VATTA 10th
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Visual Arts, Technology & Theatre Academy @ UC High
This is our really super cool wiki site for our super fantabulous PBL
Contents |
VATTA Team Members
| Name | Subject |
|---|---|
| Brad Milhoan | Multimedia/Video Production |
| Lauriel Adsit | Fine/Visual Art |
| Belinda Brown | English/Theatre |
Projects
H2"Oh no"...Where did the water go?
This is a six week project for 10th grade students in the Visual Arts, Technology and Theatre Academy in which students investigate Southern California water resources and create a 30 second Public Service Announcement (PSA) about water conservation.
Curriculum Map
University City High School/VATTA 10th Grade
Project Journal
Summer Institute Update
Prompt: Beyond the project, how will your PBL Summer Institute experience impact your classroom during the 2009-2010 academic year?
- We will develop and implement more PBL projects within our academy.
- We plan to expand the PBL concept into other grade levels and subject matters.
- It helped us foster creative teaching ideas and practices.
- We plan to share the experiences and knowledge with other staff menmbers.
- It provided us with a model of collaborative learning to help us facilitate our student learning.
First Quarter Update
1. What challenges did you encounter while trying to launch the project?
• If the project has not begun: What challenges are you expecting to encounter as you prepare to launch the project?
Our project will begin at the start of the second semester and our team expects to have various project coordination problems (i.e. student groups from different disciplines - video production, theatre arts communicating project deadlines and tasks that need to be addressed). We also are not sure if we gave ourselves enough time to finish the project.
2. How did you overcome the challenges?
• If the project has not begun: How do you expect to overcome the challenges?
Our academy staff is going to try and stay on top of our group leaders and have them report back to us with any and all challenges that they are encountering in their groups. We will also make it mandatory that all groups have a plan and a list of significant deadlines that need to be met if the project is to succeed.
3. What revisions have you made to the project since the Summer Institute?
None as of this date.
4. What is it like working with your PBL team?
Our PBL team is comprised of 4 teachers from our Academy staff and I think I can safely say that the working environment in our academy and as part of the PBL team has been one of cooperation, flexibility and dedication, as well as some fun from time to time. smile.
5. Has the plan for the Culminating Event/Public Exhibition changed? If, yes, please explain.
Yes, I just found out 2 weeks ago that the deadline for the contest that we were going to enter our PSAs into is for sometime in December. Our project doesn't start until the first week in February. Last year the contest deadline didn't end until April. Go figure! That's Ok, we still have several other events and exhibition in which we will show the students PSAs.
6. How have the students responded to the project?
We have discussed the "Water Conservation" PSAs briefly with our 10th Grade ArtsTECH students and it seems as though they see it as an exciting challenge and experience.
Please upload four, recent project-related photos. Include captions. If the project has not launched, you may use photos taken during the Summer Institute.
Second Quarter Update
1. What are you doing to address the diverse needs of your students (differentiated instruction, learning styles, assessments)?
With respect to several of our special education students we have put them on teams where the team leaders have great leadership qualities and seem to have good rapport with these students. Peer assistance seems to go a long way in helping to acclimate and include the special education students in project routines and responsibilities. With respect to our ELL students once again we are using peer assistance and in the case where the students need extra help one of our ArtsTECH staff members or an ELL teacher will put in some one on one time with the students to bring them up to speed. During the introduction of this project we have used graphic organizers/charts, handouts, guest speakers, powerpoint presentations, video as well as written examples to explain and further illustrate the video production process and how it pertains to making video PSAs. Each ArtsTECH instructor that is part of this PBL is, has or will be sitting down with each student concerning their job duties/responsibilities so as to allow for questions and/or concerns regarding what the student is responsible for and how they will be graded. There will be an objective rubric used in scoring the PSAs and deciding grades for students (exception being made for Spec. Ed and ELL students who will be graded based on consultation with their Case manager or ELL teacher and ArtsTECH staff. Any accommodations, with respect to assessments, will be made on a case-by-case basis.)
2. Of the 6 A’s, which one has been the most challenging to incorporate into the project?
By far it would be "Adult Connections". We had planned on getting many more field trips and guest speakers, but do to the economy and the District's budget constraints (lack of funds for field trips and busses) it has been few and far between. Our advisory board has been great when we have asked them to give us some ideas and thoughts on how to best go about the process of making PSAs, but when it comes to arranging a time when our students can engage in some quality real world experience and/or expertise either scheduling or the economic downturn has gotten in the way.
2A. What are you doing to solve that challenge?
The honest truth is nothing for this years project. It is our intention, however, that we will be making a much tighter schedule next year and making sure to have at least 2 guest speakers and one field trip set and ready to go before we begin the project. We have come to the realization that budget cuts will not allow us to have all the "Adult Connections" we had originally planned on having, so we will be scaling down this part of the project.
3. What do students say has been the most difficult part of the project so far?
A. Having to go through the preliminary instruction/planning for the PBL-project. They all want to just get a camera and start shooting without any plan or forethought. It has been a struggle for many of the students to understand that there is a process to Videomaking (PSAs) and that this process is necessary if not fundamental to the planning, production and final quality of their video PSAs.
B. We didn't allow the students to self-select their groups. We held a quasi-draft based on students' strengths and skills and some of the group combinations we got using this method were very interesting to say the least. This, however, didn't sit well with some of the students who had gotten used to the idea of always being with or sitting near a certain group of fellow students. It is always a little uncomfortable for first year academy students (10th grade) to have to communicate, exchange ideas and work/get along with each other in collaborative groups, but our staff believes this is crucial in creating a small learning community where everybody gets to know each other on a personal level.
4. As a team, what surprises have you encountered?
Time! Time! Time!...There is never enough. No matter how much scheduling or planning we did this summer/school year it just seems as if the amount of time for staff to introduce, teach, support and help students complete their projects always seems inadequate. Scheduling with other school events (i.e. testing, minimum day, field trips, assemblies, etc.) always seems to disrupt the flow and energy of the project. As a staff we're not sure what to do about it other than try to make timelines more flexible and fluid, but this can conflict with other projects and assignments that are going on and it can make life very difficult for both students and staff.
Third Quarter Update
Insert Blog Entry
Final Update
Teacher Reflection
Student Reflection
