Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Final Paper

During the last half of November and early December, we will be working on final papers.  The final paper is a piece that students write for a practitioners (Usually teacher) journal, such as Leading and Learning with Technology/.  The article may be about a specific technology application (such as blogging or podcasting) implemented in a classroom situation.  The article could also be about a particular approach to professional development in technology or a position paper on a topic like digital equity or the challenges of a young teacher working to integrate technology in his/her classroom.  The audience for the paper  should be teachers (or perhaps museum practitioners) and the paper should include specific examples.
Typically, practitioners journals publish articles that are from 2500-5000 words, so the completed papers should be in that general range.  Pictures, graphics, charts can be included.
Previous topics have included, "Blogging in a Fifth Grade Math Classroom," "GIS as a tool for Social Studies Teachers", "Connecting Technology to Literacy Professional Devlopment in an Elementary School" and "Using a Wiki as a Collaborative Writing Tool in a Middle School English Class".
Your first step in creating your paper will be settling on a topic and a title and running this past me.  We will work on this the week of Nov. 24, so now would be a good time to start thinking of a topic.

3 comments:

mrsraum@yahoo.com said...

Here are some thoughts I have had on the paper. Collaborative learning through the use of blogs and wikis. Do you think that's too broad? Should I just stick to blogs or wikis? I can see pros and cons of each one. I would like to hear thoughts from others.
Thanks.

Ann said...

I think you might want to focus your topic on your subject/grade level---and write about the use of these collaborative tools in that context.

Colleen Ites said...

I agree with Dr. Thompson about focusing your grade level. Also, are you going to choose a specific PD to promote the collaborative learning (i.e. differentiation, direct instruction). Could you tie it to your building's 3-year CSIP?