Our unit
on the Chocolate Touch was a "sweet" success. We watched our
students grow and become more confident users of technology. We were
amazed at how comfortable the students were with the software that we used.
They were not afraid take risks and learn new things. After showing
the students highlights of software programs, they were eager to
start exploring with them. They quickly grasped the concepts and were learning
things that we did not even show them! They explored without any
reservations and were anxious to share with their classmates what they
discovered. We were also pleasantly surprised with how well they
remembered how to complete an activity. For example, we showed them
how to create a story web on Kidspiration using the destination monitor
in the computer lab. The next day, the students worked
with their groups at the computers in the classroom and they were able
to recall everything they learned from the day before!
What we
were most impressed with were the stories the students created using Storybook
Weaver. Our students typically are not motivated to write stories.
However, once the lesson was described to them and they explored with the
software, they were asking to write everyday. When they arrived
at school, the first thing they would check was the daily schedule to see
when we were going to write.
If we were
to do this project over, we would have started earlier! We
underestimated the time it would take to complete all of the projects.
Activities that we expected to take one hour in the computer lab ended
up taking two days. We found that the typing skills of the students
really added to the time involved. Also, starting earlier may have
allowed more time for technical problems. For example, while completing
the ven diagrams, almost every computer froze upon saving the file. We
were able to print some, but without color.
Overall,
we were very glad to have been part of this project. We learned a
tremendous amount about how to use technology and how to integrate it effectively
into the curriculum. It amazed us at how technology really does enhance
the curriculum and motivated the students. We also learned that our
abilities as teachers were better than expected. We knew more than
we thought we did
Reflection
