New Orleans mini-project/Procrastination/Brain Research
Lesson Outline
Kayla elected to finish researching and writing her essay on New Orleans. She also spent a few minutes organizing her materials, and we read several articles on procrastination. We discussed the content and talked about the concept of self-talk, and the value of learning about success strategies now so she will be ready for college. We watched another section of the Human Brain documentary from the History Channel, and we both took notes, stopping periodically to discuss the important points and relating it to real world experiences. We collaborated on note taking to ensure she is identifying important points to remember.
Kayla began researching and writing a travel blog for New Orleans today. We talked about elements of a travel blog, ways to incorporate pictures, how to overcome writer's block when you are stuck on finishing sentences or sections, and quick pre-planning of major ideas. We proofread her blog, correcting a few minor spelling and grammar errors, and discussed how to add transitions to improve the flow of a composition. She utilized her research skills to find names of places she visited that she wanted to write about, varying her use of descriptors and adding words for specificity.
Following her interest in health and wellness, Kayla chose to research an offshoot of her other project. Today she researched the basic concepts in neuroscience. During our session she looked at many reputable websites, including the Harvard Center for the Developing Child to read about such topics as parts of the brain and their functions, stress responses, toxic stress, how the brain works to cause physical responses, and the science behind fear. She learned about the structure and function of the brain stem, limbic system, and the cortex's lobes. Following her internet research, we began watching a neuroscience documentary on the topic, and we both took notes and stopped periodically to discuss the concepts and connections to real life experiences. Part of my goal as her teacher in this research is to ask her numerous open ended questions to help her to cognitively process and respond substantively to a question, using improved language. This helps her to practice critical thinking and conversing regarding a challenging topic.
Kayla and I utilized her outline as a tool to determine which areas of her paper need more references or still need to be researched. We began by color coding the outline by section, then sorting each reference/article by these sections, creating a visual and organizational coding system to manage her numerous resources. Within the content areas, we scanned each reference and determined which areas of her paper need more information/support. Using the outline, she finished researching the sections, and checked off each one as completed. This type of systematic checklist helped Kayla to ensure she had all components covered, and so that she could read each section's references and begin writing with a comprehensive understanding of the content. We practiced using the physical space in organizing materials, and we discussed small tips on organizing.
Kayla read through and highlighted pertinent information from numerous sources to support her writing project on fatigue. We collaborated on creating a new web to add several new elements, as she discovered more relevant information. We engaged in an oral brainstorming session for this as I used leading questions to help her process and extend each section. She then created a formal outline in Word. Numerous thought processes for writing were discussed as we proceeded through this outlining activity. In a step-by-step manner as she typed, we discussed how to logically order each segment, how to create transitions in writing (thinking logically about how concepts relate), and we practiced orally explaining the paper's contents in a manner that lends itself to the creation of an introduction.
Kayla began a new mini research project today on fatigue. She practiced several strategies which promote the writing process including: brainstorming descriptors (synonym, antonyms, and related topics), how to separate out related ideas by deconstructing fundamental differences in definitions (i.e. recognizing that prevention and alleviation of fatigue are separate concepts), using alternative sources for information (newspapers and radio sources) and how to cite these in MLA references, strategies for note taking when using video and audio sources, and how to categorize related information when it does not readily fit into an outline. Kayla researched and reviewed numerous sources for this project, and we incorporated much age-appropriate (SAT) vocabulary into our session. Kayla also finished a spelling diagnostic test and we reviewed the answers.
Kayla and I worked on many new SAT vocabulary words during our session. She completed several activities to this end, and we made connections to real world examples to help her utilize them in writing.
Kayla used her health research to write an essay during our session. We discussed issues such as writer's block and procrastination, and strategies to overcome these issues. We also discussed how to write a proper introduction and how this may be held to the end of a writing session, as it may be better organized after the content is written.
