Summer School is a Good Thing!

Summer, for many it means vacations, trips to the pool, BBQs with friends and lazy days. For me and my students, it means summer school! That’s right, what every kid (and teacher) dreads the whole year long - having to go to school in the summer.

But the days of sweating in a sweltering hot classroom and listening to a teacher drone on about a topic that you didn’t care about during the regular school year are gone. Instead, I’ve replaced them with a comfortable laid back learning environment filled with technology based projects designed to capture a student’s curiosity, and provoke their creativity. How am I accomplishing such a noble feat(?), miracle(?), er-thing(that's the best word)? Well, by using iPads in our classroom.

This week, my Communication Arts students are creating their own manifestos. We are basing these public declarations of our principles on the short story Guyifesto—Who We (i.e. Guys) Are, written by Darren Shan for the book Guys Write for Guys Read,  a collection of short stories for boys and teens. This story is a tongue in cheek look at what guys are all about (think farts, burps, and wrestling).

My students are using the app Keynote to publish their own personal Manifesto based on who they “really” are, what they believe, and what we should know about them. They will be presenting these declarations, with names like Grantifesto, Dylanifesto, and Girlifesto, to their classmates as the assessment for this project.

So now you know what summer means to me and my students. I hope to be able to share their Manifestos and other creations here on my Patch blog.

Get my lounge chair ready honey; summer school is out by noon!

Cheers,

Alison Nixon