Technology Integration Plan

At my Inclusion class’s conclusion, Dr. Mignogna assigned a final project that involved adapting a lesson plan to a student with special needs. I had to adapt a lesson plan on point of view in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee to a student with Asperger’s Syndrome. I already integrated some technology when I modified the lesson plan. In this lesson plan, I made further modifications so I can fulfill the requirements of this final project.

In order to get my students to understand Point of View, I would show a YouTube video that will prepare my class for a group role-playing activity.  The video is informative and makes the content accessible for the students. During the group role-playing activity, students will simulate the “Bee Sting” story by coming up with a story told through multiple perspectives. Students will utilize Google Glass headsets to film the story through multiple perspectives. This would be interesting since Google Glass aligns the viewer of the video with that user’s perspective. The students would upload the videos to YouTube and would put a class hash tag on Twitter.  This relates to the NETS-S and Common Core Standards because students work together to develop a creative product while using technology.
 
During my lesson’s next phase, I will hand out a graphic organizer explaining the different types of points of view. I will give a lecture to the students to make sure they understand the content because it is important. Then, I would read a couple of excerpts from different novels. Afterward, I would have a PowerPoint presentation with a question asking which Point of View the passage utilizes. Students would use their clickers. My program would show a bar graph that I could use to determine how the class answered. I can look at each individual student’s answers later to see which students may have issues with the concepts. I then facilitate a discussion about how point of view functions in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. When that is complete, I would show a few YouTube clips from film adaptations and try to have students discuss the differences of point of view between film and the book. This aligns with the Common Core Standard about using two different artistic mediums, but one of the mediums happens to be through technology. Also, the students use critical thinking to make informed decisions, so students cannot be passive consumers of the videos, but active participants making meaning.

The culminating assessment involves comparing and contrasting the point of view between the book and a film adaptation. Students will publish their final product to a BlogSpot, but I will have them work in Google Drive first. I will put students into peer-editing groups and they will share their Google Document with their team. On other students’ documents, students will insert comments saying what they think about the composition. I will also provide feedback through conferencing with students. I can also look at the Google Document and see how students revised; thus, I can evaluate their writing process as well. This is very important when we consider literacy development because sometimes it is not just about the product, but the process. The assessment will hinge upon the NETS-S standard that involves using technology effectively and productively. Students will have to gather the proper information and use Google Drive’s features to aid their learning.

For the rest of the class sessions, I devoted the time to a writer’s workshop. The students will use computers to conduct research and write their compositions. In addition, students will have time to receive feedback from their peers and the teacher. The comments will all be on Google Drive. When the work is completed, then the students post their works on BlogSpot. Students can then go to comment on other students’ blog posts, which I feel will help foster a sense of community the classroom. The alignment with the Common Core Standards is there because during the writing process, I try to have varied activities, but I try to foster critical thinking skills and collaboration through the technological mediums. The blogs and the commenting manage to teach students the importance of being a responsible cyber citizen and show how technology can allow for an exchange of diverse ideas. I tried to do this all in a way where students learn about point of view, but technology helps make the learning dynamic enough where critical thinking and collaboration can become pivotal parts of the process.

URL to Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amgpgj9Fx1m7dDJhTzZxam5WaHN1YVctWC1xNnc5aFE#gid=0

Reflection on Technology in the Classroom

I saw this article on The Huffington Post recently, and it starts by saying one of the most common credos that tons of people seem to say: “Education is failing.” However, this article’s premise seems to be that we can help to improve the educational system by integrating technology into the classroom. I agree with this notion because I know that I can apply this article’s findings to my English classroom to help improve the learning environment. However, this article also does have some problems with the nature of technology integration that it should have discussed.

One of the major claims of the article is that we can personalize education to the student. I think that this could definitely be true. I tutor somebody with a reading comprehension disability; as a result of his problems, his school classified him as needing special education services. The National Council of Teachers of English argues that reading and writing have a direct link with each other. As a result, if you are bad at reading, you will usually have poor writing skills as well. This is because struggling readers spend more cognitive energy trying to decode rather than trying to internalize good textual structures and fine writing styles. Unfortunately, if we keep assessing these students on writing, we can wind up punishing them for something they cannot control. With technology, I can definitely say that this article is right since we can give students multiple ways to demonstrate content mastery. For instance, I remember going on another classmate’s blog post and seeing how we can turn persuasive essays into video commercials. If the student had an interest in film making, then this would be a great way to test their abilities. Even though the article does not say it, the author definitely implies that technology is extremely dynamic and that is why teachers can personalize it to meet the diverse learning needs of students. If I have a student with a reading problem in my class, I can scaffold the proper analysis they need to do by making them do podcasts. Eventually, they may become more confident enough to do essays after their cognitive abilities improve. If the student sees their cognitive abilities improve, they will also see gains in their self-esteem. Improvements in their self-esteem motivate them more, and I think that technology can be a great scaffold in that regard.

