From: Marc Siegel <marc@quest.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: from Cherie Bergeron
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 08:24:19 -0800 (PST)
When Cherie tried to send, this bounced...
From: bergec@merck.utulsa.edu (Cherie Bergeron)
Subject: Lesson plans
Hi everyone,
Thought I might add something a little more to do with Mars to the
discussion by sharing some lesson ideas I have tired with my 5th graders.
1. Webchats: Since we only have one computer in our school with Internet
access doing webchats can be difficult with 23 students. My solution was to
print off all the bios and give a different one to each student. Each
student read about their person and shared that info with the class. Now
whenever that scientist is going to do a webchat the student who has the bio
of that person chooses three other students and they do the webchat. It has
worked great in my room. In this way each student will be able to participate.
2. Reading Lesson: I printed off a newsrelease from the Internet about the
MGS solar array problems (It has also been posted on this list.) It was
well above the reading level of my students. However, I found 21 vocabulary
words from the article and wrote 7 comprehension questions for them to
answer. Next, I had each student get a highlighter and explained how
college students read material and use highlighters as they work (I'm
working on my Masters, so I used myself as an example). Then, they paired
up and worked it this assignment together. They spent the entire morning
reading and working on this activity. It was great to see them using
dictionaries, CDs, and other reference materials to find the meaning of the
vocabulary. I couldn't believe how they were debating among themselves on
the different comprehension questions. The discussions that were going on
were amazing. Even more amazing was when I told them it was time to go to
lunch I almost had a rebellion on my hands.
Hope this ideas will help...they worked great in my room.
Cherie Bergeron
bergec@merck.utulsa.edu