The class worked so hard on their Women’s History Month assignment. The following students have been selected for submission to FTA’s Women’s History Month competition:
Essays:
Posters:
Videos:
“Leaders”
“Artists”
I appreciate all of the hard work of all of my students. More information will follow as to when the awards ceremony will take place.
My class has recently begun to investigate women for women’s history month. As a teacher, much of what I do is based on my own experiences as a student as well as my professional training and work experience. One topic of importance to me is choice. As a student the ability to choose was huge for me. A teacher being interested in my thoughts was important. I did my best in those sort of student centered classrooms. As a result I often ask my students for their opinions and their thoughts on what we study, and take those into consideration when planning. I have always preferred democracy in my room, but it certainly isn’t a pure democracy. I am the teacher and I have to decide on what is best for my students even if it goes against the popular opinion of the class. It would be foolish of me to do whatever they want to do, as clearly not ALL ideas from 9 year olds are the best ones.
So here we are on the subject of women’s history, and like I typically do, I allow my students to choose, after a class discussion on the topic and a couple of Brain Pop videos to give them ideas. I was immediately bombarded with requests for Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Zendaya, Becky G, Jessie J…and I was immediately concerned. My knee jerk reaction was to not allow those and I did reject only one (Nicki Minaj) because I felt she would pose content that may be inappropriate for children. On the whole I was conflicted about it considering contemporary entertainers. It is false to think that only women from the past who have made social change in some way are the only ones worth studying. Entertainers have done many great things and I did not want to rule them out. At the same time I wanted to be sure my students had a subject who would have published material about her life and her accomplishments. I ruled out a few others who, while I did not recognize their names (and I am pretty hip for an old lady) a brief search did not provide much detail on them.
The theme of Women’s History Month 2015 is “Weaving the Story of Women’s Lives.” Students need to recognize a woman’s contributions to the past or present. That is pretty broad. We are in the beginning research phases of this project and I have already had some students change their subject, mainly because they could not locate enough information on the person to complete the planner I had given them.
At the moment we still have a rather interesting combination of women, that include Katy Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Helen Keller, Hillary Clinton, Danica Patrick, Judy Blume, and Eva Peron. I enjoy supporting the choice of my students and I am looking forward to their writing and projects.
Hello Families!
The Fontana Teacher’s Association has announced their next contest and it is Women’s History Month (March 2015). I have spoken with the class about this and have begun to get them thinking on who they would like to become an expert on. I am providing you the information I have received from the FTA so that you can better support your child as they investigate who they would like to select for this social studies project. I have instructed the class that I will not be asking them who they have selected until Monday, March 2nd. No two students will investigate the same person, so we have a variety of women studied. This project will be completed by Thursday, March 19th.
FTA Women’s History Month Flyer
FTA Women’s History Month Guidelines
I came across an excellent article on Scholastic regarding Women’s History Month that I will be using to aid in guiding the class on their selections. This article directed me to The Makers website, which is an incredible resource for information and inspiration.
I am requiring that each student write an essay on the woman they have selected to research. Then the students will work on either a PaperSlide video, Board Builder, or poster to coincide with their writing. This IS NOT a homework assignment. This is classwork we will be doing in the area of Language Arts, Social Studies and Technology. I am asking for as much support as possible in aiding your child at home as they research and build their projects.
The woman your child selects to report on need not be from the United States. The theme for this work is “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives” and is not specific to the US.
On a related note, we had quite the showing at the Black History Month awards held this week, with many of our students placing! Regretfully I was not able to attend, but I have requested a list of who placed in each category and will be posting that here as soon as I know. If your child’s digital work was submitted (PaperSlide video or Board Builder) and you would like to see it, please contact me. Essays and posters are presently not in my possession, but as soon as they are returned to me I will send them home with your child.
Please do not hesitate in contacting me via Class Dojo, email or in the comments below. Thank you in advance for your assistance and support!
Due to a district training I was not in the classroom much during the window of time for the Fontana Teachers Association’s Women’s History Month contest. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to select student work to submit, it means I was unable to work with all third graders at Grant to have the same kind of showing we did in the Civil Rights in America contest. I am very pleased with the work my students did in a very short amount of time. I would have liked to have had some multimedia projects as well, but again having enough time was the issue. I hope FTA will have another contest in April so I can help Grant have another strong showing in all categories. Without further ado, here at the 3rd graders I have selected from my class to compete in the FTA Women’s History Month:
Essay Contest: Jordan, Sofia M, Joseph, Sophia H, and Jenna.
Art Contest: Priscilla, Jazmin, Chelsey, Jenna, and Jacob T.
Congratulations to all of my 3rd graders for their hard work and to those students whose work was selected. Letters from FTA will be going home with the selected students tomorrow. The awards ceremony will be on Thursday, April 17, 2014 from 4:45-6pm at the FTA Office, 16850 Seville Avenue, Fontana, 92335.
The Fontana Teachers Association has officially announced its next contest!
The theme is “Celebrating Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment.”
