IT! In the Classroom

Comment

Comment by Cheryl Buettner on July 11, 2009 at 8:05pm

That is one of the wonderful things about working for a Charter School...I have so much more freedom than I did in "regular" public schools. Since we are a small program (four core subject teachers), each of us is also responsible for teaching electives of our choosing. As a huge proponent of service learning, I jumped on the opportunity to encourage our kids to get involved. It is the first time this has been offered (I'm new to the school), so we'll see how it goes.

I LOVE the idea of a lesson plan bank !! Please let me know if/when it is available for posts. I will be happy to contribute, as well as steal profusely, as all good teachers do. :o)

Comment by Lora Barstad on July 11, 2009 at 7:17am

Cheryl, that is so cool your building offers a Community Service elective! Is it a new course? I would love to hear more about the projects your kids work on when the school year starts. I think maybe what we should do is create a "Lesson Plans" discussion where we can upload handouts and unit/activity descriptions and whatnot. Especially that anti-bullying thing... man, I think the more ideas on that front, the better.

I have to admit, the possibilities of collaborating with teachers from all over is getting me really excited for the new year to start. I think ImagineThis! has done the impossible ;)

Comment by Cheryl Buettner on July 2, 2009 at 5:05pm

I'm so excited about exchanging ideas on this site. I currently teach middle school science and drama. Last semester, in addition to our annual Earth Day Resource Fair, I initiated the ARK program (Acts of Random Kindness) at our site to address a particularly bad round of bullying at our school. I am in the process of developing activities for the first week of school in the fall to be more proactive with the new students who will be joining us. I will be teaching a Community Service elective next year that will give students the opportunity to select from both local and global issues that they would like to actively work on.

Thanks so much to all involved with the creation of this site.

Comment by Lora Barstad on June 7, 2009 at 3:11pm

Thank you for that link - I'm so impressed by that project!

My students seemed to be more invested in this version of the research paper than the old one where the "problem" was not a local one. My girl doing the wasted cafeteria food thing is still working on a way to get the food donated. I think their papers ended up being better too, because they felt like they were making an argument about the problem rather than just reporting on it.

Comment by Yuliya Kats on June 6, 2009 at 5:18pm

Please, take a look at this site. One of our new members recommended it.
http://www.hands4others.org

Comment by Yuliya Kats on June 6, 2009 at 11:46am

I think, this is a fantastic idea! What do your students think?

Comment by Lora Barstad on June 4, 2009 at 10:22pm

Hello fellow educators and friends! The idea for this group is still a bit embryonic (sincere thanks to Dr. Koyfman for his helpful guidance in getting it off the ground!) but I'll try to elucidate what I imagine as the purpose for it.

Basically, I'm a bit bored and frustrated by curriculum that feels to me like it functions in a vacuum. I see that boredom and frustration mirrored in my kids. I think a large part of the reason they're disengaged is the old "when am I EVER going to use this?" quandary. Which I sympathize with. Everything about Imagine This seems like it would be the perfect tool to not only get kids engaged in learning processes that have actual real world application (that they can see and believe in), but also foster an awareness of and connection to the world outside of their protective bubbles.

As a teacher, I LIVE for this sort of idea exchange. It gives me cool stuff to try with my kids and keeps me excited about continually improving my instruction. My hope is that, eventually, all of our ideas could become a more formal source for curriculum and classroom resources. And if you're a student, please feel free to share any of your ideas for making your classroom a more meaningful place to live and grow - we absolutely want your input too!

So let's get started! I'll go first. I teach AP Language and Composition to primarily 11th graders. One thing I did this year was tweak our Researched Argument paper. In the past, they've just chosen some random issue they care about, but after reading the 100th paper about global warming that used the same 10 sources of evidence, I decided to change it. This year I made them identify a problem in our school/community and write a paper that included a realistic (and researched) solution to the problem. One girl figured out a plan to
donate the food our cafeteria wastes to a shelter - sadly, we didn't have the wherewithal or forethought to implement it this year. But it gave me some terrific ideas for next time around.