Kerrie+and+Kim's+Feedback

Hello Kerry and Kim

This unit looks great. I really think you have done a great job with the way you are trying to attack so many topics. We often do a similar thing at my school to ensure that we get through units of work and VELS outcomes. I really enjoyed your set up for the blog and the Wiki looks fantastic. I also like the idea of an expo at the end.

Congratulations on putting together what looks like a fun and engaging unit and I hope you have fun implementing it. Darryl Spiteri

Hello Kerrie and Kim, I left my feedback [|HERE] (as a word document). Great job!! Cheers Mark

**__Making Tracks – Feedback from Alan!__**
//Initial comments:// Your presentations, especially the Wiki and your PowerPoints and Rubrics are very professionally done – they look fantastic Kim and Kerry! While you have used the CFQs to focus the student’s learnings, there is plenty of latitude for them to choose their own directions. There is great variety in how they can present their work, so you have certainly succeeded in creating an exciting, student centred, PBL unit. The Unit is well organised and logically flows. There is room for integrating this unit with other units/year levels I thought. It might be interesting even to run this Unit each year with students using the learnings of the students from the year before and adding to it.

__**Introductory Document or Presentation**__ Your //Introductory PowerPoint// and matching //Think-Pair-Share document// (drag and drop to match the face/description) helps to get students to think not only about who may have made a difference, but also about the variety of ways and forums in which people can do this. Your use of graphic organisers in the //Comparison Chart// document and //the KHWL chart// all emphasise the EQ and will have the students thinking about the application of the question to the unit theme.

You use of graphic organisers, text, templates, video and tables provide for different types of learners. Have you considered podcasting as well? I found this worked very well for VCAL students who had difficulties absorbing detailed textual instructions (and saved me the frustration of repeatedly photocopying sheets that they regularly lost.)

You have embedded 21st century skills and H.O.T. throughout, and utilise Web 2 applications with the Wiki and Blog.

Your summative assessment tools for either the //Museum Exhibition// or the //Historical Presentation// are clear and cover many criteria. You are not expecting all students to cover all skills within this project as I understand it, but rather to develop some skills thoroughly. Would you address skills not covered by individual students in other units? You have included 21st Century Skill skills in the assessment as well as explicit ICT skills.
 * __Student Sample Summative Assessment__**

__**Student Sample**__ I really liked how you provided such variety in your student samples –a video of Peter Lalor, the timeline and newspaper article for Caroline Chisholm and the web page (Wiki page) of John Simpson. – all of which were part of the Wiki. Clearly student centred and plenty of opportunity to develop ICT skills.

There is a wealth of support and resources. Students have straight forward and thorough guides in the //Making Track Timelines// instructions, the //Posing Questions// with supporting //Q matrix// tool and the //Citing Your Data Chart//. The //Making Tracks Wiki// contains many specific helps for students choosing a variety of subjects for their project. The Blog seemed to provide an informal checklist (progress report) vehicle for you to monitor progress. How would you monitor this for individual students? Would there be progressive deadlines?
 * __Student Support or Facilitation Resource__**

The Blog contained a lot of support material from //Safety on the Net// to //useful websites.// Especially useful are //the many formative assessment tools// that were available for students, through which they can draw on a number of sources of feedback.
 * __Other Resources__**

Opportunity to develop all nine 21st century skills is clearly evident in this unit, as are many opportunities to develop a wide range of ICT skills. Assessment is blended throughout and the CFQs are relevant to life and get students to think about ways that **//__they__//** could make a difference, through the examination of historical characters. The unit is rich in support material and in opportunities to choose their own directions. A variety of student learning styles are well catered for as well.
 * __Entire Unit Portfolio__**

I really enjoyed looking through your unit Kim and Kerry. I noticed that you have a student-teacher conference to assess their learning. With this taking place before they make their products, is this the mechanism to ensure they are going beyond gathering facts about their characters and moving into H.O.T.? I thought that without some sort of check like teacher input, it might be possible for some students to produce, say for example a newspaper article, that was not much more than a reproduction of facts. While most students would likely not to do this, how can you ensure that none have taken the opportunity to duck around H.O.T.? (I did note that the Q chart would help with this.)
 * __Other Comments/Notes:__**


 * Feedback from David**

Hi Kim and Kerrie

This is a wonderful project and firstly congratulations on your achievement. When I think back to your reservations at the start of the course, I can only marvel at the learning journey you have both made. I hope you feel that it was worth all the effort! You've also demonstrated the power of collaborative planning.

The feedback you've had from the others is very comprehensive and I can only reiterate what our colleagues have said. You use of the wiki to showcase the unit is exemplary, as is your use of the student wiki and blog to support your unit. Really liked the student sample video and what a great use of the wiki as a showcase for student work.

The support material and assessment material is also comprehensive, as the others point out. I do tend to share Mark's reflection on the relative equity of different activities. In the past I've presented the students with a grid of choices with the maximum score weighted depending on the complexity of the task. Perhaps this is something you are thinking of using too.

Congratulations again and I look forward to hearing how the project goes in class.

David