Emerging Ed Tech-Musings of a MidLink Editor

Today I have been struggling through writing 100 student comments for my students’ report cards. My comments are due on Monday and here I am on Saturday working on them. Ugh. I have little profound to write here except that I am trying something new. I asked my students to blog about the following:”What was your favorite project, experiment or topic this trimester and why? (projectile motion, density cube experiment, podcasts, chemical reactions, flame tests, etc.) You can also comment about the snakes. What do you think that you excelled at this trimester? How could you have improved your performance in Science 7? After you blog about this, have a peer comment on your post. Your peer’s comment should reflect one thing about how they appreciate something that you have contributed in class this trimester.”

Here is one example of what I got from this prompt.“Entry: I enjoyed working on fun projects and watching the snakes in Science 7 this trimester. My favorite project this trimester was the “It’s an Elemental Mystery” podcasts. I really enjoyed working with my friends and having a chance to be creative in science. I also liked how much it taught me about the different elements because it made the element test easier. I didn’t come in contact with the snakes much this trimester, but it was fun to watch them. I’m hoping that next trimester I can use them to overcome my fear of snakes. I think I was good at learning the elements and doing the blog entries. I really applied myself to learning the elements and made a 100% on the test. I worked hard on my blog entries, and they turned out good. I could have improved if I had asked more questions when I wasn’t sure on things. I had a good time in Science 7 this trimester being creative and learning elements. 

Peer Comment: I appreciate your great ideas and your enthusiasm in the class. You are always up for other peoples ideas and learning new things. I love how you are always are happy and a joy to be around. Overall, you are fun to be around and science wouldn’t be the same without you in our class.” 

I can write comments for my students all afternoon but nothing I write will compare to the insight that this female student of mine will have provided to her parents. Web 2.0…I love it. It is raw. It is real.