Technology Integration Plan

Technology Integration Plan
Grade Level: 4
Subject Area: English Language Arts and Social Studies

Goals:
By the end of this project:
- Students will have a superior grasp on how to use the internet to find information.
- Students will be able to write informational text in a cohesive and logical manner.
- Students will be able to use technology for creative purposes as well as communication purposes.
- Students will have a better understanding of the world around them and the current events happening in our society.
-
GLCEs:

ELA:
R.IT.04.01 identify and describe the structure, elements, features, and purpose of a variety of informational genre including autobiography/biography, personal essay, almanac, and newspaper.
R.IT.04.02 identify and describe informational text patterns including compare/contrast, cause/effect, and problem/solution.
R.IT.04.03 explain how authors use text features including appendices, headings, subheadings, marginal notes, keys and legends, figures, and bibliographies to enhance the understanding of key and supporting ideas.
R.CM.04.02 retell through concise summarization grade-level narrative and informational text.
W.GN.04.03 write an informational comparative piece that demonstrates understanding of central and supporting ideas using an effective organizational pattern (e.g., compare/contrast) and informational text features.
W.GN.04.04 use the writing process to produce and present a research project using a teacher-approved topic; find and narrow research questions; use a variety of resources; take notes; and organize relevant information to draw conclusions.
W.PS.04.01 exhibit personal style and voice to enhance the written message
(e.g., in narrative text: strong verbs, figurative language, sensory images; in informational text: precision, established importance, transitions).

Social Studies:
4 – P3.1.1 Identify public issues in the United States that influence the daily lives of its citizens.
4 – P4.2.2 Participate in projects to help or inform others.
4 – G5.0.1 Assess the positive and negative effects of human activities on the physical environment of the United States.
4 – H3.0.5 Use visual data and informational text or primary accounts to compare a major Michigan economic activity today with that same or a related activity in the past. (E)
(Most of these will be covered when students do their current events; I’ll assign them specific topics which relate to the above standards that they should do research online with. In the introduction to my plan, I will explain why I chose to use Social Studies and Language Arts.)

Technology Standards:

10. Identify search strategies for locating needed information on the internet
2. Discuss how information and communication technology supports collaboration, productivity, and lifelong learning
4. Discuss the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, and bias of electronic information sources
3. Use a variety of technology tools and applications to promote creativity
5. Collaborate with classmates using a variety of technology tools to plan, organize, and create a group project
1. Use Web search engines and built-in search functions of other various resources to locate information
2. Describe basic guidelines for determining the validity of information accessed from various sources (e.g., web site, dictionary, on-line newspaper, CD-ROM)
3. Know how to independently use existing databases (e.g., library catalogs, electronic dictionaries, encyclopedias) to locate, sort, and interpret information on an assigned topic
4. Perform simple queries on existing databases and report results on an assigned topic
5. Identify appropriate technology tools and resources by evaluating the accuracy, appropriateness, and bias of the resource
6. Compare and contrast the functions and capabilities of the word processor, database, and spreadsheet for gathering data,

Technologies Used: The Internet, Search Engines (Google or Yahoo), Online Library Catalogs to find additional resources, Google Webpage Builder
- These technologies were chosen because they are tools that students will use for the remainder of their educational lives and beyond. They are common items that will be helpful both for their school learning and their personal use.

PLAN:
I would like to do a 13-week program in which I slowly immerse the class into using technology for research and communication. I want to show them the benefits of the internet but also teach them how to be cautious while using it. I also want to allow them to have a chance to be creative in their education. Therefore, I plan on having an end of the year project that will be displayed for all of the parents to see during a showcase.

For the most part, this plan will be used to complete ELA expectations, but I will also have students do some projects which incorporate Social Studies because it is important to make connections across subject areas. Therefore, for their current events, each student will be asked to bring in current events which relate to the standards listed above.

Week 1: Introduction of the Internet (Done in a computer lab)
- Here I will do a discussion of the basics of the internet. We’ll go through some of the different search programs and then I’ll give them each a topic and they’ll have to find 5 websites about that topic. Then we’ll discuss whether or not these sources are credible. I’ll ask them to brainstorm on ways they think they can use to assess a website.
- Homework: Each will be assigned a new topic and will bring in the names of 5 resources they found on the internet that relate to their topic. They will have a discussion of these resources in class and they’ll have to defend why they chose the websites that they did.

