Thinkfinity+Reflection

=Thinkfinity Reflection= Thinkfinity is a huge database/archive of lessons, inter-actives, sources, exercises and assessments which can be sorted by subject and grade level. The assignment was to find two projects that would be relevant to my classroom. Since I am without a classroom, I picked two relevant to my certifications in social studies and English. Thinkfinity is located on the internet at: http://www.thinkfinity.org.

Cracking the Code
Cracking the code is a geography exercise designed to help students practise finding places on the map using only latitude and longitude. The exercise is made more interesting by creating a scenario where the students are playing detective trying to crack a criminal code. After the students locate each place, they use the first letter of each answer to spell a new place.

The Elements of Fiction
The Elements of Fiction is a Power Point type of presentation in web form. Each slide contains a different element found in fiction such as theme, setting, characters, plot, etc. Although the presentation does not contain anything earth-shattering in its content, it is very comprehensive. The slides are well designed with plenty of appropriate clip art to make it interesting. It would take hours to duplicate.

Process
The reason I chose the two activities is that they are very easy to fold into lessons. The Cracking the Code exercise is a 10-20 minute exercise which can be done in class with no computers, or it can be done in a high end computer lab with a Smart Board and Google Earth. Another reason I like the assignment is the ease of assessment. If the final answer is correct, then there is a positive indication that the students understand the concepts of the overall lesson. The elements of fiction presentation is everything a teacher wants: quality information, creative presentation, logical order, and easy to use. Even the proportion of the slide on the screen works. It is large enough to see easily, but leaves enough space open to add information and examples when used with a Smart Board.

Reflection
Thinkfinity was created with the best of intentions by a bank which no longer exists. That the project continued forward after is a testament to the importance of what it accomplished. It is extremely well organized with many great ideas. My interest in the site was limited to the 7-12 material in English and social studies. Although many of the lessons were extremely well researched, organized, cited, and documented, they were also extremely long. Many of the lessons lasted more then 5 sessions. As a teacher looking for technology to integrate into my lessons, I'm looking for parts to add to my lessons, not lessons to replace my curriculum. I have not taken the time to try to break down some of these lessons into smaller parts, but in my limited experience packaged lesson plans need to stay as packages.

I will continue to mine Thinkfinity for the types of projects and information I have highlighted above, but I am unlikely to use any of the longer lessons unless it is dictated as part of the schools curriculum.