Together in the GCC

A Regionally Collaborative Project

Project Dates: January 31st - March 3rd

Creator: Randi Wilkinson, RVIS Bahrain

Participating Teachers and Schools: RVIS/Bahrain - Amy OMeara & Luke Meinen, TAISM/Oman - Christopher Lang, Brian Kuti, Abby
Newman. ISG Jubail/ Saudi Arabia - Alexis Snider, Tonia Lopez, Steve Rampling, VIS/Qatar - Margo Tripsa, Cindy Natiello, Al Bayan/Kuwait -
Aaron Shelby (Instructional Coach), Jaber Al Anazi, UAE - none at this time
 Stage 1- Desired Results

ISTE Standards:
Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information
Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual
learning and contribute to the learning of others
Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior

AERO Social Studies Standards

Geography
Define regions by their human and physical characteristics
Identify why particular locations are used for certain activities.
Society and Identity
Compare and contrast how groups and cultures are similar and different in meeting needs and concerns of their members
Students will understand social systems and structures and how these influence individuals
Time, Continuity, and Change:
Students will understand patterns of change and continuity, relationships between people and events through time, and various
interpretations of these relationships.
Describe changes in society (e.g., political, social, cultural).
Culture: Students will understand cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among societies.
Describe how cultural contributions from various groups have formed a national identity.
Describe advantages and disadvantages associated with cultural diversity.
Connections and Conflict: Students will understand causes and effects of interaction among societies, including trade, systems of international
exchange, and diplomacy.
Explain the major ways groups, societies, and nations interact with one another (e.g., trade, cultural exchanges, and international
organizations).
Government
Students will understand why societies create and adopt systems of governance and how they address human needs, rights, responsibilities and
citizenship
 Identify the elements of major political systems (e.g., monarchy, democracy, constitutional monarchy, dictatorship).
Describe the organization and major responsibilities of the various levels of governments.
Explain what citizenship is

Language Arts Standards

Writing Process:
Determine audience and purpose for self-selected and assigned writing tasks.
Prepare writing for publication that is legible, follows an appropriate format and uses techniques such as electronic resources and graphics.
Writing Applications:
Write informational reports that include facts, details and examples that illustrate an important idea.
Write formal and informal letters that include important details and follow correct letter format.
Research
Select and summarize important information and sort key findings into categories about a topic.
Create a list of sources used for oral, visual, written or multimedia reports.
Communications Oral and Visual
Use clear and specific vocabulary to communicate ideas and to establish tone appropriate to the topic, audience and purpose.
Organize presentations to provide a beginning, middle and ending and include concrete details.
Clarify information in presentations through the use of important details from a variety of sources, effective organization and a clear focus.

Transfer
 describe the geography, culture, population, industry, history, environment, and government of their own country.
describe the geography, culture, population, industry, history, environment, and government of the other 5 GCC countries.
tell what the GCC is and why it was formed.
cite sources used for research
create and add pins to a collaborative Google Map
create presentations appropriate for audience and purpose
synthesize information from shared presentations to inform final project
collaborate appropriately with peers, both in class and long distance
Show an understanding of digital citizenship during long distance interactions

Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS (broad statement) Essential Questions
onsidering...

Societies create and adopt systems of governance to address What is the GCC?
human needs, rights, and citizen responsibilities. Why was the GCC formed?
The causes and effects of connections among societies through Who belongs to the GCC?
trade, international exchange and diplomacy. What do the GCC countries have in common?
How is each GCC country governed?
How has the GCC Countries location changed and impacted
development over time?
 Acquisition

the countries in the GCC are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Using research skills to find out about their home Gulf Country
United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia accessing the Together in the GCC website and using the
the GCC was formed in 1981 for both political and economical projects online tools
benefits learning from other groups presentations to gather
their Gulf Countries have a different types of Monarch
information about other countries and collecting notes to
Governments
the Gulf Countries have always benefited from their proximity inform final project
and cooperation collaborating online with other students about the projects
how governments of the GCC cooperate to meet needs and content, but not sharing personal information
wants of its peoples
the Gulf Countries have a rich cultural history
the Gulf Countries have changed in many ways through cultural
and technological developments
what citizenship means in terms of membership in, and
allegiance to, a country or a union of countries.
the elements of the a monarchy political system.
the organization and major responsibilities of the various levels
of governments of their residing country and the GCC.
the country leaders and national government representatives.

