Students used math skills to measure the wall and assigned a space for each decade, before adding images, charts, graphs, and research. Using spreadsheets they compare divorce rates, death rates, jobs, etc. The Arlington project brought a global perspective into this small, rural community. To solve their computer access problems, this creative group shared lab time with the adjacent high school. In Nancy Patterson's English class at Portland Middle School, Portland, Michigan, students select poems by Native Americans.
Students analyze the poem together, but work alone when they get to the computer lab.
They research the historical period and the author's background using the Internet and ordinary text resources. Their assignment is to annotate the poem so that others can understand it. Each student constructs web pages to share the results with a wider audience. You'd be amazed at how engaged the students become in this process. They are extremely motivated by the hypertext environment.