Practicum Observation
I was very excited today to present my UBD lesson to a group of 8th graders as we begin a unit on GA Authors. Of course, I get excited anytime I get to use technology to teach a lesson! I stumbled a little with some technical difficulties when a movie clip from NSteens.org could not be heard over the projection speakers (we are still trying to figure out what happened to our sound system!). I began the unit teaching students about the district's AUP policy. I wasn't surprised when 95% of the students had no clue that they had ever seen or signed an agreement dealing with the use of technology at school. I used a Prezi to present Doug Johnson's 3P's of Internet safety - Privacy, Property, and aPpropriate Use. The students then completed a Internet Behavior Survey. The entire unit can be located in my online Portfolio on the Instructional Partner wiki page. The students ended the session by playing in the 'sandbox' on the wiki I set up for this Unit. The students were very responsive and I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with the 8th grade reading teacher. This experience has given me the confidence to continue collaboration efforts with other teachers who may at first be skeptical.