Stage 2- Evidence

Code
 PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
Transfer 1. Week One: Students will research the GCC in teams at their school. It is up to each teacher to decide how their students
Meaning will organize and/or showcase this learning. Students will play a shared Kahoot game that covers GCC trivia. The Kahoot
Making site creates a report on the individual scores for each game. We will all have the login details on the Kahoot account it is
made on so that we can access those reports. It is important that the students use a unique name so that teachers can pick
out their students scores. See this video tutorial on playing Kahoot through Google Hangouts.
2. Week Two and Three: School teams will research their own country and specific cities or areas to create presentations
containing details of the cities and areas within their countries. We will schedule Google Hangouts between classrooms
for teams to present their presentations to at least one other class via Google Hangouts on Air. The type of presentation is
up to the teacher.
3. Week Four and Five: Teams need to choose 10 cities they think are best suited for the train stops within the 6 GCC
countries. When choosing the cities, they would need to consider the cities' geographical interests, cultural interests,
population, industry interests, historical interests, and environmental interests. Teams would create Google Maps with the
stations and present their route and city choices in a video (or screencast). The videos would hopefully include visuals
and evidence to persuade the audience of their route.

Formative Assessments:
Observation and Discussion
Other suggestions for week 1, 2 or 3 research:
Create slideshow to organize and present
Create green screen news report
Blog post or research paper about GCC
Create a nonfiction book about the GCC
Summative Assessments:
Final project from weeks 4 and 5 (see above)
**Rubric to come

OTHER EVIDENCE:

Discussion around project guidelines, tools, and content

*This is dependant on what the teacher decides to do in order to learn the GCC material and perhaps what other subject
area(s) he or she wish to include
 Stage 3- Learning Plan

Learning Events

Optional - Week Zero: Introductions (Jan. 24th-28th)

Hook/Motivator:
Ask students if they have any friends or relatives in other Gulf countries.
Tell them that during this next Social Studies unit, we will be making friends with other 4th Graders in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Oman and the UAE. We will be learning from each other and sharing our learning through an online collaborative unit called,
Together in the GCC.

Introducing the platforms and going over guidelines:

Show the students the T ogether in the GCC website.
Show them how to add their home on the Google Map (a warm-up to building their own map for the final project).
Review Digital Citizenship expectations, including what is okay to share, when it is okay to contact and converse with students from other
schools, how to write friendly emails/messages with a greeting, how to share the workload and the need for extra communication when
working on a collaborative project, how to cite sources used in research

Week One: The GCC (Jan. 31-Feb. 4)

Whole Group Instructional Activities
Explain to the students that this week they will gathering information about The Gulf Cooperation Council. Possible resources include
using web-based resources (see a few gathered articles in the shared GCC file), informational books?

Small Group Activities:

Working in small groups, students research The GCC using the guiding subtopics:
The founding of the GCC and involved and interested countries
Details of a shared currency
Details about the different types of monarchies within the GCC
The benefits of being part of the GCC
 The benefits of having a train connect the GCC countries
Examples of times when GCC countries have supported each other
The GCCs main stated objectives
Difference between the Arab States of the Persian Gulf and The GCC
The GCCs interest and participation in shared sport competitions

Here is the sheet of GCC trivia questions and answers (please add to it if you have additional information)

Suggestions:
Student teams could create a slideshow presentation to teach the others about a topic (make sure you give credit to your text and
image sources)
Students could create newscasts to teach a topic to their peers
Students could create a ThingLink Image about a topic complete with embedded videos, facts, and links to articles
Students could interview knowledgeable community members and include the voice or video recording in their presentation
Research and s earch engine tricks could be taught and practiced by completing a list of questions taken from the notes below.
Collaborative note taking via Google Docs and/or Diigo would be a valuable addition to the lesson.

