AP AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Susan Tidwell, Sandalwood High School

Multi-media – In this day of digital learners, nothing captivates high school students quicker than a multi-media presentation to show the content. In a single lesson, starting with a YouTube song (“This Land is Your Land” by Bruce Springsteen), going to a colorful PowerPoint of the unsung verses written by Woody Guthrie, and then producing a colorful teacher-made poster as an example of a project certainly keeps students engaged.

Providing examples – When students are expected to produce a project, providing an example is a good way of modeling to help them understand the expectations. In this lesson the teacher presents her own drawn poster with an explanation of how each piece represents one of the concepts she wants to present.

Promimity control – Rotating around the class during lessons reminds students that they are expected to stay with the task and helps keep students focused.

Cooperative group work – Presenting a concept and then asking students to meet together and create their own model as a visual overview is a way of synthesizing the information. In this case each group of students represents a different concept. At the conclusion students report out.

Choices – As the directions for the group project are given, students are given many choices for how they can represent their information – poster, drawing on the white board, PowerPoint, or any other possibility. Although most of the groups decide on an illustrated chart, choices often give students the flexibility to present in a modality that is comfortable and a chance to use their creative talent. Below are some of the completed projects.