View the FTA flyer here: Womens_History_2014_Flyer
View FTA Contest Guidelines and Rubric here: Womens_History_Month_Guidelines_Rubric_2014
Other information provided by FTA:
“Celebrating Women of Character, Courage and Commitment, honors the extraordinary and often unrecognized determination and tenacity of women. Against social convention and often legal restraints, women have created a legacy that expands the frontiers of possibility for generations to come. They have demonstrated their character, courage and commitments as mothers, educators, institution builders, business, labor, political and community leaders, relief workers, women religious and CEOs. Their lives and their work inspire girls and women to achieve their full potential and encourage boys and men to respect diversity and depth of women’s experience.” (http://www.nwhp.org)
For more information about this year’s theme visit the National Women’s History website at http://www.nwhp.org
More websites:
Info please – Women’s History Month: http://www.infoplease.com/womens-history-month/awards.html
Biography Online – Women Who Changed the World:
http://www.biographyonline.net/people/women-who-changed-world.html
300 Women in History: http://www.britannica.com/women/
Women Who Left their “Stamps” on History: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768442.html
A Mighty Girl: http://www.amightygirl.com
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I will be using this project to kick off DGE’s Online Tech Club. Our first project will be to meet the criteria of the Multimedia category. The Writing and Visual Arts categories will be managed by your child’s classroom teacher if they choose to participate.
The DGE Online Tech Club is an extra curricular activity, open to all grade levels and COMPLETELY online. There will be no meeting after school, no permission slips, no need to drop off or pick up your child. The DGE Online Tech Club will utilize the technology students have at home or technology they can use at school or elsewhere. All that is required to participate is completing the following Google Form. More information will follow soon. Please feel free to email me at ruizmy@fusd.net with any questions.
~ Mrs. Ruiz
I am presently attending online classes at Grand Canyon University to earn my Master’s in Educational Technology and I am very excited about the way it is already getting me thinking. It was just what I had hoped for in bringing back some of my passion for teaching had been killed due to the drastic cuts in funding for education. The following is one of the discussion questions I had to reply to and my response. If you are interested in the link I am referring to, it can be found on the right side of this page under “Graduate Studies.”
“Based on the Standards for 21st-Century Learners, how prepared are students for using technology in their daily lives after leaving your classroom? What improvements might you make in your curriculum? Provide specific examples.”
First off I was quite impressed with the depth and detail contained in this brochure by the American Association of School Librarians. I don’t think I have viewed libraries in the way outlined in the brochure and that is an error on my part. I do believe that my impression of the libraries I have access to is that they are (like my school) limited in what they can serve the community due to funding. There is ONE library in the city in which I teach that is anything at all like what the brochure describes, but that is because it is a relatively recent addition to the city having opened in April 2008.
As to the discussion question, I feel like a broken record at times as I consider my response to this, but being that is a new class I will reiterate. My students were much more prepared for using technology in their daily lives after leaving my classroom about 4 or 5 years ago when my school had the funds to expose them to those technologies. Technology needs replacing and updating, and with all of the reductions in education, my school did not and continues to not have the funds to buy new technology for the students to interact with. As technology slowly shriveled I took it upon myself to do what I could to continue to expose my students to current technology. I am a lover of technology and while I am not one of those that will run out and buy every latest gadget, I do invest in those that I feel will serve me in some way in both a personal and professional way. This was the case when the iPad first came out. My family invested right off and I looked for ways to bring this to my classroom. I bring my iPad to school every day and have not only taught with it, but have had students create with it. Granted, 32 third graders and ONE iPad is a bit of a challenge, but at least I was exposing them in some small way to what possibilities there are. I share applications with my students and they are always surprised that they too can have the application I am using. I often have parents asking me about applications and referencing their child telling them about me using it in class. I love when that happens!
Just the other day I asked my students how many knew how to use a touchscreen…whether it be a tablet or otherwise and every hand went up…32 hands! That wasn’t the case a few years ago. I recall I had students who had no idea how to interact with a tablet and I was amazed at how quickly things change.
After years of being disappointed and frustrated at the technology situation at my school, I have noticed more and more families have access to the technology I would like to use in my classroom. While my district has not embraced the BYOD (bring your own device) notion, I am working on doing it my way in creating an online tech club. Essentially I will use my class website, Discovery Education and Edmodo to create assignments that enhance the curriculum that students can do at home with the technology they have access too, and with the aid of their parents. I of course would be accessible for help as well.
As to a specific example, March is Women’s History Month. I would expose my students to text and video to build and enhance their knowledge on the subject. I would then build an assignment within Discovery Education where students use the Board Builder feature (much like Glogster) to meet the following common core standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Students would share their completed “boards” with one another as well as present them to the class as well as other audiences.
Discovery Education: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Edmodo: https://www.edmodo.com/
Womens History Month: http://womenshistorymonth.gov/
Glogster: http://www.glogster.com/
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I will be developing this idea along with the structure of Dorothy Grant’s Online Tech Club, so stay tuned!
~ Mrs. Ruiz
21st Century Educator 