GRASPS Task

Essential Questions:

1. Why do we need a president? 
2. How are my views about the president shaped by my experiences?
3. What would it be like to walk in President Obama's shoes?

Unit Topic is the Presidency.

(Goal):  Your task is to put yourself in President Obama's shoes.  (Role): You are the president of the United States of America in today's political climate.  (Audience & Situation): You need to convince a 5th grade class that the president is essential to the government and how your recent decisions as president are evidence for the importance of the role.  The 5th grade class is just like ours; they have finished a unit on the presidency and its role in the United States government.  (Product, Performance, and Purpose): You will create a persuasive speech in order to convince your classmates of the importance of the role of the president.  (Standards): You performance needs to be at least 5 minutes long and will be judged by me (the teacher) according to a rubric.  Your classmates will also provide feedback on presentation and persuasiveness of arguments presented.  The rubric is to follow.  


My Thoughts/Questions:
This was harder than I imagined it to be -- to narrow the essential questions (I want them to be somewhat related... how else can you effectively assess the understandings of the students?) and to them come up with a authentic and purposeful assessment.  I hope that my first attempt is a good start...

So, my follow-up questions:

• Are my essential questions related well enough to form a unit?
• Do the essential questions have to be related?
• Does my GRASPS task allow me to assess that my students have an understanding of my essential questions?

It is getting easier to progress as we narrow a topic, but it is still very challenging, this backwards design.  It makes sense as you read about it (why you would do it, why it benefits students, etc), but as you attempt to build a unit it is very hard.  But I am enjoying the challenge!