Author: Karina Ramirez Velazquez

Posted on

My Name Project

stjohnsbridgehaer

PHOTO URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsBridgeHAER.png

Intro: 9th Grade High School World Social Studies. 2 weeks.

Content: This lesson will focus on:

  • Understanding primary by interviewing a parent or guardian on their origin of their name.
  • Direct engagement of the past which leads deeper context exploration, active analysis, and thoughtful response.
  • Building community in the classroom and demonstrating a student centered approach.

Process: The lesson will consist of using WordPress, Haiku Deck, and Microsoft Word. Students will be researching the meaning and origin of their name by using a handout that I will provide. They will research and interview their parent or guardian as individuals. After presenting I Am Poem or Haiku Deck student must upload product on WordPress. Once upload is completed students will respond to two other classmates’ post. This will be a in class and homework assignment. Students will have chrome books available to them through Open School.

Product: Students worksheet, Haiku or I Am poem, presentation, and responses.

Evaluation: Students will be evaluated by participation and proficiency grading rubric. Goal of the activity to be a first win for students.

What kinds of thinking will students need to do to participate in the lesson? Students will be using higher order thinking in this lesson. I want students to connect their name with history to make this assignment meaningful.

To what extent do students have options or choices regarding these lesson components? Students will get to choose from two project that they will present I class. Students will have the chance to choose who they want to respond to.

Response: I haven’t gotten the chance to write a lesson plan before because of the program (OMAT) that I am. So this was a great exercise for me to experience. I enjoyed the challenge and reading my peers lesson study. I was inspired by Mrs. G, OPEN East social studies teacher, who created this lesson. Her intention in all her of the assignments and lessons are student centered and community centered. She did this project in hoped to inspire students finding pride in their name, and a way to get to know each other through poetry. Instead of writing it on a piece of paper and turning it in, I added either the option of the Haiku Deck or posted a written version online. Understanding the origin and history of our names is a great gateway to making history more relatable to students, because then they feel that their name holds value and it’s a piece of history.

Posted on

Where I’m From… Karina Ramirez Velazquez

Creating a Haiku Deck for my visual representation of Where I am From had brought multitude of emotions. Nostalgia, homesickness, anger, pride—just to name a few. But, what stood out the most during this activity was the power of a simple image and a few words can make a simple activity to be very meaningful. This is what I learned from this activity.

I felt that this activity was challenging and expanded my skills on how to use WordPress, Haiku Deck, and Youtube. Most importantly, this activity had meaning which made more memorable to me as students completing this project. This activity gives me a chance to also to get to know my classmates better. Thinking of how I might use technology in my teaching placement has been a challenge, because of the demographic of students I serve at Open School.

Last summer during my Dimension of Education I learned that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to have rigorous learning opportunities with technology (Boser, 2013). Also, students may not have accessibility to use technology at home. Many students at Open their only access to technology is their cellphone. I would have to be intentional when using technology in my classroom . It needs to be accessible in different mediums, or that there is enough time to finish activity at school. I don’t want students to worry about accomplishing their homework when they don’t have access to technology at home. I would also like to learn more on how to create video tutorials for activities or lessons to give students a verity of ways to learn. This will give me more time in the classroom to assist students, like Dr. Pappa’s demonstrated in class.


Where I’m From: – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;