Director of Teaching & Learning Miles Azzeh's Academic Spotlight: Connie Evans and Cheryl Borgeson
Our Lansing USD 469 teachers are incredible at engaging our students in fantastic learning opportunities to reach their full potential every day in our district. To highlight and bring recognition to this great work, Director of Teaching and Learning Miles Azzeh will be regularly shining a spotlight on a stand-out teacher through "academic spotlights."
This week's academic spotlight goes to LMS 6th grade social studies teachers Connie Evans and Cheryl Borgeson. Both graciously invited me to see their students' "Gallery Walk," a culminating project on what they learned this year in Ancient Civilization.
"We like this assignment because it allowed students to choose a chapter we covered this year and showcase their knowledge in a creative way, " said Mrs. Borgeson.
In addition to students creating visuals and speaking on their learning, Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Borgeson also provided them forms to fill out on their classmates' work.
"Using the information on their posters, students were also given the opportunity to create their own questions for their peers to answer," said Mrs. Evans.
Seeing students peppering each other with questions and comments was fun, and it was apparent they enjoyed the project.
"The Gallery Walk was one of my favorite projects because it refreshed my memory of all the places we have studied about this year in class. All the projects we did in Social Studies this year made learning fun, and I looked forward to this class every day," said Aeslynn Dodd
"The Gallery Walk was a lot of fun! Mrs. Evans taught us how to work in groups to accomplish an end product and that it is not always easy to work in a group, but we did it and loved it," said Jane Hoins
Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Borgeson used a common technique that I have brought up and seen many times during my academic spotlights: spiraling.
"It was fun to see students excited when recalling topics we covered earlier in the year and recognize how much they have learned about ancient civilizations," said Mrs. Evans.
Yes, it was apparent the students learned quite a bit this year as they shared their love of the project and the learning styles Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Borgeson offer.
"I loved getting to play my own part in the poster, so there was some flexibility," said Maddie Huhn
"I really enjoy Social Studies and the projects we do because it's hands-on. It helps me understand the concepts we are learning in a better way," said Nichole Mack
Fantastic job, Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Borgeson! Thank you for making social studies learning interesting and fun at the same time!