In addition, if a student has trouble processing long strings of auditory information, which is often the case with many Autistic students, then providing recording devices such as LiveScribe can be very helpful in ensuring access to the curriculum. When technology provides access to the curriculum, those who used to be reluctant learners become more motivated to participate in the education process. This article says that recent studies have found that. However, this article does miss a few important points. One of the most important points is that technology can be useless if the teacher does not have a sound pedagogical framework. In a previous blog post, I discussed the fact that many teachers show film adaptations of novels and they can wind up not being educational experiences. The teacher must make sure to be very thoughtful in making sure that the technology aligns very well with strategies, which will thus achieve the Common Core Standards. Technology alone does not ensure that students learn, but a sharp teacher does. In addition, the article neglects to mention class issues. As our textbook for this class said, we need to take a technological inventory. The article seems to miss that point completely. Many poorer urban districts do not have the funding to obtain great technology and many of the students come from families who would not be able to afford some of the technologies I talk about in this blog post. This article I feel needs to advocate for the kind of political changes necessary to make sure that this technological revolution in the classroom happens across the nation. I also think that this article could have been stronger if the writer included some concrete examples as I did.

The Film in the English Classroom

 One of the most prevalent technologies that English teachers utilize in the classroom is film. It is very easy to use the medium of film in the English classroom. You just plug in a VHS or DVD player and put in a movie. Most of the famous novels that we read in the English classroom have a film adaptation. However, most teachers tend to put in the movie after they read the novel, and then do not have their students do anything.

One of the problems with that approach to showing film is that it puts students in the passive consumer position. When teachers thrust their students into that position, it is easy to see why students may not learn anything. In fact, many movie adaptations of novels can wind up being significantly different. Without a clear pedagogical goal, the students will wind up learning nothing. This kind of pedagogy shows how technology can be useless if the teacher does not come up with a structured activity. Technology hinges upon the teacher’s knowledge of how technology can facilitate a learning experience.

In order for movies to become effective in the classroom, we need to be students in a more active role. In addition, we need to make sure that we come up with activities that align with the Common Core Standards. This standard in the English/Language Arts standards, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.7, indicates the following: “Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.” The Common Core Standards seem to acknowledge that comparing literature’s treatment in two different artistic mediums is a valid educational activity. You can definitely meet this standard through technology, like the film.

For instance, if I had assigned a unit based around the seminal novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, I could have them watch the film after they read the book. The film adaptation is a very famous and well-respected movie in its own right, but it is very different from the novel. The novel is a first-person narrative that has Chief Bromden, a mostly silent Native American who has some paranoia problems, observe the events that unfold in the novel. On the other hand, the director of the movie significantly diminishes Chief Bromden’s role in the movie. Instead, the movie focuses on McMurphy more. As a pedagogical activity, I could have students compare and contrast how the point of view differences between the novel and the movie can affect the effectiveness of the novel’s overall message.

In addition to the other activities I proposed, there a myriad of ways to share the composition the students produce. They can put it on a blog or post it to movie review sites. Students can also comment on other students’ work by using the internet as well. Film can be an effective tool in the classroom, but only if the teacher is very thoughtful about the pedagogy behind it. Students must interpret films just like literary texts, which makes films meaningful to the students and makes them actually learn something. If a teacher just puts a video in and does nothing, the students will not wind up learning anything most of the time because they often do not correlate to the novel well. This is not the only pedagogical revolving around the film. I wrote this blog post because I felt that the usage of the film clearly demonstrates how the effectiveness of technology in facilitating student learning truly depends on the teacher.

Twitter in the English Classroom

Social media is very influential in today’s society. Everybody talks about it and you see references to celebrities’ social media accounts on the news sometimes. More users register for accounts on various social media sites every day. One of the most popular social media sites is Twitter. Twitter is a site where people create accounts where they can “Follow” their friends, family, celebrities, politicians, and everything else in between.  Other people can “Follow” them as well, and they can see when you send out “Tweets,” which are 140 character limit messages that can be about virtually anything.

There is a multitude of ways that I can integrate Twitter into the English classroom. One method is that I can assign a piece of literature for students to read, and then I tell them to come up with a 140-character summary of the piece of work. This is a very challenging activity, but it forces students to condense a work to its most essential parts. In addition, I can have students add hash tags that capture the themes of the piece they read. It is very important to teach students the art of summary, so I think that this would be a very useful way to get students to learn that skill. 

