My Plus One

My "+ 1" Post

Though this experience has been at times difficult (e.g. frustration over new technology not working like I'd want, an extra meeting a month I had to make time for), it has ultimately been worth it without any question. Not only have I gotten some rad new equipment, but I also feel fairly strong in an area I was admittedly weak in before. Last year, I barely touched on research. This wasn't because I didn't want to teach it, nor because I felt uncomfortable about research itself, but I wasn't sure how to teach the skills that came pretty naturally to me to a bunch of students who couldn't fathom spending dozens of hours with microfiche trying to find an old news article. I was also concerned that my participation in MILI would find me with a regimented, rigid series of lesson plans with which to teach students research. Not at all. Instead, I found dozens, maybe hundreds, of tools to use and tailor to my own particular style. This has worked marvelously in my classroom so far and allowed me to create an extremely ambitious project for my students. These tools also aided in differentiation - though they have different assignments, both my intermediate and pre-AP students are getting sufficiently challenged, I think. I am extremely glad Ms. Mauritz duped me into joining the initiative :) as I surely would never have heard of it otherwise.