I assigned my precalc kids a Conics project today. After wrestling with what to have them do (in the past couple of years I've assigned a wiki -here's 2008 and 2007) I decided to try something new. I prepared a powerpoint (via Google Docs) yesterday with some directions and links and requirements, etc. My plan was to assign the students groups and a conic, then they were to make a glog (a digital poster) on glogster.


This morning after I arrived at school, I changed my mind. Instead of requiring them all to do a glog, I gave them 3 choices - a glog, a presentation via prezi, or a presentation via empressr. I was hoping that one of these tools would make each of the groups excited about working on the project! Most of the kids hadn't heard of any of the options.

I hurriedly changed my powerpoint to include those options, made sure I had accounts set up on prezi and empressr for the kids to use, and off we went. (Oh, include in there a worksheet with links, directions, criteria, and recommendations, and that adds up to a very busy morning!)

My first class seemed pretty excited about the project - I think they were happy that it wasn't like the last project they did (a combinations of functions thing that a lot of them struggled with), that they'd have 3 days in class to work on it, and that they got to work with their friends on computers (I relented and let them pick their groups after they told me it would make their projects better - we'll see about that!). I assigned their conics and they started exploring the tools I'd shown them.

It looks like most of the groups will end up using Glogster while some ambitious groups are going for Prezi (it just looks so cool!). There are some groups talking about making a video (which I soooo hope they do! I reserved the school's flip cameras for them to use in class tomorrow/Friday). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the end products are good!