Pondering the Possibilities

I had to laugh the other day when a student was commenting that the class had successfully bullied me into changing the course website as I curmudgeonly modified the organization of the class site and updated the calendar aspect - it became the goal of the week for me to get all three prep - six sections of classes calendars updated and organizational flow of web sites updated, at least a little.

I did allow that I didn't feel bullied but rather glad that they were willing to comment and suggest ways to improve the access and use of technology with regard to class.  I had after all invited them into that process at the very beginning of the semester so long ago.  It has resulted in a bit more user friendly page for each class and a calendar that is at least upto date and opened up the possibility of larger discussions regarding the content of the course.

We are in the midst of a couple of projects trying to encourage use of flip cam more and cultivate a higher level of engagement.
The 9th graders are working on "sales pitches" for their early empires for why their particular empire was the best. Their sales pitches will be posted on the course web site for general viewing.
The IB Euro class is working on producing a talk show coverage of major actors in different stages of the French Revolution role-playing the cast of characters and interviewers.  We will be running that starting on Tuesday the 6th, hopefully posting those episodes at their conclusion.
See the last post for those links.

So here I am pondering the possibilities of incremental improvements through a constructively critical approach to teaching, "being bullied by the students" for something more accessible and engaging.  To that end I thought I would share a link from a colleague here in the department.