To wrap up the end of the year and our unit on government, I decided to let the students choose how they were going to build and present their “perfect government”. We had studied monarchy, dictatorship, democracy and theocracy along with all of the positive and negative aspects of them. My directions were fairly simple. The task was for students to create their own, perfect government and I told them that I didn’t really care how they did it, just do it! Then the questions came rolling in. “Can we do it this way?” “Can we do it that way?” “Can we work with partners?” YES! YES! And YES! were my responses. |
- Google Slides was the most popular choice, and for good reason.
- Google Docs were a close second with students choosing to write about their perfect government in essay form
- Google sites, which was a subpage in the textbook we are building
- WeVideo. A few students chose to make a video displaying their perfect government.
- Kahoot! Students were making Kahoot quizzes about their perfect governments.
- GimKit. The newest quizzing or review tool that is a huge hit with my students.
- TikTok: one student was using her phone to make a collage of videos about her perfect government.
Other options that I noticed in different classes were Prezi, hand drawn posters (one of which was from a student that does not speak English), Voki (which was really cool as they made Avatars that spoke about their governments) and Sutori Overall, I saw 11 different products being made and all were very creative.
I understand that many educators are reluctant to give their students free reign but I think if you give it a shot you will be impressed with what your students will produce. Since it is their choice, I feel that productivity and creativity will soar. Enjoy the experience, everybody.