Twitter Me This: New Technology in the Language Arts Classroom

           As I was browsing the web for lesson plans that incorporated technology into the English classroom, I came across this column called “Twitter Me This: New Technology in the Language Arts Classroom.”  The column focuses on a 10^th and 11^th grade English teacher, Shannon Reed, who is conducting a lesson on Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible.  Although The Crucible is a classic play that many of her students enjoyed in the past, Shannon realized that her new class was not as invested.  In order to make the lesson more relevant and spark her students’ interest, Shannon decided to modernize the play by asking her students “to write two pages in tweets, IMs, or texts, as if the characters were the same, but communicating in 2011 instead of the 1600s” (Reed).  I was really pleased to see that the teacher was aware that not every class responds to certain lessons in the same way.  In the past, I have had teachers who have implemented the same lesson plans without alterations regardless of the students’ negative responses.  If a teacher continues to use a particular lesson plan without adapting it to her class’s needs, then he/she might be losing the opportunity to engage the students and have new innovative ideas be brought out in discussion.

By modernizing the play, Shannon was able to make the text more relevant.  Since her students were more invested in the text, they were more willing to actively participate.  In the column Shannon states that the project even called for close reading, as students were referring back to the text for the information they needed.  Overall, the project was not only fun for the students, but it made the play more comprehensible and attainable.  As future educators, we need to understand that not every class is the same; to assume otherwise would not only be unfortunate for us as teachers, but for the class as well.

Reed, Shannon. “Twitter Me This: New Technology in the Language Arts Classroom.”  Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus. Thinkmap, Inc., 1998-2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.   

Twitter Me This: New Technology in the Language Arts Classroom (click here) 

The Magical Classroom

Can it be possible to brighten a classroom with technology  Perhaps the SmartBoard can generate enough light so that teaching can bloom with technology.  Innovative ways of teaching our future students need to be developed in order to ensure that education keeps up with the increased waves of machineries that are invading our society.  As we strive to motivate students, we need to think smart.  If technology is taking over the world, then let’s unite with it in order to use its maximum potential for education; Don't let technology take over the classroom, but rather let it transform the classroom.  Why not bring education to life with the SmartBoard.         

Think Outside the Box

As I was browsing through YouTube, I came across this video which really called my attention.  While the video does not directly relate to technology in the classroom, it does make a great commentary on our society’s heavy reliance on technology.  Instead of simply walking up the escalator, the two people in the video just give up; they insist on believing they are stuck.  As a future educator, it is extremely important to engage students in critical thinking, to have them “think outside the box.”  Although technology can foster creativity and problem solving skills as we saw through the NETS standards in interactivity 5, teachers should mediate the use of technology and provide relevance to its function in the classroom.  In interactivity 4, we completed a similar task by determining whether our lesson plan was completely dependent on technology or whether the technology aided the lesson plan.  Overall, technology can be a great support.  However, as future teachers, we can’t allow it to completely take over the classroom.  Students should still be able to do simply tasks without solely having to rely on technology.  While escalators can get you from the first floor to the second floor with ease, sometimes going up the stairs can get you there faster! 

Interactivity #5 A Standards-based Approach to Technology Integration

URL to my spreadsheet (click here)

For the fifth interactivity, I interviewed a 5^th grade Elementary school teacher in the Passaic School District.  When I first asked the teacher if he was familiar with the NETS-S and/or the NETS-T, he looked at me in bewilderment.  He immediately asked me what they were and I directed him to the link explaining the standards.  After he viewed the link, he confirmed that he was not completely familiar with the NETS-S or the NETS-T and stated that, as far as he was concerned, the school had not begun to implement the new NETS for students.  Although he was not well acquainted with the standards, he did mention that there were other initiatives taken in order to increase students’ proficiency and media literacy.

