What's so Unique about Amarillo, TX?

 During this workshop we are modeling the curriculum using

Amarillo, but you may choose another city or town.

 -Debbie Purvines 7/13/08 10:54 AM 

 Outcomes: Align with TEKS according to grade level

Concepts: Communicating, Organizing, Identifying relevant information,

Objective: Students will create a project (video) that illustrates what is so unique about Amarillo, TX. This project will be available to the community and also to new students enrolling in our school.

Materials:

• Digital Cameras
• Video Cameras (if available)
• Web Sites
  • Wikipedia - entry Amarillo, TX
  • Mindmapping web sites (see examples below)
  • Amarillo Chamber of Commerce
  • City Data
  • American Fact Finder
  • PaloDuro State Park
  • Alibates Flint Quarries
  • Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge
  • Lake Meredith
  • Engaging Students with Digital Media Wiki

• Printed material
• Photostory 3 (free download) or iPhoto
• Movie Maker (free download) or iMovie
• Inspiration software (or a web based mind mapping software)
• TEKS for alignment 

Engagement

• What do you know about Amarillo, TX? (Work in small groups)
  • Decide on important information needed to tell the story
  • Plan process for gathering outside information, images and possibly interviews
  • Create a mind-map (Inspiration, Mindmap42.com, http://www.mindmeister.com/, http://www.bubbl.us/)

Exploration-- Hands-On

• Travel--- get out there and...
  • take pictures
  • interview people
  • visit historic sites
  • visit with governing officials
  • gather historical information and data
• Gather as much information from the web as possible
• Gather information by collecting articles, pamphlets, tourist information

 Explanation

• Sort information and resources
• Create a storyboard for project
• In a classroom, students may choose to create a wiki page, webpage, PowerPoint presentation, Photostory, or video
• Scripts need to be written to correspond with images
• Practice script before actually recording

Elaboration

• Create video project
• Students may want to edit or create a Wikipedia page to share information they found
• Students present projects

Evaluation

• Students use rubric for self evaluation
• Students use rubric for peer evaluation
• Teacher uses rubric for project evaluation