Even though this is not a unique, innovative way to use Twitter in the classroom since many educators already do this in their classrooms, I could have students create Twitter accounts for literary characters. It is important to teach characterization to our students. This would be an interesting assignment for students since they need to get to really know the character’s personality and use plot elements to create an authentic Twitter.

I can also use Twitter to keep my students informed about the class. I can post homework on there and keep my students informed about tests and larger assignments. I can also post supplemental links that might help students who are interested in augmenting their knowledge about the topic I am currently teaching in class. Students can also tweet to me asking questions they may have about certain assignments, and I can give them the proper feedback that they require. Twitter can help facilitate communication between my students and me. In addition, since many students now have Smart Phones, they can access Twitter on their mobile devices. Thus, it is always very easy for students to access Twitter from anywhere. If they have some downtime while waiting in the doctor’s office, they can easily do the assignments while they wait.

Twitter is not without fault though. Many parents are still weary of social media. In addition, many students may not see the educational value in using social media to learn. However, teachers must be sure to state the learning goals explicitly before they allow their students to work on Twitter. Then, they must state the acceptable uses of it because cyber citizenship is important. Teachers need to make sure that the assignments that involve Twitter align properly with standards, and that it is an appropriate way to learn about the content. Many may argue that it is the death of our language, so teachers need to make sure to tell students that they need to use the proper English conventions for assessment. Even though social media does foster bad writing, students are writing more than ever. I feel that is the most important. I feel that Twitter can be a great tool for the English classroom. I just listed only some of the uses of Twitter in the classroom, but I know that there are myriads more. 

Google Glass in the English Classroom

In our society, there seems to be one piece of technology that appears to get much publicity in the media. The name of this piece of technology is Google Glass. Many people seem to hail this as a marvel of technology because it is a wearable computer people can utilize to fulfill a broad spectrum of purposes. One of the greatest things about it is that it is virtually hands-free since the user gives the glasses commands through his or her voice. I believe that we can use Google Glass in order to facilitate a greater learning experience for our students. In addition, I think that there are uses that make it a valid educational tool in the English classroom.

I managed to find an infographic that manages to discuss some of the uses of Google Glass in education. One of the useful functions that I found is that students can use SMS texting to give the teacher feedback during a lesson. For example, if a few students believe that the teacher did not explain something well enough and needs some clarification, the students can send a text message indicating their confusion. The teacher will immediately see the students’ messages in his or her display. This is a great function because a teacher can quickly receive feedback from students in a way that is not interruptive to the classroom environment. In addition, it can be completely anonymous to other students, so they will not know who sent the feedback. This helps to facilitate communication in the classroom, so the teacher can immediately modify instruction based on the feedback they receive from students.

Another way that I can integrate Google Glass into my classroom is by using its augmented reality feature. The infographic claims that I can bring people on a virtual fieldtrip and make the places that I discuss in the classroom come more alive to them. I think that this would be great to use in the classroom because some people are visual learners; they do not do too well with just teachers’ auditory explanations or text on a page. For example, The Globe Theatre is heavily important when teaching Shakespeare to high school students. If every student had a Google Glass headset, then I could have students pull up a view of The Globe Theatre. Google Glass makes a wide range of information instantaneously available to students, so it can help to supplement learning by adding a visual dimension.

Even though there are more uses for Google Glass in the English classroom, I will explain one more way teachers can utilize the device. Literacy is heavily important for English teachers.
According to Kylene Beers, the author of When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do, the most effective way teachers can make sure students understand a reading strategy is to model them by doing a Think Aloud. Sometimes, that can be difficult. When a teacher is home looking a text, they can use the video recording feature in order to model the strategy for them. In the video, the teacher can go step-by-step in a video that appears from the first-person perspective. The teacher can send the video to the students, and they can access it from their e-mail accounts when a teacher uploads it. This can help to flip classroom instruction, but a teacher would have to be very thoughtful to create effective flipped instruction. If teachers do not use the video for that, then it can still be very useful for students. Through the video that the teacher recorded, he or she can show students how to read by showing how they tackle a text. This is a very powerful way to teach literacy.

Even though the Google Glass is a great piece of technology that can potentially transform classroom instruction in the future, it does have its flaws. One of the problems that people seem to have is the concern about privacy. The video recording is very quiet, so many people may not even notice that somebody started to record their actions. In addition, the students can be using Google Glass during the classroom time for non-educational purposes. This can be a problem, so the teachers need to make sure that the device does not distract students. The teacher has to model appropriate behaviors for the technology because they do not want to assign projects to students that involve use of the Google Glass and they act in a way that is inappropriate in order to fulfill the project. However, we cannot fully blame the student because teachers need to be mindful that they create projects that do not have students invade others’ privacy or break the law.  Finally, like any other technological device, teachers need to make sure that the educational uses of the class align with the instructional standards so students can learn. Technology can be useless and not have students learn anything. The teacher needs to make sure to plan ahead to make sure that the uses of Google Glass in the classroom is productive to learning.

