Motivation

      As I was listening to Dr. Newberry discuss student motivation on Thursday, I was thinking a lot about my class. Dr. Newberry discussed how people could chage up the format to make it so that the assignments are scaffolded and build on each other.  Students are encouraged to discuss ideas if possible in a chat or blog format.  Dr. Newberry stated that grading is very important for students because that can be a form of feedback.  I was intrigued by the breakdown of differences in classes by differences in content, differences in students and differences in instructor preferences.  That gave me some insight on how to help my new classes.
     In two weeks I am receiving a new crop of classes. Most of them will be 6th Graders that had a computer last trimester that focused on the use of Photoshop and basic computer skills. Many of them are GATE and have two teachers who really do not use the computer. The question I am dealing with is how to engage them and get them excited about using computers for projects. In the past I have created simple assignments for them utilizing PowerPoint and Movie Maker, but I think these students are past that.

     This leads me to questions about how to I get these students excited about technology and how to use it to share information. My final project is geared towards that. I think it is important to expose them to different technologies that will allow them to be creative. My project has the students be introduced to different programs to share what they have learned. All of these mini projects will then be tied together in creating web pages with links to what they have done. I was thinking about using Google Sites for the students to create the projects and upload them to the Internet so they can be viewed, but I am having problems using it and it would just be another headache so they will do their pages in Microsoft Word and save them as web pages with links to the folder. After creating the web pages with the active links, one of the first projects is to create videos to serve as tutorials on different skills as we prepare for the CSTs in early May. I am excited to see what they are able to come up with. By having a purpose to the video, I think the students will take off on the project.

     Besides the 6th graders, I am thinking about my 8th graders who have taken my class already as 7th graders with the same curriculum. How do I get them to buy in? I watched the 8th graders I had last trimester take the comfortable road by doing projects they did last year, so they were bored. How can I get them to take the skills they have learned and use them differently? My plan is to talk to the core teachers for each grade level and find out different ways that I can help them with the curriculum. After finding different topics, I will create assignments that integrate the different ways to share information (i.e. podcasts, video, Storytelling Alice, and Scratch) with students. As long as I still let them make their CO2 cars for a project, I think I can get some good results by assigning them different topics and they being allowed to figure out how they are going to share it. Honestly it is all rattling around in my brain as I type this. I still have two weeks to figure it out.

I am including a few links to articles that I found interesting this week as I looked for articles about motivating students. Take a look for some ideas.
Who is school for?
Making the case for Social Media in Education
Interactive Activities