Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Final Project 2.0 « Teaching Between the Lines

Final Project 2.0 « Teaching Between the Lines:


Final Project 2.0

Our junior high semester ends with three days of finals: two classes per day, two hours for each class.  I could easily create a semester final exam that would take my students two hours to complete, but I’m not sure that would be the best use of our time (nor am I convinced that junior high students should be taking two-hour finals).  So each year I look for effective ways to fill that two-hour block of time, allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways, providing time for breaks and collaboration.
This year’s two-hour block of time?  Best. Final. Ever.
When my students walked into the classroom, they found the desks arranged in groups of four, with a laptop on each desk.  They located their seats by checking a list of teams that I had projected onto the whiteboard. Once they were settled, I distributed a page of directions, and they were off and running.
PopoutThe designated team leaders were given directions to create a new presentation in their Google Drive, and then