standards search and mentor interview

The students were asked to begin their search of their content area standards--both national and state--by reading about the history of standards development in their major area.

After they had spent some time during class time discussing their findings and charting a concept map of their collective findings, they were asked to access the Mentor Interview assignment.

A guest speaker from the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District came into class to demonstrate the uses of Inspiration, concept mapping software.

Students were then asked to prepare their own individual concept maps to be used in an interview with their field placement mentor teachers in an effort to discover how standards were developed in the local school district. This interview was reported in "minutes format" and submitted with the Inspiration map for a final, summative assessment.