Final Project: Increasing Students' Understanding of Evaluating Books Based on Relevancy and Biases

Lesson Plan Analysis Map

Session One:

I am using the SmartBoard and its projector, as well as a computer and the American Library Associate Website to lecture students about banned/challenged books to help students’ process data. I will use the SmartBoard pen to write down students’ responses to banned/challenged books to accomplish the initiation and participation in a range of collaborate discussions.

Next, I separate the class into four smaller groups to work on defining terms such as censorship, banned, challenged, and controversial. Using the computer, the groups record their responses into a teacher-made, group specific GoogleDoc Spreadsheet; while students discuss the prompt, they work on producing clear and coherent writing that is appropriate to the task as well as using prior knowledge to generate new ideas. As students finish, I project their documents from the online class discussion board to the SmartBoard screen, again using the computer and projector, thus having students use technology to produce and publish shared writing products, completing online interaction and collaboration with peers. Lastly, a large group discussion based on the projected materials helps students accomplish the initiation and participation in a range of collaborate discussions (formative assessment).

For the formative homework assessment, students have to use computers and the internet to access their blogs to creating a blog post inventing a banned/challenged book title and justify why they chose the title. Students use technology to produce and publish individual writing products while also applying existing knowledge to generate new ideas.

Session Two:

Beginning with the distribution of hard copy (age and subject appropriate) challenged books and direct instruction, I separate the class into two groups to read two different challenged books; while students are reading, they are able to determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development. Students then use computers to find a group specific GoogleDoc Spread Sheet set up as a T-Chart (diagnostic assessment): on one side, they enter controversial quotes and on the other, they explain why they are controversial to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text. As students finish their group work, they complete online interaction and collaboration with peers and communicating information effectively.

The formative homework assessment is a blog post. Using computers, the internet and their spreadsheets from class, students pick one quote from their GoogleDoc Spread Sheet and use wordle.net to determine the meaning of words and phrases. The blog post requires technology to produce individual writing products the students apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas and create original works as a means of personal expression.

Session Three:

I use the SmartBoard, its projector and the persuasive paper rubric (formative assessment) handout to help explain the day’s activities to students, which will open into a large class discussion to answer questions.  The two large groups split into two smaller groups, each taking a position: supporting or opposing the banning of the challenged book to be presented the next day for an in-class debate (performance task); students will use their computers, the internet, Google, and four provided, reliable websites to conduct a short research project and gather relevant information from multiple digital sources. To be effective they must collect, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information while processing data and reporting results to collaborate with peers to identify solutions. Students then use the Persuasion Map (diagnostic assessment) to map out their arguments to write informative texts, introduce a topic, develop the topic with well-chosen facts, use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and provide a concluding statement or section that supports the information or explanation presented.

Session Four:

I use the SmartBoard, its projector and a computer to project any digital media students brought in for their debates, which must have applications integrated effectively with multiple processes and diverse perspective with multiple sources of information. As students begin their debate (performance task), using their Persuasion Map (diagnostic assessment) and hard copy books from the day before, students present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically and make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance reasoning. After the debate, I use the technique of question and answer to allow for other students to participate and practice adapting speech to a variety of contexts and tasks.

The final summative assessment is an essay. Using a computer and the internet, students swap their Persuasion Map (diagnostic assessment) with a student on the other team to write a two to three page essay from that opposing side (due the following week). As students use these technologies to write their paper, they write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant, sufficient evidence as they analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to process data. In relation to the debate performance task, the essay is a summative assessment because it measures the students' ability to evaluate literature from both sides of the argument, once verbally and once in writing.  

Original Lesson Plan via readwritethink.org 

Hunger Games Assessment

Due to my CURR-314 course, I feel that I am constantly searching for new ways to evaluate my students and make my lessons effective. When I was in sixth grade, I remember doing "mock trials" for characters in fairy tales. It was a great deal of fun, and a very interesting lesson! I feel that this type of tool should be used for grades beyond sixth grade (I never participated in a mock trial again) and can be used to aid in the understanding and involvement with the curriculum. As many classrooms are beginning to teach or talk about The Hunger Games, I feel that this very popular and well written book could be used in this way. I found this article about a Hunger Games Mock Trial that was used during "take your child to work day" in a law firm. It is very apparent how easily one could transfer over this idea into the classroom.

To adapt the The Hunger Games into an interactive mock trial, I would have to break my students into groups. I feel that if the class is large, I can propose two different trials. Firstly, there could be a trial similar to the one in the article that charges President Snow with the crimes he commits in allowing/continuing the Hunger Games. The second trial could be Katniss and Peeta's trial in the Capitol for defying the rules of the Hunger Games. From there, the students could divide into defense or prosecution; if there are many people volunteering for one side, then I would have to split the groups myself. From there, the process of research, representation and various other aspects for a court proceeding will begin.

