WOW! Academy

This week, I attended a WOW Academy at our local Region VI Education Service Center. 

We learned about SO many Web 2.0 tools, technology tools, and Project Based Learning techniques. Throughout the week we had to create a project that our students could complete. Then, we had to complete the project like we were the student! How fun! I love acting like a 7th grader. :)

Our group used a lot of different tools in our presentation. We divided up each section of the project and worked on it individually, and came together for the final presentation. We used tools like Animoto, Blabberize, Prezi, Youtube, etc. {I'll be doing some spotlights about different Web 2.0 tools very soon. These are just a few!}

I thought about what I would like to see from my students if they presented a project. Last year, I did a project over number systems. They really did a great job, but EVERY single project was powerpoint. I had showed them a few different web 2.0 tools they could use, but they all chose to do powerpoint. That is totally ok, but I reeeeeeally missed the creativity that other things can bring into a project! (One thing you should know about me is that I LOVE rap music -- surprising I know! I don't listen to that vulgar junk - but I have a great list of Christian rappers if you're interested!! They're awesome!) So, thinking like a 7th grader, I thought that my teacher would be super impressed if I wrote a rap! I started by picking a song, printed the lyrics and wrote new words that had to do with the subject we were presenting about. Our project was over Hurricanes, and I decided to use Justin Bieber's new song 'Boyfriend' as my track! Brave, I know! I got the karaoke version that has no lyrics, and I began to record my new 'song'! Here it is! 

Mind you, this is the first time I have EVER sang/recorded anything! Anyway- it was so fun and I think it was a hit! I am going to share it w/ my students this year as an example of what they can do if they get creative! We also made a Wix webpage to bring everything together. The link to that is here. You can check it out to see what a group of students might put together for a presentation. 

I hope to share many more ideas about content related Project Based Learning! I am a part of a team that will be doing lots of that this year, so stay tuned!