Final Project: Point of View (15)

Technology Integration Matrix

Point-of-view plays a huge part in how a story is portrayed, so this lesson teaches students different viewpoints in well-known stories as well as their own stories.

(All of the students already have a Blogspot account from prior assignments.)

Session 1:

The first session of this lesson is to show the viewpoint of the wolf in the well-known story, “The Three Little Pigs.” As the teacher, I will read the two stories to the students. Then, I will put “The Three Little Pigs” and the alternative story, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” on the Smartboard. The class will then be able collaboratively mark the stories with the Smartboard pen where they stray from one another. 

After we discuss the two stories, the class will be separated into pairs and given a handout of questions to ask each other about a vacation that they have gone on. After both of the students have filled out this graphic organizer, they will be expected to go to a computer and write a story about their partners vacation as if they were a fly on their shoulder. This exercise will give them a first person view of a third person story.

For the formative homework assignment, the students will be expected to share the stories that were written in class on their Blogspot account. The students are to comment on two of their classmate’s stories. There is no direct instruction for this process, except that they have to be respectful of their classmates. They will also be asked to read a section of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Session 2:

Session two will focus on editing their stories as well as introducing To Kill a Mockingbird. As an example of how to edit, a story will be pulled up onto to the Smartboard to make the correct marks to help and give constructive criticism. The students will then be asked to give a copy of their story to me so that I can give it out to another student. In class, the students will have about ten minutes to talk to the owner of the story that they were handed, but the rest will be homework.

After that, we will talk about To Kill a Mockingbird and the point-of-view discrepancies. They will be given a worksheet to assemble their thoughts about the story, then they will each go to a computer and take a quiz that I have created for them. The quiz will contain questions from all three readings that we’ve discussed in class. After everyone is finished with the quiz, I will put the quiz on the Smartboard and go over it with them.

For homework, the students will be expected to edit their partners paper by hand and scan their edited version onto their blog so that their partners are able to see them. Then the students are expected to have their story edited for the next class session.

Session Three, Four, and Five: (over a weekend)

For sessions three, four, and five, we will discuss the presentations that the sets of partners will have to do. The students are expected to create a presentation and present their point-of-view stories with their original partner however they’d like. They can act it out, make a video, make a lookbook, or any other way they can think of. The one stipulation is that they need to use some form of technology in their presentation, whether it be technology in the classroom or technology in the production. 

Session three will be devoted to discussing the presentations and answering any questions that the students may have. I will also show them a few examples of past presentations using the Smartboard, computer, or CD player. Session three will take place on a Friday. Session four and five will take place after the weekend, and those are the days that the students will present. The classroom will have all the technologies that they will need for their presentations.

Following the presentations, the students will be expected to write a response to this project on their blog. This assignment is to see how they reacted to the presentation and how they did. They will also be expected to comment on a fellow classmates story on their blogs and give them two positive comments and one constructive comment about their presentations. Because their blogs are public to the class, they are expected to respect my class and my students, and if they fail to do that, they will lose points not only on their comments, but also on their responses about the project.

Lesson Plan, Page 1; Lesson Plan, Page 2

eBooks (14)

This infographic terrifies me. As an English major, I love books and everything about them. One of my favorite things is opening a new book, smelling the ink, feeling the crisp pages between my fingers. Unless you're an avid reader, you probably don't appreciate these petty things about a book, but my fellow English people will definitely agree. Anyway, the reason that this terrifies me is because soon enough, classrooms will no longer have books; they'll have eBooks. To me, this almost seems a backward thing to do though. eBooks, though they are great on the outside, I think that they could do more harm than good in a classroom. Having the freedom of an electronic device in a classroom is inevitably a dangerous solution to real books. Also, with funding within school districts and the economic strife that we are in right now, I think that keeping regular books in classrooms have more economical benefits. One, they can be used and used and reused. Two, other than losing pages or ripping, they cant't break like an eReader would be able to, Three, they are a lot cheaper in bulk than eBooks and eReaders are simply because there's no liability aspect of bound books. Four, if a student breaks, even by accident, an eReader, they are going to be expected to re-buy that item, and they are not cheap, therefore not necessarily affordable to everyone, whereas a paperback book could be afforded by most. Though I think that eReaders and eBooks are great (for some people and places), they do not have a place in the classroom.

Social Media: Do you believe it? (13)

Infographics can tell you a lot about a specific subject, and I think that they are way underrated. This one stuck out with me, because it is so relevant to today's world. 

