I came across this post by Sharon at TeacherlyTech in my RSS and it had me thinking. She explains how she tries to develop writing prompts that speak to the interests of her students, with slants towards technology. I love that idea. Here is what she shared as a few possibilities:
(1) What’s in your iPod? What do your playlists say about you as a person?
(2) What are the rights and wrongs of text messaging during class?
(3) Should you friend your teachers, employers, or other authority figures on social networking sites?
(4) What are the worst Facebook/MySpace faux pas your friends should be warned against?
(5) What was the most significant TV show (or video game or pop star or other media presence) of your childhood? How did it influence your life?
I wonder what I might add? Here are a few off the top of my head.
- What would the html source code look like if you were a webpage?
- Design and label a personal computing device that will be on the market in 10 years.
- Explain in steps something (a concept or a piece of equipment) about technology that you understand but which your parents do not.
- If you were the teacher, what technology would you allow students to use for learning and why?
- Write a persuasive paragraph that argues for me (your teacher) showing you a certain tool of technology that we don’t already use (but which you use outside of the school).
- Write a short story in which the main character is a minor character from one of the video games that you play (or know about).
- Imagine you are going to produce a video for Youtube and you can earn $1 for every view it gets. What will your video be about and what would you need to make it happen?
Thanks, Sharon, for the inspiration. I wonder if other folks have suggestions, too?
Peace (in the prompts),
Kevin