Activity 4.1 Discussion

I chose to look at the Animal Research Report. The coverage of the project and the information about the demographic was fairly thorough.

Reading about this animal research project has inspired me to do more planning for a composer project. The students could do a report on a composer and use many of the same techniques used for the animal research project.

What makes this project a successful learning experience is that the students have to take ownership of the project from the very beginning to the very end, from choosing the animal to putting together the final presentation in the form of a slide show. This is a project that also incorporated many activities. The students created their own goal, did their own writing, and had to organize their own presentations. This project is also exceptional for its integration of literacy, writing, social studies, science and technology in one project. The class is learning much more than just about an animal.

What I want to accomplish when it comes to using technology for learning is to get the technology into the students' hands as much as possible. I want them in the driver's seat.

I could use most aspects of this project for my classroom. I think how the teacher gave the students some previewed and tested websites to go to is a very good idea. The students created a flip book first, which acted as a sort of draft and then put the ideas into a power point presentation. All of these things could be tailored to use in the music room.

This school has some similarities to my school in their socioeconomic status. The Idaho school is 50% free and reduced lunch and our school is 100% free and reduced lunch. However, the Idaho school is 90% caucasian and my school is about 17% caucasian. As with many schools, it seems as though the teachers do as much as they can with the resources available.

Char Soucy uses the technology she has in different ways and likes the students to get hands-on experience. She uses the digital camera for visual representations and likes to get the students to use the computers for creating their projects to get them as much experience as soon as possible to build their skills. I also like to get the students using technology as much as possible to create. In order to create the best learning experience the students need to get in and take ownership and do it themselves as much as possible.


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