Impacts & Opportunities

IMPACTS Unit

Currently, students are well into the integrated Impacts Unit in which they have been studying the patterns of natural hazards within a country and working on developing a proposal to persuade ‘representatives of the UNISDR’ to fund a disaster risk reduction program for their assigned nation.

At the beginning of the unit, students were presented with the following GRASP scenario…

• Goal: Your goal is to secure funding for your country for disaster risk reduction.
• Role:  You are the Head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness
• Audience: Your audience is representatives from the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
• Situation:  As a UN member state located on the Ring of Fire, your country is potentially at risk for an earthquake and/or tsunami. You need to persuade the UNISDR to fund disaster preparedness in your nation.
• Product:  You will prepare a written proposal to representatives of UNISDR making the case for your country

To build the background knowledge necessary to develop a disaster risk reduction proposal, science classes have had students research plate tectonics and the Ring of Fire – analyzing the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind the natural phenomena resulting from the earth’s shifting plates. In math, students analyzed statistical data of their country’s natural hazards to identify predictive patterns and formulate generalizations about their country’s need for disaster risk reduction.

While in Humanities, students have been researching and synthesizing their understandings of the geographic profile of their country, the impact a historical natural disaster had on their country’s economy, environment and society, and NGOs that provide aide in a disaster as well as disaster risk reduction programs.

This week, students will be culminating all these understandings into a written proposal as well as planning and creating their mode of presentation.

This unit has presented many challenges for the children as they have had to tackle difficult scientific and mathematical concepts as well as formulate their understandings in the abstract form of writing, all while working collaboratively. This is no easy task, as they are learning to listen to, consider, and compromise their ideas collectively. I am proud of their display of flexibility and diligence.

Slice of Life Story Challenge

We continue on with our second week in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Some students are thriving at the opportunity to write every day, some are struggling. The goal is to write about a slice of life every day in the month of March, but if your child is distressed with the pace, encourage them to write 2 or 3 posts a week rather than 7. I will be having this chat with them on Monday.

To offer support and encouragement, I write a slice every day along with the students on our classroom blog, Wonderland. Once I post my daily slice, the students post their slices in the comment section of my post. Please feel free to click on the slices and leave a positive comment on their writing. Everyone loves an audience!

If interested, you can view my two slices, “Dear Students” and “Power of Words” that summarize the wise words of last week’s visiting author, Jack Gantos. What a gift his workshops were!

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