What would it take to encourage us to clean up after ourselves at lunch?

• Have the students realized that if they banded together and cleaned up their own mess, then NOBODY would have to report for KP?
• What methods do teachers use to monitor KP? I saw Ms. Dobbs use rubber-band bracelets today.

• How could cell phones be used as learning tools in class?
• What are the key reasons why students are restricted from using the cell phones during the day?
• Are there schools that allow student cell phone use as a learning tool?
• Could we collect data about Synergy 8 students using their cell phones as learning tools?

On Wednesday, August 18, 2010, Mrs. Gough and I embarked on an exciting adventure with twenty-four eighth-grade students. We are piloting a new course entitled Synergy 8. For now, I will resist defining the course because the students are constructing their collective definition in the first few days.

As part of the course, we will all keep “observation journals” or “observation logs.” In the logs, we are simply and succinctly recording observations in our community. Different people are using different methods. Over time, we will discuss our methods, our observations, and our questions that arise from the observations. The picture here, actually a Power Point slide, was originated with my iPhone. After snapping the picture, I emailed the image to myself, inserted the image into a PPT slide and jotted a few questions. Finally, I recorded the date, time, and observer.