Final Project: Technology Integration Matrix

Introduction to The Outsiders

For this project, I used a lesson plan that I created this semester in my Methods class. It is an introduction to the novel, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. I started by thinking about what the overall goal of my lesson was. The lesson uses pre-reading activities to get the students thinking about the themes of the novel and how those themes are relevant to their own lives. As such, the goal I came up with was to increase student understanding of the themes in The Outsiders and activate prior knowledge about those ideas before reading to make connections to the text.

Next, I looked at the content standards for English Language Arts in 8^th grade. First, I picked standards that I felt directly supported my goal: SL.8.1 and RL.8.2. Then, I made a list of all the teaching strategies I wanted to use for the lesson. I filled in the strategies that corresponded to each standard. After I did that, I still had a few strategies remaining so I filled in the standards that supported them: W.8.4 and W.8.6. Now that my first two columns were filled in, I moved on to the technology column. I looked at the teaching strategies in each row and, using the spreadsheet from Interactivity #3, I chose the technologies that I felt best supported each strategy in meeting the standard it corresponded to.

Once I worked out which technologies I wanted to use, I added another column on the left side of my spreadsheet under standards. I looked at the NET-S to fill in the standards my lesson was already indirectly supporting in addition to the content area standards. At the end of this long process, I found that all of my rows really seemed to add up. The spreadsheet is arranged chronologically in order of strategies used during the lesson.

In the first row, I have the students engaging in collaborative discussions – first with a partner, then in a small group, and then with the whole class - about stereotyping. The students are actually engaging in an activity that demonstrates how easy it is for us to stereotype others by making judgments about people in photos. I decided to use a SMART board to support the Partner Work the students do first. They will look at the pictures on the SMART board and list the characteristics they come up with for each picture directly on the board. We would refer to the work done on the smart board throughout the rest of the discussions listed in the first row.

In the second row, the students are learning about the themes and central ideas of the text, which they would already be thinking about from the activities in the first row. The students would discuss what it means to be an outsider, which would lead into a discussion of how people become outsiders and what they do to avoid that label. Each group would get a situation from the novel that exemplifies the theme of forming identity as a member of a group, bullying/violence, being stereotyped because of the groups one belongs to, or submitting to peer pressure situations to avoid being labeled as an outsider. They would have to figure out the theme, explain how it is relevant to them, and provide a real-world example of how it is relevant to them. Then, they would compile these findings as a class in a GoogleDoc spreadsheet, which would be assessed for accuracy and thoroughness.

In the third row, students will be asked to free write for 5 minutes about a time when they felt like an outsider and how it made them feel. They will also write about what can be done to help people who are considered outsiders. This would be assessed informally as the first draft in a writing assignment. They would upload the document to GoogleDocs and peer-edit each others’ writing in pairs. I would assess their peer-editing by the thoroughness, accuracy, and validity of their contributions.

In the last row, I have the students publish the final draft of their writing in a short blog post. The final draft will be assessed using a rubric to evaluate usage, organization, clarity, and requirements met. While I had some technology in lesson before this project, it looks and feels more authentic now. By infusing the lesson with technology, I was able to add a dimension that it was lacking before. 

The Role of Social Media in Schools

This week at my fieldwork site, the students were given some free time on the laptops in the classroom. A few of them were listening to music online. My cooperating teacher commented on the fact that they always find ways around the blocked sites. This reminded me of how students at my own high school used web-based proxies to access sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube. Although most schools try to block social media websites on school servers, there is no denying that the students frequent these sites and use them to connect with each other.

According to this article, Rhode Island recently passed an anti-bullying measure that, among other things, bans all social media websites on school grounds. The bill does not specify what a social media website is, thus leaving it up to schools to decide. This can be risky because it allows for the censorship and, ultimately, abuse by administration when interpreting the law. Not to mention - as the article does - that social media sites are not inherently any more dangerous than other sites, and that students will still have access to these sites on school grounds with their cell phones. Rather than allow the students to access risky sites under the supervision of teachers and administrators; rather than creating teachable moments where students could learn about cyber-bullying and social media sites, the schools prefer to avoid the topic altogether and ban the sites. The best part is that this doesn't change things for students, who can just access those sites at home or on their phones. As teachers, it is our job to show students how to use this technology in safe and healthy ways. Unfortunately, most of us won't be given that chance.

