Not Another Paper!Not Another Paper!Alternative Assessments Alternative Assessments using Technologyusing Technology

Tom DaccordAcademic Technology Advocate, Noble

and Greenough School

Justin Reich Doctoral Student, Harvard Graduate

School of Education

Center for Teaching History with Technology:www.besthistorysites.netwww.thwt.org

Who are you?Who are you?Teachers?Teacher leaders?Technology Specialists who train

your teachers?Library Media Specialists, people

who help teachers with projectsAdministratorsHow many of you fit none of

those categories? Anyone else?

Who are we?Who are we?

Why do we assign papers?Why do we assign papers?Demonstrate command of the

materialDemonstrate the ability to craft and

defend an argumentGive students the opportunity to

decide and express their point of viewDemonstrate the ability to

communicate effectively

WE CAN DO ALL THESE THINGS WITHOUT ASSIGNING PAPERS!

Teaching with Old and Teaching with Old and Established Technologies: Established Technologies: Word ProcessorsWord Processors

Editing with a TwistHistorical Newspaper Projects

Editing with a twistEditing with a twistStudents come in with a piece of

writing and need to change:◦The Author◦The Audience◦The Context◦The Argument◦???

The Original AssignmentThe Original Assignment 1) Write a 2 page sermon, drawing on the New

Testament readings we have read for homework and in-class. The sermon will be delivered on September 16th, 1963 in Birmingham. This is several weeks after the successful March on Washington, and right in the middle of the heroic and brutal Birmingham Campaign for Civil Rights. Your sermon should use Christianity to inspire, console and motivate your congregation

2) Please use Times New Roman 12 point font, 1.5 spacing

3) Save it somehow to NoblesNet. If you use a program other than Word or Appleworks, you should copy and paste the text into an email or a document.

4) At the beginning of class i will give you instructions, and then I'll give you about 30 minutes to revise the sermon.

The In-Class Twist…The In-Class Twist… After successfully presenting your sermon at the morning

service, you retire to your quarters to rest before the 11:00 service.. At 10:30, one of the church members rushes in and tells you that something horrible has happened: the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed, 4 little girls at Sunday School have been killed.

  As an important leader in your community, it will be your

job to console your community, and to help them understand how these deaths fit into your struggle for civil rights.

  The second service starts in 1/2 hour. You probably don't

have time to write a whole new sermon. Your challenge then, is to adapt what you have written to take into account this shattering loss of innocent lives.

Newspaper ProjectsNewspaper ProjectsEditorialsCartoonsCover ArtArticlesClassifiedsAdvertisementsAnd more!

Either Either Learn a Learn a Desktop Desktop Publisher, Publisher, or Learn or Learn Columns Columns and the and the Text BoxText Box

Image from Microsoft Word

Tom’s PodcastTom’s Podcast

Multimedia Multimedia PowerPoint/Keynote Student PowerPoint/Keynote Student PresentationsPresentationsEYE OF THE BEHOLDER PROJECTPhase 1- researchPhase II- Research paper writing Phase III- Convert essay to scriptPhase IV- Record script over

images

How is oral expression different than written expression?

Women WeavingWomen Weaving

Key

= an Alexandria

Tom’s VoiceThreadTom’s VoiceThread

We Like You! Spend more We Like You! Spend more time with us!!time with us!!

Buy our Book- A Teacher’s Guide to Teaching History and English with Technology ME Sharpe Press- Spring 2008

Come to our summer workshops- www.thwt.org/workshops.html

Visit our web sites◦www.besthistorysites.net ◦www.thwt.org

Hire us to come to your school!