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Differentiating Instruction with Emerging Industries




Salisbury High Schools offers a mandatory course for all sophomores entitled LifeSmarts. It is a progressive team taught class instructed by Family and Consumer Science teacher Beth Barber, Technology teacher Michelle Cotugno, and Business Education teacher Geoff Laird. They are assigned approximately 45 kids per class period and the class is taught everyday for the course of one academic year. One of the units the team has designed is entitled Emerging Industries and it highlights three such industries, Geospatial Technology, Nanotechnology, and Biotechnology. In the past students have been required to complete a poster one of these industries answering 8-10 questions. Research and some creativity was necessary, but the team felt the project needed to reflect the underlying theme of the three industries. In other words, the project needed to reflect 21st century skills if it was to address 21st century industries. That’s where I come in…..

As the Instructional Coach for our high school one of my responsibilities is to help teachers design lessons, projects, and assessments that are reflective of 21st century learning. We want to inspire our students to be creative in ways that will empower them as they learn. The LifeSmarts team and I sat down in a small conference room for four class periods (approx. 3 hours) and worked on not one product for the kids to create, but nine products from which the students can now choose. The instructional tool that we utilized is called a tic-tac-toe board and it allows instructors to create nine different projects, of which the kids may choose three, going either across, down, or diagonally to complete their line. The assessment piece of this refurbished project will be nine basic yet definable and quantifiable rubrics that the teachers are working on in their team prep time.
All three instructors and myself were thrilled with our finished product and it is our hope that the students find the value that we intended in their ability to choose and differentiate their instruction. Below is the tic-tac-toe board we created.

LifeSmarts

21st Century
Emerging Industries

Nanotechnology —
Biotechnology — Geospatial Technology

Analytic Intelligences

Interactive Intelligences

Introspective

Intelligences

Logic Smart

Body Smart

Wonder Smart

Technology: Thinkature/Mindmeister

Mind 42.com

Product: Students will create a webbing of a selected industry.

Technology:

MovieMaker

Powerpoint/ presentation
tool

Product:

Students will create a
sales pitch to pursuade an investor/capitalist to invest in the corporation
in the industry.

Technology:

MovieMaker

Animoto

Product:

It is now 2020, create a
public service announcement explaining what the industry looks like.

Music Smart

People Smart

Picture Smart

Technology:

GarageBand/MacBoo

Product:

Students will write a jingle to encourage young people to
pursue the field by giving an overview of the field.

Technology:

MovieMaker

IMovie

Product:

Students will stage an
interview with someone interested in the field.

Technology:

Glogster

Wordle

Product: Students will glog (digital poster) about one of the
industries. Hyperlinks required.

Nature Smart

Word Smart

Self Smart

Technology: Google Earth
and Picasa

Product: Students will use Google Earth to located areas
around the world that will be most impacted by one of industries. Students will include a Picasso slide
show in their placemarks.

Technology:

Word

Publisher

Pages

Product:

Create a brochure
promoting a selected industry.

Technology:

Word

Product:.

Students will write a resume for a new college graduate
entering one of the field.

1. What
is the purpose of the industry?

2. What
is the focus of the work done in the industry?

3. What
has caused a demand for the knowledge/skills this industry provides?

4. Who
employs people in the industry?

5. What
are examples of occupations that are available in the industry?

6. What
training is needed for occupations in the industry?

7. Where
is training available for occupations in the industry?

8. What
salary ranges are available for the industry?

9. What
web addresses and/or agencies will provide more information about the industry?

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 am Filed under Uncategorized and. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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