From: dlgsam@LanMinds.Com (Sandra A.M. & David G.)
Subject: Getting ready for LFM #5
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 17:15:49 +0100
My internet lesson plan last week went well. Using a large TV connected to the computer I took the students on a tour of the LFM site and the MPF site. I drew names from a box and about half of each class got a chance to try it out. Some of my students are probably already writing in html and others haven't even visited a web page before. I demonstrated different ways of navigating around and how to save images to the hard disk. What I found was that the classes got bored with this activity after about 25-30 minutes. Next time I'll know...My plan with the net from now on is to have it in the class about once a week and let small groups use it, giving them a very specific assignment. We have no school on Monday or Tuesday, so I have only Wednesday left to prepare the students for the broadcast, and to start collecting weather data. I just listened to the MGS press conference via the internet and the descriptions of the newest images have started to get me really excited about that mission. Our seventh graders will be watching from six different classrooms, and most of them will not be with a science teacher, so I have to create an understandable lesson plan for the other teachers. I have settled on two different stories from the Martian Chronicles to read to the students, one about a man who plants trees on Mars to make more oxygen, and the other about an earth family who go on a picnic. The kids are very anxious to see Martians, and, at the end, they see them, their own reflections, in the water. Now, I need some kind of writing assignment for the students to do in the half hour after the broadcast. Any ideas? I have to really sit and think about what exactly I'm hoping the students will get out of this activity. The two activities in the teacher's guide related to LFM #5 both look great. Perhaps I'll be able to do the weather one on Wednesday. David Glaser Willard M.S. Berkeley, CA