End of Year Survey

Number of students served by this grant:
Approximately 180 in my classes alone.


Summarize how the grant impacted the students it served:
The Power to Learn grant impacted a number of students by providing a different form of media that is not always easily accessible in every classroom. By receiving the grant, our team was able to purchase 42 laptops that have been used daily since their arrival. Also, we received 2 Nintendo Wii systems that have been used to supplement different learning stations throughout the year. Students have responded positively after using both of these tools.


Briefly share a couple of specific experiences that went well:
In general, every lesson that we used the technology on went well.
Jazz Age:
My first true experience with the netbooks, we were working on the Jazz Age. I was a little nervous about using the netbooks but decided there was no time like the present. The students were able to log onto Ning to:
1. take their notes on the Jazz Age (no lecturing, students could work at their own pace)
2. watch a video clip about the Jazz Age, then respond to the blog regarding the Jazz Age.
3. create a Jazz Age character based on their research.

World War II:
Students were given numerous options in a menu format to study World War II. The first part of the lesson consisted of centers, that used the netbooks for the simple process of watching a video and answering questions. The next part, which were the menus, consisted of students doing several things. Some students read Night by Elie Wiesel and then participated in a book study online. Others played 2 games on the Wii, Battles of the Pacific and Medal of Honor, then had to create journal entries about their experiences online. Lastly, one of the "easier" choices were BrainPop videos and online quizzes that were sent to me via email. Students had to do at least 3 of the choices. Students seemed to enjoy the experience and test scores were improved.

Movie Guides:
This one was relatively easy. I got tired of doing the same old movie guides that did not give me any real time information. Now, while a movie or clip is on, the students are logged onto Ning and have to answer questions while the clip is on. I choose when to post a question and the students have to answer before the next question is posted. The immediate feedback has been amazing.

Your plan for next year- how you plan to take the project forward next year:

My goal for next year is to implement this program much more from the beginning. The students have developed a higher motivation for learning and are learning more 21st century skills. Now, my goal is to create more effective lessons that use the technology fully.

Wrapping up the PTL Grant!

Number of students served:
~150 students just in my Pre-AP and Academic World Geography classes

Summary:
This year has been a wonderful learning experience for my students and me. I have used several new techniques including technology like the mini-laptops, rubrics, and differentiation strategies to help students learn the concepts laid out by the World Geography TEKS on a higher Bloom's Taxonomy level. Although this has been a pilot year and extremely challenging, my classroom has been transformed! I have been able to engage my students by combining classical teaching techniques with technology. Overall, it has been an incredibly exciting and productive experience. I challenged my students to become plugged-in-21st-century-learners by teaching them to use technology to problem solve. Through this process of learning technological skills, my students have become more confident, comfortable, resourceful, and excited about using technology to be life-long learners. By keeping this blog with three other coworkers (Shelby Acevedo, Sara Russo, Kirk Eckstein) of lessons using the technology and meeting on a regular basis, we were able to collaborate to create even better differentiated lessons.

Successful Lessons:
1.Project Menu for Discovering Europe
Objective: The student will create a Europe Challenge Computer game using facebook (IQ Traveler Challenge), a Europe Trip Brochure using Open Office (Impress), or a Europe Tour Video using Google Earth in order to highlight significant physical, political, and cultural aspects of Europe.

This project was a huge hit because it involved student choice and higher level thinking skills. My students loved being able to choose how they demonstrated what they knew about Europe. I grouped students based on the project they picked so they could collaborate and help each other navigate the new computer programs.

2. Africa Online Glogster or Poster Project
Objective: The student will analyze a region of Africa by researching then creating an online glogster or poster of the most important culturual and physical features of that region.

Introducing the option for students to be able to create an online poster versus a paper poster was exciting to most students. Of course some students like to cut and paste by hand, but many students loved being able to be creative quickly by the click of a button. They were able to invest more thinking time into the information on the poster instead of all their time putting it together.

3. South Asia Stations
Objective: The student will learn about South Asia by completing 5 Stations: (1) The student will Compare/Contrast MLK Jr. to Gandhi using Brainpop, (2)The student will Label an online interactive South Asia map game with 90% accuracy, (3)The student will work in a small group to evaluate a series of South Asia maps including economic activity, population density, vegetation, climate, physical, and political in order to answer Geography Alive! questions in complete sentences. (4)The student will watch an India Globe Trekker (10 minute clip) and write complete sentences about information that was interesting to them. (5)The student will diagram different aspects of Mt. Everest by using a graphic organizer and brainpop.

The students seem to really enjoy having 20 minutes to focus on each activity then switching to something new. Stations allow students to literally get up and move every 20 minutes and they maximize classtime. Once you have trained your students to transition quickly, they learn about three times as much in one block period than they would normally because you teach them to focus on and learn five different concepts in one day!

Plan for Next Year:

I plan on continuing to work with my team to collaborate and create even more lessons using mini-laptops in addition to the wiis. I also plan on being more organized in teaching my students to problem-solve using this technology as this past year was a trial period for all of us! I feel confident that integrating technological skills into my World Geography curriculum creates students who come away with tangible computer skills in addition to worldly knowledge. I have seen my students put their creativity into practice, and I definitely plan on encouraging this further.