Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Putting It All Together with Donors Choose #bestschoolday


Don't you just love it when things come together nicely?  I certainly do!  This week has been a whirlwind of expectations and pieces oddly fitting together. I'll try to share a bit of what has happened so far. Yes, it has something to do with Educational Technology!

On Monday, my AP Lang students took their Quarterly Exam, which is worth ten percent of their grade. As they wrote their response to the 2010 Synthesis question regarding Educational Technology, I giggled.  My classes politely suffer through trying various new technology products and yet I was still asking them to evaluate issues in educational technology even in their timed writing. I was pleased that most of the students evaluated educational technology to be helpful in most cases. They did admit that it is very easy to be distracted and to use it as a crutch.

One issue came up this week as our students were beginning to film their Poetry PBL projects.
Our teachers were asked to be flexible and to use our school issued iPads rather than cell phones to videotape the projects. While we do have Chromebooks at our school, they are in use this week for ACT Aspire Interim II testing.  Cell phones were simply our first work around. The Poetry PBL is intended to have an authentic audience by using Youtube to broadcast the winning entries.

Our ELA team met at Moe's for our department meeting this afternoon shortly before a Prom fundraiser. As I sat delightedly with my colleagues, I realized that we accomplished out meeting without any technology. Our meeting was less stressful, and our objectives were met quickly. We discussed that flip cameras would be a wonderful technology purchase for the school and that a flip camera would solve our issues for the Poetry PBL filming.  I agreed but realized that it probably wouldn't be possible this year.

After I had driven home, I checked my school email. I opened a letter from  +DonorsChoose.org  Oh. My. Goodness! Why not create a quick project for five flip cameras? Amazingly, in less than thirty minutes, I had created and submitted the project. Within a few more minutes, I received approval for the project and was notified that it was posted!  I don't know what will happen on the #BestSchoolDay but I am glad that that I put the pieces together with the help of my students, my colleagues, and +DonorsChoose.org  Going to try with a little help (or a lot) from my friends.


*Do you teach or live in a rural area? Donors choose can help!
"DonorsChoose.org makes it easy for anyone to help a classroom in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America create classroom project requests, and you can give any amount to the project that inspires you."




Flip Cameras for Our Students 21st CenturyPBL projects
#bestschoolday




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