Lessons in Technology

This is a lesson plan I created in order to incorporate non-fiction reading with technology:

Lesson Plan:

Exploring Non-Fiction and Other Informational Media Sources

Connection: (1 minute)

We’ve been learning all about fiction in reading workshop but today we are going to switch gears into non-fiction reading.

Teaching Point: (5 minutes)

Today I want you to explore non-fiction texts on the internet.

The Hoop Dreams article will already be loaded for them.  I will teach them about each of the icons.

We know that non-fiction is made up of facts.  This website lets us explore these facts in a better way.  The triangle/play icon means that there is a video that you can view that will give you more information you won’t find in the actual article.  The button with the microphone on it will read the text to you.  The question mark will cause a question to pop up to make you think more about what you are learning.

Let’s try to use one of these icons.  Everyone click on the triangle button at the bottom of the screen.  Watch the video. What did we learn from watching this?

Active Engagement: (20 minutes)

Now it’s your turn to explore this article on your own.  As you explore, make notes on your organizer and think about the questions and what this article is teaching you.

Link: (4 minutes)

What are some of the things that you learned from this article?

What did you write down?

Discuss the organizer and the questions.

Assessment: (20 minutes)

Back in the classroom, I will distribute the piece on Sacajawea.  I will read it to the students to account for reading difficulty but allow them to complete the instructions on their own.

Background Information
Content: What is the content you are teaching and what are the big ideas? What are the challenging concepts that students struggle with or are difficult to teach? Consider your state standards (GLCEs or HSCEs) as you develop the essential questions you are trying to address.	Standards: Students will be able to identify the main topic and retells key details in a text. Students will be able to connect and describe individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. Students will be able to determine meaning of vocabulary phrases relative to topics or subjects. ISTE-3: Research and Information Fluency-Students will be able to apply digital tools to gather, evaluate and use information. Essential Questions: What is the main idea of this non-fiction article? What does the word tradition mean? What are some traditions that your family has? How do you think R.J. Lopez feels during his performances? Why do you think that? Predicted Difficulties: This will be one of the first teaching moments with non-fiction this year.  They are allowed to shop for non-fiction books in their bedside table book bags but they have not yet examined non-fiction closely.  This will be difficult for some of them because they are not used to evaluating the structure of non-fiction texts. Some students will also have trouble with the reading because they struggle with the English language.
Pedagogy: What pedagogical strategies are you using and why? What theories of learning inform your strategies? What learner characteristics did you take into consideration?	My lesson uses inquiry based learning because the kids are exploring non-fiction while simultaneously learning to use technology for academic research.  I am using constructivist theories of learning so that the students can learn at their own pace while I am monitoring and controlling the content they have access to. I took reading difficulty into consideration for this lesson.  This includes English language learners.
Content & Pedagogy: How do these particular strategies help you teach the content mentioned above? Why choose these strategies over other approaches? Are there any technical or physical constraints that figured significantly into your choices?	The technology that I am using allows for a large amount of differentiation among readers of varying levels.  There is audio available for the non-fiction and students have the entire time to learn at a pace that is right for them. I chose this strategy because it is easier to differentiate, it is grade level appropriate and it works for the very wide range of abilities in my lesson.
Technology: What technology will you be using and why? Is the use of this technology absolutely necessary to achieve your objective? That is, would be impossible to teach the lesson without it? Remember that content specific technology (e.g., probes, graphing calculators, Geometer’s Sketchpad, United Streaming videos) are used to teach a content-specific concepts, whereas content-general technologies (e.g., Flash animation, Web 2.0 technologies) may facilitate deeper understanding by allowing students to manipulate information, explore a “network of ideas,” and investigate multiple representations of material.	I’m going to be using Time for Kids Online.  This technology combines digital issues of TFK as well as other media and audio to supplement the stories the magazine is featuring. It is not absolutely necessary to use this technology in order to achieve my goal but it will allow the students to hopefully come to a deeper understanding of how they can evaluate and gather information. It will also make it easier for those students with reading deficiencies to understand the text itself.
Technology & Pedagogy: How does the technology you have chosen fit with your pedagogical strategies and theories about learning? What types of learning strategies are employed by the technology?	The technology fits perfectly with my pedagogical approach.  Students are encouraged to do more than just read about a certain topic but they are also provided with other media sources such as video, picture, vocabulary, and further higher level questioning that goes beyond the text.
Technology & Content: How does your choice of technology help you teach the "big ideas" and address the essential questions underlying the concept your lesson addresses?	The technology is very helpful with the content because it offers audio for each piece of text including the vocabulary blurbs.  It also offers additional pieces of media to supplement the big ideas of the featured story.  These elements will allow the students deeper knowledge and resources to answer the essential questions.
Assessment: What do you want your students to know, and how will you know when they know it?  How will you assess what students have learned?  What role does technology play in these assessments?	The article comes with a worksheet that relates to the topic of the feature article.  I am planning on giving this to the students to see if they can apply what they’ve learned while researching the actual Time for Kids article. They will also be filling out an organizer during their research that follows the essential questions.