OK so this year has flown by. I have learned a lot and look forward to taking some time this summer planning lesson that incorporate even more technology. I will plan my tech projects in advance. My students are so much more engaged in lessons that I have them using the technology, so I want to capitalize on it. I'm proud of out last project because the students really did have to work together to get it all done. I was surprised at how much they were bothered by the amount of sugar was in items. I think they took a whole week off from eating them.... :) I mean I was hoping for long term consumption changes but I'll take what I can with middle school students right!!!!! I am making a promise to myself to be better at keeping my blog up to date, make the resources on my website more up to date and to have my students more involved in my website. Have a great summer my followers...... see you in September!
So the Trimester 2 projects proved to be more difficult that I had anticipated. The students spend more time trying to decide on their Robot/Alien/Shape and formatting then I had planned on. It is a reminder to myself that I may need to spend more time on the direct instruction of the logistical parts to allow more time for the creative and "FUN" part of the project. Some students were so frustrated with the formatting that they just refused to continue. Next time I will try and have them work in groups with more tech savvy students paired with students who are still getting to know how to navigate the computer world. In addition, I won't give them as many choices for the unimportant parts of the project. In the end I learned a lot about my students. They did not struggle with the academic parts of the project, that speaks volumes because if I were to simply ask them to give me adjectives, describe themselves, or to write about the project using the art and technology terms we learned, I would have been met with serious resistance. Instead they were able to demonstrate their understanding of the standards we were addressing.
Well, Yesterday I had to make the executive decision to scrap the Tri 2 student projects due to technical AND logistical problems. I have two alternative ideas for student projects, but I need the students to really engage in the project in order to finish on time. Soooo... I will put it to a vote on Tuesday, or MAYBE even give them a choice between the two. Any opinions????
Well, after much sweat and tears... my students, "well most of them" are ready for me to post their projects. As with anything new their was much frustration. This frustration however, came from the computer messing them up... not the following directions, not the ELA content, not even the restriction on the colors, but from the simple fact that the "COMPUTER" does whatever it wants. "Technology is only fun when we get to do what we want, not when we HAVE to do what the teacher says!" That was a direct quote from one of my students day one! "Technology makes school better and makes the thesaurus kinda cool," was the direct quote from the same exact student 4 weeks later! Did I mention I thought this project would take about 4 days:(
Well things are going pretty good so far. Although somehow I forgot to start blogging, I seem to have skip all the administrative stuff and just got my kids working with the technology. So far, this has been a game changer for my students this year. I have so much more student by-in and participation in every lesson where I use technology, it's amazing how much kids NEED this. My favorite part so far though, must be that now I officially can call myself a BLOGGER!!!
| AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesJune 2012 Categories |
RSS Feed