Interactivity #5: Copy Right and Fair Use

Audience, Purpose, and Language Use in Electronic Messages

For this interactivity, I completely revamped my spreadsheet. Using the example in Dr. Domine’s article, “4 Steps to Standards Integration,” I was able to see what this matrix was actually supposed to look like and accomplish. I abbreviated some of the information on my spreadsheet. I had previously listed the standards I was referring to in their entirety, so I changed that to list just the standards and not their full descriptions. Then, I re-arranged my spreadsheet according to the cycle of media literacy as described in the “4 Steps” article. This was enlightening for me because it helped me to see where the lesson plan still had some gaps. The lesson plan had the analysis, evaluation, and production stages covered, but it lacked in the areas of access and communication. I actually filled in the “access” gap in my original analysis of the lesson plan in Interactivity #4, so I just had to fill in the communication part.

The “4 steps” article also had a helpful list of teaching strategies, which made it easier for me to articulate what the lesson already had planned, as well as what I envisioned adding to it. Some of the strategies (group discussion, for example) did not really need the support of technology in order to work well for the students. As such, the lesson is a bit on the simpler side as far as technology is concerned. By breaking it down into the different stages of the cycle of media literacy, I was able to assess more easily what was missing in order to decide what could be added to the lesson. In all, I am much more satisfied with this spreadsheet and the way it is organized.

Still, because I used fairly simple technological resources for the lesson, there wasn’t much to be done in the way of accommodating for copyright and fair use. Much of the technology I used (Google Docs, E-Mail, Word Processor, Projector) was used as a vehicle for producing and presenting student work. In fact, the only technology I used that might need conflict with copyright and fair use guidelines is the research in the access stage. I planned for students to brainstorm a list of Internet Abbreviations they have either seen or used, and to use an Internet Search Engine to define them or look for more. At no point in the lesson do the students actually download any materials off of the internet. They would, as a class, compile a master list of Internet Abbreviations in Google Docs for homework. In order to be sure that they are complying with fair use and copyright laws, I would ask them to cite any outside sources of information and link back to the websites where they found them The rest of my technologies, as noted in the spread sheet, do not require the use of copyrighted materials. As such, there aren’t any other accommodations that would need to be made. 

Great Ideas for Technology Use!

Throughout the semester, I've been speaking to LOTS teachers and students - from my fieldwork placement and TFL 1 class especially - and trying to pick their brains and soak up all the information they can give me about how to be an effective teacher: what works for them, what they like most, what they dislike most, tips and tricks, etc. Not surprisingly, teachers and students across the board seem to agree that using technology is a great, fun way to engage students in their own learning. Still, I have found that many teachers don't use technology as much as they could. Worst of all, when they do use technology in the classroom, they are doing the same old boring things. If there is anything that I can take away from this class, it is that [as I've said, time and time again] the possibilities are limitless. I feel like I find new resources and websites to use every day and they are sparking some creative ideas for activities and lessons that I cannot wait to implement in my own classroom someday.

While perusing the internet today, I came across a resource that was really exciting for me as a future teacher: edtech VISION's "Got Books? Promoting YA Literature Using Technology." This (article? blog post? website?) offers some innovative ideas for using technology in the English classroom. What I liked most about these suggestions is that I would actually want to do most of them myself! Thinking about how excited I am about them, and how excited my students would be to try something new, makes me want to get in the classroom and try them out right now! I am inspired! In case you were wondering, my favorites are the Book Trailers, Book Awards Ceremony, Wall Wishers, and Poetry Break! I really wanted to share this with you all so you could benefit from it too. Hopefully it will help you generate some ideas of your own.

Interactivity #4: The Pedagogical Uses of Technology

 Audience, Purpose, and Language Use in Electronic Messages         

I have often heard people complain about how texting and abbreviated language have ruined students’ writing. The overview of this lesson plan explains: “Students like to communicate by instant messaging and e-mail-and since they've embraced it, why not use this writing opportunity as a teachable moment? … Addressing the times when students do use Internet abbreviations in an inappropriate writing situation is simply a task of discussing how audience and purpose affect language use.” Bringing a discussion and analysis of this language into the classroom is a great way to engage students, while addressing an important issue that students need to consider while writing.