One particular program that the students use in the classroom is Achieve 3000.  I was really pleased to discover this because it was one of the technologies we incorporated in Interactivity #3.  Achieve 3000 is a software program that helps increase literacy proficiency and improve students’ reading and writing skills.  Along with Achieve 3000 students utilize programs such as Kid Biz, Study Island, Fast Math, and Fun Brain.  There are four computers located in the classroom which grant students the opportunity to readily access the programs.  In addition, they attend classes in the computer lab.  Lastly, the teacher mentioned that all the programs are closely aligned with the Common Core Standards.  Besides the computer programs, however, the students are not directly exposed to other forms of technology.

I wasn’t really surprised that the teacher was unfamiliar with the NETS-S and/or the NETS-T.  The reason being is because Passaic is not really a technologically advanced district.  Furthermore, as was mentioned in the guidelines for the interactivity, not many administrators are trained in this area, and thus cannot provide the appropriate support for teachers.  Although Passaic is not implementing the NETS, the district is taking initiative with regard to incorporating technology in the classroom.  At the end of the interview, the teacher did mention that the school is using a program called Power Teacher in order to track student progress and keep parents, as well as the students, well informed.  Although the school does not have the portal for parents to view their children’s report cards and classes available yet, the teacher is undergoing training with regard to the program this year.

           As a future educator, I would definitely promote the implementation of the NETS-S and the NETS-T within the classroom and school setting.  These standards encourage creativity, communication, critical thinking, research, and digital citizenship through technological means, which in turn emphasizes the idea that students are active learners.  Overall, these standards are especially important in today’s day in age because we live in an increasingly technological world where the demand to be digitally literate is extremely high.  

   

Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-hop Culture

We live in a world where diversity has become a valued attribute of education.  Teachers and schools embrace the idea of having students from multicultural backgrounds share their opinions and engage in critical dialogue.  In the article “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-hop Culture,” Ernest Morrell and Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade suggest that the Hip-hop culture could elicit this critical dialogue amongst the diverse students by catering not only to their interests but also their cognitive capacities.  According to the article, “Hip-hop music is the representative voice of urban youth, since the genre was created by and for them” (Morrell and Duncan-Andrade 88).  Furthermore, it caters to students’ cognitive capabilities because “Hip-hop texts are rich in imagery and metaphor and can be used to teach irony, tone, diction, and point of view” (Morrell and Duncan-Andrade 89). 

The article suggested different ways of incorporating Hip-hop into a “‘traditional’ senior English poetry unit” (90).  The students were assigned a poem from a specific time period (i.e. the Elizabethan Age, the Puritan Revolution, and the Romantics) as well as a corresponding rap song and were asked to prepare an interpretation of their texts.  They were encouraged to find and analyze the linkage between the two.  In addition, the unit granted students agency because they were asked to complete an anthology and write various poems of their own.  Ultimately, the unit fostered critical thinking and dialogue by engaging the students’ interests through Hip-hop and allowing them to make a connection between poetry and the outside world.

This lesson would be a great way of incorporating technology into the English classroom.  Nowadays, anything could be accessed through YouTube and the internet.  Teachers could show students the music videos of relevant songs and ask them to deconstruct the text.  In addition, teachers could utilize Wiki Spaces, which I mentioned in my last blog, by having the students work together in creating their own poems.  Although this lesson incorporates great components of critical pedagogy, there were some aspects of the lesson plan that I would modify.  The article was written in July 2002 and the rappers used throughout the lesson were Nas, Grand Master Flash, and Ice Cube.  These are old-school rappers who are no longer as prominent, with probably the exception of Nas.  In order to implement this lesson, teachers would have to find song writers that are relevant today.  The only issue with that is that we live in a world where music has lost the substance behind it.  The majority of music is strictly geared toward entertainment not creating awareness.
References: Morrell, Ernest, and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade. “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-Hop Culture.” English Journal (2002): 88-92. Print.

