Final Project: Technology Integration Matrix for "Increasing Students' Understanding of Point of View in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Technology Integration Matrix

The Unit Plan that I chose was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and focused on characterization and point of view.  

*Note: The lesson plan I chose was only to help guide my organization and almost all of it was adapted so I could effectively incorporate digital technology. 

Session I:


        This first session focuses on Access, Analyze and Produce sections of the Media Literacy Cycle. After students have completed reading To Kill a Mockingbird, the teacher will begin the lesson with a "Do Now" in which the students are asked to write about what it would be like to live in someone else's life for a day (they would choose the person they would "become" for the day).  This would start off the PowerPoint lecture that would ensue.  The PowerPoint lecture (on a SmartBoard) would include information about characterization (focusing on characters in the novel) and how point of view affects the interpretation of the novel.  The SmartBoard would be used to toggle from presentation to YouTube videos which would give students a visual aids to assist in their understanding of the lecture. This would be the Access portion of the class.
        After the presentation was completed, there would be a large group discussion in regards to the characters of the novel, and how the point of view in which the novel is told helps or hinders the telling of the story.  The SmartBoard would have threads/topics on screen to help students gather ideas to start the discussion.  This large group discussion would focus on the Analyze portion of the Media Literacy Cycle.  The discussion would go from student run to teacher run when it comes time for the Formative Q & A.  This would be done prior to handing out the homework sheet so that I could determine whether or not the students were on par with the lesson for the day/clear up any last minute misunderstandings.  The Homework Handout would be the student's first digital technology interaction of this lesson.  This Produce section asks students to pick a person of their choosing (perhaps the same person they wrote about in their "Do Now"), research them on the internet, and complete the handout.


Session II:


        The second session of this lesson would focus further on Analyzing and Producing sections of the Media Literacy Cycle.  In this session, the Analyze and Produce sections are listed together because I feel that through their activity they are analyzing information in regards to the novel.  Students will be broken into small groups after a brief "reinforcement" lecture about point of view and characterization to make sure that students have the necessary knowledge to move forward with their group projects (The SmartBoard will have the PowerPoint on "repeat" so it will be accessible for the students throughout the class period).  Students will then start creating a blog from one character's point of view, using www.blogger.com as their platform.  In the classroom they would only be asked to produce one blog post so there would (hopefully) be time for students to present their blogs.  The students would use SmartBoard for their presentations and are asked to explain why they chose the format of the blog, what their blog was focusing on (for instance; Scout grappling with attempting to understand issues and events beyond her years), and the language in which they chose to write the blog.  This blog would create a bridge between eras and make the angst and issues of the novel understandable in today's society.  Students will be asked to finish their blogs in alignment with the rubric passed out to them (so they have an idea of how to structure their blogs) and be ready to present them.


Session III:


        This final session would focus on the Communication and Evaluation sections of the Media Literacy Cycle.  The students will present their blogs using the SmartBoard as their presentation tool.  The SmartBoard was chosen because unlike a PowerPoint, the SmartBoard can be manipulated with the interactive "pens" so a student can zoom in/out, drag, and do all kinds of interactive things to their blogs which will enhance their presentations.  After each presentation, the students in the audience will be asked to do a peer-assessment of the group which will be read and used by the teacher to assess the presentations and then furnish a final grade for each group.  
        After the presentations, there will be a Formative Q & A session so I can ascertain whether or not the students gained any knowledge and technical understanding from the group presentations.  The students are encouraged to provide feedback on whether or not they liked the projects (providing they have reasonable opinions to back up their answers) and if they have fully understood the objectives of the lesson.

(15) YouTube in the Classroom

"Dear 40-Year-Old Me..."


     This empowering video of high school students who are members of the Illinois Safe School Alliance, which is a safe zone for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students is one way that shows how effective "video diaries" can be in the classroom.  These students video taped themselves talking to their 40 year old future selves about what it is like being high school students and being gay.  This video struck a note with me because my best friend is a homosexual and has been mercilessly teased and bullied throughout middle school and high school for her sexual orientation.  These students appear to be empowered by this video, they are strong and have a voice in which they tell their 40 year old selves the heart breaking experiences they have been through - rejection, violence, bullying, exclusion, you name it.
     This video is a great example of self expression.  We tell our students to be themselves and not to be afraid to be who you are, these students took to technology to do just that.  The traditional "Dear ..." letter style was taken and revamped into a video, put on YouTube so that it is not just a "letter" for one reader to experience, but can be experienced by millions who can listen, comment, discuss, and access the creators.  While YouTube may be a bit pervasive for some projects, the video project is a fun and alternative way for students to keep a journal or "write a letter."  If it were my class (English) I would love to have students act out scenes - put a different spin on what they have read by recreating their own interpretation through props, characters, clothing, setting and really have an individual twist on a text.  

(14) Facebook: Too Hot to Handle?

Facebook

HuffingtonPost is on a role for me today!

I am just finishing up reading an article that discusses CONCERNS for Facebook.  The educational highlight is the over-exposure of students' and teachers' lives which is a safety and integrity concern, as well as the ever-present issue of bullying.  

We have discussed the amazing features of Facebook as a learning tool but I think we need to take a hard look at the dark side of Facebook - or any social media before we launch head first into integrating it into our lesson plans.

Facebook is youthful but is has serious consequences when poor judgment is used.  We have even seen where adults make poor judgments and it has cost them careers, friends and family which makes me want to take a deep breath before I start using Facebook again.

