Analysis. Design. Development. Implementation. Evaluation. This is a not a recipe for disaster but a guiding force when putting together tech projects for student-based learning at Watertown High School during the start and finish lines of a three-year laptop integration period. What students like to do—generally, I like to do. So with a new tool landing in each lap, let the play begin, acting from necessity. It is not that simple. Analysis includes decision-making skills about what curriculum to include. The design aspect was the most thrilling for me because I found projects to extremely creative forces, at the forefront. When development started to happen with MovieMaker or streaming videos, sometimes, the lulls, the storms and the attempts were absolutely exhausting. But throughout the production process, reflection and evaluation became second nature to each blueprint, to every new design. I did not give up. I am not one to not finish a project, even an unraveling mess I created for two years in a spare bedroom. I delighted too much in the new tools (laptop, digital camera, and wireless mics) to not spend time with the tools and venture to a place that I have never been to before in my teaching career. The part about implementation is that I am a student who prefers to apply skills and will spend hours with a new device, reading a manual and trying to make sense of it. Implementation for the student projects took most of my internship hours. But now, I own those hours dabbling with equipment. I am grateful for collaborating with colleagues at my high school who shared my commitment to become better with technology. Streaming Video: Five Novels of British Literature Students enjoy being read to---at all ages. When assignments are downloaded to ipods from podcasts or streaming video, new ways of reaching students are surfacing. Sharing of the literature with the human voice can build bridges to understanding of a text with technology as the engineering mechanism. The novel streaming video is a work in progress created as an example of what could be shared with students. Evaluation was always ongoing. What good is this project? What did I learn? How can I share the data with colleagues, family and students? I already have. It is so vital that students learn skills that will stay with them once they venture to the world outside; the world of work, of play, and of life.
Designs for dreams, Enterprising for youth; Learning centers for auditions in life-- Teaching for understanding skills. Architecture for life plans! Brain-based learning. Urgency to think on one’s feet: Reform in education: based on a community of collaborative learners- Global learning society: participatory and reflective. Jane Overmoe April 2006