The first session of the day for me was about the SAMR model. I was looking forward to this session, as my colleagues on the Academic Technology side of my department use this model often when helping teachers design lessons. And, according to the presenter's blog, he seems to be quite the expert on this topic.
Unfortunately, the sound quality for the large room was poor. There were probably 200-300 people in a very large ballroom-style space, and the speakers could not carry his voice clearly enough for me to follow the presentation. I left, and so did many other people.
I went upstairs to check out the poster presentations, and so did any other people. Wow. It was mobbed. The posters were engaging, and many of them were about student projects. Better yet, the students were the presenters.
The two posters that I investigated were The Tech.B@r is open: Students at your service, an example of starting and maintaining a student tech support service from Westwood High School in Blythewood, SC; and Youth film fest of language arts, a cross-discipline, semester-long film recreation of classic literature from Centro Escolar Los Altos in Jalisco, Mexico.
The student tech support team is interesting, as we've mulled the idea for our school. We'd like to have some students help us with things like laptop upgrades, software training for teachers, app support. Perhaps I can get some ideas from Westwood.
The film fest is a cool project. I would like to think that it's the kind of project that I would design if I were a classroom teacher. The student that gave me the explanation was really excited to explain the project. When a student is that excited to share her schoolwork, I think the lesson was a success.
Read more:
Tech.B@r of Westwood High School
Youth film fest of Centro Escolar Los Altos
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