The lesson plan seemed to be pretty solid in connecting the curricular goals and teaching strategies to technologies used. If I were to implement this plan, I would probably try to use more technology just to make the lesson more interactive. I would use Google Docs for the peer editing step since it allows for tracking who is making revisions and when, making comments, and chatting about documents. It would be interesting to see the juxtaposition of the language used in formal emails and the language used to talk about it in using the chat or comment features. I’d also get the students more involved by making them research and come up with the list of Internet Abbreviations. The technology is essential to the curriculum goals because it contextualizes the assignment while they are completing it! 

Online Courses: The Future of Education?

We all have experience taking online courses, even if this is your first one, but most of us did not get to take online courses before we got to college. I stumbled upon this article in the Wall Street Journal, which talks about how online courses are steadily being more and more integrated into the public school curriculum. More than that, we are seeing that more students than ever are enrolled in all-online schools and that movement seems to be gaining popularity. The issue of online curricula in public schools certainly is interesting, and something that we, as teachers, need to keep an eye out for.  

According to the article, "It's all part of a burst of experimentation in public education, fueled in part by mounting budgetary pressures, by parental dissatisfaction with their kids' schools and by the failure of even top-performing students to keep up with their peers in other industrialized countries." While putting students in online schools may be easier on state and local budgets (by up to thousands of dollars per student every year), we need to think about what is really best for our students' education. As someone who believes that all students learn differently, I think it's important for students to have options such as these. The article points out how students with health problems, strict sports training regiments, and aspiring actors/actresses benefit from online courses, which is great. This is also a desirable alternative for students who are bullied in school or for parents who are trying to keep their kids away from peer pressure. 

Still, we must make sure the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. According to the article, students enrolled in online schools are generally not outperforming their traditionally-schooled peers on state-wide standardized tests - although this could be attributed to factors that arose before the student was enrolled. Many students are losing that face-to-face interaction with other students and teachers, although some schools are going for more of a hybrid approach. The article makes a statement about structure and interaction:  "Kids who work closely with parents or teachers do well... 'But basically letting a child educate himself, that's not going to be a good educational experience.' The computer... can't do it alone."

As future teachers, this is an option we need to be informed about. It seems as though advocates for this type of online schooling are really looking to eliminate or minimize the role of schools and teachers - and at what cost? Not all students are really going to benefit from this type of free-flowing instruction. Based on some of the students described in the article, we can see that it can really go either way. Frankly, it is scary to think about the ways this type of education is being framed - as revolutionary and radical - when all it is doing is changing the ways in which students receive the same exact curriculum.  The content itself is not being altered in any way to be more engaging or to allow for more critical pedagogy. Still, I do believe it can be a "second-best" alternative for students who, for whatever reason, can't or won't attend a traditional public school. What do you all think?

Assistive Technology in the Classroom

We  all stand witness to the incredible rate at which technology progresses these days and to the ways in which that progression affects education. One of the most amazing opportunities the classroom is presented with thanks to technology, in my opinion, is assistive technology. Assistive technology is technology, such as speech generation devices, designed to help people with disabilities. This type of technology not only promotes independence in students with physical disabilities, but also gives them the opportunity to participate in the school community in ways that would be impossible otherwise. 


A 2005 Edutopia article - "Disabled Bodies, Able Minds" - highlights the possibilities for using assistive technology in the classroom. It is truly amazing to see what technology can do for our students with special needs, and I'm sure assitive technology has only gotten more intricate since the article was first published. I found a fascinating article that focuses on a futuristic new assistive technology for the blind. With developments like these, who knows how much of an impact assistive technology will have on classrooms in the future; I can't wait to find out!


  Of course, this technology is not inexpensive, but "Sheryl Burgstahler, director of DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology), an advocacy program for disabled students at the University of Washington... points to the benefits, and she wonders how schools can justify not investing in tools for disabled students." I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment - if we are truly committed to providing educational opportunities for all students, this is an investment schools cannot afford not to make!


Even though we may not all be going into special education, we are bound to find ourselves teaching students who use assistive technology at some point in our careers, especially since there is such a push to mainstream students into inclusive classrooms. On the less extreme end of the spectrum, things like text-to-speech software and hearing aids will almost certainly cross our paths and I, for one, am thankful that this technology exists and allows children with disabilities to feel like they belong in the classroom.