Learning & Leading Through Technology

The experience I gained from completing the project as the students would was invaluable. It allowed me to write detailed directions for the class to follow, determine the pacing of the project, troubleshoot problems with implementation of the programs, and answer students’ questions based on my personal experiences. Completing my own project, though, was only the beginning. Once I finished my sample documentary, I began the preplanning for my classes, which included:

• Determining the dates

• Reserving the computers

• Identifying useful websites and bookmarking them online for ease of student access

• Reserving time with the media specialist to teach students how to use databases and print resources for their research

• Writing the project plan

• Creating handouts for the students

The Students’ Turn

On the first day of the project, I distributed detailed directions to the students that included a pacing guide ( goo.gl/5sUjzO) and grading rubric ( goo.gl/w3wFbM). I then showed the students the example project I had created ( goo.gl/svKGCf), followed by a brief discussion of my requirements and expectations for quality.

Next, I gave a brief lesson on how
to use the software programs as well
as the media center resources avail-
able. Then the students selected their
partners, brainstormed documentary
ideas, and decided how to divide proj-
ect responsibilities. We progressed
through the project in the following
sequence:
The ITRT was also available to meet
with us during our planning periods to
brainstorm ideas about using technol-
ogy to enhance our lessons and teach
us how to use the programs. This was
the collaborative part of the learning-
by-design method.

Old Project Meets New Tech

Eager to use the tools available to me, I looked through my old lesson plans in search of a project that would benefit from the incorporation of technology.

I zeroed in on an end-of-unit project from my World History II class (1500 to the present) focusing on the monarchs of Europe during the ages of Absolutism and Enlightenment. I chose this project as my first conversion from “old school” to “techno-school” because it was successful as originally designed, but it held the promise of being even better with the addition of technology. Going into the conversion, I truly believed that the technology would enrich the students’ educational experience and improve the outcome of the project without dominating the learning objectives or the focus of the lesson.

My overarching goal for the project was to help students to not only remember monarchs from the ages of Absolutism and Enlightenment, but also have some creative fun with the information. I encouraged my students to find interesting personal stories about the monarchs that would make them more “real” and help bring them to life. My hope was that if the students could identify with the monarchs as people, they would be more likely to internalize the information and make connections.

My original approach to the proj-
ect required students to create a
music CD cover that highlights 10
monarchs from this era (see some
examples at monarchs.wmwikis.net/
CD+example). As part of the CD
I redesigned the project to include
use of video and audio software to
enhance the end products and expand
the amount of information I asked
students to include. In this new ap-
proach, the students worked in pairs
to develop the CD cover as well as
a short documentary on one of the
monarchs. They found images and
period-appropriate music online, then
used either MovieMaker or Photo
Story to create a 3- to 5-minute docu-
mentary focused on the featured mon-
arch’s reign and accomplishments.

Testing It Out

The learning curve for me in this lesson transformation was tremendous! Before I could expect my students to use the technologies successfully, I needed to learn how to use them myself. The ITRT helped me get started with the software. Then I went through every step that my students would be taking while working on the redesigned project: I selected a monarch, completed research online, wrote the narrative, located the visuals and period music, and documented my sources. I used Audacity to record the narrative and download the musical selection, and then I exported the audio into MovieMaker along with the visuals to create the final documentary.