Social media plays a huge part in the way we run our lives now. However, how reliable is the news that it presents to us? Can we always trust it? According to this, "fast doesn't always mean factual." Though you can have a story in your hand within five minutes of it's release, there's a chance that it was fabricated or made up in order to make it to said social media sites. I do believe, however, that news from social media does have a special place in the curriculum or a classroom, especially in a social studies or journalism class. Both of these classes are about what's happening in the news around them, therefore they need to have the news in the quickest way they can to keep the class relevant. It's just a matter of fact or fiction when it comes to believing the things that social media presents to it's readers.

Good or Bad? (12)

In this New York Times article, there is a discussion about whether or not technology in the classroom is as goo an idea as everyone would like for it to be. In one seventh grade English class learning Shakespeare, "...students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeare’s characters. One student compiles a song list from the Internet, picking a tune by the rapper Kanye West to express the emotions of Shakespeare’s lovelorn Silvius." But, with the budget cuts and lay-offs, if this really the better future of classrooms?

I’ve said in some of my other posts that it seems as though robots will soon be taking over the classroom, but will that help? Unless there’s some kind of stimulation within the classroom for the students to better grasp their education, technology isn’t going to fill all the voids. There needs to be something other than the fallback to technology to change what’s happening, or better yet, not happening, in the classroom.

The article states “Some backers of this idea say standardized tests, the most widely used measure of student performance, don’t capture the breadth of skills that computers can help develop. But they also concede that for now there is no better way to gauge the educational value of expensive technology investments. ‘The data is pretty weak. It’s very difficult when we’re pressed to come up with convincing data,’ said Tom Vander Ark, the former executive director for education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and an investor in educational technology companies. When it comes to showing results, he said, ‘We better put up or shut up.’” 

I think that that’s a good phrase to sum up what’s happening within districts when it comes to funds and lay-offs. If nothing is being done to help, then how is anything supposed to get better? There needs to be a change, not just an update. In order for this to happen, someone needs to realize that technology isn’t going to fix everything, and it’s definitely not going to fix it over night.

Teachers or Robots? (11)

In this New York Times article, it is discussed how a degree from a postsecondary school is more and more necessary, but that it’s hard for students without the funds to afford the education needed to succeed. But, there are funds that are being put forth that will help with online classes and students with a lower income. However, it goes on to say: “Just how effective technology can be in improving education — by making students more effective, more engaged learners — is a subject of debate. To date, education research shows that good teachers matter a lot, class size may be less important than once thought and nothing improves student performance as much as one-on-one human tutoring. If technology is well designed, experts say, it can help tailor the learning experience to individual students, facilitate student-teacher collaboration, and assist teachers in monitoring student performance each day and in quickly fine-tuning lessons.” (source). Not only are these funds being put forth to aid in college courses, but they’re working towards helping K-12 as well. Though technology is a huge part of the next generation of students learning, there is also a strong demand for human-to-human contact, which some people are assuming isn’t going to be needed with all the advances. This is a very scary thought. Not only because teaching is a passion of so many people, but I think that more parents would be more reluctant to send their children to school where robots have taken over the classroom. Here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen any time soon, or preferably never.

Inconsiderate (10)

This New York Times article is from 2007, but it is still as relevant today as it was then. Like I’ve been saying in my posts thus far, teachers and professors from a different generation than ours are not used to the technology that we’re used to. We are used to having the internet and the ability to talk to anyone at our disposal at any given time. Older generations of teachers who are stuck in an era of chalkboards and clapping erasers don’t realize the necessity that we have associated with our cell phones and the perks that come with them.

In the article a professor takes a students (fake) phone and smashes it with a hammer because it went off in class. Ten years ago, I would have been in sixth grade and nobody would have had a cell phone going off. Now I know students as young as second and third graders are carrying cell phones, and no doubt trying to use them during class. Sitting in a college classroom, 9 out of 10 people are on their cell phones, most likely checking their social media site or texting their boyfriend/girlfriend about how they’d rather be anywhere but in that class. I am one of those people, but I only do it until the class starts, then I put my phone away. 

With this increase in technology within the classroom, not counting the ones that the teachers uses, there has been a serious decrease in respect. I’m not sure if it’s the parenting or the lack there of maybe that’s forcing students into completely ignoring their superiors and blatantly disregarding the feelings of the people around them. I know that when I’m a teacher I will let my students have one cell phone slide, but that’s it. More than once and something has to be done or the student will continue to walk all over me, and I will not have that. My theory is that if I’m putting in the effort to teach you without having my cell phone blowing up my pocket, you can do the same thing. Nothing huge is going to happen in 45 minutes, and if it does, you’ll either find out from me or after class is out.

