HOUSATONIC  RIVER  RESTORATION  
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Housatonic River Unit

 

Final Housatonic Unit Evaluation

 

Attendance: Bill and Alison (social studies), Jesse and Rene (language arts), Asha and Mary (Science), Ed and George (Math), Kate and Mike (special education)

 

Meeting Minutes:

 

  1. Provided examples of standards-based lesson plans and answered questions about Housatonic River unit documentation. Reviewed documentation responsibilities and individual assignments. Documentation assignments were divided between Asha, Alison/Bill, Jesse, Rene, Mary, and Kate. Each person is responsible for 2-3 lesson plans or other documentation pieces. Dale will compile, edit, and standardize formatting. 

 

  1. Gathered samples of student work (e.g. journal entries, essays, final projects, presentation rubrics, etc.) to serve as examples for next year. Having top quality examples was noted as a crucial step toward improving the quality of student work (i.e. seeing examples of high quality work raises the expectations and inspires students to match their peers). Jesse and Alison have saved a collection of higher quality journals, essays, and projects. Dale will photograph and photocopy examples for documentation.

 

  1. Gathered digital photos from Cobble (Asha) and prints from Bear’s Den (George) to add to documentation. Asha will sort through digital images and send best representative examples via email to Dale. George will pass along prints to Dale so they can be scanned for inclusion in documentation.

 

  1. Teachers were asked to gather anecdotal feedback from parents and students to share with team at future meeting if any is received.

 

  1. Final Evaluation:

 

Teachers spent an additional 45 minutes responding to the following questions:

 

a.       What were the major advances, highlights, and successes of the new interdisciplinary Housatonic River unit?

 

More interdisciplinary than past efforts; previously just history and a little science, now has major language arts piece and new math and art components. Bartholomew’s Cobble field trip was much more participatory and interactive than in past. Journals added a good place for student reflection, an opportunity for monitoring of student attitudes, and a body of writing for assessment. Service learning was a positive addition, though student attitudes toward work need to be improved.

 

 

b.      What obstacles and challenges arose in the expanded Housatonic River unit and how might we over come these in the future?

 

Need to provide better connection between Cobble field trip and classroom lessons (in all subjects, but especially science). More advance preparation in the subject matter (especially history and science) is needed before the Cobble day. Too much emphasis was placed on the content coming from the field trip.

 

Service learning would benefit from a clearer connection made in class between the academic study of the watershed and our role as citizens in stewardship. Team came up with the phrase “caretakers of the future” but didn’t take enough time to bridge between the classroom content, the field trips, and why we got involved in service projects.

 

 

c.       What other recommendations would you make for future years?

 

Possibly restructure the field trip and service learning into four days total with the Cobble and a new History component alternating on two days and service learning and canoeing alternating on two more days. 

 

Possibly start the year off with the Housatonic unit instead of English history. This was raised in previous meeting as well.

 

Film future student presentations (i.e. for peers and elementary students).

 

Film and digitally photograph future service-learning projects.

 

 

d.      How can we deepen the content and ramp up the student project quality?

     

Unit would benefit from broader watershed theme to build connection between classroom lessons, field trips, and service days. This year the river was the common thread. River didn’t fully encompass some elements of the academics and some of the field and service learning. This theme adjustment would help to bring together the history of the Housatonic valley, the ecosystem component of the field learning, and the terrestrial mapping component of the Bear’s Den stewardship project. 

 

More advance preparation, especially in science and history. Have at least 4 days of related science and history/geography lessons prior to field component.

 

      Provide better examples of student work (especially journals and final projects) in advance. Provide more time for project drafts and revision with teacher critique along the way. Try to identify an outside/community need and audience for student presentations. The latter could create a real demand for high quality work.