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 Bob Wood has rated the lesson plan "FLIP-iT" - Where Do I Go From Here? Oct 15, 2009
 Bob Wood has added the lesson plan "FLIP-iT" - Where Do I Go From Here? Oct 14, 2009

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Here is the technology that Bob Wood has acquired through Digital Wish:
Flip Ultra™ 120-minute Camcorder 2 for 1! Flip Ultra™ 120-minute - 2 for $150 (2)
Mr. Bob Wood
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Oakridge High School
Hometown:
Grand Haven, MI
Class Information:
Students per Class: 30
Class Description:
Senior Current Issues course provides a three fold concentration for graduating seniors. #1 we survey cultures, societies, and geographical regions of the world. We will pay particular attention to Africa and Middle East. A second focus of the course deals with current domestic and international events in the news. We supplement our Part I Global Study and Part II Current Events study, with independent film, documentaries, and assigned readings to help students better appreciate the diversity of world cultures and immediacy of current events in the USA. Finally, in Part III, students are asked to look at their life after high school. Guided by the State Career and Employability Skills Content Standards and Benchmarks, students will lay out short and long-term goals and create plans at how to achieve them. They will write out five and ten year plans. They will be encouraged to take on the twin problems of college selection and college funding, and be provided guidance and class time for each. The "FLIP-iT" assignment brings the entire course into focus. The assignment will allow seniors to concentrate on the things that matter in their life, culturally, politically, and individually, by recording interviews of themselves. They may work with a friend or use a tripod and talk the interview out. The final interview topic..."Where do I go from here." I am sure will provide some emotional and insightful, maybe even personally scary revelations. By burning a copy of all four interviews and providing students those copies upon graduation, they'll also have a pretty nice memento of a pivotal time in their lives.
Position:
teacher
Needs:
In order to do a really good job on the "FLIP-iT" Where do I go from here? assignment - we need multiple Flip Cameras. I carried my Flip camera all over the Middle East this summer and did nearly a hundred interviews. These are fantastic for listening and learning. The key for me, was that I had this camera at my disposal 24/7. With my seniors I have three cameras. Two personal cameras - that I allow them to use, and one paid for by the school. To do this assignment right I need more...many more. I could really use a dozen. That way, students could check them out and use them when the time was right. Who knows, as we progress and my students carry these cameras and become comfortable with these cameras other ideas and new assignments could evolve as well.
My Philosophy:
There is a huge technological divide in this nation when it comes to rich and poor schools. Oakridge is lower middle class. Nearly 60% of the student body is on free and reduced lunch. Many kids have lousy or no internet access at home. Our school lacks needed technology. These kids don't carry around cam corders - they don't have the money. And our school doesn't have the resources. The Flip Cameras will get good use. They will provide students who have little access to technology a creative and exciting way to interact with themselves, their peers, and the world.
Personal Information:
College and Degrees:
BA from Michigan State University 1980 - History
Activities:
So many of the activities that I engage in revolve around my teaching job. My mission is to help my students become awake to the real issues of the world. Consequently I encourage students to join me in all of the following activities. Close Up Washington - Every Spring I take a dozen students to Washington D.C. for a week, where they learn the real story about our government. SelmaBridge Crossing Jubilee - First weekend in March, a four day celebration, commemorating the events of 1965. I go annually. Everyother year I take students to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. BuildingA Better World Scholarship - Created in 2003 with a personal $300 donation, it has grown to $3000 annually from teacher, parent, community donations. Graduating seniors write essays on their philosophies regarding - Global Awareness, Community Involvement and Independent Travel. KIVA - Person to person micro lending website that empowers unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. I am extremely active and encourage student action.
Favorite Books:
"Let the Trumpet Sound - Life of Martin Luther King Junior" by Stephen B. Oates "Che- A Revolutionary Life" by Jon Lee Anderson "The Scramble for Africa" by Thomas Pakenham "1984" by George Orwell "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
Favorite Quotes:
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." by Martin Luther King Jr. "Be ashamed to die until you've won a victory for humanity." by Horace Mann. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mohandas K. Gandhi. "It does not require a majority to prevail, rather an irate tireless minority keen to set brushfires in peoples' minds." Samuel Adams
Interests:
I love to travel. And I travel always as a student of the world. I backpacked Western Europe in 1995 and in 1997 (Eastern Europe and Turkey.) In 2002 I spent two months in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. And in the summer of 2006 I toured for seven weeks in Africa with Fulbright Hays. I backpacked Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in July and August of 2009. As for the United States; I taught in Washingotn State for five years and traveled the country in researching Dodger Dogs. in the summer of 2003 I went South for five weeks, examining the Civil Rights Movement, and have since returned annually to Selma for the Bridge Crossing Jubliee. Everyother year I bring students along. I’ve also been to Washington D.C. more than a dozen times. Each of these experiences I’ve brought back into the classroom to focus a curriculum that is based on seeing all subjects from a culturally diverse and politically active perspective.
Employment History:
1980 to 1986 - John Sedgwick Junior High School - Port Orchard, Washington - World and US History 1987 to 1990 - Author - wrote two books - "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks" and "Big Ten Country" 1992 to present - Oakridge High School - Muskegon Michigan - teach Government, Economics, and Senior Current Issues
Why Do I Teach?:
“The arc of the morale universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Dr King said those words during the Civil Rights Movement, in an era of great enlightenment. I’m not sure that America is aware anymore. Teaching Social Studies to high school students provides a great challenge and opportunity to do good in the world. I travel (Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, Africa, Turkey) the world to open my eyes and to bring that awareness back into the classroom. I read, I attend Fulbright and NEH seminars, and apply for this Fellowship, in order that I can better inspire my students to leave their mark. I teach Social Studies to high school students because I know it is the most effective way to make this world a better place. I will teach until I drop. I will travel the world as long as my feet will carry me. I will bring kids along; to Selma, to DC, to New Orleans, and provide them the opportunity to “awaken” to the issues of the world, so that they can affect this planet in a positive way. In order to fulfill the call of Dr. King, young people must feel and see and experience injustice. They must see the world for what it is, and strive to make it better. My cause is that my students recognize their responsibility, that they take on Dr. King’s challenge to “bend that arc”. My hope is that they have the vision to do so, not just for themselves but for children, theirs and the worlds’. This is why I teach secondary Social Studies.
Percent of Students are:
     At-risk: 68 %
     Average: 73 %
     High-achiever: 5 %
     Special Needs: 12 %
Percent of Students are:
     White/Caucasian : 88 %
     Hispanic: 7 %
     African American: 3 %
     Native American: 1 %
     Asian: 1 %
Free/Reduced Lunch Program Enrollment:: 57 %
Average number of students in class:: 25 students
Number of students I teach:: 125 students