Developing Professional Relationships--Co-Teachers

During my unit and service learning project, I will take advantage of relationships with two professionals in our rural community.  These two individuals will help optimize the students' experiences, each in their own way.  We are very lucky to have wonderful supporters of our school system in our county.

The first professional who will enhance the learning experience for my students is Mrs. Rita Spencer.  Mrs. Spencer is the Pendleton County Clerk.  She can be reached by phone at 859-654-3380 or in person at the county clerk's office in Falmouth.  Mrs. Spencer will become involved in the project as a part of the culminating activity, the mock presidential election.  Mrs. Spencer and/or staff from her office will bring old voting machines to Northern Elementary on November 2 for students to use in our mock election.  They will explain to students how to use the machine and will check in every voter.  After all students have voted, they will count the votes and announce our winner of the election.  Mrs. Spencer will also serve as a resource for me and my fellow social studies teacher for finding previous election data if necessary.

Another valuable resource who will be participating as a co-teacher in this project is Mrs. Shawn Nordheim.  Mrs. Nordeim is a leader in the Pendleton County chapter of the League of Women Voters.  She will participate in the project as an educator, visiting the classrooms to teach the students the importance of civic engagement and voting.  In our collaboration up to this point, Mrs. Nordheim has also given me several suggestion for other ways to engage students in the project such as Skyping with students at our sister elementary school who could also be involved in the project.  I look forward to working with her further in order to make this project and unit the best that it can be.

Student learning will be assessed in several ways throughout the unit and project.  Students will be required to keep a journal throughout the project, logging their responses to prompts as well as self-selected entries.  I feel that this journal will be the most authentic assessment of their learning and understanding.  The promotional materials the students will produce during the project (literature, fliers, and videos) will also be evaluated for student understanding.  In order to more formally assess the core academic standards which are addressed in the unit, there will also be a written summative assessment made up of multiple choice and open response items.

The content standards that will be addressed through cooperation with these two professionals are found below:

Social Studies (Kentucky Core Content)

SS-05-1.3.2: Students will describe specific rights and responsibilities individuals have as citizens of the United States (e.g., voting in national elections) and explain why civic engagement is necessary to preserve a democratic society.DOK 3

English/Language Arts (Common Core State Standards)

5.SL.4 Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

5.SL.5 Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

5.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation.

5.W.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.

b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.

c. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).

d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.