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Gigi,
Thank you for the information on the Grant Wiggins book.  I'm ordering a copy
today.  I'm also looking forward to seeing what ideas other AM fellows have for
using the loc collections for a unit on Martin Luther King.  At present I'm
developing a lesson for middle school students to go with the novel The Watsons Go
to Birmingham and would also like to use loc sources.  I'll look forward to
following this topic.

Gail Desler

Gigi Lincoln wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Memory Fellows <[log in to unmask]>
> Poster:       Gigi Lincoln <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      Inservice ideas
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This message is being sent out on the listserv with the hope that recent
> American Memory Fellows and past fellows from 1997-1999 will have some ideas
> to share with us.
>
> Scott Durham and I will have an excellent opportunity to work on American
> Memory with fellow Lakeview High School (Battle Creek, MI) teachers in
> January. We have been approved to lead a workshop on Martin Luther King Day
> and to meet with teachers on two follow-up afternoons. The purpose of this
> workshop will be to guide our teachers in development of instructional units
> that draw upon American Memory resources and that are also created according
> to the Unit Design model. Lakeview Schools have officially adopted Unit
> Design and all teachers are receiving training in this model. Scott and I
> were in fact able to write up our WWI lesson according to the district's
> Unit Design template.
>
> Have any fellows had a similar experience of offering a two-day training?
> What suggestions do you have for structuring this time and making the
> experience productive and enjoyable for teachers? We should have a
> manageable number of participants - hopefully no more than 20 teachers. We
> will work in a new lab with projection device, good Internet connection and
> enough computers for everyone. Judy Graves has been very helpful in pointing
> out some of the Library's online workshop materials and in reminding us not
> to overlook the orientation activities that we
> used last summer.
>
> If you are not familiar with the Unit Design model, I can provide some brief
> background. Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins collaborated on a recent book,
> Understanding by Design (ISBN: 0-87120-313-8). An ERIC abstract offers the
> following summary of Understanding by Design:
>
> "This book explores ways to design courses and units to emphasize
> understanding and uncoverage rather than coverage, offering practical
> solutions for teacher-designers. It focuses on a different use for
> performance assessment, concluding that performance is the key to assessing
> understanding. The book analyzes the logic of backward design as an
> alternative to coverage and activity-oriented plans. Designing for
> understanding begins with what teachers want students to be able to do and
> proceeds to the evidence they will accept to prove that students have
> learned it. Only then does it turn to how students will learn it. Along the
> way, teachers must be clear about how they want students to understand and
> what they mean by understanding. The book proposes a multifaceted approach,
> with the six facets of understanding (explanation, interpretation,
> application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge). The facets combine
> with backward design to provide a practical framework for designing
> curriculum, assessment, and instruction. After an introduction, there are 11
> chapters: (1) What Is Backward Design? (2) What Is a Matter of
> Understanding? (3) Understanding Understanding, (4) The Six Facets of
> Understanding, (5) Thinking Like an Assessor, (6) How Is Understanding
> Assessed in Light of the Six Facets? (7) What Is Uncoverage? (8) What the
> Facets Imply for Unit Design, (9) Implications for Organizing Curriculum,
> (10) Implications for Teaching, and (11) Putting it All Together: A Design
> Template."
>
> If you have any ideas to share with us and with other fellows, please send a
> response to the listserv. We look forward to planning this inservice and to
> hearing from you.
>
> Thanks very much and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
>
> Gigi Lincoln
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________
> ___
>
> Margaret Lincoln
> Lakeview HS Library
> 300 South 28th Street
> Battle Creek, MI 49015
> (tel) 616-565-3730
> (fax) 616-565-3738
>
> http://remc12.k12.mi.us/lhslib