Mt. Rushmore 2- Beyond Four Presidents

Nicky's recommendation for Mt. Rushmore 2

 

Happy Presidents' Day! It seemed fitting that today's post feature a project related to the holiday: 

Minnetonka Middle School West seventh grade social studies teacher Mo Berkowitz had her students imagine they had to persuade a committee deciding who the four new individuals on a second Mount Rushmore should be. Students had to use what they had learned about United States history to choose the four most important people to nominate for the new memorial. Students were encouraged to select individuals who best represented the diverse range of people in our country. Students need to research the individuals who they selected for this memorial to document their research using at least three sources. Then they scripted and created a presentation to show to the committee using a variety of iPad apps.

One student, Nicholas,  selected John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Rosa Parks, and Ben Franklin for his nominees. "Nicky" used his iPad to create his presentation, and app smashed Pic Collage, Chatter Pix Kids, and Thing Link. After finding images of the four individuals he selected, he used PicCollage to overlay them on an image of Mount Rushmore and then exported this to his camera roll on is iPad. Then, in Chatter Pix Kids he used the individual images and recorded himself as scripted. He then exported this to the camera roll as well. Finally, Nicky used ThingLink to combine his proposed Mount Rushmore image and Chatter Pix videos together into the final product. You can listen to his project by clicking on it above. 

The instructions from Mo for the project are below. She also has shared her rubric, the templates for the students' research, and the instructions she provided for students to complete the app smash. Mo worked with Minnetonka Middle School East seventh grade social studies teacher Bev Antilley on the writing and planning for this project. This is a great student project that incorporates critical thinking, communication, creativity, use of technology, and allows for personalized choice in learning. 

A few weeks ago I highlighted another presidential themed assignment, App Smashed Presidential Rock Bands as Alternative Assessments in US History.