Thinking of sharing your technology projects? Have a Technology Student Showcase~!
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July 27, 2009 By: Cheryl Oakes
Jul
27
Written by:
7/27/2009 1:59 PM
Sometimes you make a plan because you want to learn something new,
other times you make a plan and when you learn how much you didn't know
you are so glad you followed through! Well, on June 13, 2009, Alice Barr and I drove to Newport , Maine in order to attend the Technology Student Showcase at Sebasticook Valley Middle School or here at Sebasticook Valley Middle School.
Am I ever glad we did! Not only did Alice and I have a good time
catching up about technology in both our schools, our new
superintendents, new macbooks our teachers and students will receive in
the fall, but, also we were excited to participate in a student technology showcase and hopefully bring some ideas home to our respective school districts.
Photo thanks to Alice Barr
We were greeted in the parking lot by Drew and his teacher Keith Kelley,
who explained how students chose a project to rebuild an old Mustang
convertible. Drew excitedly and carefully explained the steps involved
in the rebuilding process, how hard it was, how many times they had to
rebuild the steering mechanism and how proud he was to see the finished
product. Then Kern Kelley
met us at the sidewalk and began the tour of the Technology Student
Showcase Spring 2009. He handed us a Scavenger Hunt, so we would be
sure to view each project spread throughout the school building. We
first ran into a student carrying around an Acer Netbook, headphone and
mic attached, Skyping with Cindy Lane,
a google certified teacher from St. Louis, who had made an appointment
for a 15 minute tour of the showcase event. How many of your middle
school students would be comfortable talking to a computer screen, as
they video conferenced their way through a tour? Does this sound like a
marketable skill for our 21st Century Literate students?
Then we viewed the mock up of the building and school mascot, that the students had created in Google Sketchup.
The students had re-created their school building in 3D, right down to
the detail of the full size moose in the school library. (after all it
is Maine). There was a plugin for Google Sketchup that allowed anyone
to hold up a specific piece of paper with a print out of a design in
front of the video camera which portrayed a 3D visual of the school
mascot or the school. How many of your middle school students would be
comfortable designing a mock up of their school or any item related to
school? Does this sound like a marketable skill for our 21st Century
Literate students?
Then we proceeded upstairs to the Gallery of
product designs. This was a gallery of items that 7th graders built in
a design class, based on a raw skateboard decks from a local Maine
business of a well known skateboard. The students were challenged to
use a skateboard or multiple skateboards to design something that they
would buy, or others would purchase. Not only were items for sale
during the showcase, but if an item did not sell, then the teachers
were going to put these items out on ebay to recoup some money for
purchasing more supplies, or some student entrepreneurs would actually
split the profits after paying for their own supplies. There were
skateboard photo frames, skateboard shelves, skateboard push carts and
even a very inviting game chair made with skateboards with cushions.
How many of your middle school students would be comfortable designing
a product for re-sale? Does product design sound like a marketable
skill for our 21st Century Literate students?
After that we
walked through the darkened gymnasium where several groups were playing
Wii bowling, Wii exercise and RockBand. I was disappointed not to get a
chance at RockBand,
but we were much too busy. We traveled upstairs and found a part-year
Art Room, and part-year Technology Education Room. Keith explained that
he works at both middle schools for a half year each. He has a specific
curriculum for each grade level. 5th and 6th graders work on hands on
projects and build self propelled or wind propelled boats, or motorized
cars. Then 7th graders begin product design using guitar kits or
skateboard decks. Finally, 8th graders spend a half year designing and
building their own skateboard from scratch. They use drills, routers
and all kinds of paints and polyurethane to complete their projects.
The student create and vote on a graphic design for their year as 8th
graders. The logo is then transferred to each skate board. The students
have skateboarding and skateboard safety in their physical education
classes. This is a team effort! How many of your middle school students
would be comfortable designing a product for their own use? Does
product design sound like a marketable skill for our 21st Century
Literate students?
Finally, Alice and I ended up in the computer
lab where the 8th graders one year, built computer towers for a lab for
student use. There were some 6th graders explaining their projects,
their osprey webcam, their osprey book and their research projects as
well as their Kerpoof video
projects. Throughout all the projects and conversations we had with
students there were 2 common denominators. One, most often the students
spoke of collaborating on their projects, not only in the one class,
but collaborating with a team who worked asynchronously on the same
product. How did they manage? The just wrote notes, said one student.
However, when pressed, they wrote notes in Google Docs when appropriate
and other times, they left big notes taped to their robots to let their
team know what needed to happen next. Or in a research team, the
students worked in a google spreadsheet in order to determine the next
steps. These students articulated that this is the wave of the future
and they are just practicing what they imagine they will be faced with
in their workplace someday soon. How many of your middle school
students would be comfortable researching, collaborating
asynchronously? Does this kind of work sound like a marketable skill
for our 21st Century Literate students?
Check out the video for a tour of our day.http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6C2360791F288EFF
What are you doing to practice 21st Century Literacy? Will you be
marketable in the 21st Century? Oh, BTW, the 21st Century is now. Cross-posted at http://www.cheryloakes.com