Where I am in my project...

I have started my students on this project which is a persuasive movie made on Movie Maker. They've researched their topics and are getting into their interview questions and brainstorming ideas for commercials. It has been so interesting to watch them come to their own conclusions about very heavy topics such as corporal punishment, gender issues, and school violence. It makes me feel good that they are beginning to really think critical about real world issues. They will be working on their project for about a week and a half more until they put it all together in Movie Maker. I am so excited to see the final products!

Barriers to Implementing 1:1

I'm afraid there are many barriers to implementing 1:1 computing in my school. As in most schools this year, our budget has been trimmed down substantially. Unfortunately, we just don't have the resources right now to introduce 1:1 computing. If we did have the resources, however, I'm not really sure that they would go toward funding such a program. We are still working on getting LCD projectors in every academic classroom, so I think that would be the first order of business.

Another barrier I see with 1:1 is our system server. I think it would just give up and shut down if that many computers were logged on at the same time. We would need more tech people which means even more money for jobs that isn't available.

When talking about 1:1 computing with my students the other day, we came up with countless ways that it would help in the classroom. Since I teach in a very affluent community as it is, my students are very up to date on technology. There are so many things that we could do in class with computers but are able to. My students could teach me so much, and I could help them enhance their learning as well with the implementation of 1:1.

Digital Citizenship Presentation Night

I loved the digital citizenship presentations that were done in class for so many reasons. I think they were great, because they taught me a lot about topics that I wasn't familiar with. Also, many of them took web topics to a new level, which I really appreciated.

I think one of the best things about these presentations was that they could really be used to show students, parents, and teachers the dangers that lurk on the web as well as some precautions to take while on the internet. I think that so many students and parents have no idea about the dangers that are present when they are on the internet, and many of the presentations were very savy about some ways to stay away from those dangers.

Many of the presentations were also helpful in showing students, parents, and teachers how to communicate effectively and safely while on the internet. This is so important, because we do live in a quick communication world. Students need to know how to connect in a safe and legal way.

Overall, I think all the presentations were extremely helpful and well put together! :)