Technology Integration Plan

The original lesson plan I chose to use was from a lesson on the United States Constitution, which estimated it would take three lessons to complete. It was intended for 8^th grade students. With a lot of lecturing by the teacher and reading assignments, the lesson was pretty dull. There was only one group activity, and even then, no technology was involved. The lesson started out with a lecture and discussion about the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, which went into a lecture on the Resolution of the Continental Congress. After learning about the Constitution, students were to read draft that the continental congress then and compare it to final draft and chart the differences. The second lesson was a lecture on the Bill of Rights, which included a discussion about why a bill of rights would need to be added. The last lesson was linking the past to the present to show how the constitution allows for change over time. In my modified version of this lesson, students will use the information they have taken away from the lectures, as well as additional research, to create a final video project. This video project can take many forms (talk show, news piece, debate, etc.), but students will be excepted to portray the weakness of the Articles of Confederation, the issues that arose while drafting the constitution, and the compromises that were made in the final draft of the constitution, as well as how the constitution was established in a way that makes is elastic.  After adjusting the lesson to use technology, I have transformed the look and feel of the lesson, without losing any of its essential elements. You can see my completed matrix here.

The first content-standard started I chose for the first row on my Matrix asked students to compare and contrast the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution, specifically in regards to the decision-making powers of the national government. The lesson would begin with a lecture to teach the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and the drafting Constitution. The smart board will allow the teacher show a presentation (PowerPoint/prezi), while also adding notes provided from student participation. After the lecture, the students would participate in a Think-Pair-Share activity regarding the powers of the national government under the Articles, as well as the Constitution. While still in their pairs, the students would fill out a Venn Diagram so that they can visually represent the differences and similarities. In the original lesson, students would work alone to complete a similar task. By adding the smart board, the lesson became more interactive with the students. And the addition of the partner work introduced collaboration, as well as higher thinking by asking them to complete a Venn diagram. The group work and the use of the diagram also meet the NETS-S standard, which asks students to work in teams to solve problems.

 The content-standard that I used in the second row of my matrix deals with geography and how it led to some of the debates that arose during the drafting of the Constitution. This part of the lesson would be dedicated to research in groups so that the students could gather information about the New Jersey and Virginia Plans, which will provide material for their final video project. While researching, students should be filling out a “story board,” sheet to organize their thoughts and where they want to go while filming.  This portion of the lesson speaks not only to the NJCCCS, but also to the NET-S because students will create original works, and collaborate with peers and use technology to do so.

The third standard I chose for the next row of my matrix calls on students to determine the role compromise played in the creation and adoption of the Constitution. Students will already have some pervious knowledge on the issues that surrounded the drafting of the constitution through their research in the previous row. The first part of the lesson will have a lecture using a smart board/projector. After the lecture, students can keep researching in groups using the computer.  Groups that are done can use their storyboard sheets and begin filming. The technologies used in this part of the lesson fulfill the NETS-S portion of the standards, and in turn, will help students master the content standards as well.

The last row of the matrix will be mainly student orientated. The content standard aligned with this part of the lesson asks students to evaluate the effectiveness of the Constitution in establishing a government that could change over time. Not only do students have to recognize what principles allow for change, but also make a judgment about how effective they were. The lesson will begin with a discussion about how the Constitution was made so it can change over time. This will help students with the last part of their video projects. After the discussion, students will have time to finish their videos. At this point, students should be done filming and should continue onto editing their projects. The nature of the project (video recording, group work, video editing) aligns with the NETS-S standards I have chosen.

Draft:Building to Enhance Writing

Anyone familiar with a history class knows that there is a fair amount of writing involved. It usually requires multiple facets of research and a decent amount of organization. For some students, this can be difficult, especially for those who struggle with organizing information. A tool that I've recently become familiar with, Draft:Builder, can significantly help students write in the social studies classroom.

