My Reflection
My objective when doing this project was to create an informative, interactive, professional website I could use in my future classroom. A website is a great way to organize and store information and to make the information accessible to several students at once. I really enjoyed creating this website because I got to be creative and incorporate a lot of things I would want to see in a website. Also, I put all the things in the website I would want to teach in my class. I tried to make the information presentable to elementary-age students. I incorporated a lot of pictures and some media to make the website interactive and interesting.
The strengths of my website are the organization and the versatility using a website gave me. I was able to add a lot of information and have a lot of resources at hand that I could easily just post a link to in my website. Also, the information is now easily accessible and anyone can view it. If, in the future I need to make changes to this project, I can do so easily. I can tailor the information to meet the needs of my classroom.
The weakness of my project is that it is a lot of reading and children might get bored with the website idea after a little bit. I would just have to use this as more of a research tool in the classroom than a “here, read this,” kind of thing. Also, I have noticed that some of the links don’t work occasionally when I publish my website, but I am working on that. Technology is not always reliable, which is a downfall to choosing to do a project that is entirely technological. The other negative is that as time goes on, these sources I am referencing might change and the websites I have links to may no longer be there, so I will need to keep a watchful eye on those things.
In order to complete this project, students will need to have an open mind. They will need to know and learn about the Civil Rights Movement and the key players in that movement. Students may not come from a background where they have even met or talked to an African American. I know I went to an Elementary and High School where we had no African American students. To teach this lesson, teachers will have to be aware of culturally responsive teaching and adapt to those students’ needs. I hope that students would take from this project that doing the right thing is always the best thing. Also, that you don’t have to be famous or rich to do something important and make a big difference; you could just be a normal person like Rosa Parks.
Teachers would also need to guide students through this time and reflect on slavery and the ideas and connotations white people in America had about African Americans. The teacher would need to discuss why these terrible things were happening to these people, but in a way that is age appropriate. Teacher would also need to keep an open mind and understand that students may not be comfortable participating in this activity, or they may come from a background where they already have formed opinions of African Americans and/or the Civil Rights Movement.
I think this is a great project and topic to include in a classroom. I hope that some day I do get the chance to use my website and to educate my students and do my part in making them better, more educated citizens.
The strengths of my website are the organization and the versatility using a website gave me. I was able to add a lot of information and have a lot of resources at hand that I could easily just post a link to in my website. Also, the information is now easily accessible and anyone can view it. If, in the future I need to make changes to this project, I can do so easily. I can tailor the information to meet the needs of my classroom.
The weakness of my project is that it is a lot of reading and children might get bored with the website idea after a little bit. I would just have to use this as more of a research tool in the classroom than a “here, read this,” kind of thing. Also, I have noticed that some of the links don’t work occasionally when I publish my website, but I am working on that. Technology is not always reliable, which is a downfall to choosing to do a project that is entirely technological. The other negative is that as time goes on, these sources I am referencing might change and the websites I have links to may no longer be there, so I will need to keep a watchful eye on those things.
In order to complete this project, students will need to have an open mind. They will need to know and learn about the Civil Rights Movement and the key players in that movement. Students may not come from a background where they have even met or talked to an African American. I know I went to an Elementary and High School where we had no African American students. To teach this lesson, teachers will have to be aware of culturally responsive teaching and adapt to those students’ needs. I hope that students would take from this project that doing the right thing is always the best thing. Also, that you don’t have to be famous or rich to do something important and make a big difference; you could just be a normal person like Rosa Parks.
Teachers would also need to guide students through this time and reflect on slavery and the ideas and connotations white people in America had about African Americans. The teacher would need to discuss why these terrible things were happening to these people, but in a way that is age appropriate. Teacher would also need to keep an open mind and understand that students may not be comfortable participating in this activity, or they may come from a background where they already have formed opinions of African Americans and/or the Civil Rights Movement.
I think this is a great project and topic to include in a classroom. I hope that some day I do get the chance to use my website and to educate my students and do my part in making them better, more educated citizens.