Stealth (9)

Though this isn’t classroom technology related, it is education and technology related. This New York Times article is about the Educational Development Corporation would remove all its products from Amazon’s ‘shelves’ due to them being a “predator.” “Educational Development Corporation is a United States-based trade publisher of educational children's books produced in the United Kingdom by Usborne Publishing Limited (Usborne). The Company operates in two segments: Home Business Division (UBAM) and Publishing Division (Publishing). The UBAM division distributes books through independent consultants who hold book showings in individual homes, and through book fairs, direct sales and Internet sales. The UBAM Consultants also distribute these titles to school and public libraries. The Publishing division markets books to bookstores (including national chains), toy stores, specialty stores, museums and other retail outlets. It also owns the Kane/Miller Book Publishers” (source). In the article, it talks about how Amazon lowers the prices so much that the company they’re taking away from the actual funds of the company. Though EDC doesn’t sell e-books, they are noticing the substantial price cut with their physical books therefore they removed their 1,000+ books from the website to stop Amazon’s taking over of the company.

Are We There Yet? (8)

In this article, one line really stood out to me: “I am 34 years old and don't think twice about cordless phones or wireless remotes on televisions, but I bet they were a big deal when they first came out.” Obviously I am not 34, but I am 21. I’m not that far behind a 34 year old technologically. I was born into a technological age; my family had a computer as soon as they first came out, I’ve never gone a day without a television in my house where I don’t have to get up to change the channel, and cell phones have been second nature to me for the last fifteen years. However, not everyone was born into the technological age that I was. 

I had a multitude of teachers growing up that were around fifty or above in age. They were not born into a technologically advanced age that I was born into. I still hear from my mom about how she only had five channels growing up and she had to get up to change the channel. Of course I just roll my eyes and brush it off, but it does play a big part in the use of technology in not only the classroom, but every day life. My mom is an accountant and when her boss decided it was time to take taxes to the computer instead of doing it by hand, my mom boycotted; she wanted nothing to do with technology because she had been doing the taxes by hand for 25 years, so why change now? This is very similar to integrating technology into the classroom.

Similarly to my pervious post, educators who have a routine and are set in their ways without technology don’t want to be told that they need to bring technology into their classrooms after going 10, 15, 20 years without it. They need to be shown a pretty good argument as to why they should integrate it, and this article does a very good job of breaking down the reasons in a classroom friendly way. 

Old Dog, New Tricks (7)

“There can be infinite uses of computer and of new age technology, but if teachers themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails.”

This is a quote from Nancy Kassebaum (US Senate). I’ve been reading comments and blogs on technology in the classroom, and it seems as though “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks” is an appropriate fall back for teachers already in the system. Technology is a huge part of the fast-moving generation that we, as future educators, are a part of. We have to be the new face of teaching in schools, and technology is the way to be that new face. However, it’s easier said than done. 

With classes such as this one, we’re learning how to integrate technology into a classroom through reading about it, but without actually having a classroom to integrate it into, it’s not as easy to do as we would like. But, just the knowledge alone can help us. Therefore, we need to make sure that we take every opportunity that we can to bring technology into our classrooms. My question is though: If the district that you’re teaching in doesn’t have the funding or capabilities to integrate technology?

Not only does the economy that we’re suffering through right now hinder our abilities to easily integrate technology due to lack of resources, but there isn’t funding for professional development either. If a current teacher doesn’t know how to seamlessly bring technology into their classroom or better yet, doesn’t know how to teach through or work technology, how are they expected to have it in their classroom? Without the adequate funds and resources, it’s going to be nearly impossible for teachers who are used to working sans technology to just put it into their classrooms and not hit technical snags or simply not be apt enough in the technology to use it correctly.

Technology in the Brain (6)

I recently stumbled upon this New York Times article by Annie Murphy Paul, in which she talks about the importance fiction has on one’s brain. In several studies mentioned throughout the article, it is proven that fiction, the ability to remove ourselves from reality and place ourselves within another life, gives us more skills than just having the ability to read. One study shows that reading sensory words affects our brain the same way that actually having an interaction with those words would. Another study suggests that reading about an action affects the brain the same way that actually performing an action would. I have to say, these studies and this article have me wondering: are we focusing too much on actual technology and forgetting about the technology we all already possess? 

I’ve always been insanely fascinated by the way the brain and the human body work. I have also always been enamored with fiction. I love the way that authors have the ability to make their readers feel out-of-body. Something about being able to be someone else, to be able to live their lives and have their friends, or to be able to be there for them and feel what they’re feeling gives a reader the ability to be anything they want to be. But I feel like that comes with the ability to turn a page, to smell the crisp pages of a new book, and to feel the print on the paper. There’s something too artificial about reading from an e-reader, in my opinion, and because of that, I think that people aren’t getting the satisfaction of fiction and reading that they used to.

