In order to reach my unmotivated students, I have chosen to incorporate more projects with and without technology. To begin, during this unit on Animals, I have decided to have the students construct a zoo. The zoo they construct will be used for other areas of my class during the next advisory as well.
We started the project yesterday and I decided (after arguing with myself) to allow my students to choose their own partner. I knew there would be some match ups that I would not choose and would want to change, but I stopped myself and gave them all the benefit of the doubt that they would work and get done what they needed to get done.
The project begins with students choosing 10 animals (with a few stipulations on how many of each animal type they should have) on their own. I have provided them with animal databases on PortaPortal that will help them make their decisions. The first day in the computer lab conducting research was magnificent! The students worked extremely well with the partners they chose and were excited and enthusiastic about picking the animals they were interested in instead of having to research animals I assigned. Some students focused on animals they may see around our area while hunting, while others focused on exotic animals.
Even though I have stipulations on this project, students were given a lot of room to make choices and do what interests them. As of now, I feel this allowed the students to take more ownership of their work and actually enjoy the project itself.
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