1. Photo Story
2. Prezi or Power Point
3. Video Commercial.
Ms. Pope also added to the original lesson plan by including a list of the evidence that she was expecting to see in each presentation. This makes it clear to students that even though the presentation tool might be different, the content would need to meet the same standards.
The note taking sheet that she gave to her students is shown to the left.
I visited the class as they were finishing their final projects and getting ready to turn them in before the quarter ended.
Students were scattered, in small groups and individually, throughout the media center.
Each group was rehearsing their final presentation which would take place the following week.
Thank you to Alicia, Leonel, Leia, Cielo, Ada, and Sarai for their thoughts...
"It makes the students feel like they can do what is easier for them so they can get a better grade. Maybe they are not that good at doing brochures but they are good at making Prezis..."
"We were able to expand our horizons..."
"Well, kids these days, we like technology..."
"You are able to do better when you like the things that you are doing."
"She repeats for us, if we need clarification, she does a "master check", to see if we know the material and if we don't then she's going to go back. She also makes sure we have hands on activities so we can all use our different learning styles. Some people can do it just by seeing, some people can do it by hearing, and some people do it by kinesthetics..."
Me: How did you know that?
"At the beginning of the year she told us about that..."
"She's kind of like a mom away from home."
"Yeah, a science mom!"
"You can just tell that she really cares for us...she put these research planners together and then she took us to the computer lab and then she took us here to the media center to work on our presentations. She is also giving us a sense of independence because we get to do the work by ourselves...with the resources."
It was interesting to hear some final thoughts from Ms. Pope on her work.
Teacher Reflection from Ms. Pope
It's time to adapt the curriculum and really utilize some of the UDL principles...if we try to build our instructional center with these models I think teachers will feel less stressed in the day because they will see that students are being held more accountable. Previously, the teacher is at the center and they are the ones that are constantly delivering. Now, the students have to deliver and show what they have mastered and learned in the class. The accountability was on the students...
There were a lot of components to think about with the different pieces..how to plan for presentations, how to plan for creating the product, and really, how to plan for the students to work together. Front loading and thinking ahead to make sure that the project would be successful for presentation day was the biggest challenge...