Trying to help students navigate the world of current events can be a challenge if you go for it all at once. Using a Building Outside the Blocks approach, skills can be developed outside of a unit of study and over several months- even the entire school year. Tri-BOBs are year long learning experiences that come in three distinct assignments. Each assignment requires specific skills that are revisited and added to with each iteration. Some of my favourite tri-BOBs are Master Storyteller and the PS 1, 2 and 3. The Master Storyteller experience begins with MST 1, where students reading a story to their class. A visual component is added for MST 2, and the project evolves to require the student to write and present an original story (MST 3). The storytelling and writing experience builds over the year through three projects, each presented over 2-3 months. The PS Series is an exploration of the self that begins with a Portrait of yourSelf, moves to a Personal Soundtrack and culminates in Photo Synthesis. What’s News and What’s Up are both tri-BOBs that I developed to keep students in touch with what is happening in the world.
Since I had taught Gr. 7 Individuals and Societies before (History/Geography/Social Studies), I had already created What’s Up. It begins with a news article. The student locates, highlights and takes notes on the article, explains why they selected it and how it connects to our class either in terms of unit content or overall inquiry. As with all BOBs, I provide a list of presentation dates, usually one day each week, and up to three students fill in their names on the day they prefer in view of their learning needs and personal calendar. In the next iteration, the students add a full summary in paragraph form, ask critical questions, explore biases and add a visual. These have come in such various forms as slideshows, iMovies, demonstrations, 3D models and more. There are so many possibilities. In the final revisit, students do many of the same tasks, but the analysis deepens by requiring two articles on the same topic from different sources and an inquiry into the different perspectives of each account. I have been playing around with the third part for a while, but I like the direction I am going. I can see how I am helping the students building critical literacy in terms of navigating the news. The first two assignments are formative but, after months of building those skills, the third project can be evaluated as a summative task. Students learn so much from watching and responding to each other’s presentations that conversations on the issues raised sometimes become hallway chatter or even extend to their family’s dinner table.
I created What’s News for Gr. 6. What’s News is an entry into why news gets reported, how to read the news, how to find a story that interests the student at their reading level, as well as how to locate an age-appropriate topic for the individual and the target audience, the class. It begins by locating an article. I provide the links to different kid-friendly news sites like teachingkidsnews.com, dogonews.com and timeforkids.com. Then, the students begins annotating the text and building towards a meaningful summary. At the next phase, a visual component is added. The tri-BOB culminates by selecting a single image that tells the story to help them understand that a picture is worth a thousand words. The title of What’s News is a shout-out to one of my great mentors who has now retired, Elaine Steiner. Hearing students excited for What’s News days and choosing their topics early based on their interests is amazing to listen to and watch. What’s News has already surpassed my expectations in terms of teaching specific skills over time through a Building Outside the Blocks approach.
What’s Up and What’s News help students develop presentation, communication and critical thinking skills. They help build presentation skills because the student presents their article, the key points or summary and the answers to the questions asked through the assignment to their class community. This spirals when visual elements are added. These projects can be done in Science or for other subjects, too. Students have to communicate orally and in writing, receiving feedback on how to better organize and share their ideas. Annotating the article allows students to have a conversation about what they are reading and make the invisible thoughts and responses to text visible. This comprehension strategy also helps students learn to highlight the most important information and, eventually, summarize effectively.
The class provides feedback in the form of questions, comments and critiques, as with all Building Outside the Blocks projects, so interesting next steps and insights are shared. Answering the questions asked by the class or through the assignment require critical thought. Some of the questions include: Why did you chose this article? How does it relate to our unit of inquiry? What questions do you still have after reading the article, what biases are revealed through the text? These questions require some explicit instruction to be able to address. They also reflect the gradual development of skill over the two years of experiencing these tri-BOBs. There is a lot to gain from having students complete either of these assignments, but they were created as complementary.
This year, I am teaching the same subject to three grades. One of the coolest parts is that I can actually scaffold learning over the three years of Middle School (MYP 1, 2 and 3). I haven’t done a news-related assignment as a BOB for Grade 8 yet. I had spent the summer readying the Genius Hour/20% Time project I call T-Time, and then there was History Beats, which I will be writing about next. I just starting working on the Gr. 8 iteration that I am going to call News n’Shmooz. This current events-type BOB will be more of a panel discussion focusing on critical conversations about issues and events. I may not have the chance to teach this subject to all three classes again and realize that new vision, but I will create the project because I like the idea of a clear evolution over three grade levels. If I do get to teach this subject for all three grades again, I may even develop a new strand of BOBs. Imagine 3 projects a year over 3 years. It would be a trifecta of a tri-BOB!
