The Digital Edge Project is an online library featuring National Board Certified Teachers in examples and ideas for teaching and lessons. The lesson I decided to follow was written by a sixth grade teacher from Idaho who has a very wide arrangement of students. About half of his students are Hispanic which led him to his lesson about Mexico. The purpose of this lesson was to familiarize the entire class about Mexico: the food, landscape, architecture, culture, history, etc. The students were required to watch videos about Mexico, read in their social studies books, and worked on worksheet to learn information about Mexico. They were also asked to write an essay about how life was different in Mexico than Idaho, and also the things that were similar between them. After the research and paper were complete, the class put on a fiesta complete with Mexican food, clothing, language, and music. From here, the students were asked to create a brochure about their findings using the computer. To go about this part, the teacher explained how to make the brochure in their classroom and then completed instruction in the computer lab. He let them experiment and go for it while walking around the room offering help and answering questions. After spending a while in the computer lab, students were asked to turn in a rough draft which would be looked over by the teacher. The students would then be able to modify their brochures before turning them in (which they made in pairs).
I really enjoyed this lesson plan; it is a great and creative idea. It seemed as though the students enjoyed it and learned a lot about technology and Mexico. The teacher seemed to really understand how to use technology as a tool and as a learning mean to make this lesson meaningful to the students. I personally enjoy his reasoning for using technology:
"I use technology to enhance instruction because it provides opportunities for the students to find information, create an attractive product, and develop problem-solving skills that will serve them well in the future."
This is such a great thing to hear from a teacher. Some teachers today are terrified of teaching too much information about using technology because it's an uncomfortable subject for them. I believe it's important for us as educators to teach them as much as they can. This will help them in the future and able them to help others. What a cool resource for teachers!
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Linds*
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with your opinion on this project as well as how educators need to teach them as much as we possibly can, especially about technology because that is what everything seems to be about these days.
This project sounds just awesome! The teacher seemed to know what he was doing throughout the entire thing, which makes it a lot easier for students to get engaged, and really try to put themselves in the shoes of someone other than themselves and their friends. The brochure seemed like a great way to summarize what the students have learn. I know that I've created my fair share of brochures and it was so nice that I was taught at a young age. Brochures really helped me to understand the topic better because I was using the brochure to inform someone else, so I had to make sure that it was done really well and had a lot of useful information on it.
I really liked that the teacher used a large amount of sources for these students so that they could really get a good grasp on the subject. This would be a great project for you to keep in mind for your future students :)
<3
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteThis digital edge project you wrote about sounded interesting. I thought the idea of writing about a particluar place (Mexico in this case) was a neat idea. For the half of his class who were hispanic, they were able to possibly show their heritage or learn more about where they were from. Also, this was a neat way of allowing the other half of the class to learn about other's heritage. However, I think an even better idea would be for each student in the class to pick a place that represents their background or heritage or a part of it and inform the rest of the class by way of a brochure. This way the students can learn about many places and everyone will feel represented.
I think it is awesome how this teacher embraced the dynamics of his class and used this classroom make-up to familiarize all of the students with a prominent culture in their classroom. What a great idea! I also like how the teacher broadened the information by studying many aspects of the Mexican culture (including the food, landscape, architecture, culture, and history). I think this is great for all of the student because for the students who are Hispanics, this project enabled them to learn more about their own culture and to express what they already knew about it, and for the other half of the class coming from different cultures, this project enabled them to learn more about the culture of their peers and maybe motivate them to learn more about their own cultures as well. I also like all of the resources that were used for information (watch videos, read, etc.); and once the students filtered important information they wanted to use, they had to organize that information in many different ways (which is great for practicing using information about one subject to organize it into essay writing and brochures). I also like how the essay enabled the students to share about differences as well as similarities because this encourages students to look at culture in a deeper level. I also like how students worked in pairs (which encourage collaboration). Overall, I think that this is a great project which emphasizes a broad spectrum of technology in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. This lesson seems like a great way for the teacher's hispanic students to get in touch with their roots and really learn about their culture. This was not only a history lesson but a computer lesson as well. With the brochure assignment students are forced to learn and become familiarized with different applications the computer features. This is a great research and writing project as well. Tying up the lesson with fiesta brings fun to the lesson which is always nice. This is definitely something i would like to try. However, Instead of having each student reasearch the same country, I would have each student research a different country to make the lesson a little more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that teachers are often afraid to use technology in the classrooms. However, we know that the use of technology can provide a huge advantage if you use it correctly. I think we as young teachers also have a great advantage as we are being raised digitally fluent. I also loved the lesson plan you chose to review. What a great way to help students react with a culture and to learn more about it. Especially in our ever-diverse nation, these kinds of lessons are extremely important and vital for our students.
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