With the approach of Halloween, students at Chapa Middle School are writing scary “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories in seventh grade Language Arts class. Middle school students are familiar with books, such as Goosebumps, which allow the reader to choose the outcome of the story. The reader makes a decision, and the reader’s decision affects the remainder of the plot.

 Ms. Mosser, the Campus Technologist, at Chapa Middle School collaborated with the seventh grade Language Arts teachers, Ms. Gonzalez, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Cochran, to design the “Choose Your Own Adventure” writing project. Students used Microsoft PowerPoint, the presentation software, to create the final product. Mosser suggested PowerPoint because the story required interactivity. Buttons with attached actions can be added to a PowerPoint file, and the “Choose Your Own Adventure” activity requires the reader to click the button to make a decision. The button selected by the reader determines the progression of the storyline.

 Jessica B., a student in Ms. Johnson’s class, reads “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories regularly, and she enjoyed having the opportunity to write one. Jessica’s story about a coffee house murder provided the reader with three decisions to make which could influence the plot of her story. Nicholas T., a student in Ms. Johnson’s class, enjoyed the “Choose Your Own Adventure” activity because the format of the story allows the reader to click a button and make a decision. A student in Ms. Cochran’s class, Thor P., said the activity was “fun because you can choose your way.”

 The “Choose Your Own Adventure” activity reinforced writing concepts which were discussed in other lessons for Language Arts. For example, students had to title each paragraph with the main idea. The button which the reader clicked to make a decision was linked to the title, or main idea. The “Choose Your Own Adventure” activity also helped students polish their writing skills. Students practiced separating information into paragraphs when a natural break in the writing occurred.

 Ms. Johnson commented that she enjoyed seeing the technical skills of her students in action. Ms. Cochran noticed the connection between writing and technology, and this activity provided a “fun way to do editing and focus on specific writing skills”. Cochran and Johnson also mentioned that the collaboration with the technologist, Ms. Mosser, helped the project be successful. “The technologist was involved in the planning of the activity, and she was involved in the computer lab during the assignment,” Cochran said. Cochran and Johnson plan to share this activity with their colleagues at Chapa Middle School and other Hays CISD campuses.

Judith researches calories consumed through eating and calories burned through exercise.

In Ms. Self’s Health classes, middle school students are learning about fitness and nutrition using the Internet. Self’s class visited several nutrition websites to determine how many calories a person should consume based on the height and weight. Her class also visited websites which described how many calories can be burned through various types of exercise. Terrell C., a student in Self’s class, summarized the activity. He stated that the activity compared the number of calories that he should eat each day with the number of calories that he burns each day through physical exercise.

After completing the online research, Judith L., another student in  Self’s class, realized that she is only consuming half the calories a child her age should be eating to sustain life. Judith is not alone according to Self. Self said that many students in middle school do not eat either breakfast or lunch. These same students who do not consume enough calories for the day are in jeopardy of passing out at athletic practice.  Self said that students realize they cannot skip meals and still be able to perform sports after they complete the online research project.

 By completing the research activity, students in  Self’s class also realized that a person can burn calories by performing everyday activities, such as ironing, vacuuming, or even just sitting on the couch. Mason J. realized that he needs to consume 3200 calories each day to stay the same weight. He also mentioned that 1800 calories each day are burned by a couch potato who is the same height and weight as Mason.

Self has noticed that some students do actually change their eating habits after they complete the online research project. Many students who previously skipped meals realize the importance of eating regular meals realize their bodies need the energy to perform better at sports.

Alyssa uses voice recording technology to improve her reading fluency.

Students in Ms. Larson’s Reading class experimented with a new technology tool to improve their reading fluency. Students in Larson’s class used the voice recording software, Audacity, and a microphone to record themselves reading a passage. After recording the passage, the students listen to their voice reading the passage using headphones.

Students in Larson’s Reading class have noticed improvement in their reading skills as a result of the voice recording activity. Dakota E., a student in Larson’s class, stated that he is able to read faster. Alyssa F. has also noticed improvement in her reading speed and accuracy. Previously, Alyssa mentioned that she read passages “word for word.” After listening to the recorded passages, Alyssa is now able to read complete phrases. Unlike reading aloud in the classroom, Alyssa mentioned that she is able to make improvements in her reading because she is able to hear her mistakes and correct them the next time she reads the passage.

Larson decided to use voice recording as a supplement to her lessons because she wanted to make sure each student could improve fluency. Her class size is too large to allow her to listen periodically to each student individually. Voice recording allows the students to practice repetitive oral reading of passages, which is the best way to improve reading fluency.  Larson described the activity as “cool”, and she is excited that she can integrate technology into reading class. She mentioned that she should notice an improvement in the reading grade level for her students, and she plans to continue using voice recording to improve reading fluency in her classes.

Library aides work with the Destiny database to check out books to students. Aides and students also use Destiny to request inter-library loans and put books on hold. Destiny allows students to access all books from any school within Hays CISD.  The Destiny database serves as a portal for using electronic resources that the Hays Libraries provide such as: Encyclopedia Britannica, Ebsco and electronic books!

Mr. Yount’s sixth grade students were researching a country in Europe using the Encyclopedia Britannica databases provided by the Hays Library, the CIA website, and the resources books in the library.  The students located information on the countries geography, people and cultures, economy and climate.