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Meeting the Common Core Standards with Technology Tools: Teaching History and English

Technology tools for smart phones and tablets, such as HistoryPin and News360, put news headlines at student’s fingertips. See the following infographic example of 2013 news consumption: 

Image: Sean MacEntee

Read more at http://newstex.com/2013/05/02/news-consumption-in-2013-infographic/

Using a headline, have students work collaboratively to compare points of view. They can work in pairs or groups based on interests, needs, or reading comprehension levels.

Students can start out with the same news story, but accessed from different sources. Discuss how and why the stories sounded different. Elicit discussion about an author’s point of view and how this affected what they wrote. Ask how it affected the students’ interpretations of the news. You’ll be doing more than making current events meaningfully—you’ll also be addressing a key ELA Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Here are other engaging ways to vary this kind of learning activity:

• Have students send emails telling different people about the news story (keeping their audience in mind)
• Students can create presentations, audio recordings, or videos of their newscast or letter with Animoto
• Then, they can watch or listen to these recordings to understand the different points of view
• Students can also send free digital messages about current events with Simply Postcards
• Modify easy-to-access lesson plans on history and persuasive writing and integrating interactive learning with textbooks to help your students achieve relevant CCSS
• Have students collaborate to create an class infographic using the information found in their searches.

Incorporating reading comprehension strategies from PowerUp, such as visualizing, self-questioning, and summarizing—can help your students make meaning of newspaper articles, blogs, and websites that present current and historical events.

CCSS Partners in Learning: Technology and Poetry

Can the the ELA CCSS inform the teaching of poetry? Does technology have a place in teaching poetry? The answer to both questions is a resounding “YES.”

In terms of the CCSS, students must be able to determine the theme poem, as well as the vocabulary (key ideas and details); understand structural elements of poems in terms of verse, rhythm, meter (craft and structure); and read and understand more complex poems (text complexity).

For the question of technology relating to poetry in the classroom, see if these three videos can convince you; the first comes from the Teaching Channel. It highlights a teacher and her classroom using technology in an interactive poetry lesson with workstations: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/poetry-and-technology

 

The second video was created by students. They created a presentation to show others how to write Haikus:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TXIY1wuPAk (see below)

 

The third video is also from Teaching Channel, and shows how using technology in the classroom through a poetry open mike can allow for student expression and building language: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/poetry-lesson-plan

 

Here are some other ways to partner technology and poetry:

• After reading a poem, have students create their own poems using Blabberize. View the lesson plan for grades 4-8.
• For poetry practice, use Wizards and Pigs Poetry Pickle, a web interactive maze game to help kids practice poetry terms. The poems are displayed on screen and read aloud every time the student’s character encounters a friendly key-holding goblin. To get to the next room in the maze, the student must identify the correct type of poetry that their colorful friend just recited (rhythm, alliteration, or rhyme). Students can gain familiarity listening and following along with the written (on-screen) text of three types of poems.

Even more ideas can be found in these interactive poetry resources:

• Teacher tips in The Poetry Friendly Classroom (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JRzbPP_66Q
• Examples of (and how to showcase) student work in Trumbull’s 4th Grade Poetry 2012 (video):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uQq8iCFdYM
• Poetry and the Common Core State Standards (image) https://pinterest.com/pin/214835844696757442/

 

Remember:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue;

Use tech to teach poetry,

And try something new!

Teaching Science and Writing with Technology

By teaching writing within the context of science instruction, you will be able to address three of the key shifts recommended by ELA CCSS. You can (1) build your students’ knowledge of science concepts, (2) ground their writing in evidence from informational texts, and (3) give them practice understanding complex texts and using academic language within science reports and other genres.

See this video from WatchKnowLearn for an introduction on how to navigate the night sky(http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=30014), or see how one YouTube member uses an app to find the north star (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ut4727-_NU).

Here is an example of how writing is integrated into a unit on astronomy: 

• Have students watch a brief video on stars and outer space to elicit prior knowledge and build background knowledge.
• Then use Stellarium (a free, online 3D sky) to view how constellations look different depending where you are.
• Going further, have students interact with NASA’s SkyMap to see constellations in the sky based on the time of year and time of day.

These tools fit well into the writing process. For prewriting, have students jot down ideas or capture thoughts in drawing based on what they see in the night sky. More research using these websites and other resources can help students create drafts. The reviewing process helps them further refine and polish their ideas within a report that relies on strong academic language. Publishing their final work can take different forms, especially for those struggling students who benefit from multiple forms of expression. By encouraging students to use multimedia tools, every report can have a student’s stamp of individuality. Students can write about the stars—and be a star!

Create Your Own Interactives!

Looking for ways to incorporate interactive media into your lesson, but are short on time? These 3 tools can have you creating an interactive resource for your students to explore in minutes. Providing your students with multiple representations of information, and multiple means of engaging with content can be great ways to differentiate your instruction. Try using one (or all!) of these tools as part of your next lesson!

