So to be fair, I think that flashcards are a necessary part of education. When I was a young warthog, I mean student, I made many a flashcards. Even though I suggest making note cards, it is a rare occasion that my students follow this advice unless we take the time IN class to make them.
These flashcards are for the Facing History and Ourselves: The Civil Rights Movement freshman course. The way that the students will be tested is using fill in the blank so I only used word definitions, but for other parts of the curriculum they could use pictures. I also like making note cards that have 3 parts; a picture definition, the word in a sentence, and synonyms. This would be very easy to do having a 3rd column which would show on the front of the page using the word in a sentence. An additional emphasis for this would be practice typing, and using a computer. As I have complained, it is difficult to get into the computer labs at our school, but this would be an activity that could definitely be accomplished in 1 class period and give the students exposure to programs beyond Facebook and Twitter. I would even like to see this be half of the class and then move on to a quick research investigation of one of the words. The students would deepen their understanding and be motivated by the fact that they would get to choose which word to find facts about. Once again impressed with technology! |
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