Technology Plan

Technology Plan

This technology plan is designed for a Contemporary Literature course for upper level high school English students (grades 11 & 12) who will be attending college within the next year or two. I am designing this project to mimic a seminar style paper, with progress checks throughout the semester. The purpose of using the seminar style is to prepare my students for college courses that often require this type of long- term writing assignment in this format. Moreover, creating a long-term project in which the students ultimately choose what to write about and how to present the information, enables the individual student to think ahead and consider potential road blocks and advantages in their decisions. By breaking down this assignment into smaller parts to be graded separately from the whole, the project becomes less overwhelming and helps the student compartmentalize large undertakings into smaller, more attainable goals.

To begin this assignment, I will create a rubric with a timeline of when various parts of the project are due. This will be a semester long assignment where I will give lessons on specific technologies available for the students use, as well as lectures on how traditional seminar papers are prepared; for example, demonstrations on how to use Power Point, Voice Thread, or how to create a blog, as well as lectures on abstract writing and how to formulate a proper thesis statement. These lectures will be done weeks before due dates to allow students time to ask questions or rewrite what they have done.

The specific Michigan Grade-Level Content Expectations (GLCEs) and the Michigan Educational Technology Standards (METS) being addressed in this assignment are as follows:

GLCEs :

1. Develop and use the tools and practices of inquiry and research —generating, exploring, and refining important questions; creating a hypothesis or thesis; gathering and studying evidence; drawing conclusions; and composing a report. (1.4)

2. Read and respond to classic and contemporary fiction, literary nonfiction, and expository text, from a variety of literary genre representing many time periods and authors. (3.2)

3. Use knowledge of literary history, traditions, and theory to respond to and analyze the meaning of texts. (3.3)

4. Examine mass media, film, series fiction, and other texts from popular culture. (3.4)

METS:

1. Formulate a research question or hypothesis, then use appropriate information and

communication technology resources to collect relevant information, analyze the findings, and report the results to multiple audiences.

2. Use a variety of media and formats to design, develop, publish, and present products (e.g., presentations, newsletters, web sites) to communicate original ideas to multiple audiences.

3. Collaborate in content-related projects that integrate a variety of media (e.g., print,

audio, video, graphic, simulations, and models) with presentation, word processing, publishing, database, graphics design, or spreadsheet applications

4. Determine if online sources are authoritative, valid, reliable, relevant, and comprehensive

5. Formulate and use evaluation criteria (authority, accuracy, relevancy, timeliness) for information located on the internet to present research findings

Seminar Paper Assignment

This semester in addition to our normal readings and assignments, you will be working on an individual research project. This project will be due in segments throughout the semester and each segment will be graded individually. Aside from a few general guidelines, you will be picking your own topic to write about which must be approved by me. Each presentation is required to incorporate at least two aspects of technology; one which is to be used during your class presentation, and one as a means of gathering data. You must include a short paragraph in your paper with your reasoning for the usage of your chosen technology.

Throughout the semester I will be giving mini-demonstrations on the following technologies in order to provide you with options for your project: MS Power Point, Voice Thread, Blogger, Skype, Google Mash-ups, and Audacity Music Editor. You may of course use any kind of technology that you feel is appropriate for your project, though I have found that the examples listed above are the most classroom and user friendly.

Your Project Topic: For your paper, you are to identify a key question that you have about contemporary literature. The sky is the limit! Take something that interests you and find a way to relate it to the contemporary literature that we will be reading in the course. Each one of you will have individual meetings with me next week to discuss your topic. Papers are to be 6-8 pages long. Not including your works cited or abstract pages.

Example paper topics include:

-Discuss how certain races or ethnicities depicted in novels

-Discuss how gender roles are constructed.

-Discuss what a certain character represents not only in a novel, but in the greater scheme of modern culture.

-Do an in-depth analysis of a character.

-Do an in-depth book analysis

Presentation Requirements:

One of the main purposes of this assignment is for you to learn how to use and incorporate technology into an English paper assignment. In addition to your 6-8pg. paper, you are to present your work to the class using at least one of the technologies discussed in class. You can use outside technology if you run it by me during our tech. meeting. About a month before finals week when presentations and papers are due, we will go over examples of past presentations.

Seminar Paper Timeline

September 15^th: Lecture on how to write a paper Abstract.

September 18^th : Meetings with me on paper topics.

