Evaluation of Cool Schools

I have assessed Gr 8 Languages: Newspaper project. The lesson plan equips the learners with the ability to read and also to use visuals and deduce information. It also equips them with the ability to find support information and illustrations on Internet. With the teacher's guidance the learners develop the skill to screen for relevant information and later on carry out a Reflection on what has been learnt. The teacher first develops knowledge and understanding of what the task is about, and also involves activities on how the newspapers communicate information; and then gives support to the students to evaluate both the material they found on Internet and their own written work.  This gives the learners the opportunity to develop the skill of critical thinking, and evaluation. Further still, learners collaborate in groups of threes and fives fostering one of the most important generic skills; interpersonal skills.  This is the substitution level of the SAMR where the learners are engaged in using their PCs and can make a choice between using either Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher activities. On top of that they go ahead to film each other's presentations. An assessment of learners indicates great interest in the project, inspirational and has yielded highly positive results.
The second assessment is on a Technology-supported lesson plans; and that is Language Arts- Book Review.  In this lesson plan Students work together in pairs to read to acquire knowledge through evaluating the information obtained from the reading and that got from the websites. This promotes collaboration thus equipping the learners with interpersonal skills. It gets them involved in working out the task and presenting their final product. The teacher only comes in to draw a template that students use, and also expose them to some book reviews. The learners have some skills although they still need beginning key boarding skills and beginning PowerPoint skills and are at the Substitution level of the SAMR. They gain some competence in general skills such as using PowerPoint and Word Processor. They exercise some critical thinking in reviewing and writing their presentations of the story. At the end of it, an assessment is carried out which shows that the children were very much interested in the topic, collaborating and integrating technology with reading and writing. They make reports and carry out presentations.