Final Project Collaboration

Maureen and I are collaborating to end the school year.  I am thinking that this will be a great experience for both of us.  My students are going to research a country, find out what their countries stance or involvement is with a a global issue and post their information on a wiki.  The two possible topics that I have narrowed it down to are topics from Model United Nations of Minnesota.  They are: Human Trafficking or the Eradication of Poverty.  Both are very interesting topics that will hopefully interest the students.  They will then post a possible resolution to this issue as a country written as a United Nations resolution.  Hope all goes well and we don't run out of time.  I will most likely be choosing two students from this group to present their wiki at the MILI Conference in June...

Sample Blog to Assist Colleague

I am writing this blog to show a colleague the process and procedures to blogging.  

Thing 8--Online Resources and Databases

I have always heard about CultureGrams, but never really used them.  I tried looking at them when they were in paper form and it began making my head spin.  There was such plethora of information, if I couldn't digest it, my feeling was that my students would be overwhelmed.  The online version is so much more user friendly.  They have each category linked and the writing is a brief explanation that is in moderation.  My students have found this tool amazingly easy to understand and retrieve information.  I am hoping to delve more into the realm of online databases as my students begin their final project.  

Collaboration

After speaking with Maureen, we brainstormed a couple of ideas on collaborating on a project.  A very, VERY rough sketch has students posting information about the global poverty issues from different countries perspectives on a wiki.  My students were originally supposed to be taking part in a Model UN simulation that fell through due to funding.  I am still going to attack the theme that was given, as it seems to fit well with the MYP global perspectives piece.  Hopefully Maureen and I will become wiki zen masters!!!

GCast costs money?

I received an email a couple days ago stating that GCast was now going to cost like $100 bucks a year to access the phone function. Did I misread (I actually skimmed the email) something or are we not going to be able to use this resource anymore. It stinks that we just learned about it, signed up, and now will to be able to utilize it....

Thing 7--Search Engines

I have tried throughout the year to incorporate search engines other than Google. With my students, I think there is a level of comfortableness that does not allow them to veer away from Google. My students have resisted a switch to any other search engine more than the general public rose up against Coke II. Even when I have given students the instruction to stay away from Google, they still return and sneak searches. I think next year, I will need to introduce them at the beginning of the year and really lay out the benefits of the multiple engine search engines.

Google Docs-Revisited

My students are working on putting together a slideshow presentation on a specific Asian country, identifying the Universals of Culture. I gave the students free reign and the majority decided that they wanted to do a Power Point presentation. They were working with a partner. After the initial research phase was complete, I noticed many groups become stagnant and npt proceeding at the clip that they were with the research...Then a moment of brilliance...The light bulb went on and there was a brief smell of something burning...I told all of my students to "STOP!!!" I then insisted that they save their Power Point and upload it on to Google Docs. Students remembered (for the most part) how to log into their accounts and add a collaborator. I felt pretty good that some students had other assignments other than the ones I had assigned on their Google Docs account...WOO HOO!!!! A break through!!! Some were actually using a tool that I had given them!!

Getting back to my original point, those students who followed my suggestion of uploading completed their assignment on time, whereas the majority of the students who refused, were lagging behind in efficiency. It was great to have the students working on the same slideshow at the same time instead of them taking turns, or worse yet, having one partner completely off task because they were either too busy playing games or not being allowed to work on their project.


Man, I LOVE GOOGLE DOCS!!!!!