Overcoming Digital Literacy Challenges in the High School English Classroom

Like many of my fellow classmates, for my READ 411 class I was asked to find an article that focused on the integration of technology within the Language Arts classroom.  After some browsing, I came across the article “Overcoming Digital Literacy Challenges in the High School English Classroom.”  The article introduces the benefits of incorporating such technologies as Wiki Spaces and Google Apps within the classroom setting by focusing on the importance of embracing digital literacy.  According to the article, “literacy ‘no longer consists solely of interaction with the one-dimensional written page’…because society is moving in a technologically driven direction” (St. John and Von Slomski 21).  With the increasing technological demand in society, younger generations of students are not only encouraged but expected to be digitally literate.  The article proposes two options, the Wiki Spaces and Google Apps, in order to help “create pedagogy around digital literacy” (St. John and Von Slomski 22).

The Wiki Spaces are designed to appeal to students who are not engaged in school work on a regular basis.  It grants the students the opportunity to express themselves freely and gives them a sense of responsibility for their work because they know they will be evaluated by their peers and teacher.  Furthermore, the Wiki Spaces encourage collaborative learning and writing as each student is expected to substantially contribute to the online discussion.

Similarly, the Google Apps are introduced as a way of enhancing the peer-editing process.  According to the article, Google Apps is beneficial for both the student and the teacher because it improves assessment.  With these particular programs, students will be able to share their documents with their teachers as well as their classmates.  In addition, the apps allow the teachers to comment directly on the documents, thus giving the students the opportunity to improve and revise their work.

Although both options provide great methods for incorporating technology within the classroom setting, as future educators it is important to keep in mind the challenges we may also experience with regard to digital literacy.  One challenge the article brings up is the fact that “digital literacy standards are not mandatory or standardized in many school systems” (St. John and Von Slomski 24).  As future teachers, we need to find alternatives that will not only benefit our students but also cater to this digital literacy phenomenon. 

References: 

St. John, Katelyn, and Linda Von Slomski. “Overcoming Digital Literacy Challenges in  the High School English Classroom.” The California Reader 46.1 (2012): 21-25. Print.

A Digital Native, an Active Learner

     The future of education is now a mouse click away.  Opening the doors to cyber education has become an attractive way of enriching our knowledge.  If only we could take a microscopic form and literally travel the network of education.  Education has already grown legs and is traveling the internet as students navigate the web to enhance their learning.  Yet will this new method of learning interfere with social interaction?  Yes, I can learn Chinese history from someone in Beijing, but will that take the place of meeting people from diverse backgrounds, from traveling to China and experiencing it all on my own?  How will we expand our interpersonal skills when we are losing our humanity by interacting with a PC?  Perhaps future students do prefer a more digital way of learning, one where they can use mobile devices to connect with friends, classmates, and teachers.  Yet will closing college doors to open networks of education be the best way to prepare future generations?  Life in cyberspace is great and enlightening, but we can’t forget to take our heads out of the computer every once in a while. 

 

Interactivity #4 The Pedagogical Uses of Technology

URL to my spreadsheet (click here)

I chose this particular lesson plan because language is a vital aspect of the English subject.  The lesson, An Introduction to Beowulf: Language and Poetics, allows students to make a comparison between Old and Modern English and lets students see how language has transformed over time.  Since the goals were to demonstrate the relationship between Old English and Modern English, as well as present poetic devices common to Old English poetry, the teaching strategies and technologies used effectively supplemented the lesson plan.  Although I do consider the teaching strategies to be effective, I must admit that they could be seen to a certain extent as oppressive since the initial portion of the lesson consisted mostly of lectures.  There were not many student centered activities present.  For this reason, I incorporated the task of asking students to create their own original poem integrating poetic devices that were common to Old English.  This activity would allow students to demonstrate their abilities and apply their knowledge.  Furthermore, I added clips from the movie Beowulf in order to elicit the discussion on the relationship between Old and Modern English.  The incorporation of the clips would not only draw the students’ attention, but it would add another dimension to achieving the curriculum goal.

The technologies used in the lesson plan were mostly websites.  The websites were not essential to achieving the curriculum goal, but they were great aids.  Although this lesson could be taught without the incorporation of technology, without any aids it would be boring and flat.  The websites allow students to physically see and hear the elements present in Old English, and therefore contribute to the students’ overall understanding.  As I mentioned in interactivity #1, technology should not take over the classroom setting but should only be an aid and support system.