U2 Day 1-2: PD Discussion Topic

My classes discussed the new RFID squares on credit cards. We expanded that into talking about the pros and cons on digital banking (there is apparently an App for your cell phones in Canada that allows you to set up a withdrawal from your back account. You complete the transaction on your phone, show up at the back and it’s already ready for you.)

We are in the midst of this exact lesson right now. Students have been “discussing” exactly what a “community” is and are agreeing on a problem. At this time, the community is the school district (they have just gotten the jist of what stakeholders are). I think they are going to settle on the fact or perception that the district performs poorly and is negatively impacting the stakeholders. The process is taking a little longer than expected, but students are doing a more thorough job of understanding the community and understanding what the problem actually is.

I would like for my students to focus of helping with going green. Last year our school became and green school, this year we plan on planting a garden seasonally to encourage healthy eating for teens.

I really like this idea. I think my students will run with this approach as well…Thank you.

We discussed the people who are homeless and the children/students. Students suggested different way they could help to solve the problem.

We used a community problem that dealt with our school. We have 1 entry into school and it is on a very busy road and there is constantly an accident at the stop light at the entry of the school. My students really got into this because this issue also effects how many students are allowed to drive to school. I think since it was a topic that the students were interested in they were more engaged!!

We will be discussing the amount of waste in our community.

I would have them discuss violence (fighting) in schools. Over the last few months our school has seen an increase of this type of behavior. Maybe the students can generate some ideas on how to curb the behavior and prevent this type of issue.

I had my students select their own community issue to improve! The topics ranged from improving school lunches to cleaning the Chesapeake Bay! They came up with some AWESOME solutions.

I would have students discuss the problem with respect and bully prevention in our school/community. This is an ongoing problem and a lot of my students would benefit from this discussion.

I would like to have my students discuss the lack of internet availability at home for many of our students.

I think I would like to take a little longer on these lessons and let students choose problems that are interesting to them. I will give them a list of things that they can consider but will also encourage them to think of their own. Topics on the list will be: accessibility of public transportation, housing prices, trash collection, unemployment, school start time.

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I had them talk about sidewalk connection and continuity as well as bus stop locations.

A community problem that has been relevant to the students in my classes is police brutality. I believe that education is more than the grades, its about applying the knowledge to better your community. In this respect, these issues that plague the community are recorded in a way in which data can reveal the causes and bring about solutions.

A community problem my students look in to is a lack of funding for athletic programs and other after school programs.

The community problem I chose was the rise of the homeless problem in San Pedro. I choose this problem to make it relevant to the students as our school is in San Pedro and this was the top issue that resulted from a google search. One thing I noticed is that when I first had students discuss this problem the first thing a majority did was automatically discuss the various causes of homelessness, trying to understand the problem.

My students discussed problems in the school community. They narrowed down the topics to the poor selection of items sold at the student store; crowded lunch lines; and, dirty restrooms.

I think it would be great to give the students the chance to choose their topic. That way they may feel more connection with the discussion

My students discussed how our small town is shrinking and the amount of businesses in town continues to dwindle.

We had a recent incident at school related to vandalism. I think I might start a discussion about taking pride in your school/community. Our students are striving to do the correct things…but challenged by less then positive influences.