Melissa Henson-Little
Snapshot
Can You Hear Me Now? 21st Century Audio Enhanced Classroom and Instruction
Middle school students have a tendency to become disengaged in their learning. With so many distractions coming their way, engaging them in the classroom has become progressively difficult. The majority of classroom instruction involves listening skills. Why not research ways to enhance the audio quality of the classroom and thus help grow better communicators and increase achievement? When students “hear” all of what the teacher and fellow classmates are saying, and when the students participate in that lesson or discussion, they are much more engaged and will learn at higher levels. . My idea is to transform my classroom to promote better communication between teacher and students. An audio enhancement system will be used to project the teacher’s voice, promote discussion and project students’ voices, share writings and ideas, and use music to enhance student engagement. As a result we will build real-world, effective communicators and leaders, and increase student achievement.
Write On! 21st Century Thinking and Writing Lab
Writing is a process, whether students are composing a published piece or simply thinking and analyzing text. Many times, however, students see writing as an assignment, not a skill or process. While technology like Chromebooks has helped promote the drafting and revising stages of writing, the most important stage which involves thinking and planning has been left out of many classrooms. With more focus on this prewriting stage and with more collaboration, students would be able to better see themselves as real-world problem solvers, creative thinkers, and authors. As students collaborate and analyze text, they will also grow and achieve more.As a way to study the impact of visual thinking and literacy strategies in the classroom on achievement, I proposed to purchase a classroom set of whiteboard tables to promote collaboration and discussion. I will remodel and rejuvenate my classroom to be more engaging for my ELA students. My focus will be on literacy strategies to improve close-reading of texts and creative planning strategies for writing. As a result, we will have increased engagement and achievement.