September 24^nd : Abstracts due 1-2pg.

September 26^th: MS Power Point Demonstration, Google Maps demonstration

October 3^rd: Skype demonstration, Blogger demonstration

October 16^th: Lecture on How to write a Works Cited page

October 10^th: Voice Thread demonstration

October 17^th: Audacity music recorder demonstration

October 20^th: Works cited page due 3-5 outside resources

October 24^th: Technology plan meetings : here we will discuss any questions you might have about what kinds of technology would be best for your presentation. Any problems you may be having with the technology aspect of the assignment can also be discussed.

November 1^st: Paper meetings: Today we will discuss the direction that your paper is going and answer any questions that you might have.

November 12^th: Sample Presentations. Q&A session.

Finals Week December 19^th: PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS DUE

Grading Rubric

Abstract	1-2 pages	15 points
Works Cited	3-5 resources	10 points
Paper *	6-8 pages	50 points
Presentation*	7-10 minutes	25 points
		Total 100 points

*A more detailed requirement rubric will be distributed closer to the due date.

The Raven voice thread

Here is my first attempt at making a Digital Story using voicethread. I actually got a little frustrated with VT at the beginning, as it wasn't as user friendly as it pretends to be, but eventually I got the hang of it. I decided to read the poem, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and put pictures to it. I thought it would go nicely with my Poe unit that I created for the last assignment. I also thought it would be a good way to help my students visualize a poem that is not always easy to understand. I think it turned out okay, but I did have to skip a few stanzas because it was getting a little long. Hope you enjoy it!

I can see a lot of ways that teachers can employ visual story telling in their classrooms. For an English teacher like myself, I think that it'll be a great way for students to bring their literature and creative writing to life. I will most definitely be using this in the future, but I might explore other visual story telling sites to see which ones are the most user friendly.

Da Vinci Code Mash-UP

Found below is the Mash-up that I made to help my students visualize all the different places that they are going to read about in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. I plan on teaching this book to 10-12th graders while they are also learning about art and world religions. I think that by showing them all the different places in this book and their importance in the religious and artistic worlds, that they will be better able to understand what is going on.

While reading this novel, I will encourage students to add to this map with other important places and facts that come up. By the time we reach the end of this book, I hope to have a detailed mash-up with pins that show all the churches, pieces of art, and major country landmarks that we read about. In fact, each student will be required to add at least one pin to this map.





View Larger Map

Edgar Allan Poe Unit

My lesson plan is for 12th grade English Students. So my students can get a greater understanding of more of Poe's writing in a short period of time, my plan is to split up the class in four groups and have each group focus on a particular poem or short story written by Poe. On the final day of the unit, each group will present to the rest of the class their poem. The presentations will have two separate parts to them: The Delivery and The Analysis.

For the delivery aspect of their presentation, the students are encouraged to create an old style radio show using music and/or sound effects, as well as other props. Being creative and appropriate yet still getting Poe's message across with an accurate reading of the poem or short story is the general goal.

For the analysis portion, students are to create a power point presentation about their chosen Poe work. The analysis will look deeper into the poem and address literary techniques and other central themes. Each power point presentation will be uploaded to my website and be available for all students and parents to view. The information on these slides will of course be fair game for future exams.

The two METS addressed in this unit are:

use 1. Use a variety of applications to plan, create, and edit a multimedia product (e.g., model, webcast, presentation, publication, or other creative work)

ap 2. Apply advanced software features such as an application’s built-in thesaurus, templates, and styles to improve the appearance of word processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations

The Content Standard Expectations being addressed in this unit are:

DD1. Develop the skills of close and contextual literary reading.

Pro2.Produce a variety of written, spoken, multigenre, and multimedia works, making conscious choices about language, form, style, and/or visual representation for each work.

R 3.Read and respond to classic and contemporary fiction, literary nonfiction, and expository text, from a variety of literary genre representing many time periods and authors.

In order to help my students with their poems and short stories, I found a web site that has most of Poe’s work, as well as additional Poe links. I tagged all of these links with simply the word, Poe. It can be found here:

There are four links in my bookmark account that link to the poems and short stories that the class will be presenting and analyzing the first couple of days of the unit. The Poe Decoder link is to help the students analyze the poems while working on their own or in their groups during and after class. I also tagged a couple of sound effects and old-time radio sites so the students can hear what an old-time radio show sounded like.

