Project+Reflection

The students were engaged throughout both parts of the project. The really got into the current event twitter. Students would stop by before school in the morning to tell me about earthquakes, tsunamis and other events they'd heard about on the news that they thought should be included in the twitter. They loved voting on PollDaddy and always asked to see the results (I think some of them thought I was choosing __my__ favorite rather than going with their selection.) Even if this activity had made no impact on their reading scores, it was worthwhile just to show the link between earth science and what happens in the "real world." I will continue this in my science classes in the future. I may even add some aspect of this to my FACS classes.

Students always enjoy working with computers. They loved having access to the wikispace and being able to collaborate on the disaster project. I liked being able to see what and how much each student contributed to the whole. I was also amazed at the number of students who worked on the project from home and particularly the number of those typically "unmotivated" students who put in extra time. They did not do very well on citing their sources. That's something I struggle with a lot in the middle school classes. I need to keep working on that with them. The wikispace works great in the spring when students miss classes regularly for track, music and other school activities. They can see what their classmates did and add their own assignment from home without remembering to take books home with them. I will definitely use the wiki more next year in all of my classes. The most fun for me was watching my students apply what they learned about preventing or reducing the effects of disasters with their sketchup projects. The results were truly amazing. Also, it showed me that I can stand back and let them teach each other.