‘Talent wins games…. But intelligence and team work wins championships’.
Michael Jordan
As the new school term progresses, many teachers are faced with varying situations at school, with some students face to face but distanced in class, some students at home in a hybrid situation and some entire classes at home being taught synchronously through video conferencing. Collaborative projects can be a way of keeping the class community together overcoming social distancing restraints especially in hybrid situations. Collaborative projects ensure that students are given the opportunity to work together in ‘virtual’ groups outside the classroom presenting their projects in class or remotely if necessary. Technology can help here and also be a vehicle to improve digital literacy. To help teachers involve all students Pearson has developed special projects which can be a motivating way also to introduce the topic of citizenship.
Amazing Readers Reading Circles
“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking makes what we read ours.”
John Locke
Amazing Readers Reading Circles is a collaborative project for students which works perfectly with Didattica Digitale Integrata and can be a way of introducing the themes taught in Citizenship lessons. Through the project you can help your students deepen discussions about books, create lifelong readers and build a respectful classroom community. A reading circle is a strategy where the teacher puts students into groups that will read one or more chapters of a book, or even the whole book. Students in their reading circle group work on an individual task then put their work together to create a presentation to deliver to the class. It is a way of helping students to work collaboratively and think about and discuss what they have read. Students are guided towards deeper comprehension and are encouraged through active learning to take and interest in other students ideas. Reading Circles help students schedule their reading time and are a great tool to engage reluctant readers and are an excellent strategy tohelp shy or dominating students to have/take turns.
You can create your reading circles by forming groups of 4-7 students and decide which Pearson Graded Reader the students will read. Groups can be formed with students at the same reading level and also with similar interests so they are a very good tool for inclusion. Reading circles can be used to reinforce listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in a supportive and collaborative environment and they encourage students to deepen their understanding of a chosen text, as students are encouraged to talk about the book they are reading with their classmates, discuss plots, specific language used, and personal experiences, think about the characters and make connections to the outside world and citizenship. It may be an idea to get different groups to read a different book so you have variety. Within the group each member has one or more roles. The objective of each ‘circle’ is to read the book and prepare a presentation to share with the whole class.
Reading circles are a valuable learning experience as they are fully student led and students are empowered and supported by their peers as they all have a specific and important role to play. Through the project and preparing the digital responses students learn digital skills and improve their digital literacy and critical thinking.
Some suggested roles for students are:
Slides Wizard: Creates the slides for the presentation
Presentation Wizard: helps with the presentation to the class
Artistic Wizard: looks at the illustrations in the book
Film Wizard: finds information about the film version if there is one
Word WIzard: finds new or key words
Summary Wizard: writes/creates a summary/visual summary of the plot
Sentence Wizard: finds important quotations, sentences in the book
Character Wizard: list/description of characters
Places in the book Wizard: finding out about symbolic locations in the book
Global Sustainable Development Goals/ Citizenship Wizard: Find connections between the UN Global Sustainable development Goals and themes in the book
Students can present their Reading Circles project in a power point presentation, or making a poster or a video or even a Padlet interactive notice board where they can each post their comments, files pictures and audio and video recordings.
While students are watching the presentations they can complete a ‘Peer Response Feedback form’ so they are participating actively. They are encouraged to praise what works well, think about what isn’t working so well and write down any questions they have. Students can then give feedback to the groups presenting.
@Peer Feedback form from the Pearson On the Go Training Module Effective Feedback
For more information about the Pearson Amazing Readers Reading Circles Project
eLibraries
With social distancing an elibrary may be the ideal school purchase to get the students reading and at the same time introducing the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals. Pearson has elibraries at each CEFR level. There are two elibraries, one with 20 books and one with 6 books. Students can choose which books to read or you could decide to all read the same book as a class reader. When students have read their books at the end of the year you can ask them to link one of the themes in the book to a UN Global Sustainable Development Goal and create a response to their favourite book and organize a reading festival in school or online! Students can also make videos as responses, posters or draw pictures.
- For ideas on creating responses to reading see the Milano Reads reading project page
Pearson & BBC Live Classes
Live Classes is a unique worldwide English learning project for secondary students and their teachers.
During and after the lesson, the students not only speak English and improve their communication skills, but they also get to know each other, learning respect and tolerance of diversity. It is a unique learning experience where students and their teacher can join together online with classes from other countries to learn about a topic together. Students and teachers participating in the lessons receive a Pearson and BBC Live Classes Champion certificate
Pearson and the BBC Live Classes give students a unique opportunity to enter an online language classroom. The project is a way of teaching students digital citizenship by promoting digital literacy and students learn to communicate with students of the same age in schools around the world.
‘The BBC Pearson Live Classes project allows your students to speak to students in other countries exploring the differences and finding similarities and seeing how global English really is. It is an opportunity to create a truly authentic English situation’.
Vanessa Hartson Walker – 2020 BBC Pearson Live Classes Trainer
To join the Live Classes look at the Live Classes program and find a time that works for you. Register your group. Do the preparatory activities in class before the lesson, join the lesson then do the post lesson project with your students.
Lessons on Citizenship in Scuola secondaria primo grado
"It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen."
Aristotele
In Scuola secondaria primo grado teachers can introduce lessons on Citizenship with Kids For Future book. It includes themes such as Health and wellbeing, digital citizenship, the environment, EU institutions, Road Safety and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Thinking Routines enable students to engage with the topics and develop projects about them. Video lessons on the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals introduce each topic.
- For more information: Kids for future
A Citizenship project in Scuola secondaria secondo grado
Students can work in groups to prepare a project on Civil Rights and Civil Duties. Activities and suggestions can be found on the link below. Students are guided through a variety of activities, including Dictogloss, Debate, Listenings, and writing through topics including Ghandi’s speech at Ahmadabad, JF Kenedy’s inaugural address, Martin Luther King’s speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. After doing the activities students can connect the topic with an article from the Italian constitution and also a UN Global Sustainable Development Goal.
Download the materials in PDF | Explore resouces for the world's largest lessons
‘Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development - and turn it into a reality for all the world's people’
Kofi Annan
Referenze iconografiche: Roman Motizov/Shutterstock
