PUERTO RICO

A cultural island adventure

COURSE OVERVIEW
Puerto Rico: An island adventure is an exploratory website in which student will become acquainted with Puerto Rico, its basic characteristic, its products, perspectives, and cultural practices. Students will investigate websites, watch videos, take photo tours and virtual fieldtrips, and explore others LiveBinders. This is a week-long unit of instruction. By the end of the course, students should demonstrate basic knowledge about Puerto Ricos location and geographic structure, the basic monuments and locales, how it is similar and different to mainland U.S. culture, and have deep knowledge on at least one cultural indicator.

OBJECTIVES
St ude n t s w i l l be c o m e a c q ua i nted w i t h P ue r to Ri c o ' s ba s i c l o c a t ion a n d g e o g raphic c h a ra c terist ics. St ude n t s w i l l i nvest igate s eve ral v i s ual a n d s po ke n " to ur s " o f P ue r to Ri c o a n d i t s l a n dmark s a n d l o c a t ions. St ude n t s w i l l ex pl a in to a n a udi e n c e w h a t P ue r to Ri c o i s l i ke , w h a t' s i n te resting th e re , a n d w h a t o n e c a n s e e t h e re . St ude n t s w i l l l e a rn a bo ut t h e " c re a t ive c o m m ons" l i c e nsing w h i c h w i l l e n a bl e t h e m to us e ot h e r s ' pi c t ure s a n d re s o urc e s l e g ally i n c re a t i ng a Powe rPo int pre s e nt a t ion. St ude n t s w i l l c o n duc t s e a rc h es fo r pi c t ure s w h i c h re pre s e nt t h e c o un t r y o f P ue r to Ri c o a n d i t s s a l ient c h a ra c te rist ic s we l l . St ude n ts w i l l di s cuss P ue r to Ri c o a n d i t s be s t - k n ow c h a ra c te rist ic s i n a pre s e n t at ion. St ude n t s w i l l c re a te a Powe rPo int pre s e nt ing t h e c o un t r y o f P ue r to Ri c o to a n a udi e n c e. St ude n t s w i l l i de n t ify a to pi c o f P ue r to Ri c a n c ul t ure t h a t i n te rest s t h e m a n d i nvest iga te i t i n de pt h . St ude n t s w i l l c o n duc t re s e arc h o f t h e i r ow n to fur t h e r ex pl o re t h e i r to pi c o f i n te rest. St ude n t s w i l l c o m pi le t h e i n fo rmat ion t h ey h ave l e a rned o n a P ue r to Ri c a n to pi c by c re a t i n g a Li ve Binde r. St ude n t s w i l l pre pa re a Li ve Binder w h i c h a l low s t h e s t ude n t s c l a ssmate s a n d i n st ruc to r to v i sit t h e s i te s, v i de os, pi c t ure s a n d i n fo rmat ion t h e s t ude n t h a s di s c overed o n t h e to pi c . St ude n t s w i l l v i sit t h re e ot h e r pe o pl e s' bi n de r s a n d eva l uate them.

PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

Map labeling activity using Google Maps B l o g : W h e r e i s P u e r to R i c o s i t u a te d ? W h a t i s P u e r to R i c o s u r r o u n d e d by ? W hy wo u l d t h e U n i te d S t a te s d e m a n d t h a t t h ey r e t a i n c o n t r o l o f P u e r to R i c o , t h o u g h m a ny P u e r to R i c a n s w i s h fo r independence ? V i e w i n g r e a l - l i f e p i c t u r e s o f P u e r to R i c o t h r o u g h u s e r p h oto s o n maps.google.com B l o g : L i s t t h r e e t h i n g s yo u n ot i c e d a b o u t P u e r to R i c o , o r t h r e e a s p e c t s yo u t h i n k r e p r e s e n t P u e r to R i c o V i d e o i n S p a n i s h w i t h v i e w s a n d i n fo r m a t i o n a b o u t P u e r to R i c o Wa t c h a s l i d e s h ow w i t h S p a n i s h c o m m e n t a r y B l o g : L i s t o n e n e w t h i n g t h a t yo u l e a r n e d a b o u t P u e r to R i c o Ta ke a v i r t u a l fi e l d t r i p o f P u e r to R i c o Wa t c h a v i d e o a b o u t E l Yu n q u e r a i n fo r e s t Re s e a r c h C r e a t i v e C o m m o n s l i c e n s i n g fo r m e d i a C o n d u c t a s a fe s e a r c h o n a to p i c o f P u e r to R i c a n c u l t u r e C r e a te a Po we r Po i n t o r G o o g l e S l i d e s h ow p r e s e n t a t i o n w i t h a m i n i m u m o f 1 2 s l i d e s i n t r o d u c i n g a n i m p o r t a n t a s p e c t o f P u e r to Rico, its monuments, its culture, or its practices. With each picture a c l e a r d e s c r i p t i o n o f 3 l i n e s o r m o r e m u s t b e i n c o r p o r a t e d to i n t r o d u c e t h e i te m a n d m a ke i t s i m p o r t a n c e c l e a r to t h e v i e we r . S i g n u p o n t h e L i v e B i n d e r we b s i t e C r e a te a L i v e B i n d e r w h i c h e x p l i c a te s u p o n t h e i r c h o s e n to p i c o f P u e r to R i c a n c u l t u r e F i l l o u t a f o r m a n a l y z i n g t h r e e ot h e r s t u d e n t s L i v e B i n d e r s i te s

SHARING
Sharing information about the creator of the website was new to me I am uncomfortable accepting assignments in two different formats (electronic and written) I am no longer afraid of blogs! This is the first time I have incorporated the use of Google maps and all its functions successfully. My biggest concern is of students being able to access the sites at school (including personal websites, flickr, and YouTube videos).

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

I would require students to complete an assignment on Creative Commons licensing rather than glossing over it and expecting that students are doing the work without holding them accountable. I would change the map assignment to a computerized (not hand -drawn) higher -quality item I would require investigation of several cultural topics less in -depth, rather than having students investigate one topic at length I would incorporate music and popular culture products into the learning process I would assign students other s LiveBinders to investigate, rather than letting them choose so that no one is lef t out I cannot foresee any necessity for changes for large group use