Draft:Builder is an educational tool that breaks down the writing process into three steps: outlining, note-taking, and writing. It is a great tool for students who have poor organization skills, a difficulty understanding how ideas and information are related, are overwhelmed by all the steps in writing a paper, and those who struggle with the writing process in general. It had three tabs at the top of the screen for each step of the process. This is good because it has three separate, yet accessible, areas for students to do each step of their paper, which helps those students who feel overwhelmed by the writing process. The first step is the outline. You add topics and subtopics on one side, while a web is constructed on the other side for you. As you work, you can move topics around, and everything will update in the web. In the next step, you can click on the topics from your outline (which have transferred into the outline tab) and add notes to them. In the final tab, you can take the notes you have entered in the previous tab and drag them into a blank document. If you've spent time taking notes, once they've been dragged into the blank document, the bulk of your paper should be written. You would just have to add an introduction and conclusion and transitions, but the bulk of the paper is already done. There are also some great built-in resources. Draft:Building corrects spelling, has a text-to-speech button, and a bibliographer tool.

I like this tool because it takes what students would normally do (outlining, note-taking, and writing), but makes it more organized. It gets students into the habit of going through this process so that even when they don't have access to draft:builder they can see how beneficial the process is. The only downfall is that this is a subscription based and can be a little costly. For schools, it would cost $890.00 per building. But that one doesn't allow for students to use this tool at home. The unlimited school subscription, however, allows for students to download the software on their home computer so that they can continue their projects at home (where a lot of the work is done). For an unlimited school subscription, it costs $315.00 per classroom. Some schools may not seen the benefit of this software because there is an argument that a word processor could do the same. But for students who struggle with organization, the slight differences would make a huge difference.

Social Media in the Classroom

Social media is the new controversy sweeping the nation. As students, we have been cautioned to watch what we write or post on our facebooks for fear of negative backlash. We have heard horror stories (and rightfully so) of future employers looking to our social media and deciding not to offer the position. As pre-service teachers, we grapple with the role of social media in the classroom. Some believe there is a place for it, others are not on board. Even though there are dozen of "facebook-esque," sites, the reality is that nothing will be as seamless as a transition would be with social media. Students would be more likely to be engaged on a website that they use often. If students can just "like," a page on Facebook, they will probably enjoy it more than if they have to go to a different website, create an account, and then do everything from there. Social Media can help streamline students lives.

What I like most about social media is that it's omnipresent. This helps interactions that happen in the classroom move beyond the school day. For some, this seems daunting, but for others it could be an interesting way to facilitate learning. Different social media's provide different tools. Twitter, for example, would be a quick, concise way to reach your students after the school day. This could be done on a classroom level, as well as a school level. For example, the school I'm doing my fieldwork in as a twitter page that they use to tweet Board of Ed information, reminders, and announcements (such as the school closing the other day). The school also retweets articles that they think their followers may find interesting, such as local articles on the school. Also, since twitter works by "following," a student can follow the educational twitter page and not have to worry about the school/teacher seeing what they post on their page. Facebook also has many useful tools that could be used in the classroom. Its easy to use and familiar to students, and those teachers who have recently graduated have grown up with it. Classrooms can create a class page where they can share links, resources, articles, and pictures. It would also be very beneficial for students who have missed class, to stay in the loop. For a whole list of benefits of Facebook in the classroom, check out this article.


Despite the multiple benefits, there are some issues that come with implementing social media in the classroom. A big hurdle in implement social media into the classroom would be the parents. Some parents, especially those who have not grown up with it, don't understand the hype of social media. My mother, for example, detests Facebook, even though it hasn't affect her life in the slightest. They might not understand how it would be used in classroom, and in some cases, it may discredit you, as the teacher. It would also require all students to have whatever platform you decided to use. Although, it is more likely that students would already have a twitter/facebook account, than an educational based social media account (edmodo, moodle, etc.).

Only time will tell how accepting people are of using social media in the classroom, but if the necessary steps are taken regarding policy and privacy, it could be a very powerful tool for learning.

