iTeach180 Project Day 13

The past two weeks we have been setting up our classroom infrastructure. Today I want to allot some time for student reflection. I always feel my best observations and critiques come from my students. Not to say all my past Administrators have been poor on giving feedback, but I find my students understand the daily classroom dynamic better. Therefore, today's lesson will be a reflective piece for the students.

Objectives:
Students will be able to compose a blog post

Students will be able to comment on a blog post

Students will be able to access a blog post through an RSS Reader

Process:
Start the class by reflecting on all of the learning tools you have been incorporating for the past two weeks. Provide your own reflection verbally and explain briefly why we are integrating these types of tools. And then give them a few guiding questions to provoke their writing.

1. Technology simply slows down the learning process. Challenge or Defend this statement.

2. Why should we integrate technology when students have been learning without it for decades?

3. How does a networked classroom promote student learning?

You may choose to select different questions, but for this assignment, I want them to take on the negative side of technology integration. I want students to put their energy into writing a post that defends what we are doing in the class with technology and get them to provide specific examples from the work we have been doing for the past two weeks. Why are we doing it? Is it all necessary? Get your students to drive home this point, however, accept the fact that you may have students challenge this notion as well. The purpose is not to get all students nodding their heads in agreement, but to provoke their thinking in the direction of forming an opinion and defending it.

Depending on your class time you can have students write this blog post as an in class assignment and for homework have them comment on their peers' blogs. Make sure to remind them that grammar, spelling, and language structures count. Use the rubric I provided in Day 8.