Comments





I found this project to be an interesting challenge. I was able to learn something new while applying all the technology skills I had acquired to date. In the classroom there always seems to be one tech savvy student and this year was no exception. At different points when my cue perception had dropped this student would come up with reminders or new ways to do things. I learned from the children's Internet searches how vast the subject of the rain forest is and how much work you have to do to stay on top of things. On the first day they found one or two excellent web sites. I then added them to the project.



On the next go around I think I will rotate the groups working on the computer. That way I will be focused on one group at a time. We have four computers plus an older Power Mac. This makes it easy for different groups to be working at the same time. However, I have to split my time between each computer and other classroom work. Computer projects for students this age take a considerable amount of time.



It's impressive to see second and third graders accessing information and discovering new tricks that the computer can do. All of my students can log on, search the Internet, import a graphic, save a document, and never get frustrated the way adults do. They just ask for help as soon as they're stuck. Often the tech savvy student jumps right in to help.

I feel that the students have achieved the technology goals. The first place they want to look for information is on the web. They enjoy typing their stories for creative writing or writing up reports on the computer. Of course, they insist that their stories and reports must to be accompanied by a graphic. I believe the future is now.