Blogging in the English Classroom

Throughout the 21st century, many schools were able to secure more technological resources. More computers with internet access are readily available in school buildings for students to be able to use during school hours. The internet has had such a monumental impact on the teaching of writing. The writing strand of the Common Core Standards for Language Arts acknowledges the impact with the following standard: “Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically” (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.6). The Common Core Standards acknowledge that the internet has the ability to be an authentic platform for writing instruction because it engages people with cyber citizens across the world. One way that teachers seem to take advantage of the spirit of the platform in a way that can be consistent with the new standards is blogging. The NCTE’s position statement on the teaching of writing also indicates that writers only get better when they practice writing. Blogging is a way to practice writing constantly, so we see that this technological tool is an update to achieving certain learning goals.

In the English classroom, I think that blogging can be incredibly effective. In many writing classrooms across the country, teachers have their students keep a writer’s notebook. Students often write their ideas and a book and only share their notebooks with the teacher. During some workshop activities, some students can engage in a dialogue about the contents of another’s notebook. However, blogging is great because when students write about the content taught in the classroom and their own lives, other students in the classroom can finally engage in a conversation about ideas that would only appear in the writer’s notebook.

When it comes to what kind of work I would have students do on the blog, it could vary. I can have some structured activities where I have students answer questions or complete some kind of task. Students can also complete unstructured activities where they can just freely write about topics of their choosing.  Thus, blogging is a truly dynamic platform that can serve many pedagogical purposes. I can have it serve many different learning goals. Students can also comment on their classmates’ blogs, so there is a free exchange of ideas. The writer’s notebook takes a digital form, and it becomes a much more democratic text. Most importantly, this blogging platform fulfills the Common Core Standard I talked about earlier. Blogging can also be like a formative assessment if utilized correctly because it can provide checks for understanding. If I see that students are struggling with a particular aspect of writing or do not understand a reading I assigned, then I can change my instruction to fit the needs of the students.

I have discussed how Google Drive can be an effective pedagogical tool in a previous blog post. However, students can post a URL to an essay that they uploaded onto Google Drive on a blog so other students can view it. Other students can receive input from their classmates through the comment section of a blog. Thus, blogging is great because it can support the writing process by allowing peer conferencing to take place on the internet. Students can gain support from many other classmates, and this process can take place during any time. Thus, the peer support in the writing process is not restricted to just classroom time.  In addition, students from other classes and people from the world can comment as well. The audience for classroom writings is no longer restricted to just other students from the classroom. When students write in their online blogs, they engage with the real world. Blogging can also be a good platform to teach students about how important an audience is; thus, it seems to serve many useful pedagogical purposes.

One of the drawbacks that I think is possible is that many students do not feel like they want to share their work publicly. Some students do not like showing their work to other students because they feel they subject themselves to ridicule from their peers. Teachers need to make sure that their classroom environment is a safe one where students are able to trust each other. Another issue can be the many parents may feel that they do not want their students engaging in tasks that have to do with the internet.

In addition, many students may also feel that blogging is a chore, so they may not want to do it on their own. Thus, it seems like teachers would need to assign a grade to the blogging; however, that also seems to undermine intrinsic motivation of students. Educators definitely need to address this paradox because it is not an easy one to fix. This has always been a problem with assessment of informal writing tasks. Teachers also need to understand that students should know why blogging could help them. Teachers need to make the pedagogical goals very clear. Otherwise, this technology can fail to achieve its purpose in transforming the way students learn and interact with the world. Finally, teachers have model acceptable online behavior. With commenting, teachers need to explain to students how to create constructive comments because when a student says a particular sentence is vague, they could confuse the reader. Students also need to refrain from making cruel comments that border on personal insults as well.

Collaboration Canvas

The canvas that I remixed belonged to a music education major, and I thought that the unit her canvas introduces could directly link to the English discipline easily. Her unit discusses the links between music lyrics and other art forms like literature and film. I searched for a lesson plan that I believed would complement her unit well. I thought that the lesson I found was great because it has students create soundtracks consisting of existing songs that relate to a literary work. Song lyrics are poetry, and students can analyze literary devices and themes. These skills are important for students because they are in the Common Core Language Arts Standards.

