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Christopher Columbus Video Response Blog
My initial impression was “wow, this is much longer than I expected and very detailed!” The child clearly put a tremendous amount of time and effort into this project to make it as successful and detailed as it was. He even studied up on Italian accents to make his character complete.
2 - How might you evaluate a movie such as this if one of your students submitted it in response to a more traditional assignment?
I think this assignment could be evaluated much in the same way a traditional assignment could be, with a rubric. In a typical research project, I would be looking for the sources that were used, and I would want to know that the report (or in this case the video) was written by Griffin, and not simply taken from an outside source. The rubric would go further to include categories of details that I had asked for. If the children were asked to do a biographical report, I would be asking for place of birth, major events, place of death, etc. If this assignment were structured as an interview, I would be evaluating the types of questions that were asked as well as the accuracy of the responses.
3 - What do you think Griffin learned about his learning?
I think Griffin learned that there is always a new perspective to be found once you start researching something. By using the interview format, he delved further into the life of Christopher Columbus since he had to search for controversial material. Had he only done a report, he might not have sought out those extra details.
4 - Does this movie show evidence of problem-solving, communicating, and other higher order thinking skills? Explain.
By embedding countering perspectives in his project, Griffin displayed critical thinking and analytical skills. He also showed an advanced level of communication skills in the depth of the characters that he created. As an interviewer, he changed his intonation depending on the type of question he was asking, and also modified his voice appropriately for his interpretation of Columbus’ denial of the atrocities he committed. I was also quite impressed when he used the words “genocide” and “imperialism.”
5 - As the teacher, how might your response to Griffin’s movie be a teaching/ learning opportunity for your whole class?
Having a child turn in an assignment such as Griffin’s would be a perfect opportunity to communicate to the class that creativity is valued and can translate into successful school projects. I can also use it to show the children an example of a creative project covering all the requirements of the assignment. A concern of giving the children free reign over projects would be finding a proper way to assess their learning and the actual research that was done (if that was part of the project.)
Stacey,
I agree that a rubric would be a very reasonable method of assessing Griffin's completion of the assignment. I also feel that he was inspired and took the assignment into his own hands and created a response to what he learned about Columbus. I also see your point that if the students do have the opportunity to be creative while presenting what they learned, it may be difficult to assess their learning.
Hi Stacey. I'm glad you chose to post this blog in question/answer format.
This organization made it very easy to read. I agree that this project is
a good opportunity to discuss the value of creativity in the classroom. I
think public schools often don't allow a lot of room for creativity, but
when there is an element of freedom and creativity children really do seem
to thrive, like how you mentioned Griffin did. I also agree with you and
Jess that a rubric would be a fair way to evaluate Griffin. -Kate
Stacey - you seem to have an open mind about how a lesson is interpreted
and how learning is displayed or shared. The assessment part of assignments
like this seems to be the most difficult for not-project style classrooms.
Teachers will go on and on about the grading and how to score, etc. I guess
I would throw out that the original assignment must certainly have specific
objectives declared - and from there, teachers would have a path toward
assessment and scoring. That could be a rubric or checklist. As any know
who have composed a rubric, the rubric itself can be quite detailed, and
just using one really effectively can require a fair amount of classroom
instruction time just to get kids to understand how to use it when doing
the work, and therefore how to understand the score or grade that results
from it.
Stacey... I totally agree with you that the use of a traditional "rubric"
would be the most accurate assessment of Griffin's learning experience. As
easy as it is to look at the innovation and uniqueness of his approach and
immediately "pass" him with flying colors, it's important to maintain a
sense of whether his output accomplished the necessary goals of the
assignment.
Stacey,
Stacey