Scenario:
- You’ve assigned kids to create a presentation using PowerPoint or other technology.
- You have asked them to write an essay and turn it in to you for grading.
- Students have created a video or a photography project and want to share it with the class.
How to you collect these projects?
You have students turn in the papers or bring their digital presentations on flash drives, of course.
So – what happens next?
- You drown in papers to bring back and forth from school
- For digital presentations, you have to monkey around loading files from each person’s flash drive.
Is there a better way?
Of course. Create a form on your website that will allow students to upload their files directly to you. They will not be visible to others – but can be opened easily from a single web page during class.
Other advantages?
- You can use MS Word’s “comments” feature to add your comments/corrections/grade in red text directly into the paper.
- Although you will have to print the papers to return them to the students, your typed comments will be easier for them to read. You can even have a list of frequent comments to copy & paste from.
- You will be preparing students for college where many professors require students to upload their assignments to them.
Won’t it be a hassle getting students to do this?
If you refuse to take paper submissions, students will soon get used to the process. Even if a student has no computer at home – they can upload files in seconds from one of the school computers.
How hard is it to create such a form?
Come on into the library and we should be able to get it set up in minutes. To see the form I have set up for students to send me files – go to my Document Submission Form.
I encourage you to read Did we miss the boat? by Carolyn Foote. You may completely disagree with her analysis. However, regardless of your opinion about the speech and the controversy around it, you will find her ideas for turning it into a teachable moment both interesting and useful.
1. Air the speech as well as the speeches to students given by Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Ask students to compare and contrast rhetorical styles, the setting for the speech, response of students in the audience, etc.
2. Use Wordle.net to have students create Wordle visuals of presidential speeches to examine their emphasis and content so they can compare and contrast.
3. Examine the media frenzy over the recent speech. Help students filter out fact/fiction in print reporting /internet reporting over the speech. Have students look at the reporting before the speech (by checking newspaper archives, databases for last couple of weeks, letters to the editor, etc.) and then have them check out the post-speech reporting in the next day or two in those same sources.
4. Have them analyze the speech for examples of good rhetorical techniques (using a personal story, word choice, call to action, etc.) Compare these used to other motivational speeches.
5. Use the Newseum website to examine headlines around the country for their reporting on the speech and compare/contrast the reporting. (But quick, before the headlines disappear!)
From the Dear Librarian blog – Useful websites to connect your students to the rest of the world. Yes – probably most things are blocked by BESS – but if you bring your students to the library to work, I can take care of that.
If you want to explore options yourself, I can unblock a library computer for you, or you can explore at home. Perhaps if enough of us express our discontent with the extreme filtering that goes on, something can be done about it.
What happens if cell phones and ipods are no longer forbidden at all times in school? What if they are encouraged if they can be useful for classroom activities? What should classroom management look like when ltops/netbooks/cell phones etc. are part of the classroom scene.
Some thoughts from a first grade teacher….
iSchool Worries…Is Technology A Distraction?