For the remainder of the semester, every student must go online to find a current event using an online news source. Each Friday they will bring in their current event and we’ll have a short discussion of the different things that are going on in the world. They’ll be given a sheet that asks them to fill out “Who, What, Where, When, & Why/How”. Occasionally, I’ll ask them to find stories on specific events, but they’ll be given free reign for most of the current events they choose.
- This forces them to continue practicing what they have learned throughout the school year as well as stay up-to-date on what’s happening outside our classroom

Week 2: Current event & very brief introduction of their final project

Week 3: This will be a short lesson in which students will work in pairs and will be given two websites to examine (One which is credible and one which is not). I will ask them to evaluate these websites based on the criteria we discussed in week one. They will compare and contrast and in a large group discussion, they will explain and defend their choices.

Week 4: Current event

Week 5: Basic Functions
- This week, we’re going to go over some of the basic functions in order to reinforce them. For example, copy and paste, URL, link, etc.
- We’ll also examine a webpage that I will previously format for them and spend time critiquing it.

Week 6: Finding pictures online
- This week, we’ll get some practice searching for images online. After a brief introduction, I’ll give students a list of images I’d like them to find. Each student will have the same list and they will have to copy and paste them into a document with the name of each image and its picture next to it. Students will then print these out and we’ll go around and compare what they found. This will show students that there are a variety of images on the internet to display even a single item and that they should take time to find an image that is appropriate and looks good.

Week 7: Current Event & I will ask students to bring in an interactive yet appropriate webpage that they think their classmates might enjoy. Students will also receive a permission slip to take home to their parents explaining what the final project will entail and whether or not they will be allowed to create their own e-mail account. If for some reason, their parents do not want them to open an e-mail account, I will give them a different worksheet to work on, though I don’t see any major problems arising from this. They will still be able to create their webpage at the end, I will just have to create an account myself in which they won’t have access except with my supervision.

Week 8: E-mail
- This week, students will set up e-mail accounts in Google because these will be necessary in order to do our final project. I will walk them through the setup process.
- We’ll go through the basics of e-mail and how to send and read e-mails
- I will then send each student an e-mail with the following instructions: Each student will be required to write and send me an e-mail about what they did during the previous weekend. This way I can evaluate whether or not they understand both how to open an e-mail and how to send an e-mail.

Week 8: More practice with e-mails
- Since most parents have e-mail, I’ll ask the students to send their parents an e-mail, writing in detail about what they did in class today. (I will let parents know ahead of time so that they may send an e-mail back to their students- for those parents that do not have an e-mail address, I will set up an adult to which the student can send an e-mail and they will receive one back from them (perhaps another teacher or the principal, secretary, etc.)) This also allows them to practice writing in sequential order, something that can be important for writing informational text.

Week 9: Google Webpage Builder
- This week, I will introduce a new technology to the students. I will also remind them to pay close attention because it will be something they’ll use in their final project.
- Today I will walk the students through the basics of using the Google Webpage Builder. We’ll practice making a fake webpage that I won’t have them publish to the internet. I’ll give them some time to play around with their webpage as well as practice importing/uploading pictures to their pages. They will use me for any additional help they need but they will also ask their peers for help as well.

Week 10: Final Project
- Today I will introduce to the students their final project in much greater detail. I am going to ask them to brainstorm on a topic they are interested in. It can be anything that they want to learn more about. They will then write a short paper on their topic, why they chose it and what they want to talk about, which will then be approved by me. I will ask the students to do research on their topic based on the practice we have had over the past ___ weeks. From there, they may choose to narrow their topic. The students are then going to create their own webpage in which they will bring together all of the information about their topic into one area for people to look at. Using what they learned in week ___, they will begin to work on their project. They will get 3 weeks to complete the project, during which, we will designate several hours per week to working on our projects in class, so that they can ask me for any help. Students will be required to have at least 4 pages linked to their homepage and pictures; if they can and would like to try, they may use video, but it is not required. They will be required to have at least one page in which they write an informational text about an aspect of their topic that must be at least 300 words in length.

Week 11: Continue with webpage.

Week 12: Continue with webpage.

Week 13: Presentation of their Final Project
- In order to make the students feel more responsible for their projects and to get them more motivated to do a good job, I will set up a presentation where parents and grandparents will be invited to our classroom to look at their child’s webpage. They can spend time with their child, while the child navigates them through the webpage and explains to their parents about how they set it up, why they chose that topic, and what their topic is all about.

• Students will be evaluated on their creativity, cohesion, and organization. A rubric will be given to them that outlines the requirements.
• It is also important to note that students will be given additional instruction throughout these weeks on ELA coursework and informational text.

