With much fear and trepidation I did my first Thing Link project with my lowest proficiency vocabulary class. I really didn't want to start with these students (fearing teaching them new technology as well as making them do a report in English), but they were the only class at the end of a unit and scheduled to do a writing project. They were already working on creating reports about their home countries using a graphic organizer I found on-line (though the website seems to have been taken down). Instead of having the students write a formal paper, I introduced them to Thing Link and they created their own image reports. They were amazing! I don't know why I ever feared teaching the kids a new technology, I showed them what to do, helped them get their first image imported and start their first hot spot, and then sat at my desk and graded papers while they went at it---yes, I actually got to sit for more than 30 seconds! They had a blast and I did not hear a single word of complaint in any language! That's right, you read correctly, my newest arrival students wrote a complete country report, in English, with pictures, and did not complain once! Was it a full page, paragraphed report with citations? No, but they're not at that stage of writing, they're still working on writing complete sentences. You can check out the report on Honduras for yourself, just click the word Honduras.
After the success with my new arrivals, I decided to give Thing Link another go and expanded to my "advanced" class. These students are actually at an intermediate level of proficiency (WIDA level 2.5-3.0), but their writing skills are still quite low (WIDA level 1.5-2.0). A week or so ago we finished a unit on immigrants and their final project was to be a biography report. The students looked through the immigrants on biography.com and chose one to research. My original plan was to have them create a biography circle report, but I changed it to be a Thing Link report. Normally this project produces days of whining and an increase in my aspirin consumption, but this time I didn't hear a single word, not even a "Do I have to answer all of the questions?"! The success level was a little more varied, but in their defense I was at a conference and meetings for three out of the six class periods they were given to work on the project. The students were able to produce some good reports though, as evidenced by this one on Albert Einstein, which was actually done by the lowest proficiency student in this class!
Time to run the new project checklist:
1. Were students able to complete the project? Check!
2. Were the learning objectives attained? Check!
3. Did the project integrate technology and 21st Century skills? Check!
4. Was administration happy and impressed? Check!
5. Level of complaining and need for cajoling to work at an acceptable level? DOUBLE CHECK--No complaining or need cajole at all and students even worked with a higher-than-average diligence while with a substitute!
6. Students rated project as "I guess so" or higher on the "Would you want to do this again?" scale? DOUBLE CHECK, they actually asked when we're going to do another one without being prompted!
Final evaluation of project: TOTALLY WORTH IT!