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Students in Ms. Berryman's 6th, 7th,
and 8th grade Academic Enhancement classes at Southern Middle School
recently completed designing their own web page using the school’s
mobile laptop computers. Students chose the heritage of a topic of
interest, gathered their data, outlined their research, learned MLA
bibliography format, and went to work.
They were only limited to their imaginations and appropriateness in
choosing their topics. The results were topics that ranged from
Alcatraz Island, Mozart, Elvis Presley, and the changing faces of
Michael Jackson to ballet, Ferraris, and Vietnam Memorial Wall. Most
students downloaded background music, moving graphics, cartoons, and
scanned digital photos into their web page.
Students’ reactions were varied as well with most thinking it was a
worthwhile venture, one that gives them a step up when presenting
research in high school. All admitted frustration at different times
in the process. No one in the class had used FrontPage before.
Comments like “My stuff didn’t save. Where is it?” or “What’s a
hyperlink?” or “I'm going to throw this computer into the wall” were
overheard. That didn’t happen!
“The adding of the ‘bells and whistles’ was by far the class’s
favorite part of the project,” stated Nicole, an SMS eighth grader,
the first student to complete her web page. Students surfed the web
for graphics and especially for… music. “Many types of music could
be heard coming from Room 203 from Bluegrass to the Beatles. It
never got old. By the end of the project the whole class was singing
along,” added Burns.
“I liked this project; it’s fun to learn something new,” stated
Matt, a SMS sixth grader. He also added, “I also learned new
information from everybody’s web page, stuff I didn’t know.”
Overall, this assignment was a good experience. Macy, whose topic
was her family’s history said, “I learned a lot about my family.”
She was able to scan family photos and recipes into her web page.
Since Bluegrass music is part of her family heritage, she downloaded
Bluegrass and gospel music along with her family stories. Other
students stated that they learned about technology - computers
shutting down for no reason, computers with viruses, low batteries,
“…and the occasional speaking of “different languages” made the
project frustrating, but still enjoyable,” added Nicole.
From a teacher’s perspective, watching students help each other with
technology was a good example of peer tutoring in action. Ms.
Berryman agrees with Nicole when she says, “Patience is essential
when working with technology.” |
Submitted by John
Ziegler, Southern Middle TRT |
