Technology Integration Article #2

Harvey-Woodall, A. (2009, July 16). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: How Does It Impact Student Achievement?. Online Submission, (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED505984) Retrieved September 27, 2009, from ERIC database.

This article discusses the fact that technology is increasingly more important, and students are more technologically-savvy than ever. As a result, schools are using technology to make learning more interesting and meaningful, and as a result, they may become more successful. Because of No Child Left Behind, schools are constantly looking for ways to increase students’ achievement, especially on test scores, and it is the job of the educator to learn how to use technology that can benefit the students and increase achievement. While some teachers know how to use and are comfortable with using/learning about new technologies, many are apprehensive. Lowell Monke states, “There is a hug qualitative difference between learning about something, which requires only information, and learning from something, which requires that the learner enter into a rich and complex relationship with the subject at hand” (2009, p. 8). This is the biggest challenge with integrating technology into the classroom; teachers must know enough about it to be completely comfortable teaching others about it. Teachers must get out of their comfort zone (where they have been teaching for the past 10, 20, or 30 years) and learn how to incorporate technology to increase their students’ performance.

Comic Life Reflection

I really enjoyed getting to use Comic Life, and I look forward to using it in the classroom setting. When I was thinking about creating a comic, I really didn't know what to do (especially since our workshop was geared toward an interdisciplinary science unit), but I soon realized that persuasive writing would fit into that nicely. I think in the future I may have my students turn one of their persuasive papers into a comic; that idea just struck me today. I though the program was easy to use which is a must for the classroom since we don't have a lot of time to spend teaching the students a complicated program, and when I showed my students what I had produced, they were really excited about it (especially the two students whose pictures made it into the comic).

Comic Life Group Project

Initial Posting
Our group chose to focus on the idea that "Comic Life is Out of this World" for our workshop. Our presentation and examples revolve around the theme of outer space. This workshop will show teachers how to use the different elements of Comic Life and how this program can enhance their instruction and assessment. The presentation includes sample comics that teach persuasive writing techniques, metric and customary conversions, and scientific notation. The workshop also allows teachers to consider other ways they can use Comic Life in their classrooms.

Workshop Plan
This workshop is designed for middle and secondary teachers who are interested in learning about new technology-based programs that can enhance their instruction and assessment. Teachers will learn how to use the features Comic Life offers and will discover the possibilities it offers for education. The workshop will include step-by-step instruction in how to create a comic, ideas for using the program in a classroom, and suggestions for assessment of student products. Following the workshop, teachers will complete an online survey to help the presenters improve the workshop. Additionally, teachers will add ideas for using Comic Life to a Google document page that participants can continue to check after the workshop.

Workshop PowerPoint Presentation

Workshop Handouts

Quick-Use Guide to Comic Life

Rubric

Articles
Article- How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom
Article- Using Student-Generated Comic Books in the Classroom

Comic Life Examples:

Barbara Snidow's Comic Life on Scientific Notation
This Comic Life example will introduce students to the idea that scientific notation helps people to write big numbers in a simpler form. The use of personal family photographs in this comic will help to engage students in the topic.
Rebekah Lowery's Comic Life on Persuasive Writing
Students will see the connection between a study of outer space in Science class and the study of persuasive writing in Language Arts with this Comic Life example. The teacher can use this comic as a class warm-up to have students start thinking about the writing topic for the day. Student photographs are used in this comic to increase interest.
Michael Lofton's Comic Life on Measurement Conversions
This Comic Life project is in the form of a multi-page comic book. Students can use this comic book to learn how to convert measurements between metric and customary units. This comic makes use of many different features available in Comic Life.

Flyer

Online Survey

Article about Using Comic Life

Summary and Commentary on Article

Project Reflection

Blog Entry 4

I read this chapter about supporting student communication, and my mind kept going back to my department. While not students communication, most of what we discuss during our planning time goes back to supporting student communication. Since we teach English, a lot of our time is spent planning and teaching writing, and the score they get on the graduation test in writing is all about how well they communicate. We also have English standards under the category Listening, Speaking and Viewing (LSV). These are in every high school English class, and they deal with how well the students listen to discussions, respond during discussions and view video/multimedia presentation. Since I am the most "technologically savvy" teacher in the English department, the job of creating ways to incorporate technology to increase students communication usually falls on me. It was great to read about the benefits of technology-supported communication.

Comic LIfe in the Classroom

Comic Life has so many applications to English class! I hope that I can get it on all of the computer lab computers, so I can take my students in there. They are going to love it. I would like for my students to use Comic Life to...
* retell works of literature--there is no better way to make sure students understand what happened than to make them retell the story in their own words
* create a story that takes place after one of the stories we read finishes to show what they think happens to the characters next--this involves higher order thinking skills since the students have to create their own story
* create a children's version of a text--by creating a children's story, the students have to ponder the material and decide how to make it "kid friendly"
* explain their essay through pictures and small amounts of text (this would be especially great for practicing for the writing graduation test)--this forces the students to break down their paragraphs and find the main idea of each paragraph.
* write a biography--document some part of their life in pictures and short captions
* document an interview--instead of the traditional interview, students will take pictures of the person and write short quotes from him/her

My Comic Life Example

My comic life project is part of group 6's interdisciplinary unit on space exploration. I am an English teacher, so my part of the unit deals with persuasive writing. When practicing for the Georgia High School Graduation Test in Writing, Georgia students must learn how to write persuasively. In my classroom, we write on a wide variety of persuasive topics, and doing so is a great way to participate in interdisciplinary study. My comic life project deals with students coming from science class to English class who are talking about how they wish they could study space in English. When they learn that they will, they are surprised and confused, but I explain that we will be discussing the space program in our persuasive writing for the day.