Using Technology for Formative Assessments

During this sequence of the education department, I have realized how important it is to implement formative assessments in the classroom. Some teachers live in a fool's paradise and just keep going on with their lesson, even though their students aren't keeping up with them. And then the unit test comes and suddenly there are themes and ideas that the students haven't mastered yet. By using formative assessments, teachers can gauge what students know, and what they need more instruction on. There are multiple tools that can facilitate formative assessments. These applications provide a quick and easy way to receive feedback, as well as provide aggregated responses. Here are two examples:

One application that I have used as a student is Socrative. It is a response system that is available on multiple devices, as well as online. The teacher creates a group for the class (represented by a room number), and the students join straight from their devices. Throughout the lesson, the create an activity that consists of a poll, open-ended, multiple choice, or true/false questions. Students answer the activity and the results are sent in live-time. This means that the teacher can project the results in the front of the classroom (which would work well if taking a poll). In addition to getting responses, Socrative polls results for you so you can easily see how the class is doing at a glance. From a student standpoint, I can say that this is super easy to use. It doesn't feel like forced technology at all. It also seems like a simple, yet powerful, tool for the teacher as well. And the best part: it's free to use.

Bubblesheet is another application that lets the teacher quickly quiz students. It allows students to log on to their devices and answer quizzes right there in class. The questions would have to be presented from an outside media (handout, whiteboard, projector, etc.) because the app is just the answer sheet. Teachers get the results right away. This would be good to test for homework reading, or to review from the class before. Unlike Socrative, I've found a few flaws with this application. For one, it's only available for apple products. While it would be good for classrooms that have iPad's available for student use, for classrooms that don't have the luxury it could present a problem. An alternative for having classroom iPads would be having students use their own cellphones/tablets/computers (I recognize the issues with that), but if they don't have an iPhone, they're left out. Also, the free version of this app only allows for ten quizzes. As one disgruntled user noted, "what a croc! I was so excited to find this, and then to go to their website, sign up and have them say I would have to pay over 150 per teacher plus 4 dollars per kid…CRAZY!" An alternative to bubble sheet would be Socrative, but if this is something your school might benefit from, there are educational prices available.

The Cost of Technology in the Classroom

I recently came across an article about the downside to implementing technologies into a classroom. Teachers, administration, and parents have been pushing school districts to get tablets because they provide the ability to personalize learning while in the classroom. Instead of having the same format of a lesson in the front of the classroom, the tablet can be loaded with tools to help different types of learner, learn. Administrators are especially interested in the abilities these tablets have outside of the classroom, such as calendars, to-do lists, and time management apps. Since students use these technologies outside of school, integrating them into the classroom would be seamless. And the possibilities, they are essentially endless. So what's the problem?

The cost. For anyone who has personally bought say, an iPad, you know how expensive they are. So to buy them for a classroom, even at bulk pricing, would yield a bill I definitely would not want to pick up. Aside from just the price of the tablet itself, there are many hidden costs to maintaining and operating them. Other costs include maintenance, higher bandwidth, security features, and more manpower in the IT departments. And then there's the issue of educating our teachers to learn how to best utilize the new technology they have been presented with.

Another issue has been brought up the digital CEO Mike Silagadze. He wonders if the technology will surpass the life of the hype. The movement to put iPads in the classroom echo the movement to put computers in the classroom. He says, and I agree, that desktops in the classroom have become antiquated, and now they're stuck in the classroom.

I hadn't thought of it before, but this raises a really good point: technology is always changing. How many generations of iPod's have we lived through? Or even iPhones? Even though it's the same technology, each newer model boasts something new. At what point do we leave the old technology behind and invest in the newest gadgets?

Technology for Vocabulary Comprehension

Aside from content, literacy is extremely important to succeeding in social studies. All of the components of literacy are present in the social studies classroom, but I would argue that vocabulary comprehension is the most important to fulling understand the concepts, themes, and events in history. A poor vocabulary can dictate a students achievement, as well as their reading comprehension and fluency. While vocabulary comes naturally to some students, others struggle. Once they fall behind with their vocabulary it can be hard to succeed in the classroom. Fortunately, there are many resources that can help students with their vocabulary.