I decided to keep her canvas’s original theme of exploring communication barriers because I felt students would benefit from analyzing a very common, strong theme existing in so many literary works. However, I felt that developing a soundtrack to a short poem by Robert Frost called “The Mending Wall” might have been too narrow of a task. Thus, I decided to find a longer piece of literature that related to the theme of communication barriers and their detrimental consequences. I picked Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare because it is a text widely read by students across the nation and it embodies the themes the original canvas discussed. I felt that students would be able to find examples of that theme in the play, and then be able to search for songs that relate to it for the soundtrack.

URL to Remixed Canvas: http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2592&mode=view

Lesson Plan I Used: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/musical-note-exploring-reading-861.html?tab=2#tabs

Is Facebook Going to Ruin Students' Writing? Or Is It a Good Thing? The Pedagogical Uses of Facebook in the English Classroom

After commenting on a couple of blogs by my fellow students in this class, I decided to do some research into if social media has a negative effect on our language capabilities. Many teachers express fears that this particular communication technology makes it much harder to teach the rules of proper grammar. However, according to this article that I found on the internet, many teachers express that social media actually makes their students better writers.

I agree with this paradigm of social media being effective in helping students become better writers. The National Council Teachers of English wrote a position statement on the teaching of writing. Their position explicitly states that the only way students will get better at writing is if they have opportunities to practice it. I think that social media definitely gets students to write much more than they used to in the past. Students constantly write on social media. As 21st century educators, we want to try to get the students immersed in these technologies motivated to learn. We should try to embrace it in the classroom because education should not be isolated from the real world.

As I reflected on my technology autobiography, it got me thinking. I mentioned that social media is one of my personal most influential communication technologies. I said this because I feel that Facebook brings us back to this notion of the historical democratic public sphere where people came to deliberate. I post political links, and I get to engage in dialogue with people who do not agree with my views. Outside of Facebook, I often do not get the opportunity to engage in debate with people whose views differ than my own. I feel that engaging in these debates have significantly improved my writing skills because it has taught me the importance of coming up with a logical argument. I even go on pages that suit my interests in order to engage in debates about interests that matter to me.

I think that if a teacher has a clear pedagogical strategy, Facebook becomes a powerful tool to help students learn. Teachers can have their students go on public fan pages for news organizations. The news organizations will usually post links about the current events, and people generally engage in a debate in the Facebook comments since people have generally find points to disagree with. A teacher can have their students enter these debates and engage other users with logical arguments. Teachers can assess students based on how well they managed to debate. When teachers assess these students, they can base their judgment based on how well students met some of the Common Core Standards.  Since students can customize their personal Facebook experiences, students will find no shortage of groups of people who disagree with them. Students can even go on political pages with people who primarily hold the opposite beliefs as them and do their debates there. This would be much more challenging. However, what could they learn about persuasion? Can everybody be persuaded?

Even though I think that this is a great exercise for students to get into since it gets them to be involved in the kind of writing that they will have to do in the 21st century, it has its downsides. Many parents would not support this kind of activity because they are concerned about their child’s safety. I could say that students can come up with fake profiles in order to conceal their identity, but many parents object to social media all together and do not want them on it. Students can also become very distracted if they are participating in this kind of activity during classroom time. Thus, it is pivotal that teachers explicitly state what behavior will be unacceptable and monitor their students to make sure that they stay on task.

Facebook demonstrates the changing landscape of writing. Throughout the 21st century, we will probably see writing becoming more public. By getting students to engage in writing endeavors that involve Facebook and other social media, we provide an authentic experience that gets them involved in the real world. I think that Facebook helps foster not only critical thinking, but also democratic habits. It is the teacher that will be able to gear social media as a platform for learning.  Social media is here to stay, and its effects that it had on our country will be there forever. I think many of the teacher-students in our class are very concerned that social media might affect spelling and grammar, and that article that I talked about expresses that it is indeed true. However, I think that English teachers sometimes focus too much on conventions to the point where we do not focus on ideas. If the errors are not bad enough to make the reading difficult and the ideas are great, I think that makes it a good writing. I think that grammar is important, but I think that Facebook can get students to engage in dialogues with ideas they are not used to seeing. If teachers were so concerned about grammar, they can use Facebook as a platform to teach grammar. They can have students go on pages, find instances of people writing with bad grammar, and correct it. Everybody knows that there would be no shortage of errors for students to find and improve, and by focusing on the correction, students get valid practice on fixing errors. Facebook can really help students learn the same Common Core Standards, and maybe students may not even realize they are learning. It may be complicated to integrate due to its possibilities as a distractor and opposition from the community, but I think that we should start thinking seriously about using Facebook because I think it does more good than harm to students.