I think the most fun in this lesson will be integrating technology. The students could use clips from the movies to show the recorded data of the defendant(s). This would be a great visual tool in the "court room." Further, students will need to do research on how court proceedings occur, this capitalizing on the internet to come up with strategies for their teams. Each student could create a blog as their character (prosecutor, witness, defendant, judge, etc) with required daily updates. In this way, students have a quick way to come up with topics and work together outside of the classroom by commenting on each others posts. Another useful tool would be a SmartBoard. If students were aware of how to use a SmartBoard, and many are, they could use it to project text from the novel and create interactive visual data to share in "court."

This would be a performance assessment as I am asking students to act out a trial that would demonstrate their understanding of the literature. There would have to be several check points for the students to make sure they were on track and give them small grades along the way. I feel that it would be intimidating to have a huge grade just be on the actual day of the "trial." While that is obviously important, it would not be fair. Therefore, I would want to grade them along the check points. Perhaps there could be checkpoints to research, the opening and closing arguments, the script, and who will be called for witnesses with the questions to ask. Further, grading them while they participate in their blogs will be useful to continue to track progress and give grading boosters. It is not uncommon for students to be overwhelmed while performing, therefore, packing in additional grades should help alleviate some of the pressure about grading and allow them to focus on the success of their group.

Books and Movies: Moving Toward Synthesis

I had originally started my blog questioning the use of videos in the classroom. Often, as English teachers, we are met with students who ask us, "Why can't we just watch the movie?" As I have already discussed, my cousin, who I am tutoring for READ411, has a general dislike for reading and prefers movies. As a future English teacher, my first reaction is to not show the movies that are based on books. I should be trying to instill a love of literature and an appreciate for the written word for my students! Reading a beneficial on so many levels - beyond being able to read the street signs and restaurant menus - reading analytically allows us to see more truths about ourselves and others. So yes, as an English teacher, I need to develop these skills for my students.

So do films based on novels have any value in the classroom? Yes, I now think they do. Clearly, this class has changed my opinion about integrating technology in the classroom. If students enjoy watching the movies, why not show them? Overall, the movies can help them better understand the literature and visualize the characters. It also opens up a whole new set of assignments and evaluations. Students should be able to compare and contrast between the books and their movies. Students should be asking WHY! Why are certain scenes filmed differently than they are written? Why are some scenes in the book completely deleted in the movie? What is changed or added in the movies that lacks in the books? Why is that important? Does it add to or take away from the themes and motifs in the books? They could blog about it, write compare and contrast essays about it, and work through group assignments all based on movies that they may have already seen.

I found this list on Amazon.com of the 25 best books that were turned into movies. Although I may not read all of these books with my class, it is important to note that The Hunger Games became a movie this year. The entire Harry Potter series was made into 8 movies. The Great Gatsby is being remade into a movie to come out this year. Even To Kill a Mockingbird and The Scarlet Letter were made into movies. Not to mention the conversations that can be had about movies that use themes to modernize them: "10 Things I Hate About You" is based on Taming of the Shrew, "The Letter A" was based on The Scarlett Letter, and "West Side Story" was based on Romeo And Juliet. Clearly, these movies are being made and based on books for specific reasons that speak to the validity and craft of these novels.

I can now see the value in teaching books side by side with their movies. What better way to relate to students lives than to develop a vocabulary with them that enables them to have the  movies versus books discussion? While it is easier to watch a movie than it is to read a book, it is a great academic tool to use both together to develop a more intellectual understanding of both books and movies!

"Revolving Door" Teachers

As an aspiring teacher, the conditions of the work environment in education are of great concern to myself and my peers. We often hear that there are no jobs, or to get a job the key is to get a masters in special education, or the key is to not get a masters until you start teaching because as a new teacher, getting hired with a masters costs more money. We're told to tutor, or to not. To substitute, but only in the district we want to teach in, if we can get our substitute license. We are often given hours of advice on what to do or not to do at an interview, what to wear, who to have as a reference, what our GPA and Praxis scores must be... It can send any aspiring professional's head spinning.

As there is a great deal of concern about how to get a job, we can often forget to worry about what it will be like once inside a classroom. We all have the image of the classroom we want to teach in, or at least I do. An affluent or blue ribbon school with computers, smart boards, and other various technology. We hope to co-teach or team-teach, have time to help our students after school, and have great support from our supervisors.  For my peers who desire to teach in urban districts, they look forward to the companionship with their future peers and the action of making a difference for students who deserve a wonderful education, no matter where they live.