One online technology that can supplement students vocabulary comprehension is quizlet. Quizlet is an online flashcard resource that is available for free. Students and teachers can create sets of flashcards with vocabulary words. Once a deck is created, it can be shared and expanded so that everyone in the class can access it. The deck can be accessed from the internet and from the quizlet app, which is available for most devices. Working with the words on the go can increase the amount of exposure students have with them.

Another technology that can help students vocabulary is wallwisher. Wallwisher is an online word wall that can be created, edited, and added to by students and teachers. It can be embedded onto a webpage or blog, which makes it interactive across different medias. The wall used sticky notes to add text, and then can be added to the digital wall. I really like the idea of word walls in the classroom because it exposes the students to the words while learning, but once students go home, they don't have the same sort of access to it. With wallwisher, students can have access to the word wall at home.

The last piece of technology that I'm going to write about, Free Rice, is a little different than the previous two technologies. Free Rice is basically a vocabulary quiz resource that quizzes students on English vocabulary. For every correct answer, Free Rice will donate a small amount of rice to developing countries. While quizlet and wallwisher can be customized for specific lessons and topics, Free Rice does not have that option. There are a handful of subjects that can be chosen, but not all of them are vocabulary. For example, the geography section has flag identification, landmarks, capitals, and countries on a map. While this does not include history specific words, I think this would be a fun, philanthropic way to engage students with a variety of vocabulary words.

Bitstrips for Social Studies

If you're on Facebook, then you've probably noticed that a lot of your friends have turned into cartoon characters staring in small comic strips. This new technology, called bitstrips, are quickly becoming an internet sensation. And with the launch of their new app for apple and android, it's easier than ever to create an original comic. While these can be fun and silly, they can definitely have a place in the classroom (that's not to say that a classroom can't be fun and silly). If fact, the creators of bitstrips have launched a "bitstrips for school," website that's dedicated to integrating this technology into the classroom. The possibilities are endless. For a social studies teacher, this can be a great resource.

To get started, you create an avatar, or a digital representation of yourself. You can then add a background from the library, or create your own. You can also add other people (even famous people!), props, pets, etc., as well as other pictures. The school orientated website lets you do a little more, like upload to a class folder, than the free version. There is also an option to share and remix comics (much like the Canvas tool we have used in the past). I think this would be really awesome for any classroom because you can do so much with it. The website suggests using it for students to introduce themselves in the beginning of the year. For the social studies classroom, this would be a fun way to do many activities. For example, you could have students predict what the effect of something out be and turn that into a comic. Or students can portray famous events or moments in history. This would also be a great resource for students who struggle with writing. There was a technique we learned in our Language and Literacy class that helped students to get their ideas down without having to write. Instead of writing about a topic, we drew it and had to explain it to someone else. With this tool, students can digitally create a comic and share it right on the website.

While I can not access the bitstrips for school website, it seems like it would be a good resource of teachers. You can see students work individually, as well as give feedback. There are also a lot of curriculum-relevent activities by grade and subject area. And if there's nothing that works for what you want, you can create new activities and share them for other teachers. Many of the testimonials claim that their students love this tool. Someone wrote that it was one of the best application for use in the classroom. Almost all of the testimonials said that it helped their most reluctant writers with their work.

Bitstrips also engage many areas of a students learning. It helps students with the visual literacy and media literacy, which are located in many core curriculum standards. They also help students think critically, recognize emotion, digitally tell stories, support collaboration, and increase social skills. I honestly hope that this sticks around a couple years so it's still relevant when I have my own classroom!

