Mrs. Jacobs
pjacobs@wyckoffschools.org
W.E.L.
Welcome to the Wyckoff Extended Learning Program for gifted and talented students in grades 6 and 7 at Eisenhower Middle School! We are always excited about our many creative endeavors so feel free to stop by and visit or email Mrs. Jacobs with any questions or comments. Feedback is always welcome!
For all students in W.E.L., the curriculum for the school year incorporates four learning opportunities. There are two individual projects as well as two cooperative learning projects, enabling students to maximize their individual and collective potential.
The sixth grade W.E.L classes have just finished presenting their first individual learning project, "Infomercial of the Self". This is an autobiographical assignment which requires students to communicate information about themselves in an interesting and informative way before their peers. Following specified criteria, students create a project in any format which gives their peers (and themselves) a unique perspective on who they are and what makes them awesome individuals! Some highlights were power point presentations, scrapbooks, newspapers, an autobiographical "box", a radio show and several home movies! We learned a great deal about ourselves and each other!
We have now moved on to our second project, "The Leadership Project". For our first cooperative learning opportunity, sixth graders work in groups to identify a cause they would like to support given a hypothetical budget of $10,000. They must first create a proposal for teacher approval and then get to work on making their dream become a reality. Each group's concept may be communicated in any format and presentations are scheduled to begin on Monday, January 12, 2009.
Seventh graders in W.E.L. have finished presenting their individual projects, "Experts in the Field". Students each selected a person to research and they were asked to communicate as much detailed information as possible about the individual selected and what contributions this person has made to a particular field. Some highlights were power point presentations on Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and choreographer Katherine Dunham. We have enjoyed two cakes modeled after the "extreme cakes" of pastry chef, Duff Goldman. One was a spiderweb design with spiders crafted from Rice Krispies. We also had an iPod cake made with colored fondant. We have seen a collage/poetry project on comedienne Whoopi Goldberg and a menu depicting the life and accomplishments of chef, Emeril Lagasse. A multi-dimensional project on the life of Vincent van Gogh incorporated a diorama, two biographical display boards and a game in which the winners were awarded with real sunflowers, inspired by one of the artist's famous paintings. We have gained fascinating insights into the life and times of the individuals W.E.L. students have chosen to research while learning about individual talents inherent to members of our seventh grade W.E.L. community!
Coming up next for seventh grade W.E.L. students is. . . "The Educational Theater Project"!!! In groups formed by student interest, each team creates a theatrical vignette as part of a dramatic presentation performed by seventh grade W.E.L. students. Each team focuses on a social issue which it considers to be important for middle school students. Themes from "The 3 R's Day" will be explored as possibilities. Each team then creates a five minute theatrical presentation which communicates a message that they feel to be important. A theatrical presentation may include any and all forms of media, poetry, comedy, song, etc. It is up to each team to decide how it wishes to communicate its chosen message. Students who may not wish to perform are encouraged to explore options of song composition, video production, directing, etc. The goal is to create a play, combining the vignettes created by both seventh grade W.E.L. classes to be performed during the first week of March, 2009!
STAY TUNED FOR INFORMATION ON OUR PROGRESS AS WE ENGAGE IN NEW AND EXCITING COOPERATIVE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN W.E.L.!
