I want to focus on one of my problems of practice. The problem is that in Accounting the content builds on the previous days content, similar to a math class. As we make our way through each unit, there are students who grasp the concepts quicker than others and require much less time to complete the daily learning activities. I have been trying to find a way to keep all students engaged, but not have the students feel "punished" with more work for finishing early.
I will be developing an overarching plan for my entire year long accounting class that will have an ongoing activity for students to work on when they are complete with daily learning activities.
I will be using a Google Slides Presentation to share my Technology Integration Plan.
I will be using the TIP Model to guide my thinking and planning.
My idea:
I will create a Wakelet for my Accounting class. This wakelet will have different Business Related Topics like Investing, Cryptocurrency, Executive Compensation, International Business, Corporate Tax Laws and any other topics that the students may find interesting in the wide world of business. When they are done with their learning activity for the day or have any sort of free time in the class throughout the year, this could be great when a substitute teacher is needed, they will research an article that relates to one of the topics and post the article with a summary of what they liked about the article as well as a discussion prompt for the class to respond to. Over the course of the school year we should be able to develop a great collection of relevant articles to relevant topics that are affiliated with Accounting or the field of business. It will be important for me to give class time for all students to be able to post throughout the year, or else it would just be the students who are done with their work early. I will also need to allow for certain class periods to be used to lead discussions on the different discussion prompts that the students left for their classmates.
I would like feedback on how to best utilize something like this and to make sure that it is not viewed as busy work or a punishment for working quickly. How can I present this to my class so that it is viewed as an additional learning opportunity that the students can take ownership in? I would also welcome any insight whatsoever if you have done anything similar to this in your own classrooms or ways to further develop this problem of practice by integrating new technology.
Thanks!
I like your idea for differentiation. I know this is a real struggle in all classes, but especially in elective type classes that do not offer various levels of a given course. I think that the Wakelet is a great idea. It's always going to be difficult to get students to view any kind of "extra" work as being positive. The one thing I do like about your idea is that it gives students an opportunity to select a topic that will be covered in a future class. I think as long as it is framed that way, you will get some students that really enjoy this activity. I know I have students that love to discuss cryptocurrency for example.…
I can relate to the problem you are having because in Spanish class tenses tend to become a blur to students as time progresses. I believe you can make this additional opportunity as a way to earn badges, like in this class. It will give students an extra push to take advantage of the learning opportunity and make them feel confident about doing so. In order to earn the badge, they will have to create a video (Flipgrid) to explain what they found interesting and their takeaways.
So, this is a struggle in any given math class! Differentiation is hard and I learned quite a bit about it this year! I really like the idea of you having a Wakelet board for them to access these articles. I also really like that you will be incorporating this into their curriculum to supplement and to incorporate some of their likes. I would say to make sure you have several different levels of reading material and (I know this sounds crazy, but it will work) get with your English department to determine Lexia levels so that way the students are not overwhelmed with super hard articles and give up.
Also, are you going to grade the extra work? Wha…
This seems like a great use of Wakelet and an awesome way to have students make connections about how the course builds on itself. In regards to making sure students don't view it as busy work, I would just be careful how you phrase it to them so they don't see it as a time filler. I wonder if you could also do like a monthly check-in on the progress or have certain goals by certain dates so students see it as an ongoing thing and not a time filler.