Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Goals for today

  • Keep listening....
  • Winnow our questions into open-ended inquiry questions
  • Gain further perspective on the historical context of the mine disaster


Announcements

  • We need a handful of parent chaperones for next Thursday's field trip to Silverton.
  • Honors info meeting tomorrow at lunch
Storycorps Listen
1. Listen to Storycorps Podcast Episode #436:  Great Escapes

2. Starter 9.1:  For this starter, you can think generally, not just within the parameter of our project.

  • If you could interview anyone for Storycorps, who would it be and why?  What might you ask them about?
  • If you were going to be interviewed for Storycorps, what story would you want to tell?  Who might interview you?
3. Share out:  What are our thoughts on Storycorps?  What did you write about in your freewrite?  How does our project relate to Storycorps' mission?




Refining the Questions
1. What is the difference between open-ended and close-ended questions?

2. Creating Open-ended questions to guide our research
  • Student Questions from our brainstorm
  • In your group, read the above list of questions for your group's assigned "theme" and try to synthesize them into 1-2 OPEN-ENDED questions
  • Write your open-ended questions on the board under your topic
  • As a class, we'll refine the questions and dial our list of questions
  • Record these questions in your notes!  Taking notes digitally? Please do so in your digital comp book using this template or another format that works for you.
3.  REVIEW from Brainstorm: What are the various perspectives at stake in this issue?  (Scribe on board)



Whole-Class Animas River Spill Research 
Today's topic: History of the Gold King mine and events surrounding the EPA spill
1. Read the following articles.  Annotate for questions/confusions, additional questions raised that you'd need to research, specific perspectives on the causes of the toxic spill, persuasive and/or shaky evidence, etc....Record your notes to help you prepare for seminar and the final writing assignment. (Notes template) 


Open research time 
  • Pick a perspective from the list on the board that most intrigues you OR one that you know the LEAST about or are least drawn to
  • Focus your research on those perspectives
  • Take notes using the template or another format.
  • Did you find a SUPER good resource? Add it to this document  pretty please!

If time...listen to more Storycorps interviews or podcasts

Homework (optional)
  • Continue open research
  • Listen to more Storycorps (I suggest subscribing to the podcast on I-tunes if you are into that sort of thing)