Everyone has had a time in their life where they were having so much fun they didn't realize how much time had passed. This was definitely the case for me during this session. Our original plan was to research our questions, create a storyboard and then work on the blog post. We got started researching the unit questions that the students developed last session. We used the methods and websites I had introduced them to during the last session. Both students seemed equally comfortable doing their own research on the internet, and the only times I had to take over was when Manuel was having trouble typing. I introduced Manuel to the idea of a works cited page, as he is a little young to have experience with them. Hudson was familiar with them, so I didn't have to explain much to him. We kept track of the sources in a Google document, which was another new tool the students were introduced to. Because Manuel wasn't as comfortable with typing Hudson did the majority of it. I was sure to ask Manuel to do some typing in order to get him more familiar with it.
The students were interested enough in this topic I had to do very little of the work for them. Because they were having so much fun researching their topics we lost track of time and didn't get to spend as long on the storyboard as we had planned. We did get a finished product, and each student had a piece of paper with their lines on it so they could practice them between then and our next meeting. The blog post they put up this week was a little short because of our time crunch, but we should have plenty of time next session to make up for it. This project has taught me many things already, but one I have learned is that if the students are interested it is in their nature to use inquiry as a tool. With the little amount of assistance I gave them these students were able to complete their own research. I can't wait to have my own classroom and put everything I have learned to work!
The thing that I took out of this post is that you were about to introduce your students to different types of technology that students can use. I think this is one of the most important gifts that you can give a child. The ability to have students do their work self sustained with little of no help from the teacher. Of course we as educators enjoy teaching and interacting with the students but being able to monitor and assist rather than nurture and guide is a much more rewarding experience.
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