Final Reflection

I guess the main point of my final reflection is that this was a worthwhile project for me. It had very authentic application to something I really wanted to do.

If there's one complaint I have, it would be having to try to follow a model and cite professional literature. That was a real drag. I just wanted to be free to explore without having to label everything I was doing. I kept looking back through the other models to see if another would be easier, but none of them seemed to be any easier. I think I was following the best one actually.

You know how at the beginning of the year teachers do getting-go-know-one-another activities of some sort? This would be great for that! I may have to do it at least with 6th graders. I don't know if I could get the computer room to do everybody. Maybe this would be a good way to get some collaboration going right away. I'm sure there's a teacher or two who would welcome me having this activity all figured out and ready to go on the first or second day. And it would be a chance for that free inquiry!

What standards, you might ask? I'm sure it would tie in with a number of them, but at 6:00 in the morning having worked on this project all night, I'm only going to mention two. Information literacy standard 1.2.2 states, "Demonstrate confidence and self-direction by making independent choices in the selection of resources and information." A 6th-grade English/Language Arts standard 6.4.6 states, "Use organizational features of electronic text (on computers), such as bulletin boards, databases, keyword searches, and e-mail addresses, to locate information." The process wouldn't have to be as complicated as we made it. It could be as simple as using writers notebooks to brainstorm a list of options, choose something, journal about findings, and share. It could be something a students decides to expand upon for a writing project later on.

Well, it is now almost 6:20 a.m. Time for bed, folks! I hope you enjoy my project!

Sandy