Blog #3

While my group is still currently trying to narrow down our choices for our compelling questions, we are definitely using the topic of Community for our K-2 (1st grade specific) IDM plan. We aligned this to a D2 standard that discusses the importance of individual roles and responsibilities: "D2.Civ.6.K-2. Describe how communities work to accomplish common tasks, establish responsibilities, and fulfill roles of authority."

Additionally, we paired it with this theme: "Theme #4 Individual Development and Identity
A Seat at Humanity's Table - It's Ethics, Stupid!Knowledge: Individuals bring specific abilities, interests, and talents in working with others to make decisions and solve problems. (Pg. 76)" We loved this theme in regard to the Community topic, because it allows us to let students dive deeper into their individual roles within the classroom learning community. For example, many classrooms have "jobs" for students. Whether it is the line leader or the "electrician" (the student who turns the lights on and off), students take pride in these roles, especially at young ages. It is a very important time to introduce each student to their own capabilities and opportunities to bring what they have to offer to their community.


A few of the compelling questions we are in debate about are as follows:
- What is a community?
- Who is included in a community?
- Are you a part of a community if you don't participate in it?

We are also still brainstorming and narrowing down our supporting questions. However, a few that we are examining are as follows:
- What have you personally done in class that has helped out others?
- What would happen if no one completed their classroom jobs?

Our team feels strongly that each child has key qualities about them that make them unique and useful in their classroom and personal communities. For this reason, it is fun to try to align the social studies standards and themes with this core idea.
Classroom Management] 7 Tips to Build Community | Edmentum Blog

Comments

  1. Breanna LambersonApril 23, 2020 at 10:07 AM

    Emily,

    My group is still working on these compelling questions as well. I think community is a great topic for that age group, it will be interesting for them to see the contribution they are already doing with in their community. Your compelling question ideas are really good, and the supporting questions are, well, very supportive. I think tying community to classroom actions is such a great way to make this relevant to the students. Showing students that even they can contribute to their community is something they will be so excited for as kid that age love helping out and contributing.

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    1. Emily DirhamApril 25, 2020 at 6:32 PM

      Thanks Breanna! I think giving students opportunities to take responsibility is something that not only important for civics and development, but it's fun for them, as well! I know a teacher who gave almost every child a classroom job, and they rotated each week. All students got a week or two off at some point during the year, and they all received classroom payment for their jobs. I think this is a great way to promote responsibility and give students the feeling of adulthood that can be so interesting for 6, 7, and 8 year olds!

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  2. Julia SimpsonApril 24, 2020 at 7:26 AM

    Hey Emily! It seems like you and your partner have gotten a really great start to coming up with compelling and supporting standards, as well as aligning them to themes and standards. I really like your third question about asking whether or not you are a part of a community, even if you don't participate in it. I also really like your ideas about connecting this to classroom jobs. This makes the inquiry meaningful and relevant to students, which is a necessity in every lesson. The only thing I would be careful about potentially is "what have you personally done", because I worry that students may turn that into a who does what best or who helps out most. Other than that though, great work! I enjoyed reading your blog :)

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    1. Emily DirhamApril 25, 2020 at 6:36 PM

      Thanks for your feedback Julia! I think students really should understand that community is a form of togetherness, and everyone should belong in a community. We actually wound up altering one of our questions to "Does a team have to have more than one person?" . We also altered the "personally done" question to "what is something you are good at that can help other people?" Our hope is to get students thinking about how they can personally contribute to their peers based off of their unique qualities!

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  3. Emily PrietoApril 24, 2020 at 11:56 PM

    Hi Emily, I really like your compelling questions, although the first questions starts with "what" I definitely believe that there can go many ways with the first question! Great job on aligning the standard and the theme! I also liked how you pointed out classroom jobs, at a young age students can begin understanding and practices responsibilities in and out of the classroom. I think for your second supporting question you could add how would this be affected to dig deeper the cause and effect! I think all your questions analyzed what community was and what is part of a community very well! Great post!

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    1. Emily DirhamApril 25, 2020 at 6:41 PM

      Thanks for the feedback! Attempting to create compelling questions for K-2 was a bit more challenging than I originally thought! It is tricky to make the questions simple enough for students to understand while also making them complex enough to dive under the surface. We did end up keeping that question, but we tried to use our supporting questions to answer it in a way that aligned with the standard. Thanks!(:

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  4. Suzie KillianApril 26, 2020 at 3:30 PM

    Hi Emily, community is a great topic to talk about with students in grades K-2. Learning about what a community is or even what it means will help the students learn about how important community is today. Learning about how important their part in the classroom is just as important in society will not only educate students on how to be a part of a community but will also help you with your class management. The classroom will still have problems from time to time, but one other thing about learning how to be in a community is that if there are problems that happen in our community we can work together to find a solution to that problem. And, that's what being a good citizen is all about.

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