with this same thing.

One student shared a personal example of how the teachers at Saline HS have had a big impact on her because they have made her feel that she can achieve at a very high level even though she often struggles to think that she can live up to these expectations.

But, further debate continued to discuss whether too much positive reinforcement ends up coming off as fake.  When someone gives you positive reinforcement every once in awhile you really know they mean it. Sometimes when you see someone praising everyone all the time, it comes off as insincere.

I must say that I had a great visit in Ms. Howard’s class.  Allowing kids to be engaged and dialogue about content that is truly interesting to them is CRITICAL!!!!!!!!

Nice work Ms. Howard and our amazing group of SHS students!

Keep Fit People!!!

Michigan’s obesity rate of 28.9% (2008, CDC) should really concern all of us.  We need to continue to promote healthier lifestyles with our students.  That starts with our district’s PE program and athletic program that we offer in Saline.

On Wednesday, January 6^th, I had the opportunity to visit the Saline HS physical education department. It was great to see students taking advantage of the wonderful resources that our PE department has to offer.

Scott Theisen had numerous students involved in pickle-ball, a game the mixes tennis and racquetball together.  This is part of the racquet sports unit that is involved in PE 1.

Across the hall in the auxiliary gym, Jeff Waltz, had his students involved in a spirited game of whiffle ball.

In the upper gym, Mike Glennie had his students learning the master techniques behind effective weight lifting.

Many good activities are taking place in our PE department which provides a nice transition in keeping our athletic programs strong as well.

Guilty!!!

Classes in Kurt Roy-Borland’s  8^th Grade at Saline Middle School are learning first-hand about the “law” and our government.

“Law 101″, as Mr. Roy-Borland calls it, provides students a detailed and real-life learning experience where they are immersed in learning about the rights and laws  that impact our society.

Over the course of the week of January 4^th, students learned all aboutcriminal and civil law. They learned about misdemeanors, felonies, reasonable suspicion,  searches/seizures,  the 5^th amendment, and so forth.

He arranged to have guest speakers come into the classroom to discuss real life examples of civil law and criminal law.

Officer Dave Ringe and Mr. David Raft visited the classroom to speak about the 4^th Amendment …….”The Right to ……. Protection from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures.” Probable Cause and Reasonable Suspicion were two topics that Officer Ringe discussed with the students.  In a school setting, he spoke about how we use “reasonable suspicion” at Saline Middle School.  For example, if a student alerts Mr. Raft that there are drugs in a locker, than he has “reasonable suspicion” to go and search the locker. He doesn’t need to call the police because if he doesn’t go check that locker, the safety of the school and other students could be jeopardized.  Mr. Raft’s number one goal is to keep the school safe.

Taking advantage of our local Saline courthouse being relocated across the street from the Middle School, Mr. Borland arranged with representatives from the court to have his students tour and watch actual court proceedings.

Students really got a nice flavor of what an actual courthouse looks like, who are the people that work in court, what type of crimes are brought up in a trial, and so forth.

Finally, students will be using their background knowledge about what they have learned about the law to act out a mock trial. In this trial, students will play the roles of judge, bailiff, court reporter stenographer, witnesses, lawyers, jurors, news reporters, and court sketch artist.

The whole unit is excellent!  It takes law to a new level by providing background knowledge, but then really allowing students to elevate their learning by bringing in the real-life law experience with the guest speakers, the visit to the courthouse, and the mock trial.

Very well done Mr. Roy-Borland!

Bullying and Harassment, Real Issues!

High School students from SADD (Students Against Destruction Decisions) presented a powerful presentation to the 7^th grade Middle School students on Wednesday, December 16 .

These high schoolers performed a number of skits in the Middle School auditorium to show how bullying and harassment can be very damaging.

Below is a summary of a few of the skits:

Your average Middle School day

A funny skit depicted the general dynamics around the school. The gossip, the peer pressure, and the bullying that exist in our schools was showcased.   In the end, students summarized the bullying and harassment behaviors that were on display in this skit.

Halftime at the Saline Football Game

In this scene, a few teenagers try to bully and influence another student to steal the Saline mascot’s head and steal Gatorade from the concession stand.  There is enough peer pressure so that this student feels that he has to participate in inappropriate behavior to fit in and hang with the “popular” students.  In the end, it was cool to see the students come out and explain why bullies act the way they do. It is usually because they have something missing in their own lives. A guest appearance by Officer Dave Ringe was a nice touch.

Depression

One student spoke of suffering from depression. He pointed out that he has many things going for him. It would not necessarily appear on the outside that he was depressed. However, internally he was struggling and felt alone.   He gave some examples of some destructive behavior that he entertained and participated in.  He feels lucky because a number of people have supported him through this process.  The point of the story is that people have a great affect on others, both positively and negatively. Which type of person do you want to be?

Contemplations of Suicide

A group of SADD students performed a scene in which bullying and harassment, when pushed to the limit, can lead students to think about suicide.  We need to be able to talk about this openly with our students so they understand that they have supportive friends, teachers, administrators, and counselors at the Middle School and High School levels who they can turn to in times of crisis.

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This was a very powerful overall performance because it was courageous for our own High School students to get up on stage and put their “real” lives out there for the Middle School students to see.

SADD is run by Mark Schuby who is also one of our school district’s social workers. He does a very nice job of educating our Saline students in a variety of areas.  He does not shy away from talking about issues such as drinking, smoking, bullying, harassment, and so forth.

A Different Way of Assessment

Students in Mr. Foster and Mrs. Stevenson’s 6^th grade classroom at Heritage School had to take an assessment today on a social studies unit of study. Big deal, you say?  But, this was a really different way to assess students.  In this class, the students were assessing each other and they did so in the format of an interview.

Students used a  ”cultural portfolio” that everyone had created throughout the unit to assist them with answering questions on this assessment.

Mr. Foster noted …..”One thing that people do in the real world is perform interviews.”  Therefore, it is good practice for students to learn interviewing skills at an early age.

Students assembled into groups of two and then they were each given an interviewing sheet.  On this sheet, there were multiple questions related to the unit of study. The interviewer was to ask the interviewee these questions and write down the responses.  The interviewee was encouraged to use their “cultural portfolio” to refer to during the assessment. Just like a person who has a real job interview might refer to their work portfolio to respond to questions, these 6^th grade students were encouraged to do the same thing in their “cultural portfolio” assessment interview.

One student said to me …. “This method is more fun and interactive than taking a test.”  Of course, I pointed out to him that it actually was a test that was being delivered in a slightly different manner.

Interaction is the key to engagement. Engagement is the key to learning.  Let’s face it, many of us have had some experiences in school that have not been all that engaging.  By providing students with multiple methods of learning and assessment, you allow students to showcase the many different learning styles that are present in every classroom in our school district.

Mr. Foster and Mrs. Stevenson ……… thanks for engaging your students.