Tools of Choice

What?

This week was out Finals preparation week. Our assignment was actually part of our Final, in which we created two projects out of three possible options. I chose to make a flyer and a newsletter.

So What?

Using tools that we’ve learned about over the course of this semester, we were asked to create two projects that we were to save as PDF’s, and then present in front of the class on the day of our Final. I used Google Docs to create mine.

I tried using templates, but every time I would save it the document would overlap the two pages of my work (for the newsletter), so I ended up doing everything by hand. I actually ended up learning more about formatting and decorating my work doing my Finals project than I did on the original Google Docs assignment.

Now What?

All-in-all I had a lot of fun creating my Final Projects. But this “lesson” was more focused on testing us to see what we learned over the semester, as opposed to teaching us about some new program that might help us in the future. I can’t really say how it will help me in the future in reference to my co-workers, except that it has broadened my understanding of Google Docs.

It has allowed me to think on how I’d approach this assignment as a teacher, however. I think asking students to create a poster or newsletter in response to a lesson I’ve taught, is a brilliant idea, and it allows them to express their ideas and thoughts creatively. It is also a good way to see how well they understand what you’ve taught them.

Video

I haven’t seen Schoolhouse Rock since I was very little, so this video was fun to watch. I liked how they gave visual examples of everything they sang about, and I liked how the tune changed every once in a while so the song didn’t lose its appeal. I’m not sure how the video applies to our lesson this week, but it was interesting all the same.