The Peculiar Such Thing Class Project

The Peculiar Such Thing

OMG, they did not know that...

Some say that our students today probably know more about technology than their teachers. I believe the contrary. They may know how to use what they like about technology, but when they have to produce a project that has technology they sometimes are not completely clear on how to use what they have to their full potential. I recently discovered that most of my students do not know how to send a document as an attachment or how to keep rich text in an email. They were shocked to discover this because they have been sending emails forever. We as teachers should not think they know a lot about technology, we should always check what they know and how they use what they know, so they can become super technology savvy.

Class Photo Collection

I use of lot of pictures into my classes to demonstrate a point, show a setting, clarify a vocabulary word or just to decorate a page. The pictures I like to use most are those taken by people I know or myself. My students are acinated by the fact that the pictures were taken by “real people”.  This has motivated some of my clases to create photo libraries of their own. Before the digital camera I gave a group of students rolls of 35mm film for them to take pictures of their surroundings. When we got the pictures,  the students scanned them and recorded them on a CD. With the photos they prepared presentations for friends, sister classes, or just to share with other goups. The photos were also used as backgrounds for their class projects. Today digital cameras makes it so easy to take pictures. More pictures can be taken without the cost of developing the film, unwanted pictures can be deleted or edited and the quality of photos is much better. Having students make their own collections gives them great satisfaction in having something original and from their own surroundings. The skills the students learn are many, they improve their observation skills, become responsible for their own work, become knowledgable of technology, cooperative by working in groups, develop their creativty and they can learn about the process of creating their own terms of use.

Simple poems

Most of my students do not like writing poems, until they have to. A very simple way to motivate them is by having them observe an image in a book, magazine or on the Internet.  During their observation process they write words or phrases that describe the picture. Then they write two to three sentences about their picture describing what they see.  Using a word processing program such as Word, AppleWorks, or Pages, the students proofread, edit, add, delete, or change the information of their sentences. Finally they decide when they want to break the sentences for their poems to look better. Using a publishing software the students finally create a poem they may feel proud of.
Some sources of pictures are:
National Geographic  http://www.nationalgeographic.com
Flickr http://www.flickr.com
Photobucket http://photobucket.com
NASA http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery

*** Students should always read the terms of usage of the images and respect the copyright laws. If they want to download an image the owner of the images/ photos should give permission or they should look for the Creative Commons logo.

Things to do

Some years ago my students read the novel “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” by Stephen King.  Many said that they liked the novel. All said I found too many topics to write or speak about. I thought it was good way to work with students strengths and intelligences.

 Most of the topics were very good for Internet research, others for oral presentations, multimedia presentations, and art integration. Among the topics in the novel is the theme of baseball, the chapters are titled innings, there is mention of different teams, especially the Red Sox. For example, this theme is of the interest of students that have Bodily-Kinesthetic or Interpersonal Intelligence. Discussions the topic were done with classmates that did not understand the game.

Among other themes were the history of the Appalachian Trail, meteor showers, what to do if you get lost, edible things inthe forest, dangerous animals, and others. Among projects that can be created are:

Writing the story from a different point of view.    

Create a timeline.

Develop a scale model.  

Deliver a dramatic reading. 

Plan and execute a group project 

Make lists of positives and negatives about the main character’s decision. 

Create a class electronic dictionary with vocabulary words

Develop multimedia presentations

Deliver oral presentations

Draw scenes from the novel

Construct a story map.

Discuss animal characteristics.

Oral Presentations

Some students are fearful of giving oral presentations and reports in the classroom. When the language is not their native one the fear becaomes even more intense. Maybe their pronunciation is not good enough, maybe they will forget the material, maybe they cannot memorize everything, maybe...
It as worked for many of my students to bring in their oral reports pre recorded. The student can record their work from a comfortable (non-scary) place they know, have cue cards, and have friends or family help them with their work. If they are not happy with how they have delivered their oral presentation they can do over. This is one thing the students have said they like the most.
By asking the student to hand in the tape or CD, the teacher can see all the effort put into creating their final work. The skills the students acquire are many in the use and management of technology, oral practice, planning, time management, just to mention some.
It has happened that when the student presents their video they tend to be more confident and speak freely about how they completed their work demonstrating their sense of accomplishment.
In my English language class students have recorded stories in historical places like el Morro, Old San Juan and El Yunque, familiar palces like their backyards, local beaches, local plazas. They have presented dramatizations using photos, dolls, puppets and role playing as characters.

Communicating...

It is a challenge to teach English to students that after eleven years of having an English class still think it is difficult to communicate in what they consider a forgein language. To get students to communicate orally is not an easy task, but some are willing to do so as long as they “think” it is a game. In the 1990’s what got my students communicating in English was having a PenPal. This inspired many of my students to write in English and when the time came they even spoke in English (via video cameras, video phone and snail mail). They found their ability to communicate with other students in different parts of the world a facinating experience. I still try to do this with the many new manners and opportunities the Internet provides to communicate. Now it is easier and quicker to send messages, video and receive feed back for quick learning experiences in the classroom. Colaborative projects with another class is an excellent way to get students communicating and at the same time having a learning experience inside and outside the classroom. I have even had students that visit each other during the summer recess.

A few great places where students can begin the process of communicating in English or any other language being learned are:

http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/menu_pres.html 

http://www.epals.com/ 

http://iearn.org/