distributed a rubric and gave them guidelines as to the content of each page. Using their Harry Potter-esque wands (pencils), students drafted a prototype of their website. Once completed, they began work on the computer. From the specifications gathered from Mr. LaHood as well as research from other bowling websites, each team had to decide on the look and feel. Mr. LaHood did not give a lot
of information to the students; instead, he wanted the students to use their best judgment and come up with the material on their own. Marie said. “Sometimes working with customers is not always easy. With little information, my partner and I had to conceptualize everything. It was a problem at first, but we adapted and created a website that merged our personalities with his audience needs.” Although this project is not a bubble sheet assessment, students learned much more than a traditional test could possibly measure.
Digital Citizenship
It is imperative to model understanding of social, ethical, and legal issues and responsibilities related to digital culture. As an educator, one of the first steps that should be taken when introducing technology into the curriculum is sharing why it is important followed by the specific protocol regarding how- to use it. Copyright laws, plagiarism, and Internet safety help students understand the necessity of knowing the proper use for technology. When assigning any project, I try to limit the use of downloading copy or pictures from the Internet. It seems like such an unoriginal way of capturing an idea and can lead to copyright issues. Instead, I had my students write all information and take all pictures on their own. Is this more work? Absolutely! The educational gains and personalized touch outweigh the old method of telling a student to Google that bowling photo. If a student felt it was necessary to include an unoriginal photo or an article about Lakeshore Lanes from a newsletter, then a citation page was created using Calvin College’s Knight Cite. Because of real stories I have shared throughout the class, students seem to ask more questions about social, ethical, and legal issues. They want to know the answers and do the right thing. The web sets up a seemingly impossible amount of traps and the map for navigating these obstacles can be difficult to read at times. Through instruction and their continuous questions, we will use
MACULJOURNAL |
technology in positive, meaningful ways.
Technology Operations and Concepts There were three major technology components taught and applied in this class: code, graphics, and the blog. We used notepad as our editor and hand coded all items. Using basic design principles
mastered in the introductory class and continuing to learn more HTML and CSS, students were able to design a professional layout. From
Lynda.com’s videos on The Essentials of Using Adobe Photoshop Elements 9, students learned how-to use the full edit workspace, work with layers, make selections, add special effects, and touch up photos. These tutorials provided powerful graphic design lessons that students mimicked on their collection of bowling photos. The final resource was the edublog. During the first week of class, all students were required to maintain a blog. Posts ranged from finding model bowling alley business links to posting graphic edits with reflections. Since all student blogs were linked with each other, students were able to peek at another team’s ideas and revise and increase the quality of their own site. Exposure to these technology tools in high school will certainly increase their chances for future employment.
One week prior to the seniors leaving high school, Mr. LaHood selected seniors Marie Scheppman and Katie Verner as the winners of this web design contest and their site will be live this summer. Since her freshman year, Katie was eager to become a nurse, but she will now pursue a degree in graphic design and web development. She says, “It is a great feeling knowing that I won something that relates to the career I am going into. It really shows that hard work and dedication does pay off.” Marie has chosen to stay in a career field that can show off her artsy talents; she has decided to major in Video Productions and has already landed a summer internship with Epic Motion. Allowing authentic opportunities like this one is truly the hallmark of the teaching profession.
Tasha Candela is a business teacher at Lake Shore High School in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan. Find her on Twitter @bethetigger and visit her class blog for
this project at
http://bethetigger.edublogs.org/.
Fall 2011
|
27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32