Unfortunately, it appears that these dreams are becoming just dreams. According to the article "Why They Leave" from the National Education Association, more and more teachers are feeling dissatisfied with where they work. This feeling of discontentment is causing  the national turnover rate for all teachers to be 17%, and "in urban school districts specifically, the number jumps to 20 percent." Even more upsetting, 1/3 of "of all new teachers leave after three years, and 46 percent are gone within five years."  I'll be joining the workforce as a new teacher, hopefully if I can find a position, within a year and these numbers are extremely imtimidating.

The article goes on to site standardized testing scores/No Child Left Behind standards,  a lack of support, a lack of discipline from students, low pay, low funding in schools, and low respect from administration combined with the general attitude of society that teachers are unintelligent as reasons for leaving. One of my family members that is a teacher has been telling me for years that she often spends money out of her own pocket to get her students supplies, or be able to teach her lessons. Another family friend who teaches in a target district in South Jersey has told me that the students don't care about their education, and neither do their parents; the administration in his district does little to nothing to support their teachers, including in matters of disciplining students There is the national assumption that "those who cannot do, teach." Meaning, those who cannot be artists, actors, writings, scientists, mathematicians or published historians turn to teaching as a way to make money. I remember the panic in my high school when Governor Christie began to slash funding for schools, as well as the depictions of the struggles within the Teachers' Union about pay cuts, pay freezes and benefits.

Overall, the teaching climate has become more than rocky, and it only takes a few minutes to search Google and find all of these very frightening statistics. So, for those of us who feel that teaching is what we are supposed to do - those who feel that the moment when a student "gets it" or the "light bulb goes off" are worth the struggle, how do we begin to deal with all of these pressures stacking up against teachers? The main idea I can produce is to make friends with staff and peers in the school. For days that are difficult and disorganized, I would imagine that leaning on other teachers would be a necessity. For days that are wonderful and cohesive, sharing the experience with another teacher could be extremely beneficial. Further, as a unit, teachers can start to change their work environments, if we work together. There will be difficulties in all jobs, but leaning on each other may be best.

Let me know what you're thinking by leaving a comment! I'd love to hear other ideas about our situations as aspiring teachers!

Facebook, Google and Online Professionalism

The topic of Facebook, Google and Twitter are hotly debated in most of my classes. Professors constantly warn us that if we wish to have a job in the future, we cannot have any scandalous or questionable photographs or statuses on any of those sites. It's an easy warning to ignore - telling ourselves we'll worry about it when it gets closer to our employment, or simply deactivate our Facebooks when we seek employment. The issue of online privacy is an extremely important topic, as now employers are demanding employee passwords to Facebook. Clearly, the line between real life, private life, public life, and professional life are getting more and more blurred; I am feeling more and more uncomfortable.

On one hand, I agree that people should not be posting ridiculous pictures or statuses on their social networking sites. I've changed my name on Facebook, made myself unsearchable, took down my wall so my friends couldn't post rude comments, I have to approve all photo tags, and I only post statuses with song lyrics or the usual "I need coffee!" as I drink coffee everyday. I have to go to all of this trouble to have a Facebook - which I use to keep in touch with family members that live far away, keep up with alumni in my Greek organization, and capitalize on the multi-message feature to get group work done. Emails are nice, but they tend to get jumbled with messages, even when all parties are CC'ed on the email chain. When a group is larger than two people, being able to send 3+ people one message on Facebook is a convenience I can hardly do without. I spend a large amount of time making sure that my Facebook is not questionable or scandalous. So, why am I so concerned about employers asking for social networking passwords?

Letting an employer into the private messages of my Facebook is an invasion of privacy to me. It would be like handing over my cell phone to have them read through all of my text messages, or have them join the phone line whenever I made a phone call. Yes, I use my Facebook for practical means, but it is also for social networking, and conversations that are eternally "archived" and can never be deleted should not be for my employer to view. To relate this back to the classroom, it would be as if I provided that password to all of my professors now and had them evaluate my personal life. Further, if I were a teacher, I would imagine this situation would be the same if I told students that to receive their grades in my class, they would have to provide me with access to their social networking pages. It's one thing if a person wants to expose every detail of their entire lives to the internet - believe me, I am shocked at some of the things I see in my news feed - but for those of us that are working to keep ourselves professional, why the push to go further into our lives?

For my future students, this would be essential for me to discuss. There's the educational debate about using social networking in classrooms. I've seen teachers use Facebook as part of their curriculum - having students make pages for book characters, for example, is a fun way to check a students understanding of characterization and content. It becomes fun for students because they are using a social networking tool they do everyday to bring relevance to a classroom topic. I've seen the same for Twitter - assignments where students have to tweet from the perspective of a character in the novel, or pretend to add themselves into the book and tweet from that perspective - are also inventive and fun. I could see how Google+ could become a great classroom assignment. Each student could make a page for a character, and add their other classmates' characters to their "circles." Overall, I've seen these type of assignments be extremely effective and hope to implement them in my own classroom.

