Where Will Class 102 Be in 2019?
HOW IT WORKS
Where Will Class 102 Be In 2019? is a
computer-based program that incorporates various
activities dealing with future career choices. To
stimulate their vocational interests, students
read the book When I Was Six by Jamie Lee
Curtis. (Any appropriate book can be
substituted to match ability and grade level.) Then
students brainstorm things they can do at their
current age, compared with what they were able to do when they were younger. Students
compose one or two sentences about this. Once the sentences are composed and edited,
they are published and illustrated using
computer programs including Student Writing
Center and Kid Pix Studio. Students then read
books on different careers, and after each
chooses one, they come to school on a given
day dressed for that profession, whereupon
their pictures are taken. They compose a brief
paragraph explaining their choices. Sentences
are also composed to accompany the picture of
each student in career costumes, and they
create business cards that help younger students
learn their home addresses and phone numbers.
When these activities are completed, the
students use Hyper Studio and create three-page
chapters about themselves. They learn how to
make buttons move from one computer page to
another, and record their voices, insert pictures,
and compose sentences. All the chapters are
then combined for a class book. The final
project also contains all illustrations, business
cards, written stories, and pictures. Then the
class has a book-signing party and invites
parents, administrators, students, and staff to view
the project in written form and through a
projector. A digital camera is used throughout this unit
to capture the students in all their activities.
THE STUDENTS
One first-grade class consisting of 23 children
participated in the program. The class was on
or below grade level, with members classified
as special education students. The students’
computer abilities varied. Students used the
computer once a week in a lab and twice a week in small groups. The language lessons
occurred during the students’ reading.
THE STAFF
Anthony Scimeca III has taught special
education for 14 years. In the last five, he has
developed different programs for different levels of
students that include both the New York
Standards in Language Art, Social Studies, and
Science and Technology. He has won five in-district
computer contests—including one for Where Will Class 102
Be In 2019?
WHAT YOU NEED
The program can work if the room has eight
iMac computers or if you have access to a
computer lab. Other materials include books on
different careers; large chart paper to list the
students’ sentences; software including Hyper
Studio, Kid Pix Studio, and Student Writing
Center; a color printer; color ink; a digital camera;
and a binder to put all the work in and present
the project as a book. The Internet can be
used with higher grades as a research tool to explore
career choices. I also prepare lesson plans and
demonstrations for other staff members,
showing them how to use the software and various
technological tools, and how this program can
be utilized with fewer computers.
OVERALL VALUE
This program encourages creative thinking and
motivates students to consider their future. By
doing this, they learn the value of education.
The digital camera gives them immediate
feedback, and Hyper Studio allows their work to be
displayed on-screen with sounds they create.
This interdisciplinary program can be adapted
for any grade level and meets many state
standards.
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