Structuring Online Research

When I initially worked through the case study, I was a strong proponent of the WebQuest Model. I liked this model because of its structure and the evaluation at the end that clearly indicated how a student would be graded. In high school, I can remember growing frustrated with open-ended assignments with unclear standards. The WebQuest guides students through a step-by-step process that is easy to follow regardless of their technological background. Additionally, it provides a clear rubric that explicitly states how the teacher will grade the assignment.

After talking with others in our group discussion, I started to think slightly differently. I began to recognize the value of using something exciting like the Historical Scene Investigation, where students might not even realize that they are completing work because they are having fun. In fact, the students might look forward to this assignment. Additionally, the Web Inquiry allows student to be more active learners and might hold their interest more.

To structure student research online, I see myself combining elements from all the different models. I would use the basic sturcture of the WebQuest, but it would be neat to include a short case study within the Quest. Additionally, it would be good to have a follow up opportunity for students to explore something that interested them. Perhaps some optional websites that they could look at on their own time would be in order. I might even pull in a little from the Big 6 model and ask students to explain why certain websites are more valid than others.

Digital Movie Making in the Classroom

If another ninth grade English teacher in my building asked for my advice in designing a movie-making project, I would first recommend some fun projects that her students might enjoy. For example, if the other teacher's class is reading "The Cry of the Beloved Country," which is set in South Africa, I might recommend that her students make their movies about the South African culture and how different races are viewed in that country. This could provide background information for the novel. If they were reading "Les Miserables" about the French Revolution, I might recommend either a news story or documentary on the French Revolution, which would help the students understand that time period.

Another option would be to take "Les Miserables" and have students make a movie about a pressing theme or virture that they see throughout the novel. Not only would this help students think critically about the book from beginning to end, but it would also meet requirements in character education, if our school required virtues to be incorporated into the classroom. In Australia, a project on a virtue worked well for younger children as indicated in our reading, but it would be neat to make it more sophisticated for high school students.

As far as structuring the project, I would recommend that the teacher require the students to brainstorm ahead of time on the computer and show the teacher their plans before actually filming/putting together their movies. This could be part of the grade. Also, a basic background in emotional intelligence, such as using the color red or jagged lines to evoke excitement would be useful. Lucas describes these principles in his article. I would also recommend that the teacher score students on concepts to be sure they are not only included but that they are also in a logical order. There would need to be some assessment of teamwork so that everyone in the group contributed to the project. Additionally, I would recommend that students be given a list of technological features to include in their movies. The movie-making process would begin with brainstoroming and background information on both concepts to include and technology skills; then students would begin putting their projects together. The final step would be to allow students to present their movies to each other.

Finally, I would caution the other teacher to be sure he or she has "hard scaffolding" or clear guidelines for students to follow as indicated in Professor Hofer's study. He or she should also be sure to learn technology skills and have someone else available to call on for help. Finally, the teacher should make sure the class stays on target and that the project does not get too out of control.

Generative Technology and the Classroom

Blogs would have a significant impact on my future teaching. Students would enjoy the ability to communicate their ideas with a larger audience and get feedback. Since there are many different free blog options to choose from, I could allow students flexibility to choose the format that worked best for him or her. Additionally, I could more easily grade blog assignments because I could set them up in aggregates, so that my computer would notify me of new entries. This would benefit students because they could get feedback from me more quickly. The blog would also allow for creativity. Students could write a journal from the perspective of a character or answer creative questions that I posted for them on a class blog.

I would harness the advantages of this technology by encouraging students to read each other's blogs. Rather than having peer editing, where students read each others' handwritten work, I would have blog editing, where students read each others' blog postings. I would also take time to review my students' entries and provide them feedback in a timely manner. Hopefully, this quick feedback would encourage students to post on their blog.

To encourage creativity, I could really have some fun. I would assign the students a journal entry much like the journal entries in the Historical Diary on Immigration, except instead of being in the voice of an immigrant, I would require students to write blog entries in the voices of various characters from novels we are reading. In addition, I would have a class blog, and provide students with a password so that they could answer prompts much like The Secret Life of the Bees Blog, where students answer a variety of questions. I might even have students post artistic representations of aspects of the book, similar to those that the teacher on that site posted. One other great opportunity would be to communicate with others about novels like Patrick Henry High School. For example, if we were reading Pride and Prejudice, we could contact the Jane Austen Center in Bath, England and ask experts at the Center to respond to our blog questions.

Universal Design for Learning

The Universal Design for Learning consists of three parts including: broad learning goals for students, the ability to individualize learning to match the specific learning style of each student, and assessments to be sure that students are truly learning. With UDL the teacher takes a supporting role in helping students find meaning through analysis, problem solving, and synthesis rather than teaching one objective truth. UDL can reach all learners in the classroom because by reinforcing content with technology students who learn differently have the opportunity to learn with the method that best works for them. Additionally, teaching the material in different ways reinforces material for all the students in the class. For example, a teacher might use a website or printed materials to teach a lesson. Then, he or she might reinforce that lesson with a verbal explanation of the visual materials as well as e-text, which reads the material aloud. This way an auditory learner could better understand the material, and students who learn visually could have the material reinforced.

In my classroom I would like to use UDL principles. While teaching Shakespeare, I might find a website or e-text so that students could hear a play read aloud with headphones. I might also find visual images that represent the basic story line online and have the students put them in order. In this way, I would accomplish the general goal of teaching a Shakespeare play and the more individualized goals of matching each students learning style. At the end, I could give a brief quiz with basic material from the play to be sure students knew the necessary information.

Images in a High School English Class

Computer images could be very helpful in Secondary English Education. If we were studying a particular novel, one option might be to show art work from that same time, so that students could get a feel for the context of the novel. Additionally, if we were studying a particular author, it might be helpful to show images of that author throughout his or her life while lecturing about that author. Students could even take photographs of the outdoors and use them as illustrations in a compilation of their own poetry.

Overall, I think images are a good idea in any subject area because they are helpful for visual learners. Reinforcing verbal information with an image helps a teacher relate with more students that learn in different ways. If there is a way to involve students in finding images, that woud be helpful for a third group of learners that prefer a hands-on approach.

What is your vision for the appropriate use of technology in high schools today?

I think that using technology is important especially if the objective of education is to prepare students for the job market of the future. Even if it is not possible to teach students the more complex aspects of technology, they should at least learn the basics (word processing, powerpoint, how to find a credible internet source, etc...).

With the use of technology, it is important to monitor students so that they stay on task in the classroom. Using technology opens the door to students playing games in class or checking their e-mail. Additionally they can be involved in more serious infractions such as looking at inappropriate websites or cheating on assignments. Using technology is important, but standards for appropriate use of technology should be equally important to learning new programs or skills on computers.