Once the research is completed, groups can present and discuss their research findings. Teacher may choose to have a mock oral quiz or
Jeopardy game to prepare kids for the Kahoot game. Because this is only a week, the students are allowed to use their notes during the
games.
Classes will schedule Google Hangouts to play the shared Kahoot game and test their knowledge of the GCC
Use this Google Spreadsheet to document the date, time, and class you are competing against

Differentiation Suggestions:
For students needing English language support:
Before beginning the research, students will go over the research questions with the teacher, highlighting key words and phrases
to use when doing the research
While researching, students will pick out the important words from the website/informational book and put them into sentences
using their own words. If necessary, students can use dictionaries in their native languages or Google Translate for unfamiliar
words or phrases
Students may also be paired with high level/native English speaking students who can help them record the information in their
own words
Other differentiation ideas:
The amount of research questions can be divided among the students in the group, so that the amount of research required by
individual students is more manageable.
Week Two and Three (Feb. 7th - 18th)
Instructional Activities
Explain to the students that this week they will gathering information about the a particular area or city within their home country. The
information gathered will help them and others to decide which areas or cities are best for train stations. Possible resources include
web-based resources, informational books, teacher frontloading, first person accounts (guest speakers), field trips (real life or virtual).
The research topics are the areas:
geographical interests/features
cultural interests/features
population interests/features
industrial interests/features
historical interests/features
environmental interests/features
religious interests/features

Assessment/Performance Task
Teams will create presentations to showcase the details of a city or area within their country. Other teams will use these presentations to
make an informed decisions on the best places for train stops.

We will schedule Google Hangouts on Air (for recordings to be available for student access or teacher assessment) between classrooms so
that teams can present to other classrooms in the GCC countries
Use this Google Spreadsheet (2nd sheet) to document the date, time, and class you are presenting to

Because this is a broad topic with a lot of information that may be difficult to find in kid-friendly language, teacher frontloading, and
knowledgeable guest speakers (Arabic teachers, expats who have lived in the country for more than 10 years) could provide first hand
accounts of the topics. Also going on field trips to the areas would provide opportunities for valuable learning about the areas features
that would support a train station.

For students needing English language support:

Before beginning the research, students will go over the research questions with the teacher, highlighting key words and phrases
to use when doing the research
If going on field trips, students can take photos/videos of things related to the research. Later, they can write about them in the
 Google Doc. They can insert the photos and write a caption to go with it. T

Week Four and Five (Feb. 21st - March 3rd)

Whole Group Instructional Activities
Explain to the students that this week they will gathering information about the cities and areas in the GCC countries and deciding on the
best locations for GCC Train Stops. Possible resources include recorded Google Hangouts, shared student presentations, Google Maps and
Google Earth( other resources if necessary could include: web-based resources, informational books, teacher frontloading, first person
accounts (guest speakers), field trips (real life or virtual)).

Students will learn how to create a Google Map and share it with their team member to collaboratively complete the task.

Students will learn how to communicate with their team members at other schools via Google Hangouts, Google Apps (Drive, Slides, Docs,
email, maybe create a Google Plus Group for team members to collaborate). A reminder of netiquette and when/where to communicate
with group members
Participating teachers will pair their small groups up with ONE other classes small groups to make the communication (and
monitoring of) easier. The paired teachers will decide based on their students strengths and needs who should be paired with who.

Small Group Activities:

The small group activity will be to decide on the train stops and create a map and slideshow with the areas/cities and route, while also
providing reasons for their decision.
The slideshow can be presented on a Google Hangout on Air with all the members participating to describe their plan. The presentation
could also be created on WeVideo (a collaborative video making site); pictures and details of the map and cities could be added with voice
over descriptions or captions.
Use this Google Spreadsheet (3rd sheet) to document the date, time, and class you are presenting to
**Rubric to come soon!

