Reply to Bullis, Sidwell, Landon, Maret, Georgetown Day, Potomac ... does this ranking make sense?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Could you provide examples? Thanks.[/quote]

Sure.  Here are a couple from 8th grade history at GDS

The American Revolution unit culminates in a 2 or 3 day simulation (costumes, candlelight) of the 2nd Continental Congress's decision as to whether to declare independence.  Weeks earlier, students have been assigned roles (actual members of the CC) in specific camps (loyalist, patriot, undecided) and the first two camps draft speeches making the case for their side.  The undecideds then make their decisions, giving speeches that explain their reasoning based on what they've heard.  All of this has been preceded by individual research into the particular characters as well as presentations on other people (free, enslaved, men, women, in cities, backcountry) who had to choose which side they were on.  Students are graded on written and oral performance (with points for costumes and effective use of props as well, I think).  They focus not only on the substantive issues but also on techniques of persuasion.

Then they do a unit on the US constitution which starts in the founding era but serves as a launching pad into a major research paper on a present-day controversial constitutional issue.  In addition to doing library research and reading excerpts from Supreme Court cases, the students spend a day scattered throughout the city doing small group interviews with experts on both sides of the issue they've chosen.

Between those two projects. the entire middle school has a Global Awareness conference, kicked off by a plenary lecture and followed by a full day of seminars on different topics (child labor, medical care, life on Native American reservations), some of which were presented by student groups (from the middle school or the high school).

With all longer-term projects (from at least 4th grade on), the assignment as a whole (and the timeline) is described, but it's then also broken down into manageable-sized pieces with a series of intermediate deadlines.  Slapping stuff together the night before is not an option and feedback along the way means that the finished product is often quite impressive.

In fact, the GDS kids are revising their writing and presenting it orally from first grade on -- Author's Brunch is the end of the year highlight where each child presents a reading to a group of kids and parents of the illustrated story they are most proud of writing that year.  Regular writing (with scribal assistance or invented spelling depending on mood/abilities) starts the second half of PreK -- even before many of the kids are reading.  By fifth grade they're doing things like choosing picture books to turn into plays, writing the script, designing their own costumes, figuring out how to stage the production, composing background music, and presenting the finished work to the PreK-1st graders.   
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