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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 the 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 Venn 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!
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Reflection 