Still, using Facebook and Twitter in the classroom would necessitate the conversation of online professionalism and personal privacy. The same way that these technologies have started the "cyber-bullying" campaign, they must also spark discussions of privacy. I can understand why people feel that what they do outside of school or work is simply that: outside of school and work, therefore, not effecting either. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world like that anymore. I want to give my students as many tools as I can to be successful in and out of the classroom, thus taking time away from the more structured curriculum to discuss this important and controversial topic. As technology becomes more and more integrated into our lives, conversations about safety, respect, bullying, permanence, and responsibility must also become integrated into our lives.

Cell Phones are Causing Serious Problems

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding cell phones in the classroom. The schools I've been observing and tutoring in do not allow cell phones to be used in the classroom, thus ignoring the possible positive advances that integrating cell phones into the classroom may have. To take a better look at the controversy, I googled "cell phone use in schools" and found this article, "Some Schools Rethink Bans on Cell Phones" which looks at both sides of the situation.

Firstly, as most smart phones are now mini-computers. They can be used to note-taking and sharing, homework logs, internet browsers, email, GPS, taking pictures. The article points out that students can use their cameras to take pictures of projects to show parents, and of the board in class when students need clearer notes. As 70% of students now have cell phones, it is easy to see why allowing phones in the classroom is useful and could enhance a students education. As we are always trying to find new ways to make our material relevant to student's lives outside of the classroom, a cell phone seems to be the perfect tool to capitalize with.

Unfortunately, students do not just use their phones to take notes and other school appropriate activities. Frighteningly, there have been reports of students snapping photos of other students in the locker room while changing for gym class. Further, in class "sexting" and rumor spreading quickly becomes a distraction to the learning environment. Students also use their phones to cheat inc lass and text each other answers. Obviously, these actions are distracting, disturbing, and a clear violation of school rules.

So, what do schools do? One solution is to reward to students for appropriately using their phones. Another, is to do what "administrators in DeKalb County, in northeast Alabama, began confiscating phones this school year, keeping them for 30 days and searching them for evidence of cheating, pornography or other “illicit activities.” If such evidence is found, it’s turned over to the sheriff’s office." I personally have a huge problem with going through students' phones in this manner - it appears to be illegal. I couldn't imagine searching through another person's phone in the hopes of finding some "illicit" information.

As a teacher, and a user of a smart phone, I can easily see the advantages of allowing phones. Especially in an English classroom where I'll be taking notes on the board and doing verbal discussions. On the other hand, I am weary of allowing students to use their phones in class should they decide to use the spell check on their phones for a vocabulary quiz or use google to seek answers on a plot/content quiz for a book. I doubt I will allow my students to use them in my classroom. There are so many other ways to integrate technology, and I plan to provide other ways of providing my students with notes to reduce the anxiety of in-class-note-taking. I feel that the temptation to step away from school appropriate actions is far too great for students to resist. If there are other ways to keep students on task with their phones without feeling like I am policing them, I may be open to the idea, but as for now, I cannot validate students using their phones in school.

SmartBoard Technology Made Easy by TeacherTube

SmartBoards are becoming more and more common in classrooms in afluent districts - and even some target districts, as grants are given to teachers to try and increase testing scores. When I graduated high school, almost every classroom was fitted with a SmartBoard, and I'm sure, by now, every classroom has a SmartBoard. I vaguely recall teachers chatting about professional development seminars and weekend sessions dedicated to the use of a SmartBoard, but only my math teachers used them. Even in my science classes, which had a long list of math problems and the possibility of videos, diagrams and other interesting things to be added to a lesson with the use of the SmarBoard, there was very little acknowledgement of the board being there.

So, why SmartBoards? You can save data sets to them as you write on a document. You can connect them to your files to show students, play movies, and finally get rid of overhead projectors with transparencies. Erasing the board is no longer a necessity, as the digital documents seem to scroll on forever, and this is a much quicker way of keeping track of how far in the lesson each class went. I found this video on TeacherTube which gives a basic, but useful, overview of how to operate a SmartBoard.

Although this covers the basics, I can start to see how a SmartBoard would be used in an English classroom. I could upload a piece of the assigned reading and annotate it with the class; I could then save the annotation to be given to students later as part of their notes. Being able to use the SmartBoard as a projector screen would be great during class! How interesting would it be to show Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, while have the uploaded book pages next to the movie. This way, instead of forcing students to look down at their books and then back up to the screen for the evaluation process of see how the lines are read, it would all be provided and lower the levels of distraction. As a time saver, I can upload students documents and/or my notes to model for the class.

TeacherTube in general is a great website! There are lessons, documents, videos and audio on the website. Even just clicking around, there are endless ways to capitalize on what the website provides! I would really suggest that any educator at least look at it and evaluate how they can use it in their classrooms or lesson plans.