A Slice of Life at NLMSIS and Durfee Technology Magnet School

In today's Integrated Technology class, 5th hour students had a chance to partner with 5th graders from Durfee Technology Magnet School in Decatur, IL to learn more about what life is like for them.  Each school created "slice of life" videos describing our days and our favorite parts.  After viewing the other school's videos, students generated a list of questions that they would like to ask.  Today we were able to Skype with our partner school and get those questions answered.  We each shared a short introduction and then waited to get all of our burning questions answered.

What did we learn?  Here is a little "slice of life" from Durfee Technology Magnet School:

• They are a technology magnet school and each student has his or her own iPad to use throughout the day.
• Students have to apply to go to their school.
• They get out of school in TWO days but begin on August 14.
• They do not have lockers.
• They do not switch teachers for classes.  They have to stay with the same teacher all day.
• They live in a city with a population of about 65,000.
• They use iTunes U to watch videos and listen to class content.
• Their teacher uses an online behavior management system called Class Dojo to reward and monitor student behavior.
• Their daily schedule looks very similar to ours.
• They offer similar extracurriculars except for cheerleading, which is not offered to 5th graders here.

We found it so interesting to hear about their similarities and differences.  This was a great opportunity to hear about what a day is like in another school.

You can learn more about a "slice of life" from New London Middle Intermediate School by watching our video.  Learn what an average day is like from the eyes of our 5th graders.