When I look back at the NETS-T, I noticed that I am progressing in other areas. I am showing growth to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. The other week my class examined a National Geographic - Jamestown Virtual Tour. They worked to compare the Jamestown fort to a Powhatan Village. This was followed up with a problem solving activity. Students worked oa site that told them the Jamestown Museum burned down. They had to choose a settler from the departure list to America ad find infromation to create a settler's journal. Students created these artifacts to share and help the museum collect missing historical pieces.
Today, we had the Jamestown people come to our class since we can not take this field trip. It was a great experience giving sutdents a chance to interact and dress in costumes from a long time ago in history. Afterward, I asked the presenter if they had a blog for students to ask questions. I thuoght this would be a great way for students to reach experts if they had questions during this uit of study. He was not aware of a blog and said he would check into this forme. I did not see one on their site. Isn't this a good idea? Does anyone know if there is a blog out there for Jamestown. I put this on my to-do list for this week. My goals are expanding or I just see myself growing into other areas i the NETS-T. My students were excited when they heard me askabout the blog. THey loveto ask questions.
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gradrunner,
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you are seeing improvement in NETS-T areas other than just those you selected as your focus. Your idea about a Jamestown blog is a great idea. If you do not find one, will you start one? When you visit museums and such in person, there is always a suggestion box. It would be a great idea for their official Websites to have an areas designated for suggestions, questions, and comments.
Mintzer,
ReplyDeleteI did contact them today through their site and suggested a blog for student questions. Today, I found a National Geographic site on Jamestown, but their was only one posting and one comment. A lady was hoping they find artifacts that relate to descendants of hers'. I checked the diary Webquest and the person she mentions is on the original list that went to Jamestown. I sent her a post introducing myself and asking if my students could ask her questions on the person she mentioned. The only downfall is her post was in 2009. I will keep trying i hopes to locate a blog that relates to Jamestown. It would be cool to find someone who knows greatdetail o this historical event.
@ gradrunner
ReplyDeleteVery nice job bringing the field trip to your students! As I read your posting this week, I got excited hearing your students had the opportunity to dress up in costume. Did you by chance take any pictures with the digital camera you checked out? If so, it would be a great addition to your website! Parents and students would love it. Also I came across this Jamestown blog if you are interested...http://my.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/homeMyeP.php?homeMode=tSub
Barlow,
ReplyDeleteThanks. I had a student in our class take some photos. I'm glad you reminded me to put up some of those pictures on my Web site. I checked out the blog link you suggested, but could not find the Jamestown Blog. I found the epodunk site, but not the blog. Where is it located?
It is very interesting that the students are so excited. I think they get excited as well as we do when we are doing something new. It is really good that you are progressing in areas that you weren't even focusing in. It goes to show that as we learn we are showing our new ideas to our students.
ReplyDeleteBrandy
I like the combination of hands-on activities, like presentations in class and field trips, combined with technology such as blogs and posts on websites. I think that you could use technology to get students to create a digital diary of their "experiences" at Jamestown and then could share this with their classmates and parents. I think that this could help the experience come alive even more and could help deepen their understanding of the content.
ReplyDeleteGradrunner,
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the wellwisher.com website with your students yet? If so how did it work? What grade do you teach? Do you think it would be to difficult for 2nd graders to understand and follow directions?
Your Jamestown activity sounds fantastic. It involves so much differentiated instruction and seems to be able to meet the needs of a variety of different students.
Kathryn