My first project as a SEEC Crew member was the Hidden Figures Unit that I created over my Spring Break almost a year ago, which is hard to believe! I really enjoyed creating the unit and teaching it to my kiddos. I also saw the value and interest that my students took in it and enjoyed sharing the journey on my blog. When I created the unit, I just taught it to my homeroom students at first. I was not trying to keep it from others, but I wanted to wrap my head around it and see how it all worked before sharing it with others. It was like a pilot program and I made changes throughout the unit as I found more helpful resources. I've been excited to hear that other teachers have been sharing the Hidden Figures Young Readers Edition book with their kiddos too. A few teachers at my school are actually reading it with their kiddos right now. A couple weeks ago, a teacher asked if there was an audio recording of the book. I thought I had found a lot of the resources available and I have to admit that a recording was not something that I had ever searched for during this process! In case you're curious, an audiobook does exist. We thought that it be a great project for students though; creating their own version of an audiobook. We wanted it to be more than just a recording however. So, each group is assigned a chapter and they're focused on identifying the characters and key vocabulary. They will also write a chapter summary and create a wordle to represent the chapter. All of this information will be typed in Google Slides. Using the resources available to students, their Chromebooks, we decided the best tool for them to use was Screencastify. Tech Tool Feature: ScreencastifyScreencastify is an extension for Google Chrome. You can add it to Chrome for free by using the webstore. What's great about Screencastify is that it's easy to use and with the free version, you can record videos up to 10 minutes. I'll be honest, I found that out because I reached the limit! Screencastify allows you to record your voice over your desktop or if you have a webcam, you can also record a video. Since Screencastify is a Chrome extension, it creates a folder in your Google Drive and automatically stores all of your videos there! It acts like any other files in Google Drive, so you are able to share it too. I've been using it to record my desktop and create demonstration videos to teach students how to do something (like create an action plan in Google Sheets). It's a great way to meet the needs of your visual and auditory learners. They are able to watch the video at their own pace and pause it, if need be. It allows students who have been absent to catch up and allows teachers to save their voice from repeated directions. Book Shout OUtA Hidden Figures picture book was released in January and it's great! It's by the same author (Margot Lee Shetterly) and is titled Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women in the Space Race. It's a good way to build background for students before reading the Young Readers Edition, as a way to share the story with younger students or you don't have time to tackle the Young Readers Edition. I would highly recommend it. The illustrations by Laura Freeman are eye-catching and full of color and the book is informative and entertaining. You may know that Scott Kelly has a book for lifelong learners called Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery. I haven't read it because I'm currently engrossed with Riding Rockets - The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by: Astronaut Mike Mullane . You may not know that Scott Kelly also has a picture book called My Journey to the Stars. It's a great combination of illustrations by Andre Ceolin and pictures that connect with a younger audience. In the book, Scott talks about events as a kid and his life as an astronaut. See what he says about the book, in his own words below. The students are in the midst of this Hidden Figures Podcast Project. As they progress, I'll be sure to share!! In my true fashion, I have created resources and a rubric, of course, that would allow you to create your own project in your classroom. As soon as formatting is complete, I'll be putting it in my Teachers Pay Teacher store. Tinkercad resources will be added soon as well. Students are using Screencastify to create a virtual tour of their solar system!! This week, I'm co-teaching what we're calling, Mission Days. We've adapted the NASA & PBS Design Squad Touchdown lesson to incorporate the Purdue SLED (Science Learning through Engineering Design) structure. I've been thrilled to continue to also share space exploration outside the classroom as I embark on my second year in space. A few teachers have been showing the PBS Documentary, A Year in Space , that chronicles Scott Kelly's journey, to their classes. One teacher asked if she could borrow it to take home because she had been talking about it and her husband really wanted to see it. A couple of nights ago when I went out to dinner, the host stopped me. I was wearing my Crew jacket and he asked what my patch was. I explained that I was a teacher who was working on lessons to teach space exploration. His response was "dope". From a teenage boy, I would say that's a pretty big compliment! I can't wait to update you more on all of these awesome space happenings! Until then... Peace, love and space exploration,
- CAPCOM Conrad
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AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
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