Tackk (www.tackk.com): Create interactive digital ‘flyers’ with text, images, videos, links and more on any topic you desire. Creation is as simple as typing in your text and adding links. If you already have your content ready, you could create one of these in less than 10 minutes! You can create a Tackk without joining, but they expire after a few weeks. Join (FREE) to be able to save your creations. Here’s one we created using a blog post on teaching students to code: http://tackk.com/sqlcp1

ThingLink ( http://www.thinglink.com/) (FREE):  Create interactive photos in minutes. Embed links for more information on a topic (YouTube videos, Wikipedia pages, etc.). When your students hover over an icon in the photo they’ll see a pop up box with more info. This can be a great way to introduce a lesson or webquest and give students multiple links to explore for more information. Here’s a sample created by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF): http://www.thinglink.com/scene/336184843761090561#tlsite

VoiceThread ( http://voicethread.com/) (FREE; paid subscriptions): Of the three tools, VoiceThread requires a bit more effort, but is well worth it in terms of the interactive resources you can create for your students. Free accounts are available, as are accounts for teachers, schools and districts allowing you to create student accounts without needing individual email addresses. Here are a few examples of how teachers have used VoiceThread:

• 7th Grade Edgar Allen Poe responses: http://voicethread.com/about/library/7th_Grade_from_Amy_Cobb_2/
• 7th Grade Exploring Probability: http://voicethread.com/about/library/7th_Grade__Exploring_Probability_from_Britt_Gow/
• 4th Grade Studying Plants in Collaboration with Pakistani Students http://voicethread.com/about/library/4th_graders_study_plants_in_collaboration_with_Pakistani_students/

Are You Prepared to Teach with Technology?

A recent eSchool News article "Aspiring teachers ill-prepared to use ed tech effectively" discusses results from a new survey on teacher preparedness to use technology in the classroom. The survey found that teacher preparation programs are often falling short when it comes to helping new teachers learn to integrate technology effectively into their teaching practice. While many new teachers feel comfortable with using some technology tools, they are not always getting the instruction they need in pre-service training.

The survey highlights several key areas of classroom technology integration and the disconnect between what principals would like their teachers to know, and the types of technology instruction pre-service teachers are receiving. While many of the teachers reported learning how to use technology in fairly traditional ways (word processing, spreadsheets and interactive whiteboards), few had received instruction in the areas that were ranked highly by principals (multimedia creation, Bring Your Own Device/BYOD, social media, online classes). It appears that much of pre-service technology instruction focuses on teacher productivity and less on the innovative use of technology to differentiate instruction.

PowerUp WHAT WORKS can help you learn how to integrate technology tools into your teaching practice in ways that support evidence-based practices, Common Core Standards, and address the unique learning needs of your diverse students.

Teachers:

• Just getting started with technology? Explore our technology articles for simple explanations of strategies for incorporating technology into your teaching.
• Looking for inspiration? Explore our resource database by searching for “Lesson Plans” or “Interactives” to find curated suggestions for great resources online.
• Want ideas for ways to use technology tools to differentiate your content area instruction? Browse our ideas, suggestions, resources and tips in Reading, Writing, and Math strategies.

School Leaders:

• Planning Professional Development for your teachers around technology? Use the resources on PD in the School Planner to help you get started.
• Looking for ideas? Read our short articles on Professional Development and Technology Implementation and browse our suggested resources.
• Putting together resources for your teachers? Consider incorporating pieces of the PowerUp resources on Reading, Writing, Math, Technology, and UDL into a mini-PD workshop. Use sections and ideas that work best for your context and create your own customized workshop.

Meeting the ISTE NETS Technology Standards – Using the PowerUp School Planner

The PowerUp School Planner is an interactive tool to help your school document your technology implementation plans. The tool is organized into five tasks—all aligned to the ISTE Essential Conditions necessary for creating rich technology-supported learning environments for your students and teachers.
How can you use the School Planner?

Just getting started with technology implementation? 
Our Planner guides you through: Working as a Leadership Team, Gathering Data to Drive Decision Making, Forming a Shared Vision and Setting Goals, Providing Professional Development, and Providing Access to Technology Support. Each task features examples, resources, and prompts to help you think through implementing technology and best practices.

Implementing technology, but getting stuck? 
Use our PowerUp Roadmap to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in your current technology implementation efforts. What are you doing already? What areas need attention? Then jump to the relevant section in the School Planner to find targeted suggestions and resources to help you move forward!

Want to make sure that technology changes are sustained over the long term? 
The School Planner tool takes you through each major phase of implementation, from Planning, Implementing and on to Sustaining your work. Find suggestions, resources and guidance to help ensure that the changes you make in your building today will carry on.