The Origins of Halloween

For my virtual field trip I decided to incorporate the different origins of Halloween and how it was celebrated as well as for my students to compare and contrast Halloween in America to Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico.  Since we live so close to the border of Mexico, many of my students celebrate Mexcian cultures and traditions, so I thought it would be a good way to incorporate reading and social studies through this virtual field trip.


Goals:
Social Studies:  TLW learn and discuss on the history and origins of Halloween from different countries.
Reading:  TLW compare and contrast Halloween in America to Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico.  TLW create a venn-diagram for Halloween in America and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico. 
Art:  TLW create and design their own ghost as a symbol of Halloween and a calaver (skull) as a symbol of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  


Within this lesson I've planned for the development of the students respectful and ethical minds. 
The Respectful Mind:  TLW respect the different celebrations and customs from various cultures. 
The Ethical Mind:  TLW understand and identify the different point of views of Halloween from the different cultural celebrations of Halloween, including their own. 


Halloween Origins

5 Minds For The Futute

Blog:  More lessons taught with technology

After reading this blog, I sat back and wondered... wait a minute that's exactly what I'm doing and what I need to do.  I try to use as much technology as I can in my instruction and I would say that yearly the amount of technology I use in my classroom increases, and I keep on learning and implementing new resources (many thanks to what I've learned at Wilkes).  My school district also implements the PowerSchool for parent and teacher access, and just this week we have a new web page through collaboration with sharpschool.net, it has new tools and resources and has a section where educators throughout the district can collaborate with each other through online discussion boards, which is very interesting to see what it will do for us!  The one thing that I really enjoyed reading on was a teacher class web page.  Currently I don't have a class web page, but I would greatly enjoy creating one for my students and their parents, although I'm not very familiar on that subject, but I plan to learn and create one for this year.  After seeing the reaction of my students while using Glogster I found that they really enjoy collaborating amongst each other and unraveling their creative mind.  I think if I want my students to succeed developing their five minds, I must first strengthen my five minds and use it to foster my students. 

References

Bonnie Washuk, S. W. (2010, September 28).  More Lessons Taught with Technology.  Retrieved October 12, 2010, from Sun Journal: http://www.sunjournal.com/city/story/916594

Blooming the Respectful & Ethical Minds

After reading the article it is to no doubt that we as educators can collaborate technology with global projects and help what I would say as modifying curricula.  When we talk about changing curricula, almost everyone trembles, I say if it's been working for you, implement it just modify it and tweak it up with technology and in this case collaborating global projects.  I was overwhelmed to learn about so many things that I can use in my class to implement global projects.  The respectful and ethical mind I believe go hand and hand, and play an important role for our students future success.  As Reed mentioned, "Today’s students face a future where boundaries are abstract and global learning is critical.  Tomorrow’s citizens must be global communicators, must be able to participate successfully in project-based activities, and must have collaborative skills." As I read, all I did was nod my head in agreement, there couldn't be a better statement to say it all!  So, the question is what is my design for developing my students' respectful and ethical minds?  I sit and think there's no better way than to use Glogster, it has all I need.  To blossom the respectful mind, first students need to respect themselves before they can start to respect others.  


Glogster is an outstanding way to emphasize global learning through projects in a respectful and ethical mind development.  I plan to connect with a class from the 5th grade campus in our district, so that students can collaborate amongst each other from different grade levels about their campus and what they study.  Because students spend most of their time on campus, it is easier for them to reflect towards it.  The students on both ends will talk about their routines and what goes on at their campus. 


Respectful Mind:  TLW respect each other by accepting what goes on in each others daily routine and value what they have.  Because in the future 3rd graders will become 5th graders, and 5th graders used to be in 3rd grade, the act of positive collaboration can develop their respectful mind by accepting each others age group and differences, and instead of having an age division of two groups they can become one.  


Ethical Mind:  TLW construct glogs on specific topics and lessons and post to show to one another.  This will develop and construct the notion of good work amongst the community, which in this instance is Glogster.  If students express his/her knowledge to each other they are not only performing good work as individuals, but they are reflecting it amongst each others where they can learn from each other any make their individual work even greater. 
I think that this may seem to be a lot of work, but once students are guided by their teachers, they can then flourish on their own and with their help as individuals.

Glogster+Perez = Glogsterez =)

Glog Project Link:  http://seperez.edu.glogster.com/main-idea/

     GLOGSTER... The only word I can think of is WOW!  I'm amazed on the comments I got about Glogster!  I loved working on this project, I couldn't keep my mind off of admiring the project I had created and went back a numerous amount of times just to tweak it up (LOL).  Because this week marked the end of the six weeks grading period, it was to no doubt that my students and I were bombed with six weeks tests.  I thought about creating my first glog on the topic I will be covering this upcoming week for reading, Main Idea!  So I thought long and hard on what I really wanted to do for this Glog to help me inspire, teach, and motivate, as well as take my students breath away!  Unfortunately I was too anxious to wait
(LOL)!  As my students finished their exams I quickly assigned them the glog project as an individual learning center, and boy were they amazed and WOWed (we call it the WOW factor in class)!  Each day after that they kept asking me for more, and if they could use Glogster, and I nearly cried of excitement!  Which leads me to develop the Glogster Plan of Action.  As I mentioned before I have a PowerPoint project that my students create on different skills for a comprehensive review to use before the state assessments in April.  Now I think, I can take it even further, and accompanying that PowerPoint they can create a Glog to share with their classmates on that same topic, but with "the skies the limit" activities on the web.  As I type, I'm jubilant about the idea, and so want to see their faces when I tell them it's their turn to Create and WOW (they love when I WOW them)!  This project will express and define their each unique creative mind, with a whammy of fostering and innovating, YAY! :)  The purpose of this assignment will incorporate the mastery of the content studied as well as stepping outside the BOX and creating and synthesizing knowledge to express their mastered content!  I will focus on the reading standards that are not only important, but essential to their everyday life. 

Reading Standards:

1. Main Idea
2. Story Elements: Character, Character Traits, Setting, and Plot
3. Cause and Effect
4. Predicting Outcomes
5. Inference
6. Drawing Conclusions
7. Context Clues
8. Summary
9. Author's Purpose
10. Sequence
11. Supporting Details
12. Compare and Contrast
13. Fact vs. Opinion