Heidi+Ebersole

Heidi Ebersole

 (CE)Will you do this in group workthen bring to whole class discussion? Will the students type in their own lists or will you create one from class group discussions?
 * 1. What ideas do you have for using Visual Ranking?** I plan to have the students rank a set of characteristics in order from the most important to the least important in terms of bravery. The students will do this at the beginning of the unit. They will re-rank their list at the end of the unit after our class discussions about bravery and Ruby Bridges.


 * 2. How will the use of Visual Ranking fit into your Unit Plan and help your students meet the learning objectives and target higher-order thinking skills? If you have already decided that Visual Ranking will not be a good fit for your unit, what ideas do you have for using Visual Ranking with your students in other units?** The Visual Ranking tool will allow my students to think about bravery from their own experiences first, and then they will be able to rethink their thought process after our class discussions about bravery and Ruby Bridges. This will allow them to use details from text to analyze and evaluate character traits. It will target higher order thinking skills because the students are required to compare, collaborate, negotiate, and record a rationale for their thinking.


 * 3. What concerns do you have in using this tool or incorporating ranking?** I don't know that I know enough to have concerns. :)


 * 4. What feedback would you like from others?** Does my description make sense?


 * Also, besides reflecting on these questions, include:**


 * **An overview of how the Visual Ranking Tool would be integrated into your unit?** The Visual Ranking tool will be utilized at the beginning of my unit to jump start ideas about bravery. Then the students will use the tool again to make any changes after our discussions about bravery and after reading about Ruby Bridges.


 * Concerns, questions, and desired feedback.**


 * __Seeing Reason__**


 * 1. What ideas do you have for using Seeing Reason?**


 * 2. How will the use of Seeing Reason fit into your Unit Plan and help your students meet the learning objectives and target higher-order thinking skills?**


 * 3. If you have already decided that Seeing Reason will not be a good fit for your unit, what ideas do you have for using Seeing Reason with your students in other units?** I am thinking about using Seeing Reason with my students to discuss the impact of: community building activities, practicing our PBS skills, and local/pertinent current event issues.

(CE) I like the current event aspect. Really open up for discussions;)


 * 4. Does your unit involve a complex system or issue that warrants delving into identifying and analyzing cause-effect relationships?** Kind of... I know there are tons of cause/effect relationships in Civil Rights issues, but for some reason, I am having a hard time applying this tool to my unit. Maybe I should do a Seeing Reason tool for myself in trying to find a cause/effect relationship. :-)


 * 5. What concerns do you have about using this tool in your unit?** I am having a hard time making it fit, and I am already using the other 2 tools in my unit.


 * 6. What feedback would you like from others?**

**Seeing Reason Sharing**

 * 1**. **Did you try out an idea for your main unit or for a different project idea?** I created a Seeing Reason tool for a different project - PBS.


 * 2. Considering your test results, do you think you will keep this tool in your Unit Plan?** No - I didn't design it for my Unit Plan.

How will the use of this tool help students meet the requirements?
 * 3. How do you see the use of the Seeing Reason Tool fitting in with the objectives and standards you are trying to target as well as your overall plan for your unit?

4. How do you see the Seeing Reason Tool enhancing your students' higher-order thinking skills as well as collaboration and communication in your classroom?** The Seeing Reason tool will enhance my students' higher order thinking skills as students think, hypothesize, and investigate cause and effect relationships between concepts, in this case "What would happen if students didn't follow our PBS rules/expectations. Collaboration and communication skills will increase as the students reason together to organize their results and then explain the cause/effect relationships.

(CE) I too am curious how the students will handle this activity. I wonder if it will affect some of my struggling learners with reading and understanding the links on the map.
 * 5. What questions do you still have about this project's design, implementation, or assessment?** I will be anxious to see how this works with my 3rd grade students, because it seems like the most difficult of the 3 tools.