Elizabeth+Lecher

Choosing a Side and Forming an Opinion
Forming an educated opinion, based on something other than, "I think so," or "My parents think so" is difficult for children. The first space is designed to help students form an educated opinion on Benedict Arnold other than the common notion that he is a traitor. Students in fifth grade commonly study the American Revolution, and often do not go beyond a very short list of names and information. They most commonly learn several names and one or two sentences about them. The most common reference to Benedict Arnold is that of a traitor, but there is more to his story. The desktop space is designed to help students to understand more about him, and also to read for information. My second desktop space is also based on the idea of forming an idea, this time about a more current topic. In Indianapolis, school uniforms have become a big issue, as Indianapolis Public School recently adopted them. I think I did a better job on this site as it was easier to bring in personal web pages, cartoons, real-world policies, and articles to help students to form their opinion. I had planned to follow the format of background knowledge, definition, side 1, side 2, and final opinion as I had on the first space. However, the information I found lent itself more to giving several examples and letting students react to each one before they came to their final opinion. I think this space would work well for grades 4-6.