What worked, what didn't

Starting off this new school year, I was determined to make learning the History of Mass Media fun and interesting. Last year I heard too many times, "Why do we need to learn about Morse code?" I never really had a good answer other than it is the precursor to radio. This year, I had it all planned out... thanks to our Integrating Technology Daily Lesson Plan activity from this summer. The students were to log on to the computers, pull up a web site and read a page on Morse code. Then they come back to their seats and I give them a worksheet that I devised all by myself on how to translate Morse code. Students were to write a short sentence, and based on the Morse code provided on the sheet, they were to write out their sentence in the dot dash fashion. We would tap out the sentences and try to figure out each others sentence. Cool!

What went wrong? My set induction - a skit from the Jay Leno show about Text Messaging vs. Morse Code that proved Morse is faster than texting - was blocked by our school's network, so I had nothing (until a week later). The computers, having recently been plugged back in due to renovations over the summer, were not working properly. This took up a lot of time. By the time everyone finished reading the web page and started the activity, it was nearly time to go. The students had a hard time grasping the concept of the dots and dashes and how to express them by tapping them out. Basically, I got a full class of blank stares. Sounds like a new Nurse Ratchett scenario.