Mrs. Robison's Blog: Bulletin Board Assignment

At the start of the year, I did a bulletin board assignment, which I loved and will blog about at the beginning of next year. The kids did such a great job with the boards that I had to immortalize them - I honestly didn't want to take them all down. Some of them were so creative and awesome. It makes me excited to see what my students come up with next year.

I like this assignment because it assesses so many skills, requires the kids to reflect on what they have learned in the past, requires students to consolidate information learned from different teachers and/or schools, gives them some ownership in the design of the classroom and also helps me to have one of the best looking classrooms in the school.

Here is the assignment that I used for this:

First Speech: Group Sales Pitch

Learning Goals:

Common Core Standard	Rewrite each of the following standards in your own words:	I have achieved mastery of this particular standard by…
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 9–10 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)

We will review this assignment as a class - please use your highlighter and text tools in the home ribbon to take notes and highlight important parts as we go over this.

Prompt: Design and pitch a bulletin board proposal for our classroom in a formal speech. This assignment will require you to work with a small group of your peers to synthesize your knowledge, design a visually appealing board with a focus on content, and present this board in a sales pitch to Mrs. Robison. In addition to being a sales pitch, your presentation should also serve as a content review for your peers – reviewing the content/procedures/etc. learned during your 9th grade year.

Group Selection: In an effort to get to know our new friends and to draw on a variety of different educational expertise, you will create a group of four. Your group must include the following:

SOPHOMORES

No more than 1 person from Grundl's English class

No more than 1 person from Hunt's English class

No more than 1 person from Mujkanovic’s English class

No more than 1 person from Segal's English class

No more than 1 person from elsewhere - a different school or a core class

Write the FULL names (as they appear in Skyward - then you can email them easily) of your group members and the English experience they had last year. After the project has been completed, you will complete the contributions and percent of work done columns. The first row should be YOUR information.

Skyward Name:	Last Year:	Contributions:	Percent of Work Done:
ME

English Content Assignment: Each group will be assigned a different board to work on. The board assignments and description of the expectations for each are listed in the table below. The first task you MUST complete as a group is measuring your board.

Board	Description	Measurements ____(height) X ____(width)
Expectations/Procedures	General classroom policies/procedures
KR Way	Practical application of the KR for the classroom
Writing	Essential writing practices/strategies
Reading	Essential reading practices/strategies
Recommended Reading	Motivation and recommendations for independent reading
Speaking	Essential speaking practices/strategies
Vocabulary	Essential vocabulary practices/strategies

***The purpose of your board is to provide easily accessible information about your subject and to inspire your classmates to participate in the skill that your board is devoted to. For example, if you are assigned to the reading board...you would want to include basic information about reading strategies as well as some inspirational quotes, motivating visuals, etc. You should keep this in mind as you complete all aspects of this assignment.***

Next, as a group, you need to review what you have each learned (during your freshman year) about your content & what you will want to include as the content on your board – this is THE most important part of your project!!! While the majority of the content should come from your previous educational experience, should you decide to complete and additional research, please cite those sources.

Put notes for this below:

Integrate Art:

Your board MUST be visually appealing. Complete annotations/an interactive reading (using OneNote tools) with the Bulletin Board and Poster Basics article on the subpage for this assignment and apply these principles: simplicity, unity, balance and emphasis. A unifying theme/message/colors/etc. can really help to create a board that is both informative, engaging and visually stimulating - put some time into careful consideration of this aspect. You can look at past boards for inspiration, but your design should be unique. Keeping all of this in mind, use Inspiration (or a similar program) to create a small-scale design of your board. This should NOT be rough - it should be a model of exactly what your board will look like (just in miniature). You should also design any/all elements that you are planning to utilize on your board. If you are planning to have a poster on your board, you must have an image of that EXACT poster (and if it is going to be purchased you should account for it in your budget). If you are planning to design this poster yourself, then you MUST do so.

Place the mock-up here:

Integrate Math:

You must include measurements on your board – it is your responsibility to determine the measurements for each aspect of your board and to ensure that everything will fit, while at the same time applying the artistic principles above.

Place the mock-up with measurements here:

You MUST create a supply list and budget for your board. You may use any of the supplies present in the room – free of charge. After that, you may spend up to (but less is always better) $20 on your board. You will need to research the exact cost of any elements on your board. You must include tax when considering the final cost. All elements MUST be CURRENTLY available locally (Kent, Auburn, Federal Way). Your supplies needed list MUST include EVERY single supply you will need to construct your board – even those that are available to you for free in the classroom (Please add additional rows to this chart if needed).

You should complete the following chart:

Supplies Needed (exact description, not general):	Image of Supply:	Store (with address and phone number):	Cost per unit:	Number:	Total Cost:





				SUBTOTAL:
				TAX:
				TOTAL:

Presentation:

You will create a Prezi to enhance your group's presentation. You MUST include the following elements:

The title of your board (make this catchy please)

An introduction to your group members (make this engaging please)

The board design a.k.a. your mock-up with measurements (make this visually appealing please)

Explanation of application of principles learned - simplicity, unity, balance and emphasis

An explanation of each element on your board and commentary on its inclusion (part of your job here is to review the content that was learned last year and this is by far the most important portion of the presentation)

The budget for your board - this must be accurate

Your citations (if needed)

YOU WILL ONLY TURN IN YOUR PREZI - SO MAKE CERTAIN THAT ALL REQUIRED ELEMENTS ARE PRESENT!!!

Your group will pitch their board in class on _______________________. This is a sales pitch. Your job is to convince Mrs. Robison that out of the three pitches (one from each of her classes) for a board, yours is best. You will use your BEST presentation skills. You MUST apply structure, in addition to excellent speaking skills, to this speech. Mrs. Robison will select one group to actually carry out their design for a board - the members of this group will receive an automatic 100% as a reward for the extra effort they will put in to create it (all other groups will receive their rubric grade). Mrs. R will purchase the materials and this group will get the opportunity to see their design to fruition.

Finally:

Reflect: how did YOU show mastery of the learning goals for this assignment? How did each member of your group contribute? What percentage of the work load did each group member complete? Return to the top of this assignment and complete the answers to these questions.

This year as the various groups present, I will be asking the students to take notes about the content that is covered - in this way they will be forced to review along with their peers who covered different areas than they did.

Here are some example boards from previous years - I can't wait to add the boards designed/created this year: