Homework Due:
Many of you need to finish your assessment. You may use your Category Sort from class to help.

Also, make sure you do not forget about the Eddie Project. Remember, if you know any alumni or have friends/siblings that spent more than a year at EL, they are eligible to be interviewed. In case you lost them, here are the Project Guidelines and the Verification Sheets.

Daily Goal(s): 
When you leave today, you should be able to define what a school curriculum is and explain its purpose.

This is part of our larger goal that will stretch of the next few classes:

  • Students understand the purpose and design of the Auburn School Department curriculum.

You will be assessed on this target in the near future.

Lesson Plan:
We’ll open class today with a short video on what it means to be a student today. This video is a few years old, but the message is still powerful. We’ll talk about what it all means and how it relates to us when it’s over.

As you likely noticed, the video was about college students. Obviously, we need to think in terms of K-12. Using this video as our guide, your going to do what’s known as a Gap Analysis. This activity invites us to think of where we were versus where we want to go. It helps us to chunk things up into steps and set goals.

The first task in this activity is simple. Working in a group of 3-4, make a list of how you spend your time in a typical week. What do you do all day? In a day or week, how much time do you spend:

  • Doing homework?
  • Playing video games?
  • Watching TV, Netflix, or Hulu?
  • On the internet?
  • Working on your hobbies or side projects?
  • Doing chores?
  • On Facebook and/or Twitter?
  • Reading books for school?
  • Reading for your own enjoyment?
  • How many times do you use Google in a day to look something up?
  • Doing extracurricular activities (sports, clubs)?
  • Sleep?
  • Texting? or Snapchatting?
  • On your phone?
  • On two screens at once (TV + phone or TV + computer)
  • E-mailing?
  • Socializing with friends?

Include any other information about how you spend your time.

Now we’ll turn our attention to adulthood. All of you are going to get there someday. It’s just a matter of time. Firstly, we’ll discuss some of the key roles that successful adults have. Then, I’ll turn you loose. Using your own observations and experience AND the internet, what do skills and knowledge do adults need to be successful in all the roles they will need to play in life? 

Working alone, you’ll have 20 minutes to find some answers to this question. Make a list.

Lastly, we’ll compare those two lists. It will be your job to create a curriculum that bridges the gap between where you are as 9th graders and where you need to be in order to be successful adults. What knowledge and skills do you need to be a successful adult? From what courses could you gain that knowledge and skills?

Homework Assigned:
Your assignment is to describe in writing a curriculum that “bridges the gap” between the two lists we created today (who you are as teenagers and who you need to become to be successful adults). Your curriculum does not have to be traditional. Write about the subjects and courses that you think would turn you into successful adults.

These are some questions I wrote on the board to get you thinking:

  1. What subjects or courses do you need to bridge the gap?
  2. How much of the curriculum should be focused on academics? On social skills?
  3. Should the curriculum be strictly practical or are there things that are worth learning for learning’s sake?

Your description should be between 200 and 400 words.