Service Learning- Landlord/Tenant Rights

Brief Description:
When studying the rights and obligations of living in a democracy, students will examine the rights and obligations of property ownership. They will research the state and local ordinances involving landlord and tenant rights and prepare a pamphlet for students to take home to their parents. Students will prepare a brief presentation to give to other classes and hand out the pamphlets at the end of the presentation. Pamphlets will be translated into more than one language depending on the home language of the students at the school. Pamphlets will include the names and phone numbers of pubic officials and governmental agencies one can turn to when faced with a landlord/tenant dispute.

**As college students, this is oftentimes an issue we know all too well. However, it is important for all of us to know this issue because I am pretty sure that most people are renters, at least in some point of their life. Not only that, but this is a great project to get students prepared for the college life that is just around the corner. This is an issue that affects a whole lot of people, so it is good that they understand that not only do they have rights, but the idea of rights is applied directly and relevantly to their lives.

Having to create a pamphlet is a great way to get students to critically think about what should be included, how it should be set up, and how the pamphlet should be presented to the class. I would assume that after working out in "the field" that they would have a better understanding of the answers to these issues.

They also have a chance to understand the way that certain governmental agencies are set up by having to research their local city ordinances and such.

The students are required to research the most common issues that exist between tenants and landlords, and look up the laws that support them. Once they have created their pamphlet, they have to write an essay about how they and/or their family have benefited from the information given. I think this is a great next step in solidifying the meaningful project that they just created.

This project hones skills in research, rights and responsibilities, as well as oral and written language from having to present and write a reflection.

It is a powerful thing to be in control of your circumstances by not allowing yourself to be manipulated because of a lack of knowledge.

http://www.servicelearning.org/slice/index.php?ep_action=view&ep_id=271

Constructive Learning, WebQuests, and Technology: A deeper understanding of content

Article Review

"Web-based inquiry learning: Facilitating thoughtful literacy with WebQuests."
- Chinwe H. Ikpeze and Fenice B. Boyd


I originally picked this article so that I could learn more about webquests since it is what Brittany and I have to present to the class. After reading it, I came to see that it had a lot of different points of interest that I found extremely useful to learn about. WebQuests take an interdisciplinary approach to learning, as well as making students in charge of their learning processes by tapping into their own interests and having them construct their own knowledge.
The researchers included several components into the WebQuest learning, including such things as scaffolding, teaching web literacy, fostering critical thinking, collaborative group work/role-playing, incorporating different genres to make learning the subject a deeper endeavor, and partaking in interactive games.
I think a lot of different subjects could be great in the context of WebQuests. Because I love the subject of psychology, I will use that as an example. The web can be used to teach students about different parts of the brain and their functions, for example, as well as how that effects the way we think, feel and act. Students can have access to interactive models of the brain to give them a visual component. Because the researchers talked a lot about role-playing and collaborative effort, I could see having the students assign themselves as certain parts of the brain, and work together to act out how they are all connected, and how they affect one another. This would take extensive research on the different functions of the brain, but might be a very challenging task worth trying. Critical thinking can be employed by relating this to real life application, asking the students to give examples of how certain processes play out in our lives. Also, the researchers incorporated poetry into the learning of environmental protection, and I think that this could be a good way to get kids to think about how our brain processes affect how we feel on an everyday basis (ex. serotonin makes us happy, among other things) while they may not have to include particular psychological jargon, our everyday lives are nonetheless embedded in psychological principles, and writing poetry about how they feel, think and/or act can be a valuable tool in helping them to understand the importance of understanding psychology.
This is a very basic topic in psychology, and there are many other topics to be explored (memory, psychological disorders, sleep, etc.) and I believe that WebQuests can be an extremely powerful tool; however, as the authors of the article suggest, there must be carefully planned out WebQuests in order to make them powerful and meaningful in the context of student learning.


While employing so many techniques for one topic, and over a period of 10 weeks is not logical or even possible in normal school environment, I believe that all of the techniques can be employed over a school year, using some of the techniques for certain things, and others for other things, and using them at our own discretion to make the learning process deeper and more relevant to life.

