If I Were Born In...

I love when you stumble upon a hidden gem on the web.  The Lottery of Life wandered into my world a few weeks ago and I thought it was awesome way to encourage kids to see the world from another person's shoes.  Make sure you have your sound on!

The site takes a looong time to load.  You'll know it's ready when a little arrow pops up on the upper right side of the wheel that says Spin the Wheel.  Then it will load again.  ...I've been lucky and had quick loads here and there, but I have also had to wait quite a bit. 

Anyway, you'll spin and spin and then land in a setting.  A baby will cry (that's you) and it will tell you where you were born.  There will be a list of problems that exist in your country, as well as links where you can learn more about your country.  By clicking on the problems, you can learn more about them and also see what is being done to solve those problems. 

The students love this site because they talk about where they were born and then exchange stories about what life must be like there.  It is amazing to see their level of engagement and excitement.  They ask questions and eagerly further their research.

I used this site within our Human Rights unit.  On our class blog, I asked the students to write one well-written reply to the question, which human right is most valuable to you?  Then, after the spun the Lottery of Life wheel, they have to write a second reply to the same question but this time from the perspective of a child from the country that they landed on.  The last step was for students to respond to one another.  This piece was invaluable because it created a lot of, "really? that happens?" realizations and other rich dialogue.  Something else I observed was that students who don't typically do homework were asking if they could finish the assignment at home, since the website took so long to load.  I told them that they would have time in class the next day, but who am I to tell a student that he/she can't go home and learn???  By all means, I said.

Current Events: This Week in Rap?

Every week, my students celebrate Current Events Friday...I'm not sure how much a of a celebration it actually is, but we enjoy putting our desks into a discussion circle and sharing what's been going on in the news that week. 

In the first week of school, I have the students sign up for one day to lead the discussion.  They expectation is that they will follow the news that week and come in on Friday, prepared to share two stories--one of international importance and one of their choice.  I don't ask that anything be turned in or written because I want this to be casual and not "extra work."  I think by removing the pressure of turning in an assignment, the students are more motivated and enthusiastic.  After the student shares his/her articles, they answer any questions their peers may have, and then we let the class share any other news they heard that week.  If we do happen to run out of things to talk about, which does not happen often, we watch the news.  The students really look forward to Current Events Friday!  It's also a perfect way to wrap up the week. 

I came across this on Twitter today thanks to @shannonmmiller.  I'm not sure if it has a place in my classroom, but it might be a fun way to quickly share the news with students.  I'd like to see my kids create something like this themselves, but then I wrestle with the question of whether the time and work is worth the desired outcome?  Do my students already effectively meet the learning objectives of becoming aware of the news around the world via Current Events Friday or would this be a valuable addition to the routine?  Maybe make it an option???