VoiceThreads: The Writing Process

I chose the first option for my digital story this week. I created a VoiceThread that talked about the Writing Process. It went through five different stages of the process and gave students an introduction to each. I think I might use this as a homework assignment for students to look at on a Monday night, after I have introduced the topic to them earlier that day. I would ask students to listen to the video and bring back questions that they have about the VT the next day. I actually really enjoyed creating this project. I first picked my topic and then wrote out a script of what I wanted to say ahead of time. That way, I was able to make the slides and transitions between the stages go smoothly. One thing that I disliked about the VT though was that you couldn’t type in additional words over the images (or at least I didn’t see how that was possible); I feel it would have been helpful to be able to superimpose some key vocabulary involved in the writing process simply for reinforcement. Other than that, I felt like this was an awesome tool to use. It’s definitely different from the kinds of learning tools used when I was in elementary school!

I feel like there are TONS of different ways teachers could use this technology in their own classrooms. They could use it as a supplement to a lesson that was discussed in class that day, as I decided to do. Or, they could even use it to display their own students’ work. One thing I thought might be interesting to do, with a unit of poetry, is to have students each write their own poem. Then they could draw a picture that they felt represented that poem. The pictures could then be scanned onto the computer and then each student could record their own poem and you could create a sort of class gallery of poems. This would be something you could show to parents and I feel students would work extra hard knowing that their work would be published for others to view. For older students, this could also be used as a forum to display their own projects, just as we had to do for this class. You could assign them a topic, require a minimum number of slides, have them create a script that would be approved by the teacher, and then have them record their own VT. This type of project could give students an idea of what it would be like to work in a field that deals with technology like this—it might also get them interested in a career working with animation or other kinds of digital technology.

Map Mashup: The Oregon Trail

I decided to do a map mashup of some of the stops along the Oregon Trail. Students will be able to see the route that many took on their way west during the mid-1800s.

This lesson could probably be used with fourth or fifth grade students who are beginning to learn about history and the Oregon Trail.

I think this mashup would be really helpful for students to visualize the overall journey along the Oregon Trail. It gives them a chance to back up from the details and get an image in their minds of the bigger picture, and how far the travel west really was. I think for this unit, going through the map would be a great homework assignment. It could even be used as an introductory assignment to get them thinking about the movement westward. I also added questions into the information on the map to start to get them critically thinking about what it must have been like for people in those days. Having students go through the maps at home individually and then creating a larger discussion in class the following day would make for a great introduction to this unit of history.

Week 4 Organizing the Internet

CEP 5-Day Lesson Plan

Grade Level: 2nd Grade

Grade Level Content Expectations (Language Arts):
Narrative Text
1) R.NT.02.03 identify and describe characters’ actions and motivations, setting (time and place), problem/solution, and sequence of events.
2) R.NT.02.05 respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding.
3) W.GN.02.01 write a narrative piece such as realistic fiction, fantasy, or personal narrative depicting major story events, using illustrations to match mood, and containing setting, problem/solution, and sequenced events.

METS (Technology Standards)
BASIC OPERATIONS AND CONCEPTS
By the end of Grade 2 each student will:

1) Use various age-appropriate technologies for gathering information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, audio/video players, phones, web resources)

2) Proofread and edit their writing using appropriate resources including dictionaries and a class developed checklist both individually and as a group

All of the websites used can be found under the tag CEP on my del.icio.us account.

Day 1: Introduction to Narratives
Website: http://www.storylineonline.net/
Today, I will introduce narratives to my students. We will have a short discussion on different types of narratives. I will then have them go to the website above and choose a story to listen to. They will write down the name of the story they listened to and a few sentences about what happened in the story. This website will help them become familiar with a new narrative and begin to hear the different parts of the story. It will also give them a chance to become familiar with using an audio/video player in order to gather information to bring to class.

Day 2: The Writing Process
Website: http://freedom.up.net/~msbones/ww01000.htm
http://www.funbrain.com/spell/index.html
Today, I will review the different parts of a story with my students. We will also discuss the different aspects involved in the writing process (pre-writing, draft, proofreading, final draft, etc). I will then ask students to go to the first website in order to read about the different parts of the writing process. An important part of the writing process is editing. Using the second website, students can practice editing their spelling by choosing the word that is spelled incorrectly and then writing the correct spelling either through prior knowledge or through the use of a dictionary.

Day 3: Practice with Writing
Website: http://www.storylineonline.net/
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/
Today, I will talk with students about different formats of telling a story (books, comic strips, films, etc.) I will then have students return to the first website in which they listened to a story. I will have them choose a character from one of the stories they listened to and create a new story using that same character. They will then use this information to create a comic at the second website listed above. This website will give them a chance to create their own comic strip, where they will have to add in details such as characters, a background, and props, as well as speech bubbles.

Day 4: Creating their own Story
Website: http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/i/fictionnonp1st.cfm
Today, after the students share their comic strips with one another, we will have a discussion about fiction and non-fiction stories. They will also begin working on creating their very own short narrative. They will get practice with differentiating between fiction and non-fiction by using the website above. The website also allows them to listen to an audio clip of the short stories.