Collaboration Canvas

I remixed my original canvas with an English lesson on bullying. My lesson was "Colonial America." It may seem strange to see a canvas on Colonial America mixed with a lesson on bullying, because it is.  I searched through all the canvases at my disposable, and could not find anything that went well with my lesson. Geography and religious tolerance/tensions were the unit themes I was covering, and I could not find anything in the canvases that covered those issues. The original lesson that I based my first canvas on was the Salem Witch Trials. I decided to take that one lesson and collaborate it with the lesson on bullying. I think that there is a lot to be said about modern bullying and bullying that occurred over four hundred years ago, so that is the direction that I took my collaborated lesson. I think that the English side of the lesson would be familiar for students, but the social studies side will require some out-of-the-box thinking.

http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2727&mode=edit#network6

Unit Plan Canvas

This PLAYground canvas is intended to be an introduction for a middle school unit on Colonial America. The unit would stretch from the creation of the first colonies and stop right before the road to revolution. A lot of the unit would focus on the different interactions between peoples and how geography and religion shaped the colonies. My previous lesson had been on the Salem Witch Trials, which would work well for the religion aspect of the unit.

I approached the PLAYground with a little bit of skepticism; I wasn't entirely sold on the idea and could not see the benefit of a canvas. But after beginning the process and adding widgets and such, I actually started to really like it. For the most part it was easy to learn and user friendly. At time it was a bit glitchy, but I was able to work around it. The only aspect of this that I think could use some improvement would be visual components. I did not like how there was only a few colors to choose from and no font options. I found it harder to put emphasis on some boxes when everything generally looked the same. Also, I wish there was a way to increase the size of the canvas. I noticed that the more widgets I added, the more grid space I got, but that made it harder to navigate and I decided where and how I wanted to put everything. If it had something like a spreadsheet where you can just scroll in either directions forever, I think that that would make it easier to work your way to a finished product.

http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2307&mode=view#network6

SMART Boards in the Social Studies Classroom

After browsing many other blogs about technology in the classroom, I noticed that a lot of people were writing about smart boards in the perspective content areas. Many people have wrote about how beneficial smart boards are in math, English, and music. I was surprised how many people were talking about smart boards. This probably surprised me because in my whole twelve years of public education, I never came in contact with a smart board.

Well, I did. Once. In middle school we had to spend the day in a different classroom because the automatic feeder on our trout aquarium fell in the tank and fried all the fish over the weekend (which you can imagine did not smell well). This classroom had a smart board, but it was obvious that it wasn’t used often. It was on the back-board of the classroom and there were books stacked in front of it. My teacher made reference to it, but never turned it on or used it. So after reading so many blog posts about it, I was intrigued.

I watched a few YouTube videos, I can only say now that I hope to have a smart board in my future classroom. This is a true piece of technology in the way in which is takes multiple piece of machinery and puts it into one. It is similar to a projector because it, well, projects an image from a computer. But it is also similar to an overhead, where a teacher could write on the transparency. Unlike just writing on the whiteboard over the projection, writing on the smart board is interactive and the user can save the creation. I really like the idea of student-created forms that can be revisited by the students later. For example, if there is a brainstorming event or something similar during a lesson, students can come up and write their ideas of the smart board. The creation can be saved and sent out to students, or just tucked away by the teacher for future use.  For social studies, a smart board would be great because it would be easy to pull up maps and primary sources for all students to see. Also, for classrooms that may only have one or two computers, this is a great way to maximize the use of technology in lessons. However, if a classroom has only a few computers, it may be unlikely that they can afford a smart board.

Technology & Pedagogy

The lesson I chose to do for this assignment was on the Salem Witch Trails. I had originally chose this lesson plans because it was different than a lot of plans I had looked at, and it piqued my interests. This lesson plan, which estimated that it would take 4-46 minute lessons, employed a variety of teaching strategies and technologies. The main technology that was being used was the internet. A large portion of the lesson was a teacher guided look into an interactive website that would provide information on the Salem Witch Trials. After each section, there would be a discussion and review of the material that was just covered. There was also a group activity involving map analysis, and some teacher lecturing. For the end of the lesson, students were to simulate a 21st-century "witch trial." I think that the lesson did a good job aligning the goals and standards with the plan itself, but I think it would have been done better. After digging deep with the standards in front of me, I was able to find how some of the lesson fulfilled them, but they were not expressively clear. I did feel that some of the content was forced and maybe even unnecessary. For example, one of the  standards was analyzing maps. The students were to analyze where the accused and accusers lived in Salam and discuss why they came from all different parts of town. I honestly did not understand why this was an activity; there are much better places to incorporate map analysis to meet some core standards (ex: lessons on the Thirteen Colonies, or any war). In terms of how necessary the technologies that were used to achieve curriculum goals, I think that they are very necessary. The internet and research are a great way to help understand some of the goals outlined in the NJCCCS.