Unit Plan Canvas

    The unit that I did a canvas on is about digital literacy and its importance. It also has students use their literacy skills to evaluate digital texts.  In order to create my canvas, I conducted many different Google Image searches in order to come up with images that I thought students would find helpful. For one of the image galleries, I wanted to provide several easy-to-read visuals to help students understand digital literacy better. I felt that this would be helpful because they could use those pictures as an easy reference. I used the other image gallery as a way to provide students opportunity to practice their critical evaluative skills and to turn the canvas into an experience that promotes students’ thinking.  

    I provided two videos with different purposes. One of the videos shows a presentation about digital literacy and its significance. I felt that the video would be helpful to auditory learners. The other video is a segment from The Young Turks where two hosts discuss the racist implications of a KFC advertisement in Australia. I found this to be important because it models the ideal dialogue style that students should have during this unit. I came up with the question and the brief explanation last because I wanted to have the canvas done so that my summary is effective and I provide a relevant question. The standards came from my last spreadsheet. I felt the resources provided should supplement the canvas and allow students to self-assess their abilities.

   
URL to Canvas: http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2378&mode=view

Google Drive and the Possibilities for Writing Instruction

    When it comes to writing instruction, English teachers should allow their students to complete a couple of rough drafts of a composition before they allow them to hand in a finished product. Teachers employ a variety of options in order to collect essays from their students in order to give feedback such as hard copies and e-mail. Many teachers seem to opt to have essays sent over e-mail; however, the e-mailing option is truly outdated because there is an even greater communication technology that teachers may utilize: Google Drive.

    When a student e-mails an essay to his or her teacher, the teacher may make a few comments and then send it right back to the student. The student will work on it, and then send it back to the teacher. While this seems like a legitimate way for teachers to have students work on their essays, Google Drive allows the teacher much more opportunities to support their students’ writing process. The teacher can have a Google Account for his or her class and students can “Share” their compositions with him or her, so everything is stored on a “Cloud” in an easy-to-access manner. 

    For instance, one of the best concepts about Google Drive is that it instantaneously saves any changes on the online document. Thus, the teacher has the ability to leave a bunch of comments that would immediately get to the student. The students can then look at the comments and apply them in whatever way they please. The teacher has the ability to look at all of the revisions that the students made through each step of the way. This is very interesting because writing is a process, and this affords teachers a valuable opportunity to look at each student’s personal writing process and the student’s application of teacher comments. Google Drive does not just have to facilitate comments by the teacher, but it can also be a valuable venue for peer review as well. Google Drive is great when it comes to privacy because you can “Share” your document so only your teacher and certain other classmates can see it and edit it. The students have total control over who sees their writing.

    Another helpful facet of Google Drive is that it allows for collaboration on group projects. When I took Historical Foundations of Education at Montclair State University, my group had to complete a group paper and presentation on a topic. One of my group members decided to try to get us to use Google Drive in order to write the essay. Every group member came up with his or her individual parts and added it to the essay. I was able to see where everybody was in the writing process, and I was able to comment what each group member can work on.  Google Drive can help to teach critical management skills. I also took the Introduction to Information to Computer Applications with Information Technology class completely online and the teacher made us do a collaborative essay as a group. In addition, Google Drive has the feature where you can chat with participants who are also on the document. This really opens up group collaboration to become a very flexible endeavor because it can take place very effectively synchronously and asynchronously. It is very important to work with groups because students will have to collaborate in the real world, so I find that Google Drive is an authentic educational experience.

    While there may be many positives to using this, we have to be aware of the pitfalls of using Google Drive in the classroom. I find that we need to make sure that our educational activities that take place on there are well-thought out because we want to make sure that the students not only learn the content, but also other skills that will help them to be effective 21st century citizens. Integration of technology in the curriculum does not ensure that it will be a revolutionary educational experience for every student. The teacher should be very clear to the students so they know why Google Drive is a very powerful educational tool that will help enhance their learning.  Some people may prefer pen and paper, but I think that this is a great tool that teacher should consider using since it allows teachers new insight into the writing process.

Technology & Pedagogy

    I chose this lesson plan because I feel that digital literacy is something that every single student needs to learn. I was particularly interested in investigating how this lesson plan uses technology to discuss the issue of digital literacy. In addition, this lesson plan was high quality because it had the standards and technologies in its design.

    One of this lesson plan’s problems is that it encouraged students to be critical thinkers when it came to digital texts, but it put individuals in the consumer position when it came to technology in the classroom. The lesson plan uses the SmartBoard to present texts to model to the students; thus, the technology does not allow students to become producers of information. The lesson strategies call for students to present their ideas, but they do not use diverse technologies to reach their goal like the standards want.

