The Ideal School Project
Description
This project provides students with the opportunity to do lots of critical thinking as they read, view, speak, collaborate and create. After reading and viewing some texts/videos about the school system, they will work together to evaluate what is working in their system and what needs to improve. Then students will work in groups to design their ideal school.
This is a great unit to do early in the semester. It is very relevant to students' lives and they usually have lots to contribute to the discussion as they look at what’s important in their schooling, and evaluate how much responsibility they have taken for becoming “educated.”
The unit could be one-two days, or be expanded to last a week through reading and viewing more articles and videos about the state of education. I have included a list of suggested resources, but you may want to find ones that are specific to your own district.
Have fun with this project -- it's one of my favorite things to do with my students!
Are you interested in other relevant and engaging activities for your students? Check out my Engaging the Disengaged Bundle. It includes three non-fiction lessons and two short real life research projects. Each one can be purchased individually as well.
You might also like:
- Critical Thinking Activities for Any Text
- Collaborative Activities for Talking about Text
- Independent Reading Stations
- Expository Writing Lessons & Activities
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