Along with that, since reading this article, I’ve given a lot of thought to where education stands in this whole dilemma. And I believe that education stands in the way of a student being able to feel the emotions that they should when reading. Teachers and professors force their students to read and think how they want them to about a book that they’re reading and because of that, students aren’t able to fully experience a story. Along with that, at least in my experience, teachers often show the movie version of the book at hand either while or after reading a novel. I hate when teachers do this. Not only are the students shown how the characters are expected to look and how the actions are expected to take place, the film versions are often very skewed versions of the stories. It takes away from what our brains give us creatively regarding the story.

This article gives us wonderful insight into how the technology of our brains is often looked past and brushed under the rug due to tangible technology taking over. There comes a point in our lives where we either have to stand with technology or stand against technology. In many cases, I stand with technology, but when it comes to the magic of books and reading, I whole-heartedly stand against technology.  

Technology "in" Schools (Interactivity #5) (5)

NETS-S Lesson Plan

For the purpose of this activity, I interviewed two separate teachers from two different school districts. One is a tenth grade modified English teacher and twelfth grade AP English teacher in Vernon while the other one is a fourth and fifth grade Special Education teacher in Wantage. Prior to interviewing them for this project, I had observed both classes, as well as helped out with their classes multiple times. Because I had done this before I knew about the technology standards, I didn’t know to look out for whether or not the districts seemed to be integrating the standards into their curriculum. 

When I interviewed the English teacher based on the questions in the NETS Adoption Survey, he seemed a little bit confused about what NETS was in its entirety. He quickly introduced himself to the standards and almost immediately told me that his district has not yet introduced NETS to them. He said that the district has introduced a technology initiative but said initiative was not nearly as specific as the NETS standards. He didn’t really go into the technology that is used in the schools, but he did mention the use of SmartBoards in some of the classrooms, as well as the use of technology as a device to further lessons. Further than that, there wasn’t much else that the district did that he knew of, or spoke of. 

The Special Education teacher was introduced to the NETS standards prior to talking to me, but she only really knew what they were and that was the extent of it. Since I digressed from the survey for her, she didn’t really talk about the integration of NETS into the district, but she did talk about the technology integration in her classroom. However, because she is a Special Ed teacher, her classroom and the other special needs specific classrooms, as well as the library, the computer lab, and the therapy (speech, physical, and occupational) rooms are far more technologically advanced than the general education classrooms. 

As far as I could tell, the technologies at these two schools were the most basic technological integrations compared to what I was expecting in regards to the NETS standards. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting considering I had been in the classrooms before and hadn’t noticed much other technology than the occasional SmartBoard use in Wantage and computer work in Vernon. In accordance to that, I guess I wasn’t surprised necessarily by the teachers reactions, but I was generally displeased with the integration.

As a future English and hopefully special needs educator, I would try to have the NETS standards more fully integrated because I think that they are important in this technologically advancing world that we live in. Of course, when I’m an educator the standards will probably be even different from these ones. I believe that technology in the classroom is extremely important, and in order for it to work, educators need to want it in their classrooms.

Interactivity #4 (4)

Lesson Plan Analysis Map

The reason that I chose this lesson plan if because of the vocabulary that is required of the students and for the integration of technology that is so relevant to the filmmaking aspect of the lesson. Not only is the teacher required to use technology and understand what they're doing, but the students also have to understand and use the technology that they're given. Also, the students are required to work together, go out and do something outside of the classroom, and they need to be able to integrate what they’re learning in the classroom to what they’re filming outside of the classroom. Integration of classroom and technology is a huge part of this lesson plan.

There were some evident gaps. It was hard to rally in the lesson plan since it is such a drawn out lesson, taking up more than two weeks of class time, but once I got a handle on it, it was easier to pinpoint what needed to be added where. I noticed that there wasn’t much student involvement in the lesson until they had to film, so I added some more group work, as well as more teacher-student collaborations before the end product was due. The students and teachers need to work pretty closely with one-another on this project so in order for that to happen, they needed to have more connectivity during instead of just at the end.

The curriculum goal is to have a finished film as the end product of this two-week lesson, therefore film equipment, editing software, computers, and projectors, Smartboards, or some other kind of viewing stations were a vital necessity to the end result of this lesson. In order for the students to succeed with this project, technology both as part of their involvement and the teachers involvement was extremely important.