Day 5: Creating their own Story (cont.)
Website: http://katiekblogspace.blogspot.com/
Students will do a peer review of their stories. Then they will be sent home to type up their final draft using Microsoft Word. Doing so will force them to practice their typing skills as well as how to use a spell check. Once they finish writing their story, I will ask them to create a post on our classroom blog that is listed above (I will send home instructions for them to follow on how to post). Their post will include the title of their short story and a brief summary of its main characters and setting.

My Web Portfolio

When I googled my name, a link came up to the MSU College of Education’s website. This past spring I had won a scholarship and my name and picture were listed on their website of award recipients. From this, someone could learn that I had won the scholarship and potentially what the requirements for the scholarship were, but they wouldn’t find out anything else about me. Furthermore, this was the only thing that came up when my name was googled. Therefore, potential employers would not find much about me—good or bad.

With the portfolio I have now created, I hope to use this as a resource to send potential employers to in order to give them a better idea about who I am. It also shows them that I have learned a great deal about technology during my time at MSU and so I will be able to use that knowledge and integrate it into the classroom. The portfolio can also be used for parents to look at, or even students. Therefore, I structured the portfolio in a very simple manner, with links back to the other pages on each page so that it is easy to navigate through. Everything is clearly labeled and easy to read. I also provided pictures to make it a bit more interesting, because I know a bunch of text usually isn’t what most people want to look through on a website. Showing pictures of myself makes me relatable and puts a face to a name. Furthermore, I provide contact information on the homepage so that anyone with comments or questions can send me an e-mail.

Using RSS Feeds

I decided to do the third gallery project, “professional development”. The specific area I chose was technology professional development since I think this is an area of education that will definitely be changing as I progress through my years as a teacher. I found 3 really great websites that had RSS feeds that will allow me to see new updates or ideas for integrating technology into the classroom, which I made public and added as a widget on my blog. For example, one of the blogs gives great ideas on different internet technologies you can use with students, another gives information about different programs that are coming out that can be used in the classroom, and the last resource I found was a forum of teachers with general questions about technology that they could bounce of others.

RSS feeds seem as if they can be used in a number of ways. The most obvious use for me seems to be for keeping track of a potential classroom blog or if students make their own individual blogs, I can then subscribe to those. It will also be helpful for me to continue learning about technology, as can be seen above by the different blogs and websites I subscribed to. RSS feeds could also be used by students—if I wanted them each to stay on top of individual topics to report back to the classroom, I could teach them how to use RSS feeds to get their information rather than spending hours searching all over the internet each time. I could even encourage parents to subscribe to our classroom blog, that way e-mail notifications could be sent directly to them and they would not have to actually go to our blog to see what we were doing—they would automatically be notified, rather than trying to remember to look each week.

Blog Assignment

The first blog I found that I thought was interesting was Ms. Murphy’s Second and Third Grade Classroom blog. On the blog, Ms. Murphy posts homework assignments, upcoming events, and other important things that are relevant to her class. I found it especially interesting that she had put up pictures of the students. I felt like that would be a great way to involve the students because most children love seeing themselves working in the classroom. She also used it as a way to boast about students who had done outstanding work or won certain awards or competitions. Furthermore, it allowed parents to see what the homework assignments were for that day or even to hear about their child’s accomplishments.

The second blog I found that I really enjoyed was Mr. Kranzo’s Earth Science Classroom blog. Similar to Ms. Murphy, Mr. Kranzo posted the homework assignments on his homepage in order to allow students and parents to look at homework assignments. In his “About” page he tells about how he’ll also post extra credit assignments online for the students to do in their spare time. I thought the best aspect of his blog though was the “Links” page. On this page he has links to multiple resources that his students can utilize in their learning of Earth Science. This could be especially helpful for students if they had to do research for a project or he could also use it as a way to assign homework (he provided a link to an Interactive Rock Cycle that could be a great teaching tool).

After reviewing several blogs that were used in the classroom I have come up with numerous ways of utilizing a blog at the elementary level:
1) Keeping track of homework assignments (especially for students who are sick or absent for any reason)
2) Informing parents of students’ good work or behavior
3) Sharing pictures of what the class has been doing (As a scrap-booker, I know that these photos might be useful for parents to keep)
4) Using it as a tool to publish students’ writing and/or drawings
5) In the older elementary grades it could possibly be used as a place to have a discussion about topics that the class finds important or interesting
6) I’m not sure if this is possible yet, but potentially in the future making grades available to parents to view at any time in order to keep track of how their child is doing in school
7) Making links available to students that have interactive learning opportunities, or making links available to parents and colleagues for any tips on teaching or parenting that I find might be helpful for them