Connections to Wallflower
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As I delve more deeply into my independent reading book, I find that I am
more like the character then I thought. He has developed relationships with
peopl...
15 years ago
10 comments:
This is so neat, Jim! You're creating your own Web 2.0 curriculum as you go along. You'll add a little more each year....don't try to do it all at once. It only takes one teacher to make a change that everyone will soon notice!
Dr. Fritz
Wow! This is awesome. I love how your students are collaborating with one another and how involved they are with technology. These are meaningful experiences that are making a difference in their life.
Holy cow, that is really cool! I'm not sure if I saw on your slideshare, but what was the program that created the graphics? That poses some interesting ideas for my classroom. In response to Dr. Fritz, it does seem like a lot of work. But the end result is fantastic. Thanks!
This is a strong showing of the possibilities of web 2.0 in the classroom. I think your slides are above average as well. You showcase the student work and the information on the side is sufficient and to the point. I am curious about how your students took to this project. Did they enjoy the process? Did they know from the beginning that it would be published on the WWW? If they did know, how do you think that affected the work produced?
There were mixed reactions about the project from the students. We ran into some problems with iWeb, the school's network, finding enough "face time" with the laptops... but in the end, students were extremely proud of their work. I had students reflect on the process, the assignment, how they completed it and what they thought of others' work. Below is a particularly insightful reflection from one of my students (the same student whose presentation of organized crime is in the slideshare):
"Despite the great stress that this project created within our class, the results were in my opinion phenomenal. As I watched everyone's presentation I was amazed at some of the productions I witnessed. Not only was their iWeb and Comic Life visually appealing, but, as each individual presented their information they each truely understood thier topic and by the end of the week were flawlessy dishing out quality presentations.
As for the iWebs, strengths definitely outnumbered the weaknesses. People were able to incorporate more than just the usual paragraph format with boring information that all sounds the same. But, they were able to back each fact up either with pictures, music, videos, or even blogs. All of the great resources we are blessed to have were used to their full potential, I thought. Some of the weaknesses included when some the pictures didn't line up, or it was not entirely organized making it hard to navigate. Also, there were times when I saw that people did not use the same template throughout their entire website. I found this to portray that the website was not concrete throughout, but rather that it was just a jumble of pages, possibly created by other people. But definitely, the iWebs were great.
I gained a lot of in-depth knowledge from these progressive era movement projects. "
The original plan did not include posting to the WWW, but we could not load all the necessary files into the Moodle. Students all applied for 60-day trial memberships to .Mac. We will be collaboratively creating Cognitive Flexible Hyperlinks with the intension that they will be posted (using weebly.com or iGoogle)
Wow! Your students work is amazing! How are your counterparts reacting to all of this?
This is truly an example of the use of technology as a mindtool in the classroom.
It looks like you are a step ahead of some of us! Did you receive staff development on how to have your students create wesbites or was it through your own interest?
Holy moly, you're already on the 2.0 train Jim. This is an awful lot of work and learning on your part already. You really seem to be trying to integrate technologies one step at a time.
I like what you are creating for your students Jim. This project is motivating for me as an instructor; I'm sure it motivated your students. How have your colleagues responded to this project?
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