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Embedding Technology Into Effective Classroom
Instruction
for Students in Grades 4-8
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Summer Literacy Academy, July 14-19, 2003
East Lyme Middle School
Teachers networking within East Lyme, New London, and Salem, CT
Day 1: Understanding and Exploring New Literacies
and TechnologiesEast Lyme Middle School
Teachers networking within East Lyme, New London, and Salem, CT
LEARNING GOALS |
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| What are the New Literacies? | Critiquing Webquests |
Telecollaborative Projects |
Linking to Research |
Developing Lessons |
Icebreaker Activities:
- Introductions
- Concerns and Expectations
- What are the new literacies?
- Why are they so important for me and my students?
- What instructional models can frame opportunities to practice developing these new literacies?
- Can these models simultaneously address local curriculum and assessment standards in reading?
REFLECTION
Exploring Internet Activities that Foster Literacy Learning
What is a Webquest? A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet. Bernie Dodge believes webquests are "training wheels" for thinking and research that should ultimately be removed once students internalize the process of solving problems or completing "quests" using the Internet. Webquests are often complete teaching lessons and can engage students in either short-term learning activities or long-term projects. Short-term activities result in some type of information acquisition and integration. Long-term projects ask students to extend and refine their knowledge in some way. Find out more from Bernie Dodge's Webquest Page.
Before we evaluate a few webquests from a literacy perspective, let's explore the structure and expectations of a webquest together.A webquest should include the following components:
Introduction:
Set the stage with motivater, overview or advanced organizer of what to expect
The Quest:
Clearly describe what the end result will be.
The Process:
Weave annotated resources with step-by-step support through the research or problem solving process...these are the training wheels that will one day be stripped away.
Evaluation:
Describe how student performance on both content and collaboration will be evaluated; leave room for some originality and match to standards...again, students can one day assume goal setting and evaluation responsibilities.
Conclusion:
Summarize accomplishments and possible next steps. Encourage connections to thoughts about other content areas.
A critical examination of a webquest should answer the following two questions:
- How are curriculum standards and individual needs addressed in this webquest...
- accomodating individual learning needs, opportunities for sharing, appropriate and active links
- link to standards, clear evaluation, how much time required
- For our purposes, how are the comprehension strands for expository text represented in each webquest...
- Forming an Initial Understanding
- Developing an Interpretation
- Providing a Personal Response
- Demonstrating a Critical Stance
Let's briefly explore the webquest Helping to Keep the Manatee Safe (long term)
for these components.
ACTIVITY 1:
Internet Workshop: Critiquing Webquests from a Literacy Perspective
Internet Workshop (Leu, 2002) is an instructional model for quickly integrating the Internet into the curriculum. Internet Workshop is especially useful to introduce students to sites for an upcoming unit and to develop useful background knowledge. It is also useful to develop important understandings as you work through a unit.
We will use Internet Workshop to critically evaluate webquests from a foundational literacies perspective. You will break into groups of four, choose a role, and use Internet Workshop to critique two webquests. Each of you will also be asked to make note of any NEW literacy strategies that students are required to use as they participate in each webquest task. Use the handout in your training packet to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each webquest from your perspective.
Instructional Leader: You value webquests that accommodate the needs and interests of all learners in your classroom and also those that provide unique opportunities for creative expression, collaboration, and sharing of original products. You are also responsible for ensuring that all links from a webquest are appropriate and active.
Administrator: It is your job to ensure that webquests reflect your district's curriculum standards and that students are evaluated using performance-based outcomes. To you, a good webquest is one that delivers the most learning bang for the buck. Short term activities should teach one small thing well and long-term projects had better deliver a deep understanding of the topic it covers.
CMT Level 1 Assessor: You are responsible for determining which tasks, if any, within this webquest address the first two comprehension strands: Initial Understanding and Developing an Interpretation. To you, a good webquest should require students to gather and summarize important ideas, compare or contrast information from various sources, or interpret information from diagrams, charts and graphs.