If we use Facebook in our lessons we need to be emphatic that it is a tool not a chronological timeline of the students' lives.  Privacy controls need to be read, understood and enforced as well as discussing the potential for bullying. Bullying becomes harder to control when the Internet is involved and I think that we need to discuss with our students cyber bullying before incidents happen, rather than realizing it is an important topic after an incident occurs.

Facebook...you are a cautionary tale.

(13) Digital Technology is the Future

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-p-chavous/in-a-digital-learning-sta_b_1432577.html


     This article sums up our class perfectly! It is a rather short article but it discusses the need to overhaul the education system in America to align it with the digital age that our students are facing.  


     I think this quote from the article sums it up perfectly, "Today, our kids are spending their time with hi-tech video games, on the Internet and mastering smart phone usage. Too often, their knowledge extends beyond even that of their own teachers. Digital learning is the new disruptor and a game changer for education. But, like all innovations, it must be channeled to the end-user's interest.  If we do this digital learning thing right, we won't have to recruit techies from India or China, we can recruit them from the barrio and the hood."  


     Kevin Chavous, the writer of this article sees the imminent need for technology in the classroom, not just for the students, but the teachers need to be able to keep up and understand the digital age.  The NETS-S/NETS-T are essential to this closing the gap of understanding.  Our class has taught us that we need to be in the know, utilizing current technological tools with our lessons, not only for our students who need extra enrichment, but for those who have a knack for technology who may not exactly be equipped with the tools to pursue that interest.

(12) "A Laptop for Every Child" - Far Fetched or Reality?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ketaki-desai/one-laptop-per-child_b_1417801.html

     Once again, the Huffington Post has provided me with an interesting article to debate.  The brain trusts at Carnegie Mellon have come up with a very lofty goal of reaching communities across the world and through companies within the communities they will provide laptops to the students. They provide a multi-step program in order to have the students feel ownership over their technology.  They will have software developers collaborate and offer software to the students and provide the students with an international forum in which they can discuss the benefits and detractors of provided software.
     The idea of the forum is to provide cross-cultural learning, and the laptops provide students education inside and outside of the classroom. That is a nice ideal but it seems far fetched and a bit dangerous.  This forum is more or less the world's biggest chat room and if it is not closely monitored (which then takes away the freedom the students have to interact with each other) then there are many dangers - predators, exploitation, voyeurism/exhibition, so many things that we fight to keep our students away from on a daily basis.
     


     Does this plan seem like a far reaching goal or a sound beginning to a global community for our students?

(11) Interactivity #5

     The teacher I interviewed teaches at Princeton Charter School in Princeton, NJ (Mercer County). She acknowledged the differences between public schools and charter schools, particularly how her school teaches one grade level ahead. For example if you teach first grade you are actually teaching your students second grade material. The teacher I interviewed was not at all familiar with the NET-S/NETS-T but her school has just recently looked into them in more detail. She did say that there will probably be an upcoming professional development day dedicated to familiarizing NETS-S/NETS-T with the teachers. Technology is used for enrichment purposes. Since the school has a difficult curriculum there needs to be a lot of reinforcement for the students, and the teacher I interviewed says that technology plays an important part in the day-to-day classwork for students. She also says that since the school attracts a lot of gifted and special needs students they have to be on top of technologies used in schools in order to stay “attractive” and relevant in current school trends. She said that the school provides basic computer classes – learning to navigate the internet, type, using Microsoft applications to do projects and other various computer literacy skills. They use internet clips for current events and to reinforce lessons with visual aids.  I was a bit surprised that the teacher I interviewed was not at all familiar with NETS-S/NETS-T. I had figured with the progressiveness of the school like the one in which she teaches would be already implementing them. I had initially thought that the NETS would be very well known to teachers. As a future educator I would discuss NETS-S and NETS-T and their necessity to be implemented. The world in which students are living today is a very global and technological world. Students need to be kept in the know because if they are left behind my fear is they will be swept up and forgotten. Technological advances affect our schools sharply and our students need to be aware of them in order to thrive in the current school system.

Interactivity #4 Spreadsheet Updated

(10) Insta-book?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/instagram-facebook-acquisition_n_1412623.html


The above article in the Huffington Post talks about how Facebook has purchased Instagram for over $1 Billion.  Why is this article interesting in regards to technology in the classroom? Well at first I was not sure how this would connect to our current course; but then I realized that it is a technology that our future students will be using - there are already over 30 million users of Instagram to date.  The article stresses that Instagram will remain a private entity - users do not have to have a Facebook in order to use Instagram.  For people like me who do not use Facebook but enjoy Instagram, this is a relief.  


We have discussed the potential uses of Facebook in our curriculum - creating Facebook pages for main characters - and how integrating the web tools students use everyday outside of class in class makes technology fun and interactive.  There is a lot of discussion about privacy and photo sharing on Facebook and now that it has acquired Instagram it has come up again.  This is one of those blog posts that cautions future teachers about photo sharing.  I got off of Facebook because of how open and accessible it is to strangers and future employers (let's face it, with the privacy controls changing constantly, who takes care to update them as often as necessary?), and started using Instagram because it was less of an exposition of my life.  


Educators (current and future) need to be aware of these technological pitfalls and celebrate their usefulness but respect their pitfalls and stay away from them.  It will be interesting to see how Instagram changes now that it is in the realm of Facebook.