Student Engagement

It is difficult to engage students. When you use self-directed activities the drive must come intrinsically. The outcome should be the motivation. It would be necessary to put in place some framework to help students work toward a final product. It will be a careful balance of guidelines and freedom. Students will also need a base of basic skills. A teacher needs to model how to self direct when creating a project. Currently in my classroom students are writing newspaper articles about revolutionary war events. They are given a topic and some background information. Students then have the freedom to create the article on their own. They have the choice of point of view, factual information, organization of the article. This is mostly self directed. As the project moves forward more freedom is given until we get to the end when the students start creating their own topics. If anyone has feedback feel free to share it.

Student Research

Students today are researching about the different armies of the American Revolution. Through Marshall Cavendish and the Annals of American history they can explore the different qualities of each army. It is very easy to see who has used a computer and who is not sure what to do. I started the assignment with a guide sheet and some students are quick to move through it and start exploring on their own. Others seem satisfied just to work with the limited information given to them. The day as a whole has gone quite well and I look forward to giving this group of students more freedom in future internet research assignments.

Information Literacy

After allowing the mass amount of information we received at the last training to set in I have discovered a few things. First, we have a large amount of resources for social studies on the GCMS destiny page. Second, I should be having students go to these resources more frequently and have signed up for more lab time to make this happen. There is such a specific focus that these different sources can bring to the classroom. I am excited to see how the students enjoy working through the information that is presented to them through the many different online library resources. Third and final, I feel that only using the destiny page is not good for students. We talked about teaching students how to choose the proper website. If I give too much instruction then they are not choosing the site but just following instructions. I feel that a Google search can teach students valuable lessons on how to find credible information online. Definitely a lot to work with and a lot to think about.

Voice Thread

I am in the process of planning a voice thread lesson, with the help of another teacher at my school, where students can collaborate to figure our the meanings behind political cartoons. The final goal will be for them to create their own political cartoons and other students will be able to comment on their creations. This project will be used to help understand the mood of the American Revolution. By using voice thread students can hear the ideas of others and share their own without people watching them. I am really excited to see how this works.

Imagine the Possibilities

The beginning of chapter 3 related planning a 21st century project to planning for a trip. This analogy was great to help me understand the process of planning a project. You need to focus on major topics and the big ideas of your particular subject. The next step is using 21st century strategies that connect the information directly to each student's personal experiences. The engagement will increase and student achievement will increase. Now the tough part, deciding which idea to choose for a project.

Training #1 Blog

I learned all about using 21st century resources. We discussed Wikis and how they can be used. We also used the boats in a texting style. I think that I did a good job. I feel this way because I feel comfortable with the information that was presented. I also accomplished all of the tasks that were presented to us.