Example Assignments
While I was block teaching in my 11th grade class at West Prairie High School, I realized that my students lacked motivation to read or do their homework for class. It was a constant struggle to get my students to take their books home and read so that they can discuss the book in class, let alone pass their tests. Because of this, I thought it would be a good idea to try something new and use a website in the classroom to interact with them. In this school, each student was issued an iPad, so I taught my class via iPad apps and used a lot of technology to reach out to my class. I decided to use a site called Edmodo and I posted assignments, tests, and videos on it in an effort to reach out to the class, and it was very successful. They were finally doing their homework and they had fun doing it. If you would like to view the site and my interaction with my students, please let me know and I will send you the link.
As a teacher, I would love to incorporate technology into my classroom now that I have had a lot of experience with using it and using it effectively. During my classes at Western Illinois University, I have had the opportunity to try using technology with projects I would eventually assign to my students. Although the exact subject of the examples I have made may not be the same that I would direct my students to do, the project will remain the same.
I made a multi-genre memoir piece in my English class and I chose to make this piece about my experience and the friendships I had made in my sorority, Chi Omega. Ideally, I would use this project in a classroom with an 11th or 12th grade class and I would use this as a final project to assess their knowledge of a given text, such as The Great Gatsby or Wintergirls. To view my multi-genre memoir piece, please click here.
Activities are a great way to get to know my students better, and my personal favorite activity, which I would use for the first week of classes, is a "Getting-To-Know-You Brochure" activity. This gets the students using technology right away and it is a lot more fun and interesting than saying your name and something unique about yourself during the first day of class. I would much rather have my students create their personal brochures and present them to the class. This is a wonderful activity for those who have a difficult time speaking in front of a classroom because they will have their brochure to refer to. This allows me to see pictures of my students and learn a lot more information about them other than just their name and one unique thing about them. Names are sometimes hard to remember, but this activity helps me to put a face to the name and connect with my students on another level.
Another great project to use to assess my students' knowledge of a text is called a digital storytelling project. I made my own digital storytelling project in one of my English classes at W.I.U. and I chose to make it about a group of people struggling through addiction. This is a really fun project for students to create, and could be a nice alternative to a test. Students will need to retell the story in their digital stories using images, commentary, text, and music. Students may choose to sing instead of speak, or use text instead of a commentary. I would use this in a high school classroom, 9-12th grade, as a final project of a 2 week unit on a text such as Hamlet or Please Stop Laughing At Me. If you would like to view my digital story, please click here.
Students may also make their own PowerPoint movie presentations to introduce a chapter or unit to the class. I would probably place students in groups of 3 or 4 and they would be responsible for making a PowerPoint movie presentation for one or two chapters of a novel. In my Special Education class, I made a PowerPoint movie presentation introducing a Latin American unit to my classroom. This would be a relatively easy project for students to do during a unit and it would help the students understand the chapters better. This would be a good project for 8-12th grade students. You may check out my PowerPoint movie presentation here.
As a teacher, I would love to incorporate technology into my classroom now that I have had a lot of experience with using it and using it effectively. During my classes at Western Illinois University, I have had the opportunity to try using technology with projects I would eventually assign to my students. Although the exact subject of the examples I have made may not be the same that I would direct my students to do, the project will remain the same.
I made a multi-genre memoir piece in my English class and I chose to make this piece about my experience and the friendships I had made in my sorority, Chi Omega. Ideally, I would use this project in a classroom with an 11th or 12th grade class and I would use this as a final project to assess their knowledge of a given text, such as The Great Gatsby or Wintergirls. To view my multi-genre memoir piece, please click here.
Activities are a great way to get to know my students better, and my personal favorite activity, which I would use for the first week of classes, is a "Getting-To-Know-You Brochure" activity. This gets the students using technology right away and it is a lot more fun and interesting than saying your name and something unique about yourself during the first day of class. I would much rather have my students create their personal brochures and present them to the class. This is a wonderful activity for those who have a difficult time speaking in front of a classroom because they will have their brochure to refer to. This allows me to see pictures of my students and learn a lot more information about them other than just their name and one unique thing about them. Names are sometimes hard to remember, but this activity helps me to put a face to the name and connect with my students on another level.
Another great project to use to assess my students' knowledge of a text is called a digital storytelling project. I made my own digital storytelling project in one of my English classes at W.I.U. and I chose to make it about a group of people struggling through addiction. This is a really fun project for students to create, and could be a nice alternative to a test. Students will need to retell the story in their digital stories using images, commentary, text, and music. Students may choose to sing instead of speak, or use text instead of a commentary. I would use this in a high school classroom, 9-12th grade, as a final project of a 2 week unit on a text such as Hamlet or Please Stop Laughing At Me. If you would like to view my digital story, please click here.
Students may also make their own PowerPoint movie presentations to introduce a chapter or unit to the class. I would probably place students in groups of 3 or 4 and they would be responsible for making a PowerPoint movie presentation for one or two chapters of a novel. In my Special Education class, I made a PowerPoint movie presentation introducing a Latin American unit to my classroom. This would be a relatively easy project for students to do during a unit and it would help the students understand the chapters better. This would be a good project for 8-12th grade students. You may check out my PowerPoint movie presentation here.