Mission High School (MHS) French teacher, Kitty Hutchcroft is trying something new with her students this year that will involve research, creative writing, technology integration, and graphics. The end result will be student projects that can be displayed and shared through the use of smartphones.
Students have several options relating to different aspects of a French vacation or trip. Students will be researching various aspects of French culture, history, and geography, etc. Other possible project topics include: advantages/disadvantages of volunteering, effective advertising, money and spending habits, what their parents wore when they were younger, and fashion trends.
These reports will then be turned into electronic presentations. The students will also record audio of themselves providing information about their reports. These electronic files will be saved “in the cloud”. As the final step, students will create a poster for their project that will include 3 QR codes (Quick Response Code). The QR codes will allow anyone with a scanner app in a smartphone to download and listen to their presentations and view their electronic presentations.
“Anytime I can find a way to integrate the use of technology, the students get excited,” said Hutchcroft. “Through this project, the students are not only learning more about France and the French language; they are also stretching their knowledge of technology tools that are becoming more popular worldwide.”
QR codes are a type of square shaped bar code that can be scanned by smartphones and is most often used for sharing information.
Outside of the QR code and audio file creations, most of the rest of the project will utilize Google Drive tools. The final projects will be due the week of March 17.
Pictured is MHS teacher, Kitty Hutchroft as she answers a student question in her French III class. Students were in one of the campus computer labs beginning their research.