While I did not come up with the original concept, I have been involved since the beginning and have been the coordinator for the past two years. What is Day of Giving?
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Currently, my 8th graders are studying a unit on their daily routine and hygiene. We have done all the standard vocabulary and grammar activities and well as personalized stories about their own lives and preferences, but so much has been happening in the world related to Spanish-speaking countries and I really wanted to incorporate that into our class while still meeting those vocabulary objectives, so I created this webquest. ___________________________________________________
I am happy to report that it was a great success and I am so proud of them for all their efforts! The project ended up taking about 3 weeks to complete. As a quick recap: the students read an article that made them want to support a charity. I suggested that they work in groups to create a pitch deck to persuade the other students in the class to vote for their charity. I provided students with a checklist of items to include in their pitch decks (shown below) and they did the rest! What I loved about this project was that each day turned into a new cross-curricular lesson! Here is a snapshot:
Let me back up and provide some background. This year I am teaching a class comprised of 7th and 8th grade students called Spanish Seminar. The class is a bit of a hodge-podge of students who speak Spanish as their first language and some who have had Spanish since Kindergarden, but don't speak it at home. It's the first time we've had enough kids to run a class like this, and so we have no real curriculum. I have really been flying be the seat of my pants - borrowing from both the ELA standards and looking at the high school's curriculum to try to best meet everyone's unique needs. On top of everything, the group dynamic of the class has been really lack-luster. They are hands-down the shyest class of students I have ever taught, and I find myself begging them to talk and share their thoughts! But today something magical happened!
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