Tech Challenge #7 Mad Libs on Laptops

If you are like me, a teacher of teens, you probably cringe at the thought of planning grammar lessons. The students walk into the classroom with a full vocabulary of texting lingo (among other things) that is quickly pushing academic English out of their common vernacular. Students look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language when I ask them to use the words "whom" and  "you're" in their writing when they think "u" and "ur" will always suffice.

Today's Tech Tool: Laptop Computers

My campus has a rolling cart of ThinkPad Computers

This lesson can also be completed in a computer lab.

The Goal: Review Grammar Rules- Particularly Pronoun Usage

This week I let my students play with language rules during our grammar unit in hopes that the lesson would sneak its way into their brains. We spent several boring days going over pronouns and parts of speech as a review. To reward their hardwork, I let my students create their own mad libs using a class set of laptops at the end of the week.

The Lesson:
1. The students worked in pairs to create a 1-2 paragraph story including as many different types of pronouns as they could think of.
2. I asked the students to label the type and case of every pronoun they used.
3. Then the students were to type a version of their story with blanks for a reader to fill in his or her own pronouns that matched the labels. To make the stories even more entertaining, I asked students to create a few blanks for nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.
4. The students saved and printed  their stories. The next day I made copies of a few of the student create mad-libs, and passed them out. The result was a very crazy and very fun review of grammar and pronoun rules for the students.
5. I printed and laminated a copy of each story as it was originally written and a copy of the MadLib version with blanks. Students took turns filling in the blanks with dry erase or vis-a-vis markers as a review before our pronoun test.

This activity could be handwritten, but it is much quicker to create these on the computer. Students also like to include fun clipart to go along with their stories.

Pros:1. 98-100% Participation! There's just something about Mad Libs that the kids love. They seem to forget that they are completing a writing assignment because they want their story to be funny and entertaining.
2. The students get to discuss the different types of pronouns and parts of speech, and in effect get to tutor each other on difficult concepts.

Cons:
1. Saving and printing can be a circus because groups finish up at different times.

Here is a fun example from my class:

What kinds of lessons have you put together that make grammar fun for the secondary classroom?

Tech Challenge #6: Using One Ipad to Review for Test

Today's Tech Tool: One iPad

The Goal:
Student groups will work together as teams to answer review questions during a class competition.

The Day Before:

Create a powerpoint using questions from the test or questions from the study guides. You'll need a slide for the question and a slide with the answer.

During Class: 

1. Divide students into groups and assign each group a team name. My team names were characters from the book we have just finished..
2. Two desks are arranged face-to-face at the front of the room. An iPad is place on the center of these two desks. The iPad is open to a free app called "Game Buzzer."
3. The groups take turns sending one member to face another group at the front of the room.4. One group members takes the news summary to the class computer to type in their article.
4. I show a question slide and read the question to the class. Students are instructed not to buzz in until I've finished the question.
5. The timer gives the student 6 seconds to answer the question.

6. The teacher can keep track of the scores on the whiteboard.

Lesson Extender:
1. The class can go through the questions a second time as a group to discuss the correct answers and clarify any confusion.


Pros:
1. 100% Participation!
2. The students get an idea of the types of questions that will be on the test.
3. The teacher gets an idea on any last minute items that need to be re-taught.
4. Students really enjoy the class that day.

Cons:
1. They get REALLY competitive. I had one class shouting by the end of the game because they were so mad that they lost. Clear expectations have to be set up from the start or the game can take a negative turn.

Do you facilitate a similar project in your classroom? How have you used one one iPad in your classroom activites?

Tech Challenge #5: Using 1 Computer to Review Class Novel

Today's Tech Tool: One Classroom Computer

My English 2 classes and Pre-AP English 2 classes will be taking a test over The Pearl and Lord of the Flies respectively at the end of the week. Using one classroom computer, the students put together a summary of the book to use as a study guide.

The Goal:
Student groups will work together to summarize one chapter from the novel. They will incorporate creative writing to turn their summaries into an eye-witness news article that reports the main conflict from their chapter.

The Day Before:

There really is nothing to prepare for this lesson! The kids do all of the work.

During Class: 

1. Divide students into groups and assign each group a chapter.
2. Students must come up with a catchy newspaper headline summarizing the chapter in one sentence.
3. Group members must then write out a summary as if they were newspaper reporters traveling into their book to report on what they saw happening.
4. One group members takes the news summary to the class computer to type in their article.

End of Class:
1. The teacher sets up the class computer for student use.
2. Pull up the website: http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
3. One student from each group comes up to type their chapter number into the headline box. (The program does not leave much room for an actual headline)
4. Their actual headline is typed in as the first line of their story.
5. The students then type in the body of their article, paying attention to the word limit.
6. Have students click "Generate!"
7. Then have the students click the link under the image of their generated article to save it to the computer.
8. Have the students save their article using their chapter number.

Extender:

1. The teacher can show the images on the screen and have the students take turn reading the summers out loud in order. 

2. Or the teacher can print the images and copy the articles for the students to take home as a study guide for the test.

Pros:
1. There isn't much prep time at all, if any.
2. The students get to practice summarizing skills and writing from different points of view.
3. The students get to work with each other to decide on the major events.
4. Every student gets to benefit from eachother's work.
Cons:
1. If one group does not work well together, the entire class misses out on a good review of that chapter.


Do you facilitate a similar project in your classroom? How have you used one classroom computer during a lesson?