When I was a math teacher, one of my favorite assignments at the beginning of the year was called A Million Words or Less.  I’m pretty sure that I got the idea from this article on Education World and I’m sure that many of you out there do something similar.  I love this assignment so much that I’ve decided to give it to all 380 middle schools students with a twist of technology!  One of our tech options at my school is the use of

Moodle, the open source online learning environment for teachers.  I’ve been using Moodle for five years and I still like it because it gives teachers and students a secure environment to reflect upon their learning.

My technology goals for this assignment are straightforward and simple:

1. I want each student in my school to know how to use Moodle.
2. I want each teacher in my school to know how to use Moodle and see its benefits.
3. I want each parent to know about Moodle.

Now, beyond technology this is a great assignment because it gives an intimate insight into our student’s lives.

We have 24 advisors in the middle school and I’ve set up a Moodle classroom for each of the advisors.  I very simply attached the assignment which is a homework assignment for parents to write about their children in A Million Words are Less.  I then created an Assignment activity so that parents can submit their letters to their child’s advisory teacher. I then wrote a post on my school blog which walks each child through the process of creating a Moodle account.

I’m really excited about this assignment and the technology with it.  I was pleasantly suprised to have most of my teachers thrilled about having a Moodle classroom.  It may be because I did all of the work for them this time in setting up their classes, but I’m betting that many of them will be hooked when all is said and done because of the possible success of this assignment.

Wish me luck!  If this goes the way I think it’s going to go, I will have brought the school community together by using Moodle!