Technology Reflections

I introduced the project described in the post below to my 8th graders today and it went over like a lead balloon……well for most of the class. They complained that it was too hard….I made the mistake of telling them that they could just do it by hand, thinking that they would WANT to do it on the computer and 75% of the class yelled OK! So I changed it to a research report – a 10 page research report and some of those kids still wanted to do that rather than wrestle with the complex ideas of figuring out the upside-down and backwardness of the original project.

So I got to thinking – maybe it IS too hard for them. It took me basically all week-end to figure out which way each portion of each page had to face and what matched up with what. I do think that some of the kids who don’t WANT to try to figure it out could do it, but it might actually be too hard for some of them. So, I am revamping the project. For those who still want to figure out the original project they can have at it. For those who aren’t up to the challenge, I am going to make it a bit easier by having them do the project as a booklet. Microsoft Word has an easy way to print brooklets and I’ll show the kids how to do it and that way they will all still do a computer-based project.

I’m a bit dismayed at the lackluster attitudes of the kids – they seem to just want to take the easy way out. As much as I keep telling myself not to, I keep comparing them to last year’s group. Last year’s group would have tackled this project with glee, enjoying the feeling of figuring it out and completing it. In this year’s group I have kids who CAN do it, but there’s a group who are ‘too cool’ to do the work and they have ‘followers’. A few kids in this class were in my 7th grade reading class last year and they are not quite sure what to make of it all. I’m a very different teacher in reading and computers – I’m probably tougher in reading but those kids know, that if they follow directions and put forth their best efforts, I am a pussy cat. I just wish those kids would tell the ‘cool’ kids how much fun I can be when they do what they are supposed to. I have spent more time handing out consequences in this computer class than any other class for the past couple of years.

At the beginning of the year I told this class that it was my favorite one to teach and that I looked to them to be a break in my day because they were 8th graders and I could give them more responsibility. I had a student ask me yesterday if they were still the bright spot in my day and I had to tell her no – and she was the most vocal about not wanting to try to figure out the project. (oh darn – I just remember that I told that class that I would be making some phone calls home due to their behavior – excessive talking – and I never did. Actually I was going write emails – that has really helped at other times in the year. I can do it on Monday, but I wanted to ruin their weekends Well – I can still ruin their vacations… )

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