CMT Level 2 Assessor: You are responsible for determining which tasks, if any, within this webquest address the last two comprehension strands: Providing a Personal Response and Demonstrating a Critical Stance. To you, a good webquest should require students to analyze information, relate information to their own experiences or prior knowledge, take a position, or synthesize multiple perspectives.
Choose TWO of these webquests to analyze from your perspective:
- A New Twist on an Old Tale: Internet Webquest on Cinderella: Examine the Cinderella story from three different cultures and create a new one applicable to Ancient Greece.
- And Now A Word From Our Sponsor: A Webquest on Propaganda: Study techniques used by advertisers and design your own ad.
- King Tutankhamun: Was It Murder? Analyze and synthesize information about the death. Mirrors the controversy among Egyptologists
- The Truth and Nothing But The Truth: Discern propaganda and persuasive writing strategies.
- Experiencing India's Caste System: Create a simulated diary of someone living within the caste system of ancient India.
- Dilemma of the Dangerous Meatloaf: Determine and defend a position on the healthfulness of a food through analysis/research
ACTIVITY 2:
Internet Project: Long-distance learning, Tele-collaboration and Publishing
A curriculum-based telecollaborative project is a web-based activity that involves guided conversations between students and teachers through email, response activities, photographs and sometimes video. In the projects we'll explore, a teacher (or organization) designs a curriculum-based activity, hosts a website and invites students from around the world to participate in the project and share their results in some published form. Three common forms of telecollaboration (Harris, 2002) include:
As you explore the range of tele-collaborative projects below (try to select TWO to share with your group), jot down a few notes and be prepared to share answers to these questions:
- Interpersonal exchange activities (communicate electronically and exchange ideas)
- Information collection and analysis activities (collection, compile and compare different types of interesting information)
- Problem solving activities (involve critical thinking, collaboration and problem-based learning
- What types of literacy tasks are required of students (foundational and new literacies)?
- Do these tasks have the potential to broaden the literacy experiences of students? If so, how?
- How prepared are your students for being contributing and successful members of a tele-collaborative team tasked with synthesizing information and generating an original product that is published on the Internet?
- What types of problems might arise with these types of activities?
- International Schools CyberFair: Read the overview and then explore some award winners from 2002, including, for example,
- Local Leaders: The Grandpa and Grandma of Puli...9 students, ages 12 and 13, celebrate the lives of two Norwegian medical missionaries devoted to the Aboriginal people living in Puli, in the Taiwanese mountains
- Community Groups: Echoes of Cannelton: 10 students, ages 8-12, interviewed their grandparents and created a study of the past of Cannelton, using the stories of those who lived it.
- Student Created Document Based-Questions: Middle school students find primary and/or secondary source documents and create questions for their global peers to answer online. (Click on Participants to view student projects)
- Alberta Author Connection: Registered classes participate in collaborative discussion and writing projects after interviewing a featured author for inspiration.
- UNICEF’s Interactive Website: Discussion Boards display student reflections about important issues from around the world in English, French or Spanish. Many themes also include a collection of educational resources on topics like Children and War; Child Labor; and Girls and Education.
- Journey North -- Engaging Students in a Global Study of Wildlife Migration
and Seasonal Change: Students share their own field observations with classrooms across the Hemisphere. In addition, students are linked with scientists who provide their expertise directly to the classroom. The full year's investigation of natural events and cycles help teachers incorporate inquiry-based teaching and learning into the curriculum.- The Learning Space Connection Projects:
- One Voice, One Dream -- Join together to let the world know about the changes you would make if you were in charge of the world. This project will connect students across countries, cultures, and boundaries as they share their hopes and dreams for our world..
- Across Washington and Beyond -- Classrooms collect, graph, compare and exchange data about their classroom communities. Includes Schools Across Washington, Signs of Fall,
- Passport to Cultures -- Students create interest and share knowledge centered around a focus question concerning culture. Students create quick facts and "imposters" about a mystery country, and then follow up with research to find more extensive information about their country especially related to food and it's focus and role in culture. Information will be submitted and then stored at a Virtual Culture House and used as a basis for classrooms to answer the overarching question:
