Shared by Rubén López
Project: ‘Historical Newspaper’
4th Year ESO
Introduction and Objectives:
In this
section we will focus on the analysis of a cross-curricular project, carried
out two years ago, working together with other teachers from different
departments (Spanish language and English) called ‘Historical Newspaper’. It
was applied in a group of 4th ESO throughout the 2017-2018 course.
The
project tried to fulfill several objectives:
1. The use
of an active and participative didactic methodology, which would allow the
students to be the protagonist of their teaching-learning process.
2. The
development of individual and cooperative learning by competences, through the co-
resolution of tasks in order to achieve the transfer of learning.
3. Focus
on problem-situations, which the student should solve making appropriate use of
the different types of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. Thus, learning
by projects favors active participation, the development of competences, and
the motivation of students.
4.
Promote motivation to learn. The key element is that students understand what
they learn, know what they are learning it for, and be able to use what they
have learned in different contexts, inside and outside the classroom.
5. The
teamwork of the teaching staff to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the
educational process, selecting the best methodological strategies and choosing
quality teaching materials and resources.
6. Use of
information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Description of the Project:
The
activity, based on the historical newspaper format, tries to put the pupils in
front of real historical situations. It is about each group of students going
through the most relevant historical events in Contemporary History narrating
them as if they were journalists who have just witnessed what happened.
Thus,
collaboration with the Spanish language department will be of a paramount
importance, especially in the treatment of journalistic language and objective
narrative style. Something similar happens with the English department, as it
is a great opportunity to improve general and specific vocabulary.
The project was developed following a series of steps:
1. Class
organization in heterogeneous cooperative groups of 3-4 people.
2.
Assignment of topics / historical stages, related to Contemporary History (from
the Crisis of the Ancient Regime to the Present World).
3.
Selection of relevant news related to each historical period.
4.
Journalistic treatment of the news (in close collaboration with the Spanish
language and English teachers).
5.
Preparation of a digital PowerPoint presentation (development of ICT skills).
6. Oral
presentation to the class, as part of the final mark of the activity.
7.
Maximum dissemination of the works through the development of a collaborative
blog (http://artlovers4eso.blogspot.com/) and the paper print of the work for
its later exhibition through the center. At the same time, an open poll may be
posted on the blog to assess the best or best jobs (the most voted will receive
bonus points in the final mark).
Assessment:
Finally, for the assessment of the project,
we will use rubrics so that we can know the competence development acquired by
the students, both when generating their works and when transmitting the
knowledge acquired to the rest of the class.
Rubric
oral presentations
|
Excellent
|
Very good/good
|
Good
|
Needs improvement
|
Information, subject
knowledge & presentation
|
Students demonstrate full knowledge of the subject. They
have time enough to give the most
important information. At the end they summarize
the most relevant information.
|
Students demonstrate good knowledge of the subject, with
explanations and elaborations. They can't explain all the items properly
because they don't have time enough. At the end they try to summarize the most
relevant information.
|
Students demonstrate not much knowledge of the subject.
They finish before it's
time. They don't summarize
the most relevant information.
|
Students demonstrate very poor knowledge of the subject.
They finish before it's time and They don't know what to say. They have
problems with the presentation and they don't summarize the most relevant information.
|
Organization
|
Students present complete information in logical,
interesting sequence which audience can follow. All the members take part in
the explanation.
|
Students present information in logical sequence which
audience can follow. All the members take part in the explanation.
|
Audience has difficulty following the presentation
because students jump around. The order of the presentation is not clear.
There aré students who don't participate in the explanation.
|
Audience cannot understand the presentation because
there is no sequence of information. The order of the presentation is not
clear.
|
Graphics
and maps
|
Very interesting and high quality photographs or maps.
They go well with the text. Good mix of text and graphics.
|
Interesting photographs or maps. They go well with the
text, but there are so many that distract from
the text.
|
The graphics go well with the text, but there are too
few and They are not very interesting.
|
The graphics do not go with the accompanying text or
appear to be randomly chosen.
|
Enthusiasm, elocution
& use of English
|
Students demonstrate a
strong positive feeling about the
topic during the entire presentation, with
a clear voice
and correct pronunciation so that all audience members can hear it. Very good use of English.
|
Students occasionally
show positive feelings about the topic. The voice is clear. They pronounce most words
correctly. Most audience members
can hear the presentation. Good use of English.
|
Students show some negativity towards the topic presented. Their
voice is low with incorrectly pronounced terms.
Audience members have difficulty hearing the
presentation. Poor use of English, mixed with Spanish.
|
Students show absolutely no interest in the topic
presented. They mumble, with incorrectly pronounced terms.
Very poor use of English, mixed with Spanish.
|
Body
language and poise
|
Movements seem fluid and help the audience visualize.
Students display relaxed, self- confident nature about self, with no
mistakes.
|
Students make movements or gestures that
facilitate articulation.
They make minor mistakes, but quickly recover from
them, displaying little or no tension.
|
Very little movements
or descriptive gestures. Students display mild tension and have trouble
recovering from mistakes.
|
No movements or descriptive gestures. Tension and
nervousness is obvious. They have trouble recovering from mistakes.
|
Conclusions:
We have explained a collaborative project that
allows students to approach the study of Contemporary History in an active and
participatory way, making them feel like protagonists of their own
teaching-learning process. At the same time, we are promoting cooperative
learning through group task resolution. In addition to this, we are working on
key competences, which will allow us to obtain more lasting and permanent
learning. Finally, we are working on ICTs, managing to increase students'
motivation to learn.