Optional - Week Six: Project Celebration and Wrap up ( March. 6th-10)

Whole Group Instructional Activities

Debrief about what went well, what was learned about the content, what was learned about collaboration, what was learned about Digital
Citizenship
Use conversations to fuel individual reflective posts
 Independent and Small Group Activities:
Optional: blog post or vlog post reflections about what they have learned.
It would be nice to combine some of the reflections (videos or quotes) to create and share a final culminating video for the final
farewell and celebration

Resources / Materials:
Access to computer with a webcam and internet
Website to house all the details of the project
WeVideo - sign in with Google
Computer/Tablets with access to the Google Apps for Education
Student Blogs (optional)
Shared Kahoot account
Informational Texts: The Gulf Cooperation Council, Notes gathered about the GCC, Wikipedia - GCC, Article about the GCC Train plans
Research sites:
Use Diigo to create and share a resource list with students
InstaGrok
Internet Public Library
Kid Rex

Notes from 2015/16 Planning:

(Look below for the Atlas. This section was to document the changes we decided on)

1. Date Range
a. January 31 - March 3
2. Week 1: Schools will research the GCC in teams at their school
a. Randi will put together an initial list of questions so that teachers can prepare their research goals
i. I am hoping that anyone who knows about the GCC can also add questions
ii. Throughout the week, teachers can add questions if new/interesting information surfaces; other teachers will need to check the
document that week to make sure they are setting up their class for success on the trivia game
b. We will schedule Google Hangouts between the classes to play a trivia game to test their GCC Knowledge
i. We will use Kahoot so that the scores can be saved and used as an assessment if teacher chooses
ii. We will create a sign-up sheet with timings
iii. Teachers can sign up their classes to verse another class using Kahoot via Google Hangouts
1. at least once, but more is an option
2. if bandwidth is an issue, you may just have to play the game with another class at your school

3. Week 2 and 3: School teams will research their own country and specific cities or areas.
a. Teams will create Presentations to showcase the details of the cities and areas within their countries
b. Other teams will use these presentations to provide information when deciding on train stops
c. Topics for research:
i. What are the areas:
1. geographical interests/features
2. cultural interests/features
3. population interests/features
4. industrial interests/features
5. historical interests/features
6. environmental interests/features
7. religious interests/features
d. We will schedule Google Hangouts between classrooms
i. teams will present their presentations to at least one other class via Google Hangouts on Air
1. again, well have a signup sheet with times
ii. recordings of the Google Hangouts will be available for students to access when researching train stops

4. Week 4 and 5? (two weeks are needed right?)

a. Task: Teams need to choose 10 cities they think are best suited for the train stops within the 6 GCC countries. When choosing the cities, they
would need to consider the cities' geographical interests, cultural interests, population, industry interests, historical interests, and environmental
interests. Teams would create Google Maps with the stations and present their route and city choices in a video. The videos would hopefully
 include visuals and evidence to persuade the audience of their route.
b. How should we share these final products? Should there be a winner and should we share the products with others outside our schools?
c. create mixed teams consisting of members from each participating school
i. team members will communicate at school using gmail, google chat?, google docs, and Google hangouts (if scheduled via teacher
and supervised at school)
ii. teachers will all help to create even teams
1. Have students on class list coded as:
a. SN - support needed
b. IW- independent worker
c. AW - Advanced level worker
d. Teachers will provide student job descriptions within the teams, but will choose the project manager for each team
i. Jobs:
1. Project Manager
2. ?
3. ?
e. We still need a rubric for this final project
f. Should we make some sort of reflection video?
i. perhaps get short clips or quotes from kids about what was hard? rewarding? etc.
ii. You could send these to me (Randi) and I will create a video to show everyone at the end?