Spreadsheet

Skype for Social Studies

 The more I research on tips, methods, and resources for integrating technology into the classroom, I feel like I’m running into the issue of using technology for technology’s sake. A lot of the ideas I read about seem so forced and so time consuming that I wonder if it’s even worth it. One of these ideas is using Skype in the classroom, but once I actually began to look into it I saw many benefits.

The best place to go to connect with other classrooms is the Skype Education website. This is a page where classrooms can post topics that they are interested in Skyping about. When you first go to the website, you choose the subject, and then you can search through postings on different topics. Each topic has information describing who is posting the ad, and what they are looking to do. Some postings are younger classrooms talking about their hometown, and want to connect with other young classrooms to hear what they like about their town. I saw a lot from different countries wanting to connect with an English-speaking classroom. There were even some debates going on in the high school grades.

The best aspect of using Skype in the classroom is being able to connect with other people from different locations or cultures. I think that the hardest part of teaching social studies is having students, especially younger ones, grasp the ideas that they don’t normally come in contact with. This is especially true with teaching about different cultures; if students don’t interact with different cultures, they may think that they are “weird.” I think it would be very cool if they could interact with those cultures over Skype to help them be more culturally aware.

Another pro to using Skype is that it is super cost effective, and using the service is free. So if a classroom is already equipped with a webcam, speakers, and microphone, then that’s basically all that is needed. Many schools have a tight budget, so this is a cheap way to help students connect to the outside word. I would assume that for many schools, field trips are not a high priority when it comes down to money, so this can help students learn from outside the classroom.

Before I started looking at the website and reading about different requests that classrooms had, I was really on the fence about how useful Skype would really be. But now I can’t wait to use this tool in my classroom one day. 

History of Technology in Social Studies

The Scantron: making history have a 'right' answer since 1972

History Engine

The History Engine is an online educational tool designed by the University of Richmond intended to help students “do history.”  It gives students the opportunity to learn about a topic by doing the work of a historian. They do the research, the writing, and the publishing (to the website’s database). I believe that used correctly this could be an interesting a beneficial tool to use in my classroom.  As described by the HE website, their main goal is to make history creative and collaborative in the classroom. They also don’t want the database to recount well known events that are likely in the textbook or curriculum, but rather small pieces of history that make up the bigger picture. The database is available to other registered users, as well as the public.

Each entry published by the student is called an “episode,” and is uploaded as a final draft. Each episode is a story. It can be from a battle, a person, a congressional act, to a correspondence of letters, or a series of newspaper articles. A finished episode will have a title, a time frame, a location, and tags. The text itself should be comprised of one more primary sources, and they should be contextualized within the framework of secondary sources. At the bottom of the entry there are citations for everything referenced in the episode.  

I played around on the website for a bit, and found that it was easy to use. Aside from the database search and about tab, there are pages for the teacher and for the student. For the teachers, it has a guide on how to get started and how to work HE into their syllabus. There are a ton of tips and way to formulate an assignment and get the full advantage out of it. Under the students tab, there are options for research, writing, and “your goal.” I was unable to log in or create a log in, but the research and writing pages have a lot of tips of how to research.  Registering for HE seemed pretty easy and straightforward.

Searching for a topic was also user friendly. I find that a lot of databases can be confusing or overwhelming if students aren’t familiar with them, but this was just a simple key word search. There was an option for a basic search, as well as an advance search. You can also explore tags and subjects. The results are also laid out so that you can get most of the information you need at a glance. Here’s an example of a search result:

It has the date this event happened (March 25^th, 1911), the location (New York, New York), and the subject tags. It also shows the first couple lines of the entry.

By using this technological tool, students will (hopefully) gain a higher appreciation for primary sources and integrate them into their future researches.