• Your ideas for having students publicly recognize peers who contribute in special ways is very creative and insightful.
• The projects you have students working on are almost unbelievable (I believe you, but it is amazing).

1.  Are you in special school of high achieving students?  Or are you accomplishing this with "everyday" 7th grade students?   (Either way, it is impressive.)

2.  In your description of the "basic format", you did not mention having students follow the "individual pretest" of 15 questions with a "team" version of the same test, which normally happens in TBL.

             Do you in fact not use that part of TBL? 

(This is not a criticism because you are obviously accomplishing great things with whatever you are doing.  But I am curious about the sequence of activities that you do use.)

It works great. I know lots of  k-12 teachers that use problem based learning, but no one else using my real world team project approach.

For example, our cell unit centers around finding a cure for cancer.

The basic format is:
1) Preview packet do in groups
2) Individual Pretest (aprox 15 question scantron)
3) Multiple mini projects: A) create a treatment for a human disease based on modifying organelle shape &/or function. B) Create a specialized stem cell that can repair specific heart attack damage. Describe how various organelles help the cell to do it's work in conjunction to surrounding cells, tissue, organs, & organ System. C) Final project is to propose a new cancer treatment using organelles that inhibits cancer by targeting mitosis.
4) Final review packet in groups
5) Final individual test

Kids love it and are fully engaged in learning. It beats having to push information onto them.

Scott Kubista-Hovis
7th grade Life Science Teacher
Hayfield Secondary School
Alexandria, VA

"Sweet, Michael S" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Scott,

 

I see by your sig line that you teach 7th grade.  There may be others, but you are the first K-12 teacher I have heard of using all the main pieces of TBL.

 

What have you learned from adapting it to younger folks? 

 

The social pressures and social skills of younger students are no doubt different than adults.  I am curious:  has this made much of a difference?

 

-M

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Team Learning Discussion List [ mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Hovis

Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 8:23 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Top Score Prize

Individuals rate their team members during the peer evaluation. But I take the average for every member and place it on a scale. with a 10 translating into a B-, and Higher scores sometimes translating into a 100% + extra credit.

I also have leaders vocally recognize their top achievers for every major project (composed of 4-5 mini projects) at their culminating poster session , this translates into 1 homework pass.

Another thing I do is I have a jar set out for every class. Students are encouraged to recognize peers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in some way by writing their name & what they did on a slip of paper and putting it in the jar. All names are read out loud at the end of the week.

Scott Kubista-Hovis

7th grade Life Science Teacher

Hayfield Secondary School

Alexandria, VA

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