Instructional+Technology

Mrs. Spears' 10th Grade English Language Arts **Instructional Technology**  ....

... I will use instructional technologies in my classroom to enrich the learning environment and increase student motivation. These technologies will be used as a resource, a medium to develop needed skill sets, a medium to address the needs of different learners, and a hook to motivate students and garner their attention. Some of these basic components are detailed below, and are subject to school policy.


 * Resources[[image:http://www.wsu.edu/%7Ecampbelld/crane/cranepic2.gif width="143" height="198" align="right" caption="Stephen Crane               (google images)"]] **
 * I will create and maintain a classroom website, accessible by both parents and students. I will post assignments, unit syllabuses, reminders, and a classroom calendar there. (//This will likely be a page or pages on the school's website.//)
 * //Depending on the socioeconomic makeup of my future school, this may not be feasible. I might instead prepare a monthly video on DVD, with enough copies to circulate//.)
 * I will create and maintain a discussion board for students. This board will provide a forum for homework questions, and group correspondence for projects, as well as prescribed entries and reflections on various assignments and readings. No entries will be posted unless I approve them.
 * //(Depending on the socioeconomic makeup of my future school, this may be limited to in-class work.)//
 * [|The Lee Summit HS] IT department has amassed a fabulous collection of instructional tutorials, videos, templates, and all things IT for teachers. I will resource it frequently.
 * Several outside websites will be approved for students to use, such as [|The Owl Online Writing Lab]from Purdue University (an excellent cite for MLA documentation,) and other scholarly sites as prescribed. For example: [|Poestories.com](an Edgar Allan Poe cite,) and sources from PBS, such as its pages on [|Benjamin Franklin], or [|The Stephen Crane Society].


 * Skill Sets **
 * Research: Technology will aid me in teaching students how to research, find scholarly/reliable sources, discern propaganda, and grant access to extraordinary primary sources, criticism, and educational sites.
 * Social Skills: Technology affords an excellent venue to teach these needed skills.
 * Classroom Rules and Expectations: I will have small groups script and film role-playing of various dos and don'ts from our classroom rules and expectations. These are necessary to the learning environment, and this mode of learning will be fun, help establish students' technological proficiency, and all but guarantee a high retention level.
 * Netiquette: These basic tenants are mandatory in today's world. They touch on everything from cyber-bulling, to employment skills, to college admissions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Internet safety: Again, these basic guidelines are mandatory in today's society.
 * <span class="wiki_link_ext"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">SAT preparation site: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[| Ineedapencil.com]has terrific results in improving kids' scores. There are several other such sites avaliable, and I will access their resources on ELA materials and study techniques.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Basic to advanced training in technology, such as Word, power point, and Office. Depending on the class's overall proficiency, I will bring in IT and other specialists for mini lessons, as needed. (//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">We will be using cameras, editing equipment and software that require expertise: all marketable skills.) //


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Differentiated Learning **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">This is key in inclusion classes. I will give students a choice, as often as possible, on what product they produce for for each unit of study to show their mastery/proficiency in that area. Doing so will help meet the needs of all types of learners.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Technology will help me individualize the pathways of learning for each student, especially students with special needs.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">For example, in a unit on //The Scarlett Letter//, I can have a homogeneous group of gifted students craft a website detailing the historical, socioeconomic, and gender[[image:scarlet.gif align="right" caption="google images"]] conditions of the time.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Another group of mixed ability might complete a [|webquest]about central plot elements, tropes, and symbolism.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Still others could craft a podcast in the form of breaking news, like a televised news report to explore the more macabre aspects of the work, and explore the spectators' reactions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Some could blog diary entries for one or more of the characters.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">ELL students could resource [|Sparknotes], or another similar source, to help connect to the basic plot line, as well as listen to and read along with the book on tape-thus enhancing their reading skills.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Technology offers vast possibilities for individualized instruction.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Motivation **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Games and fun activities. These can be great for reviews, learning otherwise dry material-like grammar, and to enliven learners. A few examples include:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> [|Rhythm Rhyme Results] This is one of several available sites that feature ELA lessons set to rap or hip hop music. These are especially effective with grammar instruction.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Jeopardy] This interactive template is easy to use, and provides a great medium for reviews.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Who Wants to be a Millionaire Game] template . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">This is also good for review, and collaborative learning, as jigsaw groups can construct Q and A for their classmates. Lots of possibilities.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">[|Word Swarm] This is a fun, interactive vocabulary site.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Audio Books are avaliable from most libraries, and have numerous benefits for all learners, including ELL, LD, EC and reluctant readers. The actors chosen to narrate each book help bring literature to life, and can make even Shakespeare accessable! This can often be the hook that gets kids to read.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Prezi], power point, multimedia presentations enliven traditional instruction. The added level of stimulation engages many of today's students.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Most students are motivated by an occasional alternative to writing a formal essay.

> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 90%;"> (All clips are from You Tube.)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Attention-Getters **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Bell Ringers: I will have an assignment up on the overhead, ready to be completed when the students come to class. It will only be avaliable for a few minutes, so students will be forced to come in and focus, or lose points from the bell ringer.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Online Stopwatch]I will use this with group and individual tasks: everything from bell ringers, to tests, to timed writing.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">I will periodically place a set of expectations, transitions, or classroom rules on the overhead to reprimand students who are misbehaving, without comment, disrupting the entire class, or stopping our activity.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">When the class gets rowdy, I will play approximately 15 seconds from one of the following, or similar, clips:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Who Let the Dogs Out]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Loud Toilet Flushing]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Dog Singing]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Atomic Bomb Exploding]
 * <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6zMJ8o6UWD0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>