My current top-of-mind idea for the final project is something I've been contemplating doing for a while: a class newsletter. I found that since I wasn't organized this year it was harder for me to help my students stay organized and catch up on missed work. Especially given the high rate of chronic absenteeism in my school, and the quick turnaround of the units in my curriculum, even a few missed assignments can really set a student back. I tried to help students catch up, but I was learning the curriculum myself week by week, so I couldn't help them as promptly or fully as I would like to be able to in the coming year. My concept would involve a weekly newsletter or a running Google Doc posted on Canvas with key vocabulary and concepts for the unit, as well as what we did every single week, and extra credit opportunities. My hope is this would serve as a way to keep myself organized and to help students who are absent or who work better outside of class.
My other idea is related to the project I did for Practitioner Action Research. Despite my complex feelings about AI, I can see the benefit of helping students access difficult scientific articles at a younger age via Perplexity. I really want my students to start learning about real-life scientific issues and innovations, like renewable energy or brain-computer interfaces. I'm thinking about doing a weekly project with my students where they find one research article through Google Scholar, put it into Perplexity to simplify the language, synthesize it in their own words, and (most importantly) form an opinion on the topic. I hope this will encourage my students to think critically about science and allow them to access "cool science" firsthand, while teaching them that AI can be a tool but it can't form your own opinions for you.
Hey Annika, I really love both of the options that you came up with!! You've definitely identified aspects of your classroom culture you would like to change and how a technological implementation would benefit you and your students. In my opinion, despite your valid hesitancy with AI usage, I do think the second option you listed would have more of an effect on student learning as they are tasked to use the AI in a way they probably never have been tasked by a teacher before. This could be a powerful way to frame it as a learning tool that is reducing their cognitive load but not eliminating their thinking process.
ReplyDeleteAs someone else who works in your content, in your grade, and at the same school - I can see both your ideas being really helpful. Battling learning the curriculum while battling chronically absent students was something I want to try to think about next year too. Maybe you could do both this year, but for one for the project? I really love the idea of a Newsletter because it could be shared with families as well. If it's online, it can be translated for our NB MLL families too!
ReplyDeleteThis idea is greattttt!!! omg! My students love to yap and tell "tea". This would be a great way to keep track of assignments and just school activities like basketball games.
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