Right now, my students are in the midst of a ‘Choose your own adventure’ assignment. We’re wrapping up our unit on Angles and I wanted them to have a chance to show me what they’ve learned in a way that is meaningful to them. Earlier in the unit, we walked around the school and took pictures on the iPads, posting them to a Linoit board. At the end of the unit, we came back to them to give us some context for thinking about our curriculum expectations.
I wrote out the expectation for them. I talked to them about context, connections and using ‘what they are good at.’ And then I said, “Go. Show me what you’ve learned.” I confess, for a few days they sort of looked puzzled. They brainstormed some ideas, but weren’t really sure what to do. I could tell that they were waiting for direction from me about what to do next.
I said, “I don’t think it’s my job to stand at the front, while you sit and listen and write stuff down.” #mindblown. I talked to them about being present and accountable for their learning. I talked about them working collaboratively to investigate what they know and what they have learned. I told them, “Do whatever you want to show me what you have learned.”
And so, if you visit my class during math right now, you’ll see a group researching construction practices and buliding nets. You’ll see groups writing songs about angles. Kids will be outside filming clips for a short film. Kids are in the hall with a ukelele and a board game design. It’s chaos. Kids are all over the place. Everyone is doing different things. I’ll probably have to write like, 6 rubrics. That’s okay. The kids are engaged. They are focused. They are discussing their learning. They are doing it in a way that makes sense to them.
That is really great news. It is fantastic that your experiments with iPads and evernote is going so well. I just seen a news report recently about having 2 weeks without screens (no tv, computers, smartphones, tablets etc) with some reports that the grades of those students involved improved. I am a big fan of technology in the classroom but I wonder if if there is a balance in there somewhere?
here is the wiki page for the screenless event if you are interested
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen-Free_Week
I definitely think there is a balance to be had. I confess that sometimes I bust out the ‘old school’ and write on the white board and have kids write it down. Sometimes all the technology you need is a pencil and piece of paper. Thanks for the info on the Screen Free Week. Definitely checking that out.