What do you want to learn this year? It’s a valid question.
Yes, there is a curriculum to follow. And yes, there are ways to enrich the stated curriculum. The current situation is one where textbook publishers have the power. They write the books, and some of them write the standardized tests. Hmm . . . I am the only one who thinks this is fishy? To make it easy for teachers, now there are scripts; next there will be robots. Instead, let’s plug our students’ interests into the curriculum.
Teachers can assign (and students may choose) projects that meet criteria for research, content and organization skills. Once students have chosen a topic they must decide how to present it. Here is one imaginative resource -
Glogster is a great medium for patching ideas and concepts on a poster. It is a social network that provides the means for users to design glogs (graphical blogs) on any subject. Although it looks like a poster, it has much more to offer. Glogs can capture the interests and interest of students
Students can use original text, photos, images, audio and video to display information on their projects. They can then place them in wikis, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. They can put the glog on a flash drive and present it to the class. Use by a teacher for up to 50 students is free. edu.glogster.com/
These glogs were generated by teachers, by students working independently, and as a class project. Take a look at these fabulous glogs:
These third graders will never forget this Owl Investigation.
Third grade English test prep designed by teacher,
French and Indian War project,
This is a student’s response to an assignment on the Qin Dynasty.
Have you used glogs? Will you give them a try?
