Annie Marmiol

Worksheet for Enrichment Activities for High Ability Learners

A. Review the resources provided on the Enrichment Activities sheet. Study at least three resources
of which you were unaware.
Odyssey of the Mind
What Was There
The Revolution: Interactive Guide

B. Reflect on each of the three activities of interest, summarize the activity and explain how you might
use the enrichment activities in your classroom, school or district. How could these be used to
supplement differentiation for diverse learners by engaging their learning differences (readiness,
interests, or learning profile)?

1) Odyssey of the Mind

http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/p/why-odyssey/
Odyssey of the Mind is an international creative problem-solving program that engages
students in their learning by allowing their knowledge and ideas to come to life in an
exciting, productive environment. Participants build self-confidence, develop life skills,
create new friendships, and are able to recognize and explore their true potential. OotM
proves that students can have fun while they learn.
Odyssey of the Mind would be a great enrichment activity in the classroom. Especially in
social studies, students could be given a problem that would challenge students to come up
with their own solution. Students would need to go beyond conventional thinking and
include problem solving, creativity, and teamwork. This type of activity can be used to
supplement differentiation for diverse learners by giving students the opportunity to be
creative which is sometime difficult for teachers since we ask students to complete specific
tasks with little room for creativity. Odyssey of the Mind will give students an additional
outlet to share their talents.

2) What Was There

http://www.whatwasthere.com/
WhatWasThere ties historical photos to Google Maps, allowing you to tour familiar
streets to see how they appeared in the past.
As a social studies teacher, I could use this website during multiple units. Specifically, I
am thinking during geography units and history units. Students would love to check out
streets during the time of the great depression, World War I, or even the town of
Chernobyl before the nuclear explosion. This activity could be used as a way to
introduce the topic or even as enrichment. It would give students sense of being there
and would increase engagement as students are interacting with the content. This type
of site would engage diverse learners by obtaining incorporating technology and inquiry
into the content.

3) The Revolution: Interactive Guide

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/revolution-interactive-guide/id471681913?mt=8
The American Revolution comes to life with a fully interactive textbook and study guide
designed exclusively for the iPad by a high school senior with a passion for U.S. History.
 Annie Marmiol

Journey through the formation of our country with interactive flashcards, explorable
war maps, audio narrations, review quizzes, interactive biographies, and explorable
images. In this interactive guide to the American Revolution, you will feel the passion of
our nation's founders as they fought for independence, whether you are casually
learning about the most formative era of our history or studying for a test. The
Revolution is alive in this easy-to-learn interactive format for anyone to explore.
This interactive textbook app would be a great resource for students. For some reason,
reading on a device is different than reading in a textbook? So, this would engage
students automatically. Whats really cool is that there are interactive maps that show
the movements of the army. This would be a great visual for English language learners
and all students. I like that there are review questions and flashcards throughout the
application. This app would be great for both extension and remediation because
students could review the information as well as extend their learning with biographies,
artwork analysis, and videos.

C. Refine your interest by drafting a plan for how you could implement at least one of the above
activities at your school. If there are several colleagues from your school or district who are
interested in the same activity, plan together.

In my social studies classroom, I would implement the What Was There website within my history
unit. Recently I purchased virtual reality goggles that can actually work with the What Was There
website. My students would use both the goggles and the website to visit locations we talk about
within our unit. The last topic in class students learned about the independence movements in Latin
America. Specially, we talked about Miguel Hidalgo and his fight for Mexicos independence from
Spain. He is famously known for his speech, Grito de Dolores, which was shouted in a church on
September 16th, 1810. I think it would be really cool to introduce the topic by having students visit
the location of the church- then and present day. I feel that by allowing student to make a
connection and form make analysis about why this specific spot is important would be a great way
to engage them and get them talking. I can see using this site with other topics in my class as well:
Aztecs/Incas, World War I, World War II, Great Depression, and Chernobyl Nuclear Explosions
among many others.