Voice Thread in the Classroom

I am now really excited about using Voice Thread in the classroom in the near future. Here are some ideas that I had on how I could use Voice Thread in my 10th/11th grade English classes
 Make a voicethread that contains paragraphs from persuasive essays. Include comments about the writing. The students will then comment about the pros and cons of the writing.
 Have the students create Voice Threads at the end of a novel unit to discuss themes that were presented in the novel. Other students will have to access the Voice Thread to post comments on how that same theme can be seen in other novels.
 Make voicethreads as a unit review. Post them at the beginning of the unit, so anytime students want, they can go online to review material that has already been covered, preview material that is coming up, or ask questions/make comments about the information.

Reflecting on Voice Thread

I had never even heard of Voice Thread before looking at this assignment. I was concerned about using it to appeal to elementary students since my knowledge of them is limited, and I was also a little worried about using a new program. Fortunately, Voice Thread is incredibly easy to use. I can't wait to get my students involved in making their own Voice Thread's and commenting on some that I will make very soon. Voice Thread seems like such a great way to get students involved because, not only can they hear me explain something, they can leave their own questions and comments about the material. I really enjoyed learning how to use Voice Thread, and I know my students will too.

Brainstorming for Persuasive Writing

Voice Thread Article

Bomar, S. (2009). A Pre-Reading VoiceThread: Death Comes for the Archbishop. Knowledge Quest, 37(4), 26-27. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database.

This article is a wonderful example of Voice Thread being used in a high school English classroom. Since our workshop had to focus on elementary uses of Voice Thread, I wanted to find an article that gave me a look at Voice Thread from a high school perspective. In the article, high school honors English teacher Shannon Bomar writes about using Voice Thread to introduce the novel Death Comes for the Archbishop. The novel, a long-standing component of her department’s junior level English curriculum, was dreaded by the students. She wanted to develop a pre-reading activity to get the students involved with the novel and cut down on the negativity toward it. She worked with the school’s media specialist to create a Voice Thread assignment that allowed the students to make their own Voice Threads concerning various topics that would come up while reading the novel. Since I teach AP Literature, I am always looking for ways to introduce novels and themes, and I hope to utilize a project similar to Bomar’s during the upcoming semester.

Rebekah's Voice Thread project

When I first saw that our Voice Thread workshop had to be for elementary students, I groaned because I don't' know a lot about teaching elementary kids. I have always taught high school, and other than having one child who has survived elementary school, I am pretty clueless. I quickly realized that I could translate my knowledge of persuasive writing to an elementary level. In high school English, we are always preparing our students for the graduation test in writing, but there is also a 5th grade writing test in Georgia. My Voice Thread focuses on brainstorming for a persuasive prompt from the 5th grade writing test which would be applicable for 4th and 5th grade students. Brainstorming results in a much better paper, but students don't always want to brainstorm because they think it is a waste of time. Getting the students interested in brainstorming and convinced that it will help goes a long way to helping them write a better essay. I think that Voice Thread is an engaging way to introduce brainstorming to elementary, as well as high school, students.

VoiceThread Project

The focus of this workshop is to demonstrate how VoiceThread can be used in the classroom to enhance learning. Examples from science, math, and language arts will be provided. VoiceThread is an engaging technological tool that promotes discussion and interaction between teachers and students. The group has collaborated and created this workshop in the hopes that you will walk away feeling confident about incorporating the strategy in your curriculum.


Workshop


Examples

• Rebekah's Persuasive writing--check out this blog for more information This Voice Thread focuses on brainstorming for a persuasive prompt from the 5th grade writing test which would be applicable for 4th and 5th grade students. Brainstorming results in a much better paper, but students don't always want to brainstorm because they think it is a waste of time. Getting the students interested in brainstorming and convinced that it will help goes a long way to helping them write a better essay.
• Betsey's Changes in Matter VoiceThread--check out her blog for more information This project was designed to present information on changes in the states of matter in a way that would be both informative and entertaining to a 5th grade audience. Throughout the VoiceThread students are introduced to the changes in states of matter through a set of characters known as the Water Molecule Family.
• Michael's Problem SolvingVoiceThread --check out his blog for more information This Voice Thread shows how problems can be posted for students to discuss and solve. The discussion will help those who understand the problems teach others as well as for those who don't understand as much to learn form their peers. The discussion also has students revisit skills practiced during the day and allows our students an avenue to talk in the language of the standards.

Flyer

Related Link

• Summary and Commentary
  

• Article

Online Survey

Reflection

Emerging Technology that Supports Content Learning

Egbert discusses declarative, structural and procedural knowledge. I was thinking about how I use technology in the classroom to support the students' learning of these three types of knowledge, and the first thing that comes to mind is persuasion. There is a huge emphasis on persuasion and persuasive writing in high school English across Georgia because the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) in Writing is always a persuasive topic. I spend a lot of time teacher persuasive writing, and this year, I have been able to utilize the Smart Board to assist with persuasion. The students' declarative knowledge concerning persuasion was dealt with through some definitions (not the most technologically savvy part of my lesson, but alas, they still have to write the occasional note no matter how much technology is available). To understand how those terms fit together, the students watched commercials on the Smart Board. We discussed how those commercials attempted to persuade the viewer, and we located the terms they had just learned to the commercials. Then, to exhibit their procedural knowledge, the students wrote, filmed (with the help of our co-teacher) and edited (using Movie Maker) their own commercial.