For this final assignment, we were tasked with creating an overview of a week-long lesson plan. We had to select a grade and unit topic. Our overview needed to include the daily lesson topic, essential question, standard and learning objective, developmental activity, and the assessment for each day of the week (Monday-Friday). 

My idea with this when creating it is learning about the four regions of the United States (one region a week). 

"Zoom In" is a primary source activity that is tied to a topic. In this activity, students focus on one part of an image first and gradually add more parts. The minimum number to cut the photo in is four parts, but depending on the photo, more can be done. Photos need to be selected carefully because there needs to be enough happening in each portion of the photo for students to wonder about. Furthermore, with each portion of the photo, questions are to be asked. 

This activity can be done in groups in which students are assigned different photos that address the same topic. However, they can also be done as a class in which the teacher and students get the opportunity to hear about what other people notice in the photo or are thinking (this shows how people can look at the same photo but have different perspectives).

A "Life in a Box" is a primary source activity tied to a person within a topic. With a "Life in a Box," the person's face, unless young and identifiable, should remain hidden on any primary, as well as their name. This remains like this on all clues until the reveal. 

For this life in the box, we made it digitally for time's sake, however, it is more enjoyable and interactive when the clues/primary sources are put in a box for students to work through together. 

For this assignment, we were to create a digital choice board over History, Civics, or Government. We were also able to choose our grade. Additionally, we had to include a mix of LOTS and HOTS (lower-order thinking skills and higher-order thinking skills). These are derived from Bloom's Taxonomy. 

For the links to the activities, see below:

iCivics (LOTS) Blog Post (HOTS)     Video (LOTS)

Concept Map (HOTS) Create Your Own Bill (HOTS)     Padlet (HOTS)

Quizizz (LOTS) Infographic (HOTS)     Article (LOTS)

When we do field trips in school, we should not do "fun" ones only, but also make sure that we implement ones that we can tie to content that we are learning in school, also known as educational explorations. For this assignment, we were to write up a field trip (or educational exploration) planning proposal that would align to the content. We were allowed to select our own grades and lesson topics. Our destination could be local (in the city/state) or one that would require more traveling (out of state/country). Either way, we had to be able to tie it to a social studies topic.