Wednesday, November 23, 2011
This is the end...
Unfortunately, I was only successful with the transparency part of my project. No matter how much I tried or offered, I didn't have any kids who wanted to take me up on the extra step 'challenge' activities. I have a really sweet group of kids, but they have an aversion to homework for the most part, and the ones that are diligent about getting their work done, only complete what's necessary and aren't interested in extra.
But I feel like I was so successful with the transparency piece that I refuse to feel too bad about it. I've kept up with my blog posts every Friday, and have posted picture albums as well. I also show a slideshow every Friday as the kids are waiting for the bus of that week's pictures (not transparent for parents, but the kids are mesmerized by it!). Also, I inspired my middle school team and all but one other teacher has a website up with pictures, homework calendars, standards, etc. I'm really proud of that.
Thanks for the opportunity and motivation to try these things. I hope everyone has a great holiday season!
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You will find this resistance. Kids have learned to play the game of school very well. When you make their work transparent and visible it is harder to play the typical games. You change the rules. For example, your brighter students will realize that Google Docs is a threat to their ability to scam the system. You can't say the computer ate my homework or the teacher lost it when Google saves every five seconds. I have had students actually try to delete their info, but when I did revision history and it said they deleted it the parents couldn't blame me. Actually having one work over the other is perfectly fine. With Technology a lot of us think it is all just supposed to work perfectly and when it doesn't we are deficient in some way. Most of the time it is either the technology or the system. I am amazed how many times colleagues ask in wonderment how did I do that? I simply replied I tried. The number of times it fails far out weighs the number of time it is successful, BUT with out the failures I can't have the good outcome.
ReplyDelete* You should give yourself a pat on the back for the transparency success. It can be the most challenging to commit to. It is one thing to talk about allowing others to see your classroom it is another thing to actually do it. Asking the students to do the work and reverse teach is some what easier concept to attempt although much more difficult to implement due to the tech and system.