 I added in blogging and podcasting because it allows students to continue their discussions through another medium. One of the standards indicates that there should be a range of means to have collaborative discussions, and I think that the blogging website allows this to take place. Another standard indicates that students must write for a variety of purposes and audiences, but the classroom practices do not allow this to happen since other students are the only audience. Blogging allows students to have a wider audience. One of the major problems is that technology is not the venue for the collaboration.

    The Smartboard and computer are pivotal for this lesson because this lesson’s crux is promoting digital literacy. Without technology, it is impossible to explore the issue of digital literacy. The main problem is not the technology itself, but the fact that the technologies do not completely align with standards and strategies in meaningful ways.

Link to Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amgpgj9Fx1m7dFA3UnBNNll6UjBRdG92RkZHeXdITnc#gid=0

The Pedagogical Uses of YouTube in the English Classroom

            In the English classroom, English teachers must conform to the pressures administrators put on them to prepare students for standardized tests. Unfortunately, as teachers conform to these pressures, they sideline an important skill that they should teach to their students: rhetorical analysis. This is rather unfortunate because a famous rhetorician named Wayne Booth said that rhetoric defines our reality. Everywhere and everyplace, words and images bombard us with different rhetorical appeals. Rhetoric shapes the way that we think. Teachers should show students the principles of rhetoric because educators can use them to help students gain important critical literacy skills.

            As we have read preparing for Interactivity #2 in our class, I noticed that teachers have tried teaching critical consumerism in the past. Teachers often brought in magazines, but in the 20^th century, the advent of the radio and television eventually allowed teachers to utilize different mediums for critical analysis. However, technology has improved so much over the years to the point where we can use YouTube videos in the classroom to teach rhetoric. I find that YouTube has revolutionized the way that we can teach rhetoric because it increases the number of choices that teachers can use for their instruction.  YouTube is truly a view into the world; thus, it is truly a great place to do a critical investigation into our culture and institutions.

            For instance, I can have students analyze two different political campaign commercials from 1952 when Eisenhower and Stevenson ran against each other. The two videos, “Platform Double-Talking” and “Ike for President” each have different rhetorical devices utilized in different ways. Not only are the words carrying rhetorical messages, but also the actual action in the frames as well. In addition, we can have students compare those commercials to ones that came from the 2012 election. As an activity, students can compare how different the commercials are and how it may reflect a cultural shift. Through activities like these, YouTube can be a platform to promote higher order thinking skills in education. However, it really depends on the pedagogical applications of YouTube that make it a successful educational technological tool.

            YouTube is not just a website where teachers can have students analyze the work of other people. YouTube is a site where students can also go and upload their own videos; thus, they can become producers of content instead of information consumers. After students learn how to do a critical rhetorical analysis, they can create their own videos where they utilize many of the different techniques and upload it onto YouTube. Since YouTube has a comments feature, students can comment on their classmates’ videos. In the comments, students can analyze the video to see how it applied concepts from the classroom instruction. This helps to create a community within the classroom. By putting the students in the producer of content position, students get a first-hand look about how meticulous the media can be in order to try to persuade people to believe something. In addition, they learn some complex organizational skills because to create a media text such as that requires coming up with a script that meets the necessary criteria, good editing skills, and the ability to navigate through technological programs to get it uploaded onto the internet.

            In conclusion, YouTube is a window into our culture, but it is also a way for students to interact with culture through imitation. Learning the critical language in order to analyze politics and culture is quite pivotal to being an informed democratic citizen. However, like any other educational technology, sound pedagogical techniques help to make YouTube an effective venue to promote higher order thinking among students. Rhetoric is ingrained into our world, but YouTube allows teachers a variety of ways to come up with media texts that will help students become motivated in the lesson. Thus, technological advancements have definitely provided a way to help educators individualize their lessons to the students they teach.

           

History of Technology in English

"A revolutionary writing utensil that is still relevant today that has the ability to give students a voice in the classroom by allowing them to commit their thoughts that are abound with infinite possibilities to paper, and it is never going to break or need to be sharpened."

Integrating Clickers into the English Classroom's Fabric

            During the Fall 2011 semester at Montclair State University, I took a course called Interdisciplinary National Issues: Race and the Media with Dr. Faye Allard. The class met twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the Thursdays, we meet in a small classroom in University Hall with about 25 students. However, on every Tuesday, 100 students from all four sections of the course met in a large lecture hall in University Hall. During her small classroom sessions on Thursdays, Dr. Allard was a very interactive teacher who always taught using activities that promote student participation. Thus, one may assume that it would be very difficult for her to maintain the interactive environment in such a large classroom. After all, teachers who teach large lecture classes usually have to teach with an authoritative teaching style where the students do not become part of the classroom’s fabric. In order to create an interactive classroom environment on lecture days, Dr. Allard required that each student purchase a clicker. She used the clickers to take attendance and ask questions.

