Cramer Room 108 Perseverance Activities and Summary

 

While the theme of perseverance is ongoing in our classroom, for the month of February and part of March we focused on perseverance as a necessary element in completion of our science project on gravity and the center of mass. We later discussed perseverance in the context of two stories, one a Youtube video on Nick Vujicic and the other on Brave Irene as told by Al Gore (storylineonline,net). Later students revisited the status of their goals and assessed whether or not they had persevered and achieved or made improvements. 

The month of February started off with a science project on gravity and the center of mass. We watched Lainey’s video and discussed the fact that perseverance means that you don’t give up even when faced with obstacles. Each student indicated that they would persevere when faced with a difficult task. I explained how they would complete the project independently once it was modeled for them.

I introduced the gravity project and modeled the activity for the students. As part of this activity, we discussed gravity and the affect on balance when the center of mass is moved.  I demonstrated this concept whole class and later in small groups.  Just before the students started the project they were given a frog cut out with a hole in the head, a pedestal, a foam base, and paperclips (raftstore.net model EK000012). Students were told that the frog would appear to defy gravity (fly with legs in the air) once enough paperclips were positioned correctly. We discussed the perseverance required to position the paperclips to achieve the desired results.

Once the activity was modeled for the students they worked (4 at a time) to arrange the frog on the pedestal and position the paperclips. While some students achieved success more quickly than others, I began to hear “I can’t do it” and “I need help”. I again demonstrated how to add the paperclips and the students continued the project. Once each child had completed the project, we discussed the challenges students encountered and whether or not they persevered to complete the project. Some students admitted that they had not completed the project on their own because they felt it was too difficult while others stated that although it was difficult at first they kept trying until the frogs legs were off the desk. The students that completed the project independently were quite pleased with themselves.

Continuing with the theme of perseverance we watched the YouTube video on Nick Vujicic and the reading of Brave Irene by Al Gore. We discussed the obstacles Nick Vujicic and Irene faced. We then discussed the fact that Nick is a real, living human being while Irene was a fictional character. We also discussed the fact that none of us face the physical challenges encountered by Nick. We considered how it would be easy for him to give up, but instead he found reasons to keep going. We also discussed how Irene kept going by thinking about all of her mother’s hard work…she did not want to let her down. This activity helped the students to recognize the importance of finding reasons to keep going instead of looking for excuses to give up.

Lastly, the students revisited the goals they set at the beginning of the year and reflected on their progress. I recorded some of the students as they discussed how they achieved these goals or made progress towards them. During this time it was necessary to clarify what was meant by achievement of the goal. Some students confused goal achievement with goal progress so we discussed the difference.

Overall the lessons went well. Some students are still struggling with overcoming obstacles to complete assignments. I continue to encourage them to finish even if others finish before them. Often they are discouraged because they did not finish in the time allotted, but they are all pleased with themselves when they experience the feeling of accomplishment that comes from perseverance.

More photos and videos to follow. 

Here is Cramer's room 212 community project

My students' always look forward to Lainey's videos that she posts and the new topic that we are going to discuss for the month. To start the topic about community, we talked about the different types of community that kids/adults can belong too such as schools, neighborhood, the after school programs, the boys and girls club, etc. For school, we talked about how they are helping the community during lunch time because they do compost and recycling on their own to help the environment with waste. Also we talked about how they are a classroom community where they work together as a team to think and share ideas, complete projects/games, and work together to achieve goals. Then we talked about the neighborhood and how they can improve their neighborhood to make a change and the students came up with ideas such as planting a garden, cleaning up the park, or donate clothes to a shelter. For our community project the students designed bird houses to help feed birds in their neighborhood. We used reusable materials to create the bird houses so they understood the concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle. The students enjoyed decorating the bird houses with stickers to hang up in a tree. It was a successful project for the students to understand that a small difference  is a great way to help the neighborhood. It will brighten up the world little by little with this small gesture to nature. Overall, the students enjoyed the project and they are looking forward to meeting Lainey soon!

Mr. Blake's Sixth Grade Class "Perseverance"

Mr. Blake's students began February with a lesson on Perseverance. We viewed a YouTube video on "Never Give Up."  The class had great dialogue about never giving up. Several students had stories about when they never gave up. Some of the students were inspired with the stories of never giving up they came up strategies. The students came up with the following strategies:

1. If you are going to do it than do it!!!! (Work the Plan)
   Keep your goal and never give up
2. Don't doubt yourself!
   Always keep in the back of your mind you can do it!
3. Watch the haters!
   Always find people to encourage you to do your best!
4.  When you persevere pat your self on the back!!!