What are the possible drawbacks to this type of learning (besides what the authors brought up about distraction, information overload, and navigational disorientation); more specifically, do you think there are certain subjects/topics where this technique would be less effective or even counter-productive?
How would you suggest we deal with the issues of distraction, info overload and navigational disorientation?

Involving students in constructive learning processes

After some time searching social studies blogs and wikis by students, I came across one I particularly liked (http://woodward8.wikispaces.com/).

It is a page created by a teacher and his 8th grade class on U.S. history. He assigned everyone particular topics and they were responsible for coming up with the information about each particular topic, and were assigned to post the information they researched onto the blog that he created. While I was not able to peruse the whole blog without joining (it was protected) I found the idea very fascinating. It seems that making students responsible for essentially what they learn about every topic, they have the potential to take a more active and interested approach to their learning because they are (to an extent) in charge of what they learn.
I think this is very similar to when teachers make students teach the class a lesson. While this may not always be effective if not done properly, I think it can stand to have some credibility. Students are going to be invested in the opinions of their peers, and if they don't seem knowledgeable or competent in the assignment they are to present in front of the class, this could have adverse effects. Consequently, they may be more invested in doing a higher quality job.
Getting back to the blog- as we read in the book, techniques like this can often create a meaningful learning environment for students for the fact that they are the producers of knowledge, given to the world at large. This may make many feel more valuable and feel more of an obligation to produce quality work as well.

A blog that I came by, http://aupushistory.blogspot.com/, is a blog for an AP history class, and is mostly managed by the teacher. However, I liked it because he makes the website engaging, and the students have to answer questions. He used videos, pictures, and thoughtful questions to enage his students in the blog, and I think he did a pretty good job. He also had assignment updates on the side as well as important links he thought uselful to the students.

I found a website called The Education Podcast Network (epnweb.org) that has podcasts from teachers and students from all around the world contributing to it. The students are of all different ages and the teachers come from every subject. The authors of the website state, "

We are a multicast society of speakers and listeners, listeners and speakers, teaching and learning in a life and time of change. " I think this is so great because not only is a class connected, but a whole bunch of classes and teachers which gives us the chance to experience and receive insight from a much more diverse group of people.

WhyTechnology Should be Integrated into the Classroom

Blog Assignment: Why should technology be integrated into social studies classrooms? How has the learning from our first session influenced your answer? Please support your views with content from the readings.


Even growing up somewhat in the digital age, I know I am still not as computer saavy as those in the generations below me. We didn't get cell phones or lap tops or all of these hand held games as early as kids do now, and it makes a difference.
At the end of the first class, I felt extremely overwhelmed with all of the different mediums we were introduced to at once, not to mention working with a mac for the first time in my life. Regardless of my comfort level with technology, however, (which isn't too bad), it is undeniable and inevitable the exponentially increasing impact technology has in our society. We are taught as future teachers to try to reach students through the idea of prior knowledge, and making education relevant to their lives. With this in mind, it would almost be silly not to add the one thing they probably spend most of their time with-technology. This fact is only going to become more true as time passes. And as I get older, if I don't stay in touch with technology, I will be somewhat alienated from my future students.
The book talked about critical thinking and technology in the first chapter. I do believe that technology can be a powerful tool in helping students to learn social studies, whether its through primary document analysis or feeling more comfortable with expressing themselves, and the latter is a particular point of interest for me. While I have never had many problems with speaking in front of others, I know a lot of people with great ideas flowing through their heads do. This is just one way the internet can be useful. As a social studies teacher, we want our students to think for themselves, form their own opinions, etc. Setting up an online community has the possibilities of learning more about our students and what they think, because it takes pressure off of them that they may feel in face-to-face discussion, or whatever their issue may be, and helps them to escape their own little bubble once in a while and privileges us with their ideas and thoughts, and may in turn motivate them to do better.
The chapters were relatively easy to read (except the concept of RSS is still a little iffy for me), and I know that learning as much as I can about how the internet and technology in general works is an important tool for my job as a teacher. I look forward to learning more about it, because I feel like it is one more thing that will better equip me for my future career, and to help me better connect with my students.