            Since Dr. Allard made students check in with their clickers for attendance credit on Tuesdays, students had to bring their clicks to every class in order to get attendance credit. In addition, a portion of the class grade breakdown (around 10%) was clicker participation. In order to earn those clicker participation points, students needed to show up to every class session and answer every single question during the lectures. Some questions were just opinion-based, so there were no wrong answers. Some of the questions were factual questions based on the documentaries we watched or the articles we read, but you get credit for most of them even if you got it wrong. However, Dr. Allard asked some questions that if you got it wrong, you would not gain credit toward your clicker participation score. After everybody answered the question, everybody was instantly able to see the results of the whole class on a PowerPoint slide that has a bar graph.

            From my experiences taking this class, I realized that clickers have so many uses in the classroom. As I looked around the classroom, all of the students looked very excited as a question came around. I personally enjoyed the fact that she used clickers because it made me feel like I had a way to interact with the teaching lesson in such a large classroom. Technology allowed students to interact in the experience of the large lecture classroom.  The technology has actually come to shape the classroom environment. When Dr. Allard asked controversial questions where students would remain anonymous in their answers, the answers students put would shape the direction of the discussion. Thus, it may not be completely student-centered, but it is not exactly a “sage on the stage” educational style either. This definitely helped to make me feel included in this very big classroom of 100 students.

             

            As I began taking Integrating Technology across the Curriculum class, I began reflecting on my previous experiences with educational technology, and I remembered my very positive experiences with the clickers in Dr. Allard’s class. I believe that I can definitely integrate my clickers into the classroom in a way that is not only very useful to me, but also can support student learning. There is much educational scholarship talking about the usefulness of conducting formative assessments in the classroom. By asking certain questions, I can gauge my students’ understanding of a particular text. By getting immediate feedback of my class’s responses, I can modify instruction in order to best suit their needs. For instance, on a Smartboard, I can have four different conclusions and have students select the best one. If many of the students do not pick the right one, then I can immediately know that I should discuss conclusions more. If it is a tie between two answers, then I can get into a discussion where I can have the students compare/contrast the two conclusions in order to reach an effective evaluation.

The fact that the feedback is instantaneous would save educators much time in trying to gauge students’ knowledge. In addition, they can gauge students’ opinions of a certain issue in a way that allows them to remain anonymous. This kind of anonymity could lead to a classroom environment where students might be able to share their opinions on certain issues when they might have not otherwise. Thus, in the spirit of democratic practices, everybody gets to participate in the classroom.

            It is my belief that the ideal English classroom allows for many opportunities for active participation from the students.  For instance, at the start of every class session, I can go through a few questions about the important parts of the previous night’s reading. Depending on the answers of the students, I can get gauge what I should focus my instruction on. In addition, in the middle of a discussion about a particular text, I can put like four “predictions” about what will happen in the text. Through this, I can model predictions that people can make. I can also have students think critically using textual evidence to pick their answer. Assuming the majority of the students got the right answer correct, the class can critically reflect on why the class decided to pick the most popular choice and why people may have picked the less popular choice. The types of questions are important because since clickers can foster a democratic environment, teachers should use this advantage to be a springboard for critical analysis and reflection on statistics. Otherwise, it just becomes another technology that just supplements instruction rather than helping to transform it.

            Even though there are many great possibilities with integrating clickers into the classroom, there are of course some problems with them. Of course, technology is prone to failure; thus, it is always imperative to have a back-up plan. I talked to one of my friends recently about his experience with clickers, and he seemed to have a negative experience with them. He said his teacher used them for preparation for a high school exit exam to assess the knowledge of the students. He said he guessed on many of the questions. As a result, there is the possibility that educators may not get the most accurate representation of a class’s knowledge. My friend seemed to feel that he was not motivated to answer the questions honestly. Even when the teacher is competent enough to handle the technology, the teacher must always remember that they must have a solid pedagogical framework. Just integrating the technology alone does not guarantee the motivation of students; the teacher must plan the lesson out thoughtfully.

There seems to be two things that teachers may need to consider. The teacher may consider that they should tie a grade to the clicker participation as Dr. Allard did. While tying it to a grade can be helpful, sometimes that can undermine intrinsic motivation. Also, the teacher needs to come up with some thoughtful questions that will motivate students and get them to want to be interested in the activities. The teacher also needs to analyze the results during the classroom and turn the results into a discussion. There is also the slight possibility the teachers will not have a discussion because technology can sometimes stifle dialogue. Since English teachers are expected to teach students how to write, teachers need to balance the clickers with writing assessments as well. Teachers need to think about balance. As with every technology, I need to find ways to use technology in order to elicit higher-order thinking skills from my students.