Project #2: Spotlight on Strategies

What instructional goal/challenge does your SOS address? 

1. CC.8.5.6-8.B: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
2. CC.8.5.6-8.D: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
3. CC.8.6.6-8.C: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
4. CC.8.6.6-8.G: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

The Pennsylvania Core standards emphasize the use of primary and secondary sources in history.  In this project, students can use both sources to complete the facebook profile.  They can take a look at quotes and pictures regarding a historical figure and also look at secondary sources to complete the project. This project also requires the writing of short summaries of important events and to organize everything in a cohesive and ordered product.  The goal and challenge of this product is to take various events, people, dates and create a product that organizes a historical figure's life and impact using digital media.

What additional value does the integration of digital media bring to your idea in terms of students’ understanding of the concept or topic?

"In our global, wired society, creativity is sought after, cultivated, praised.  Corporate visionary John Seely Brown has quipped that, in a world of tomorrow, people will say, "I create; therefore I am""(Gardner, 2007). Creativity has and always should be a part of school and higher level thinking.  Today, students express this creativity in terms of using social media sites like vine, facebook, snapchat and instagram.  These programs can record and edit videos and pictures.  Students love using these websites to create unique videos and pictures.  They, in a way, identify with what they create.  Their creations represent who they are.  They use social media sites to express themselves using creativity.  It is time teachers used this knowledge to increase students understanding to a topic.  Students have changed drastically over the past 10 years and it is time teachers learned to change along with the students.  As teachers, we should adapt the student's 21st century skills to the classroom.  It will not only challenge the students, but using digital media will produce unique and creative products. These products will be drastically different from normal posters or book reports and, in my opinion, will produce a greater understanding of the topic and concept.

Digital media will increase a student's motivation to learn.  They enjoy using technology and feel comfortable using it to express themselves.  "The creator stands out in terms of temperament, personality and stance. She is perennially dissatisfied with current work, current standards, current questions, current answers. She strikes out in unfamiliar directions and enjoys-- or at least accepts - being different from the pack" (Gardner, 2007). They love to be innovative and create something new and unique.... they no longer want to just write a report, they want to film a movie, write a musical, or create any other unique product that sets them apart from the pack.

Allowing students to develop their creative side will also help them later in life.  Businesses aren't looking for someone who can just write a report, they also are always looking for people with fresh new ideas.  These 21st century learners can have a huge impact on innovation. "Those corporations that do not embrace innovation, will almost inevitably be muscles out by those who do" (Gardner, 2007).

Creative students can be some of the most dissatisfied with school.  They do not like to fit into a mold and be just another student.  They feel that schools don't cultivate their creativity and allow them to express themselves.  "There is a reason why so many famous creators hated or dropped out of school-- they did not like marching to someone else's tune (and, in return, the authorities disliked their idiosyncratic marching patterns" (Gardner, 2007).  I believe that creative students can learn the material/topic/concept, they just need to do it in a different way. Teachers need to accept that not all students learn the same way!  Digital Media opens up countless doors for creative people can learn on their own terms. Digital media can also help those who are not so easily creative to develop new skills.



Gardner, H. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.