Activity 2- Engagement

What better way to engage students than to have them listen to the philosophical and pragmatic man, Steve Jobs! This is going to be a year of great discovery in our building. There are several more classrooms receiving chrome books for each student to use during class time. The opportunities that these tech devices will provide are limitless, like Jobs vision.



arcgis
Once we've thought about the limitless power to create, students will start to create their own maps. These maps will contain the TODALS that they will use often during their school years. They will be using arcgis to create their maps. They will use the "add features" menu and add points around Minnesota that are of interest to them. They will then label the map and include the categories they chose to label in their legend. This program is amazing and could be of use to students into their careers.

http://video.arcgis.com/watch/916/arcgis-online-overview

The Cardinal Directions Geography Song

Activity 1 - Communication

Students often flounder when trying to recall the cardinal and ordinal directions. Here are a few things I use to help them recall these important points of orientation.

Here's a template to get you thinking about what the song is helping you to recall.

Kickoff

I was motivated by the opportunity to have a set of chromebooks in my classroom next year. I hope to learn how to apply things I learn here to my classroom and curriculum next year. I'd like my students to become proficient on the newer pieces of technology that could encourage them to try more rigorous and creative projects. I'm not afraid to try anything. I know you can't hurt the tech device, unless I throw it at a wall or the floor in frustration! I use whatever happens to be available- laptops, chromebooks, the SmartBoard....