Reflecting (Interactivity #3) (3)

      As an English major, it doesn't surprise me that most of our technologies are under the "authoring" category. It was a little bit difficult to find technologies that were specifically related to English education initially. However, upon further research, I found a significant amount of technologies that were not necessarily specific to English education but could easily be used specifically for English classes. Many of our technologies are self-expression websites in the form of social networking, such as Tumblr and Think. These technologies are great both for the classroom and for outside of the classroom. They allow students to express themselves and to connect with people that are simply doing the same thing as they are: expressing themselves. Most websites like that are non-judgement zones, therefore giving the students a safe haven. As a collective group of technologies, I think that we chose technologies that are both relevant to the classroom and to the outside world. Many of them, though not specifically, involove some form of social networking which help the students to connect with other students that maybe aren’t in the same year or the same district as they are. Though social networking sites aren’t always condoned by educational professionals, the ones that we picked as a group are beneficial to a students education as well as with their personal lives. With the advances in educational technology being in the forefront of everything in this day and age, we as future educators need to accept and respond to them, and figure out a way to integrate them into our classroom. These technologies will definitely be making their way (if they haven’t already) into classrooms across the country, and most definitely ours when we start teaching, so opening our eyes to them now if only benefitting us and our future students.

"How Far We've Come" (Interactivity #2) (2)

With the advancements in technology, soon enough students won't know how to do anything by hand and they will solely rely on technology to do everything for them.

Source:
http://liz-meyer.com/2695755/NY-Times-RFD-Evolution

90's Kid Technology (Interactivity #1) (1)

I like to refer to myself as a “90’s kid.” That label says a lot about the generation that I am growing up with. We, as children, grew up in a time filled with technological discoveries and developments and in my opinion, we have an upper hand when it comes to education that involves them. These technologies have helped us, as a generation, grow and learn, but most importantly become a generation filled with new minds, new educational abilities, and new outlooks on how to incorporate technologies into the classroom. 

That being said, there are very specific technologies that I rely on. The three that are most important to me are my Smartphone, social networking sites (namely Twitter and Tumblr), and email. If not for these three technologies, I fead that I’d have no connections to the outside world. 

I recently came into owning an iPhone, and it’s the best thing that I’ve ever owned. Prior to this, I had a cellphone and an iPod, but now the two are combined into one portable device. There’s a kind of power that comes with owning a Smartphone due to literally everything being at your fingertips at virtually anytime. Because it has text messaging, emailing, my music, the internet, social networking sites, and so much more, I don’t ever miss a beat. 

As far as social networking sites are concerned, I think that they are wonderful to have when used in the right context. They can definitely go both ways for me; they can be used for good, such as staying up to date with goings-on with people that you care about as well as other people, or they can be used for evil because people are relentless and use these sites for their own malicious purposes. My two favorite sites are Twitter and Tumblr, though I do have a Facebook. The reason that I have taken a special liking to the first two is because they’re good for networking in a simple sense: Twitter only allows you to write 140 characters a post, while Tumblr is more personal and sentimental blogging site. Also, with Tumblr and Twitter, you can “follow” people that are influential. For instance, on Tumblr I follow a blog “The Daily What” which blogs about the happenings around the world. On Twitter, I follow the New York Times, which tweets about anything that is newsworthy. So, not only do these sites keep me updated on people in my own life, but they also keep me updated on what’s happening around me.

This brings in email. My email is one of my main lifelines. I use it to not only stay in contact with people, but it keeps me updated, as well, with goings-on around me. I get the New York Times headlines emailed to me, I get emails from the WWF and change.org, and obviously, most importantly, I get emails about the happenings at school when I don’t really have any other way to be in the know. If not for emails, then my connections to the outside world would be seriously hindered.

As a future teacher, it’s good to know the technological resources that your students have so you know what kind of work to give them and what you can expect from them technologically. Olivia, though she doesn’t have immediate access to computers, cellphones, and other technologies, she does have some access to them which gives her the upper hand over some of her classmates. However, though she doesn’t always have the access to computers and the like, she is extremely technology-savvy, and that helps her. But, not everyone that doesn’t have constant access to technology are as savvy as she is which would have to be taken into consideration as a teacher.

The relationship that I have with technology is very similar to the students in the videos; there are some differences, but we share most of the same thoughts and reasonings for why we use and how we use technology. Technology has helped shape our lives as not only learners and educators, but as human beings. We have a bright future as learners and educators with the advances in technology that are constantly being developed. In the second video, one of the students said this and I believe that is 100% true to our use of technologies: “It’s paving the way for us to move forward as a species and a civilization.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.