Coming Into The Final Stretch!

It's hard to believe that we only have a few weeks of class left. I am working on my final essay and then I have to begin my Curriculum Project. Yikes, where did the time go???

TwT Essay

I am doing my essay on Project Based Learning: its association with problem and inquiry-based learning and the reality of incorporating these methods in the classroom. While I support the theory of these methods, it is indisputable that they are time consuming and challenging to create and manage. Hence, my paper. I am going to explore how these methods have been utilized in classrooms and examine the feasibility of the average teacher incorporating them within the confines of time, standards, and curriculum requirements. Bottom line: Is it all a lot of rhetoric or can it really be done? How do you do it? How frequently? What's the most effective way for both the teacher and the students? Which method is best/easiest/least time consuming?, what if you have very little available technology?. . . I picked this topic because I really want to know the answer to these questions and it wouldn't surprise me if others wanted these answers, as well! If you are one of them, you will find the link to my essay here on my blog, and on my web page, as soon as I have finished writing it!

Collaboration Project

My group, the Technological Terrors, did our collaboration project on the 1950's and 60's for an 8th grade class. We have not always been the best collaborators but, this time, we somehow managed to get our act together and really work effectively as a group without any notable problems. This was a fun project, though it was a little challenging for me in that our activities were geared for 8th graders whereas all my content work at MSMC has been geared to the elementary grade level. My collaboration activity was a history/ELA assignment titled, "A Look Back in Time". My idea was to have the students interview someone who remembered life during the 1950's and 60's, to gain a first-hand, authentic understanding of what life was like during those decades.

While I provided a list of possible interview topics, I gave students the option of creating their own. Students had to cover at least 5 topics and had to interview at least 2 people, preferably more and preferably of different ages, to gain different perspectives. They were instructed to take their topics over the 2 decades, asking if it stayed the same from the 50's to the 60's, or, if it changed, and in what way. This would enable them to see the evolution of certain things from one decade to the next, i.e., cost of living, entertainment (music/TV), politics, education, fashion, war, etc.

I was born on the last day of 1955, so I, theoretically, could answer these questions for a student. I would love to see their faces when I told them that:

I had only black and white TV with just 5 channels when I was a child; that there were no seat belts in cars; none of the technology they take for granted existed; that a milkman used to deliver milk to our door; that my school lunch cost a quarter; that girls were not allowed to wear pants to school until 1968, when I was in middle school, after students protested and won; that I remember being in 2nd grade when JFK was assassinated and we were sent home from school and everyone, everywhere, was crying; that I remember the first time The Beatles appeared on U.S. television and the entire country went crazy; when Vietnam became the first war to be televised, causing a massive uprising and sparking disagreement among Americans, not unlike the Iraq war today; when war protests erupted across the country and college campuses turned into battle zones; the advent of the women's rights movement; and when the civil rights movement evolved into the Black Panther Party and peace turned to violence...the list goes on and on. What I think is most important for students to realize is that this didn't happen in the dark ages, but only 40-50 years ago!

The students have to enter their interview data online, via the interactive time line, then print it out and post it on our time line wall. This way all students can read each other's results. Finally, the students have to pick one thing they learned, that surprised them the most, and share it in an oral presentation.

I really enjoyed this assignment and hope that my students would also!

Ah, Progress!

I was recently working on my web site when I suddenly realized the magnitude of what I've accomplished in TwT. I was beside myself with panic when I first set up that site. I was literally shaking! Then, just a few days ago, there I was, inserting clip art, music, links and color, just to dress it up, when it hit me how easily I was doing all this and how much fun I was having. I felt so proud and, at the same time, so grateful that I didn't give up, didn't just learn enough to get by but, instead, learned more than I ever dreamed and, in doing so, learned to love and respect technology! Who would've thought??? Thank you Dr. S. and MSMC! Without this class I would have remained a terrified digital immigrant and a less effective teacher.
I'll be honest, this class is the most demanding and challenging one I've taken...and all I have left is Methods (which I already know is akin to this class, but at least I'll be prepared!!). What made this class doable for me was the friendship and support system I developed with Tara (Techno Genies). We helped each other, whined to each other, and supported each other week in and week out (and sometimes day in and day out!). All I can say is "Thank God for Tara, her brains, her teaching experience, her common sense, her humor, and her innate kindness."

Until next time...