Gathering resources- Teacher generated worksheets
Generally, I am not a fan of worksheets but on this particular project, I had little choice. The content is not something that can be found in a textbook nor is it something that can be researched on the internet. My students needed to create possibilities of their own, then come up with solutions to those possibilities and construct documents that reflect their ideas. Struggling to not give them the answers, I developed a few worksheets that would guide their initial thinking and help them form opinions on the general topic to start the daily lessons. Some days I brought in outside resources, such as a list of norms for working in groups in the class, so they could get an idea of what I was looking for, but other days there were no outside documents that I could show that wouldn’t give them the answer.
Once they had thought about the daily subject and put some ideas down on paper, they would be asked to come up with an individual list of potential guidelines. This would be followed by group time, where they would share their individual guidelines and come up with the 10 best between their group of 3. Normally, I would follow this up by having groups share their ideas with the class, but that would take away from the group presentations later in the project, so they kept their ideas to themselves for now.
Content is not the only resource that needs to be obtained here. Part of the project is to create a Prezi to show the class. When we do this, the class will spend a day or two in the computer lab. Unfortunately, the dates on my calendar that I had allocated for computer lab time did not correlate with the schedule of the computer lab. Simply put, another teacher had reserved those days, forcing me to make changes. My immediate option was to change the dates in my calendar for computer lab time to those days I could actually be in the computer lab, but after a quick glance of my calendar, I realized this could not be done due to the end of the semester looming. Nothing would change my calendar so I needed another option. After emailing the school librarian, I was able to get my classes booked to work on the computers in the library. It would have been strangely ironic though, to have not been able to use technology on a project that is focused on getting students to use technology in school.
Another resource that needed to be “gathered” was arranging a date with the principal for him to come watch the presentations, since it was not explicitly mentioned in the email nor the entry letter. Luckily, when I suggested a date he was ok with it, but I was already starting to think of how I might be forced to alter my calendar in case that day would not have worked for him.
Once they had thought about the daily subject and put some ideas down on paper, they would be asked to come up with an individual list of potential guidelines. This would be followed by group time, where they would share their individual guidelines and come up with the 10 best between their group of 3. Normally, I would follow this up by having groups share their ideas with the class, but that would take away from the group presentations later in the project, so they kept their ideas to themselves for now.
Content is not the only resource that needs to be obtained here. Part of the project is to create a Prezi to show the class. When we do this, the class will spend a day or two in the computer lab. Unfortunately, the dates on my calendar that I had allocated for computer lab time did not correlate with the schedule of the computer lab. Simply put, another teacher had reserved those days, forcing me to make changes. My immediate option was to change the dates in my calendar for computer lab time to those days I could actually be in the computer lab, but after a quick glance of my calendar, I realized this could not be done due to the end of the semester looming. Nothing would change my calendar so I needed another option. After emailing the school librarian, I was able to get my classes booked to work on the computers in the library. It would have been strangely ironic though, to have not been able to use technology on a project that is focused on getting students to use technology in school.
Another resource that needed to be “gathered” was arranging a date with the principal for him to come watch the presentations, since it was not explicitly mentioned in the email nor the entry letter. Luckily, when I suggested a date he was ok with it, but I was already starting to think of how I might be forced to alter my calendar in case that day would not have worked for him.
Link to document
|
Day document is used and summary of documentDay 2- Understanding and creating norms
Day 3- Preventing theft and damage Day 4 part 1- Appropriate and inappropriate types of technology Day 4 part 2- Ensuring those without tech can participate Day 5- Creative uses of technology/websites |