Turning the tables

It's time to re-vamp that dress again!

The past few weeks have been intense as our seniors have been finishing up their work for graduation - most notably writing and revising (and revising and revising) their 10 page research papers.

Indeed, as soon as I finish this blog post, I'm headed back to the revision process, reading and commenting on drafts that are still working their way toward completion. 

In the meantime, I have been planning my final module for the year: an ode to Molly Ringwald's iconic 80s flicks. I've decided to approach this module differently, though. Rather than giving the students the plan for the week, I am turning it over to them. It's their turn to do the work! Mwah ha ha ha..

If you head over to the Molly Ringwald page (at least today or tomorrow), you'll find a mostly empty page dotted with "TBD" lines that are usually filled with essential questions, goals, standards, and activities.

What my students will be getting tomorrow is a mostly blank syllabus, a curriculum map of our C-TACHs, and three DVDs. I will be asking them to use the C-TACHs (our standards) and the framework of Molly Ringwald's movies to come up with an essential question to investigate as a group, a few skills to focus on improving, and activities (and a DOK) that will help the students learn and demonstrate these skills.

I don't know about you, but I'm excited! My students have experienced my planning style all year, so I am eager to see how they do with this backwards planning approach. CCHS is all about giving students the space to design their learning, and this module will put them to the test. 

OK. Now it's time for me to return to the research land of GMOs, alternative education, and the electoral college...

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