Tech Club, Week 6, April 17, 2013
Since this was the last session
of Tech Club I wanted to do an activity with the second grade students that
summed up and reflected on everything that the students have learned throughout
the last eleven weeks of the Olweus bullying unit. I planned for the students to create a story
about bullying and include it in a letter.
In the letter, I also had the students include a few things that they
can teach someone else about why bullying is bad, what to do when they see
someone being bullied, and how they can do their part to make sure that their
school is a bully-free environment. I
had the students first fill out a story map that helped them to plan out their story
before they started writing it. To get
their ideas flowing, I gave them each a picture of someone being bullied. Their task was to create a storyline around
the picture that they were given. Once
their story map was complete I had the students open their web browser and go
to the Read Write Think website where they used a letter generator to type
their story. This seemed to work very
well and the students spent the entire session creating a letter to someone
about everything that they have learned about bullying.
The
story map worksheet was a really great way to get the students started thinking
about the plot of their story before they actually started writing in on the
computer. I think this really made the
process a lot smoother. Also, using a
picture scenario to prompt the students cut down on the lag time of having them
come up with a bullying story line on their own. However, the picture gave them
a small snapshot so that they were able to incorporate their own creativity as
well. I used a Google shortener for the
web address so that it was much easier for the students to access. I am glad I did this, but many of the
students were still not able to reach the site on their own. I did not realize that the students would not
even know where to type in a web address once they have opened their internet browser. This was a small wrinkle that was easily
ironed out with a little one-on-one. The
students were quick to ask a question if they were at all confused or didn’t
understand what to do. The letter
generator was a really great tool to use, but it did not have spell check. I think that this is a good thing because it
forced the students to sound out the word or raise their hand and ask how to spell
something. The second grade students are
not very fluent with keyboarding and the majority of the students use one
finger to poke at the keys. This isn’t
very effective when trying to write a whole letter, so I’m glad that the
students had plenty of time to write, even though some were getting frustrated
at their lack of speed and effectiveness with typing. From the letter generator, we were able to
save each student’s letter onto the server so that they can be printed and
displayed at a later date. I think most
of the students were proud of what they had accomplished and were eager to
share what they had learned about bullying over the course of the previous weeks.
Overall,
my experience with Tech Club at Hyalite was phenomenal. I was very much apprehensive at first to have
a whole group of students to myself but it turned out to be a great experience
and I was really able to get to know the students on an individual basis. I think the students did a great job of
handling the tasks that I challenged them with.
Each second grade student was able to use iMovie and understand the
basics of how to use it while creating their own public service announcement
about bullying. From what I saw in the
student’s letters, they learned a tremendous amount about bullying and will
work hard to help others and create a bully-free environment at Hyalite
Elementary. This has been a wonderful
opportunity, and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to work with
elementary students. Not only do the
students learn in the after school program, but I learn how to become a better
teacher in the process as well, which is an opportunity that I find extremely
valuable.
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