Are we creating symmetrical or asymmetrical lessons for our students?  Are we reaching all of our students or are a few left unnoticed in the crowd?  Through differentiation, we can offer a balanced approach that reaches most of our students.  Those few that are just cruising with the crowd need the chance to shine too.

Well, my excitement for an inter-island debate has faded into the past.  Not being a classroom teacher has made this project a little challenging for me.  The teacher I had been collaborating with, decided "I have no time to do another project with my class."  So I am back to ground zero.  But luckily, I have been collaborating with other Environmental Specialists to create  a new project.  So after great collaboration with Dr. Graham and a few classmates I have a new idea.  In honor of Earth Week, a few teens and I will create a community outreach activity to teach adults in our community about Air Quality in our homes.  We will host 4 booths for community members to rotate around.  Each teen will research a topic and then present it the community.  Then another teen will video tape the activities and take photographs.  In the end the tens will create a video about the night to share with Northern Arizona University.  So after a week of collaboration and a little reassurance from my professor I think I have a plan.  Now, I have to find specific standards for this project and recreate a rubric. 

To accomplish this project, the teens will be using a cricuit machine and a computer to create their display boards about their project.  They will be using the internet to research their topic and gather material for their display boards.   Each student will explore the use of word clouds by creating their own unique method of sharing their research through the use of sites like wordle, tagxedo, wordsift or tagul. Then they will be using a video camera to demonstrate their knowledge and present it to other high school and university students.  The students will be given the choice as to how they want want to create their final presentation but will be encourage to use Glogster, voicethread, and/or iMovie.

Since I am working on my project outside of the school day, classroom management will note be  major issue.  Our biggest issue will be using the one computer we have access too and it not a Mac.  The teen are used to using a Mac in school so they will be "forced" to use a different computer.  I will be challenged to keep the teens motivated through the project and be able to support their progress as they are each working on different projects at the same time with only 1 computer.  So there will be a lot of time management to ensure everyone has adequate time to complete their project. 

One of the key components of this project is ensuring I know how to use each piece of technology before I introduce it to the teens.  I sure miss having a technology teacher around to help me explore options....Oh wait that is supposed to be me so I better just get out there and explore.   I wonder which of these tools they have used before?  I know a few of them have used iMovie before but then is there a compatible program on the PC?  My main focus this week is learning about a compatible movie making program on the PC so far the internet limitations on downloading ha made this a difficult process but I will continue to search for the right answer with our bandwidth considerations. 


You can check out the word cloud sites on my Pinterest site. 

It is easy for teachers to follow the text book or assign another PowerPoint project.  While our students are doing what is asked are they truly getting any major benefit by doing another project?  Is this project reaching all of your students needs?  Students will light up with joy when you give them a choice of how to present what they learn.  They will explore new avenues and create demonstrate incredible knowledge if we just open the door for them.  Here is a sample project to show how easy it is to differentiate instruction by giving student the freedom of choice.  While all students are using the same standards they have multiple methods available to display their knowledge.

Alaska Anchor Standards for Writing Grade 6-12

1.     Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
2.     Write informative/explanatory text to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
6.     Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
7.     Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. 

Students will be given 1 hour to search for information on cell phone use in schools.  Students will randomly be assigned to be for or against cell phone use in school.  Then they will be teamed up with 2 other students from other island schools to create a persuasive argument either for or against the use of cell phones in school.  This argument will be presented using the medium of their choice some recommended mediums are: glogster, garage band, prezi or voice thread, additional mediums are acceptable if presented to the instructor.  Be creative, have fun and try something new