Looking For ideas

[frozen_ice87]

Hey, I'm a student teacher and for a piece of assessment i'm supposed to take a SOSE lesson. My group and i thought of doing it on Hawaii and i was wondering if anyone would have any good ideas on how to set up the room. It's only a small room, but it needs to engage the students and apart from bringing in trees and sand, i'm not really sure where to start. so if anyone has any ideas that might work, whether they're crazy ideas or not, i'd appreciate the suggestions. even some examples of what works in a classroom to help engage students on new topic, in the visual sense would be great!

[Lisa's Hotscakes]

What exactly are you trying to teach them? The history of Hawaii? The cultural geography of Hawaii?

How does bringing in sand have anything to do with the teaching of Hawaii? (Sure, realia is great--but the effort here to spruce up the class seems to far outweigh the benefits to learning.)

And what do you expect your students to be able to do once the lesson is over? Are they going to write an essay? Answer some questions?

[frozen_ice87]

at the moment this lesson is like a practise lesson, it's to be done infront of my peers so they are about 12 or so people participating in the lesson. but i wanted to teach them on the culture of hawaii, perhaps even how the hula dance plays a large role in their society. i thought that the culture would be an interesting part to look at. The sand was to help people get into it, to show them the type of environment there so it would be as though they were in hawaii learning about their culture. but honestly the sand isn't practicle, it was just a thought. :o)

so there won't be any essay writing or anything like that, but i need engaging activites and an interesting display of the classroom to help encourage the learning process.

[Lisa's Hotscakes]

Have you developed a lesson plan? You should teach your participants (1) the concepts involved (for example, the meaning of cultural geography, the history of Hawaii and its cultures, and so on), (2) the skills needed to complete whatever independent work you plan to assign, and (3) the importance of your lesson.

[jennithib]

I found that "scaffolding" (providing information to build ideas on) is very helpful to all students - so while the sand isn't practicle, pictures of Hawaii as they enter the room are practicle. However, "Lisa" is right. You need your basic lesson plan before you can "spruce it up"! Good luck!

[Unregistered]

You did not mention what grade you are teaching, but here is what I have tried in the past and has seemed to work with me. I use a system called "Layed Learning". Basically this is where the students will contract for a grade. Certain work for a "C", more for a "B" and still more for a "A". There is also the ability to work for extra credit.
One of the projects (for any of my units) is a class project. In this case, I could suggest that the class make a physical map of the islands of Hawaii. The class could be divided into groups and each groupwill work on either one of the islands (and make a physical map of each) or each group be assinged a part of the physical map and work on the entire chain. This would keep their hands busy. Those students who work better on research could be doing resserach on a variety of projects, (history, exports, imports, how Columbus day is know as Discovers day, King Kamamamia day and how it is kimportant).
Other students could do research on the various foods and at the end of the unit, you could have a luaua.
The ideas are endless, just keep the students busy and interested.

[StillAtUni]

One thing to stay away from (unfortunately) is sand. It gets everywhere! It is hard to transport and for what it brings, it's just not worth it.

I suppose the obvious would be Hawaiian shirts, surfboards, volcanos in the background but why not check out things that a bit quirky but really Hawaiian, like SPAM (you know, spiced ham in a can). They consume a crazy amount of it each year! Just look for other quirky things like that and it will make it interesting for the kids and you will be surprised what they will remember about Hawaii in 10 years time.........

[Lisa's Hotscakes]

You did not mention what grade you are teaching, but here is what I have tried in the past and has seemed to work with me. I use a system called "Layed Learning". Basically this is where the students will contract for a grade. Certain work for a "C", more for a "B" and still more for a "A".

I suggest not doing this.

Since children are minors and are not bound by any faculty code of conduct, I am not even sure such a contract is legal. What expertise do children possess that allows them to define excellence on topics that they have yet to be taught?

As for the rest, I think we are focusing too much on activities, not enough on teaching. (And students who are not good at research need to be taught how to do research.)

[KatieBee]

If you want a low budget A/C aspect to it you can make palm trees out of newspapers--or have the kids do it.

Get newspapers and lay them end to end, taping the narrower sides together in a long line. Roll the papers up and cut and tape it (so it almost resembles a wrapping paper roll now). Cut 1/4 of the way down in several spots on one end (these will fold down to be palm fronds). Then, you basically want to pull the newspaper out of itself, ie make the tube as long as you can. As you do this, the 'fronds' you cut will start to hang down and look like a palm tree. These are cheap and easy to make, and could add a little to the landscape without trucking in sand!

[Inkpot]

I did a lesson on how the stories of hawaii had a direct influence upon the poeples traditions. I told two or three stories. the students were able then to act them out. We then looked at how the stories influenced certain aspects of the hawaiian culture

[Unregistered]

Take them on a field trip there. That's the best hands on experience you could offer them.

[Lisa's Hotscakes]

Take them on a field trip there. That's the best hands on experience you could offer them.

How do I sign up for this class?