The students have been working hard on achieving their goals and preserving to get to their goals. We will definitely keep you posted.

Ms. Crowe's 707 - Perseverance

The word, 'perseverance', speaks volumes to not only the students during this stressful time of year but also to me along with (I'm assuming) most of the teachers and contributors involved in this program.  When I think of 'perseverance', I think of times in my life that required a positive mindset and organizational strategies, so I decided to plan my lessons for this month around that mentality.  We started off the month by watching the TED talk by Diana Nyad about swimming from Cuba to Florida and the kids were, to say the least, AMAZED.  Students participated in a discussion about times when they had to persevere.  

I really enjoyed watching the students work together during the goal setting process and I wanted to provide them with another similar opportunity.  The students decided to create "Graffiti Walls" in groups to demonstrate their understanding of perseverance.  As I met with each group, students were using real life examples of perseverance and also thinking about people who have persevered throughout history and situations in which one would need to use perseverance.  They impressed me with their ability to connect the monthly topic to historical and current events.

As I observed the groups' progress, I noticed that many of them were not reflecting on their own experiences with perseverance.  While meeting with groups, I asked the students to reflect on a time (as requested by Matt) when they had to persevere.  One group immediately made an organizer and each team member wrote about their own personal experience.  I was impressed with their independence and ability to exceed my expectations.  

If you look closely, you can see the organizer.  

"The time when I had to use perseverance was when I had a "F" and two "D's" on my report card.  I had to get my grades up."

After the students completed the "Graffiti Walls", each group presented their project.  Some of the students were hesitant to speak in front of the class but definitely seemed more comfortable than they did when we started the program.  While we listened to the presentations, many students found similarities amongst the group projects.  For example, many groups mentioned people such as, Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jordan, Beyonce, Harriet Tubman, etc.  

Overall, I was impressed with not only the teamwork but also the independence among the groups.  The students who are sometimes off-task really enjoyed working with their group to complete the assignment.  We are looking forward to brainstorming ideas for next month's topic, Community.  

Ms. Loftus February Perseverance Lessons

My students enjoyed watching Lainey's video about perseverance on how you should never give up and work through those times to achieve your goal. To start this topic, we went over the meaning of perseverance and we shared how we will achieve our set goal with our partners. Then I wanted to connect this topic with Disney because I wanted the students to make a connection. I showed them a video called "Dream Big Princess- Be a Champion" where it highlighted different dreams that kids want to achieve like skateboarding, swimming, archery, or karate. The lesson of the video is directed towards to "be something" in life. It connected to the disney movies and it really showed the students that there dreams or goals can come true if they put their greatest effort in. Next I wanted to connect perseverance with sports by explaining to them that athletes set goals, train, and persevere through set backs to get to the dream of a gold medal at the olympics. I showed them a video clip of the 1992 Summer Olympics of Derek Raymond who persevered his injury during the games by continuing the race after he falls. He knew that his dream was over of receiving that medal but he wanted to finish the race and he was the true champion. These videos really showed the students the concept of perseverance because they were able to see what it takes to be a champion. For our project, we are learning about poetry for literacy and writing. We created a classroom perseverance acrostic poem where the students shared their ideas for each letter of the word. It was a great way to introduce poetry to the students and the students really understood the concept of this word. In the end, my students cannot wait to meet with you Lainey and I keep telling them that you are coming in April.

Mr. Blake's Sixth Grade Class January Setting Goals

Mr. Blake’s Sixth Grade Class was super excited about meeting our College Champion mentor Lainey Dorris. The class was super impress with her video. They loved the fact that she showed the class her softball locker room. They also enjoyed her story about her softball glove from high school. The class can’t wait to meet her face to face.

The week of January 18 the class had an opportunity to work on setting goals. Mr. Blake’s class viewed Lainey’s video and it motivated the class to set their own personal goals. The students set four personal goals. Personal, academic, and career goals (the class could of chosen two personal, or two academic, or two career goals, but a total of four). One student wanted to work on their singing. She committed to practice 30 minutes a day. Another student wanted to increase their reading level. She wanted to go from a sixth grade reading level to a seventh grade reading level by the end of the year. Mr. Blake’s class had so many great goals to accomplish. The class can’t wait to crush all the goals that they set.