This week my students used the web quests to research information. They read information from a lot of sites, used Word documents to take on their findings, and seemed interested in the assignment. Some of them will be creating a character based on the 19th century, gold rush era, as they begin reading The Call of the Wild. Others will be creating brochures, news articles, Powerpoint presentations, etc. and sharing the information they learned about aviation, heart attacks/health, survival, or the Canadian wilderness as they prepare to read Hatchet. One student discovered she had a relative who rushed to the Klondike and participated in the gold fever. Once the project is completed, students will post their work on a class wiki and participate in the discussion forum there.
I have created a wiki for each class. I've written and copied the parent/student information letter & permission slip and will distribute this next week. I haven't done any more personal reading about using the wiki yet, and I need to learn how to personalize it and navigate around it a bit. I also want to practice adding images and other document types so I have a general feel for how to do it. I feel that I can get help from some of my students and my media specialist if we get stuck.
I have learned that students like to have choices in assignments, that most of them enjoy using technology, and most are interested in using their creativity rather being "told" what to write about. I'm glad I made the time to create this opportunity for my students. My question is, despite my interest & enthusiasm for this project, why are there always a few students who find it "boring...?" Happy Thanksgiving!
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Question do they find the lesson boring or the technology? It makes a differance on how you might reach the students. Ask them what they find boring.
ReplyDeleteVirgil
Hi Donna,
ReplyDeleteYou will always get one or two students who find anything you assign "boring." Don't take it personally. Even if they don't really find it boring, they will say they do just because you're the teacher and some of them are behaving in a way that's expected of them or are living up to a reputation. It seems that you're doing great. As you go along and tinker with your wiki, you'll find that it's not difficult at all. Good call on the creativity as well. When I had my students do their wiki on the European Union, I would just assign topics and have them go at it. I did provide a list of pre-approved websites where they could get their information, but they could present it any way they wanted, use any layout they wanted, etc. The only catch was that their partner's contribution had to look the same (I was working with 2 different groups on the same wiki). For example, if student A was assigned to do research on Italy and their cuisine, and student B was assigned to do research on Italian tourist destinations, they could do independent work and research, but at the end of the day, since both were talking about Italy, their presentation had to be uniform so as to look more professional and streamlined.
Anyway, great job as usual, and don't be discouraged, you're not "boring" at all.
Hi Donna,
ReplyDeleteSo many choices in assignments. This sounds fun. It's hard to believe that a student would find these stories boring. If there was just some way to have those students pan for gold, they could get caught up in the excitement. To learn about survival in the wilderness, wow!
Frank