Objective: Information Literacy Curriculum

Indicator: Candidates assist students to use technology to access, analyze, and present information.

Reflection:

Towards the end of the school year, we were looking for something new and exciting to keep our students focused until their last day in the classroom. While collaborating with an 8 th grade English teacher on their Discovery Unit, we came up with the idea of a personal discovery project. Not just your ordinary journal writing activity or power point presentation. That was old hat! We decided to teach them how to use Movie Maker! This was new for most of the students and the project idea was a hit. The kids were excited, we were excited, and we all jumped into the project with great enthusiasm. The project involved 5 block class sessions, both in the classroom and the computer center. We offered after-school hours for kids that did not have access to computers at home, for kids that needed cameras, and for kids that just wanted to work on it with a bit of assistance. We also provided time for analyzing their work, which included a peer review process. The results were amazing. Some students went above and beyond all of our expectations with their creativity and demonstrated a mastery of this new technology. They even taught us a thing or two. For others, including a particular group of reluctant learners, this turned out to be the ONLY project they completed all year. Sometimes – something new and innovative can bring out the greatness in students, even during the last month of school!

Artifact: Movie Maker Lesson Plan

Page created by Heidi Walker
Last Updated May 1, 2006