Post 6

It's so easy for students to get information from the internet or their parents. Some students even come to school and tell me "my mommy/daddy taught me to do addition this way" and it's so confusing because the child doesn't understand the process. That's where it's up to us as teachers to show students what they can do with what they learn. It's about application nowadays and how they can use this knowledge in different ways. Even when I was in elementary when I learned math it was always about getting the answer, never about how or why this method works. Once I got to high school, in one math class in particular, I had to teach myself how formulas worked out. I would use the teacher edition of the book to get the answer and work backwards to determine how and why the answer was correct and applied it to anything else. That's what education is all about now. In my school inquiry based learning ties into our idea of STEM/PBL. Our goal is to make our activities relevant to students through real life connections, hands on projects/games/activities, and working within our community (sometimes by class, sometimes by grade level). It really solidifies this newly acquired knowledge for the students to be able to see how what they've learned applies to the real world.

I want to do my mini lesson on community leaders in the 2nd grade. The focus will start with Creek and Cherokee figures and branch off to other leaders, past or present, that students choose.

Lesson 1 Questions:

1. Who were the Creek?
2. Who were the Cherokee?

Students will work in groups to use textbooks, readers, and online resources to write down basics about the natives. Where they lived, what they ate, how they acquired food, and important people. 

Lesson 2 Questions:

1. Who were important people from these tribes?
2. Were there any other important people in Georgia at the same time?

Students will work in groups to use textbooks, readers, and online resources to discover who these important people were. We will discuss Tomochichi, Musgrove, Sequoyah, and Oglethorpe. Afterwards students will discuss why these people were important. 

Lesson 3 Questions:

1. What are traits/characteristics of a good leader?
2. Do you know any leaders, past or present, with these traits?
3. Do you know any leaders, past or present, without these traits? 

Students will work together to brainstorm traits then create a poster of one the leaders from lesson 2 or a new leader they verify with me. They will write down the traits they have decided then choose 2-3 traits and explain why these are important for a leader to have. Afterwards students will discuss with the class what they decided.