| Generation www.Y: The student perspective Three students from Ulysses, Kansas share their thoughts about the Gen www.Y program. By Amy Schimmel SCR*TEC |
 his month we spoke with three high school students from Ulysses, Kansas,
about the Generation www.Y ("Gen Y") program they participated in. Generation
www.Y is a collaboration program for students in grades 4-12. The purpose
of the project is to begin to integrate technology into the classroom by
pairing each student with a teacher to create a lesson plan that utilizes
technology. The 18-week course is divided into two parts. The first part
of the course is designed to teach students the technical skills that they
will need in order to successfully help teachers infuse technology into
the curriculum. The second part of the course is designed to teach students
the education and leadership skills needed to create a lesson plan that
meets academic standards. |
 Joni, a Gen www.Y graduate, is glad she had the chance to participate in the program. |
 en
www.Y was created to teach students new technological skills in order to
begin changing the way lessons are presented in school. The skills these
students and the many other participants learn help them become better prepared
for the future in this age of technology. Students are required to create
a technology-infused lesson plan as their major project in the course. They
choose the subject from the teacher's syllabus and then work with the teacher
to redesign the lesson to incorporate technology.
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 hawna, Joni, and
Alexis shared their thoughts about the Gen www.Y program. These students
were excited to share their experiences from the class. Shawna described
it as a class that teaches students and teachers how to interact and helps
them learn more about computers and technology.
"The students worked with the teachers individually on bringing computer technology into the classroom," Joni said. Alexis said, "Gen www.Y was a program that taught the teacher [how to] use computers ... and all kinds of equipment to help teach." After teaming together with a teacher, students have a chance to gain a greater appreciation of what teachers do everyday. "It was a different experience working [one-on-one] with a teacher, instead of the [usual] teacher and student relationship," Joni said.
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| "Gen
www.Y was a program that taught the teacher [how to] use computers ... and
all kinds of equipment to help teach," said Alexis. |
hroughout the
semester, the students complete the Gen www.Y workbook and then use their
new expertise to create a lesson with a teacher. Some found it to be very
challenging to come up with a way to present their teacher's subject. "[I]
had an English teacher," said Joni, "and had some trouble finding a project
that would relate back to English. I know some of the art teachers ... had
neat projects that they could do ... I think it was harder in the English
area."
Other students did not have as difficult
of a time making their projects. "I worked with the foreign language department,"
Shawna said. "One of the teachers was from Costa Rica and she had several
pictures. I scanned all of those and put them into a Power Point presentation."
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| till others thought that
finding time to talk with [the] teacher was the hardest part. They all persevered
though and passed the test before their peers with flying colors. All of
the students said their classes were thrilled to view the presentations.
"They really liked it because it wasn't book work," Joni said. Alexis chose to set her classmates up with Spanish speaking pen pals. After the project she gathered their thoughts about the lesson by conducting a survey. She was pleased to find that their reactions to her lesson were positive. "They were pretty happy. The teacher liked the idea a lot," Alexis said. Despite, and perhaps partially because of the challenges students were faced with during the semester, everyone enjoyed the class and the new opportunities it provided. "With this program, we were kind of out there on our own finding things, so we kind of learned how to do that and to learn on our own," Joni said. "It was more or less kind of like a job instead of a class. We had a lot of responsibilities." Students were expected to work independently and were given the creative freedom to present the lesson in their own way.
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 ccording
to Joni, one of the most useful things about Gen www.Y and the students'
projects was that they brought different things in, made things go faster,
and made [the class] a lot more interesting for both the students, and the
teachers. "It was a neat class," Joni said. "I'm glad that we had the chance
to [take] it." The students said that the
skills and knowledge they learned was reason enough to participate in Gen
www.Y. "It was a really good feeling after you finished the project. You
knew you made it more exciting for the teacher and the students. You helped
the students learn, and [at] the same time, you learned too." |
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