It’s the reason the snack machine has been getting empty.
It’s the reason so many teachers were burning the midnight oil.
It’s the reason the art teacher was running out of paint.
It’s the reason the kids have been wild and teachers worn out (and broke).
It’s also the reason we had so many technology problems on Wednesday (like…just our luck!).
What was it? Student Exhibition!
This was the trial run. On November 13th, every single student in Memphis City Schools put a project on display for community jurors to come in and evaluate. It was an event on the grand scale. This week has been tough, with nerves frayed and halls crowded with tables and kids walking around in costumes. The computer lab became a stop for finishing up typed reflections and video touch ups. Everyone, from the janitors to office staff to support teachers rolled up their sleeves and made sure everything went smoothly on the big day. The students were not the only ones being graded, after all.
The day started off with me wrestling the stubborn laptop and projector, which thankfully decided to cooperate in time. We welcomed the jurors in and after coffee and a training session, they were set forth into the school. It was great to see so many familiar faces, including Debbie Robb, whose shoes I have been filling this year. As the official photographer, I got a chance to observe the jurors at work, but they were not really the stars. Nope! It was our students, who were nothing short of impressive in explaining all the hard work and studying they have done. I was really glad to see so much technology incorporated into projects. Stellar projects abounded, overall, and the teachers were excellent facilitators.
Now the work begins for me. One of my tasks was to take a digital photo of all student projects (about 700), and that was finished today. Now, I have to rename the files and upload them, along with Powerpoints and videos to digital portfolios that the school district will be keeping up with. It’s also a reason I may not be blogging that much in the weeks to come, as I don’t have much planning time and will have to committ after-school time for completing it.
This was definitely a learning process as far as the procedures went. Of course, our school does projects all the time and most of the projects on display were regular projects each grade does every year. We just don’t do them all at once.
Here are some pictures from the big day.
The students actually made the Chinese dragon scales by cutting out circles and applying metallic paint. It wasn’t a judged product, but part of the overall unit. Just an interesting idea, if you plan on making a giant dragon for your wall in the future. The kindergartners also made a pretty sweet totem pole.
I have been in the throes of Student Exhibition, and still have more work to do, but it’s about time I updated!
Last week, I attended the Memphis City School Annual Technology Conference. I also presented both days of the conference, hoping to get techie teachers excited about the possibilities blogging can open up for their classrooms or schools.
Suzanne and I presented on Thursday, and I went solo on Friday. Overall, it seemed that many of the session attendees were keen to get started on Edublogs, which was the site and guide that we provided for setting up a teacher blog. I am hoping to hear from people there and to see what they are blogging about, or how they are involving their classes in blogging.
On Thursday night, I also attended a webinar hosted by Edutopia (GLEF). “Small World: How to Bring Your Students in the Global Online Classroom” was a conversation with Will Richardson, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, and the hand behind Weblogg-ed. It was inspiring! If I was committed to changing what is possible for my students in the 21st century at Downtown Elementary, I am even more. At least, I feel energized. It was very motivating to meet with about 200 other like-minded educators and share questions with Mr. Richardson. I’ve already got some ideas brewing for blogs and wikis, thanks to his examples.
Student Exhibition was yesterday, as well as Family Math, Science, and Technology Night. Those deserve their own posts, methinks.
In discussions with teachers at my school and when I am about in the district, the question seems to be, “What do I blog about?”
Some of us just aren’t into the idea of a journal-style blog. So, if you wish to make your blog more of a classroom hub where students and parents can communicate with you and check things like classroom news and homework, it seems a little static. It’s the weekly newsletter revised. For some teachers, that’s just as far as they feel comfortable going, and that is fine. It’s a great communication tool; however, I know that teachers (especially those in elementary school) are looking for ways to get students involved in the classroom blog.
A third grade teacher, Freda Neely, has come up with a great way to get her students involved with extra assignments and blogging. They are learning about classroom topics, working on their grammar and writing skills, and participating in an online classroom community. The results, she says, have been far beyond what she expected.
The notion is to create a weekly “mission” in which students have to participate in some activity online and answer questions. The biggest stipulation is that the answers must be in complete sentences. She waits until all students have submitted replies to her mission blog post and then she approves all the comments (an easy set-up in Edublogs). I’ll let her blog speak for itself!
Of course we all know that yesterday was the big day! The students at Downtown Elementary participated in their own mock election. Using two eMacs on teacher stations set up outside the school office, students cast their votes by simply clicking a button. The program used was FileMaker Pro. I would upload it here, but it cannot be uploaded to Edublogs. If you would like a copy of the fp5 file to adapt for your own mock election, shoot me an email.