And finally, here is my calender that shows what the class will be doing on each day of the unit. The unit starts on September 1st.

Web Portfolio

First off, Googling myself was fun. As it turns out, there is a famous song writer with my same name (Wind Beneath My Wings, anyone?) So, everything that came up for "Julie Gold" had to do with that woman, and not me. whew! Though I guess now that I've made a web page using the Google page maker, that there might be an entry for me. I'm okay with that though.

I had a lot of fun making my google web page. I've been wanting to make myself a website for a long time, but never got around to it. The primary purpose of this site is to inform future employers and parents about me. Perhaps later on down the line, I'll make a more class specific site to actually use when I teach. When that happens, I'll simply just create a link from my current site to my new one! I'm having a little too much fun with this I think.

The only problem I had was on my "pictures" page. All the pictures loaded up right underneath the previous one, and I couldn't move them around to where I wanted them to be. So if anyone knows how to fix that problem, let me know!

Over the next few weeks, I'll definitely be adding more to my site, as well as try to make it look a little more put together.

ESL Resources

I decided to pick option #3 for this assignment, as finding resources for teaching ESL will come in handy for me in the future. I have to admit that I got a little frustrated finding ESL sites to subscribe to, as many of the great sites that I found, did not include an RSS feed. I even thought about trying to make my own RSS feed, but I'm not that advanced yet.

At anyrate, I found three sites that gave a lot of information on helping students learn English as a second language, especially for children. One of my favorite sites that did not have an RSS feed even offered some ESL song to help children learn English. The ones that I did fine however, had worksheets, sample Lesson Plans, and links to other sites that would help as well.

English Forums
had many places for people to go and ask for help, such as forums for vocabulary and grammar, as well as a forum for common idioms used.

Teach ESL For Kids
was a great site for teachers and parents looking for information on any and all facets of ESL. It even had links to some of my favorite ESL sites, such as Dave's ESL Cafe.

ESL for Adults
is actually a blog, but it offered a lot of great resources for adults learning ESL and had links to many other great sites.

All three of these sites would offer me as a teacher a great place to find worksheets and other teaching materials for my classes. It would also give me a place to send parents and students if they are having trouble or just would like some extra support in learning English. I think having these sites as resources for my teaching is great, as I know that there are many other people in my position that can help me with my classes and with individual students that might need a little extra attention.

Intro Blog

Hello Everyone, and welcome to my blog! Over the next few weeks, I plan on using my blog for a few different things; First and foremost, I'll be using the blog to record my thoughts on the new interweb technologies that I'll be learning, so that I can remember what works for me (and how it works exactly) as well as what doesn't. I also plan on looking at other teachers' blogs to see how they are using technology in the classroom, and comment on their usage here in my own personal forum. If over the next few weeks I come up with my own ways to use these technologies in the classroom, I will definitely be making mini-lesson plans and recording them here. And one day, if I ever get an interview to be a real teacher, I intend on using this blog as proof that I am proficient in using technology effectively in the classroom.

I am especially interested in Alternative Education (also known as adult ed), so over the next few weeks, I'll be trying to focus on how to use this sort of technology in schools that might not be well equipped with computers, or who serve a poorer student population that might not have access to technology out of the classroom. In addition to alt. ed., my teaching major is English and my minor ESL, so I'll be on the lookout for ways to incorporate computer applications into both of these areas. As a person who loves working with interactive technology to create fun and unique projects that incorporate a number of mediums, I really hope to gear my future lesson plans towards the utilization of interactive technologies.

The first useful teaching blog that I found called, ESL Thoughts off of the Teacherlingo blog space, had a ton of great ideas for a classroom of ESL students, and even for students that speak English as a native language at a lower level. One of his ideas was using the free web application, Skype, to connect students in different countries. I have used Skype to talk to a number of my friends overseas, and it is one of the most amazing applications ever. I would have never thought to use it in a classroom though! I'll be going back to this guy's site a lot.

The next teaching blog that I found was Mrs. Condra's Blog
There was a lot of useful information in this blog for this woman's class, which I thought was really great. However, I had a big problem with the layout of the blog, it was just too cluttered and it was sort of hard to get all the information out of it. This blog is a great example of what I'd like to do for my classes, which it to make everything available for them online (assignments, due dates, etc.) but it showed me the importance of a clear and understandable layout.