My students come from varied social economic communities. Some raised by parents, others by grandparents. Some live in homes of plenty, and others take home donated food. Statistics would tell you that this condemns them to lower educational standards or life lower than acceptable.
But my students are the exception.
They push themselves and their classmates. They debate. They complain while they complete work above their perceived grade level. They yearn for positive feedback, despite being beaten up by society, peers, or expectations. I work hard to make sure, each year, that they see what I see - the great women and men they can all be despite what they currently have and don't have. They are, all of them, standing at the edge of greatness. And I just need your help to give them a push.
My Project
Often times technology in school is used for technology's sake. They are treated as a toy to bring excitement to the classroom. Students are excited about the newest toy to play but don't get to really think and problem solve. And as we move towards a more and more tech-centric classroom and school funding decreases, learning experiences slowly become only within the confines of the school-purchased laptop, or a cell phone. We are requesting a geocaching kit to search and discover while learning to plot out specific distances as a team.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if a piece of technology to bring excitement and to allow students to think and problem solve independently?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to give groups activities that allowed them to explore and problem-solve in groups and or independently allowing the teacher to be the facilitator?
I believe this would be solved with geocaching. I imagine being able to set up lab stations, outside observation stations, breakouts and much more using this. And through this, students would have to find designated items within their student team or by themselves, allowing them to get true 21st-century experience working in a team versus waiting for the teacher to answer specific questions.
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