Final Project

This assignment was probably the most difficult for me to accomplish in that my teaching style and lessons are not so much single CPI oriented in that I focus on one specific standard, teach it, and then move to the next, but rather I tend to integrate the CPI's throughout the lesson, possibly touching on all of them in one learning experience, and maybe only one in the next, and so on. This is especially prevalent when doing "big picture" lessons that have students exploring events that happened over decades and affected nations, rather than single focused events or personages.  

For this lesson I chose to use one that I had been working on for the methods class that I felt had a fair amount of technology already imbedded in it. As I had said before, being a visual learner myself, I tend to use graphics and multimedia in almost all of my lessons, so this seemed to be the best one to use for integration and adaptation. Plus, I'll probably end up teaching it next semester, so improving its documentation and process is definitely worthwhile.

The lesson is from the unit on the Cold War and focuses on the fall of the Iron Curtain using geography as its key function. Students will gain a better understanding of the current borders of European countries and the changes in national sovereignty that occurred as Communism collapsed. 

The first CPI and NETS-S standard are addressed in the first section. The lesson begins with an audio clip of Churchill's Iron Curtain speech followed by a lecture and PowerPoint presentation to activate students’ prior knowledge of the geographic situation in Europe post WW II. Images and maps are included in the presentation with hard copy map hand outs for the students. Students will evaluate the information presented and confirm their knowledge through a brief question and answer period. Students will also have the opportunity to view two other videos that give cultural and economic background information.

During the next section, students will pair off to work on a mapping activity that will be undertaken during class time. Students will be required to use computers, the internet, and various web based mapping products to research and develop a map presentation of the border changes from 1938-1991. Students will first be given explicit directions again via a PowerPoint presentation and then a modeled example will be presented. The students will have creative reign on the activity, but will be given a rubric to follow to ensure all content standards are met. Students will deposit their research and started presentations in a Google Drive folder so that they can continue to work on them collaboratively for homework. Once the project is finished, they will upload it to the class Google Drive folder.  The CPI and NETS-S standards are covered because the students are researching and developing maps show the border changes over time, collaboratively and using technology as their main tools.

The final section involves students to continue their collaborative efforts while completing the presentation from home, and also involves them completing a digital timeline of the key events that led to the geographic changes in their presentations. This digital document will be completed singly, but students can continue to collaborate when creating it. The third CPI and NETS-S standard are really included in the project development from the previous section as well, and further refined through the digital timeline.

The capstone to this lesson is the student pairs presenting their mapping projects and timelines in the subsequent class periods. The use of technology in defining the project parameters, in research, production, and storage, as well as the class presentation of the final product, I believe authentically replicates collaborative projects that students will surely encounter as they further their educations and enter the workforce. I would assess them throughout the process and on the final product.

As I said at the beginning, it was really hard for me to deconstruct the technologically integrative aspects of this lesson (along with single CPI's). I guess because I include them so intuitively now, it makes it hard to realize just how many I use and expect the students to use. I think that as we have all become accustomed to current technologies or at least those that we are familiar with, that we don't even consciously consider them as separate. I am looking forward to exploring new technologies for projects such as these. I know there are others out there, and hopefully through contact with other educators and students, we can further their use in our classrooms.

Interactivity #5

For this interactivity I interviewed a friend who teaches middle school Social Studies in Edison Township, and I'll preface this with saying that my friend is considered the "tech guy" at his school.

When we started discussing the NETS-S/T standards, he said he had not heard of them directly (echoed by my co-op and other teachers at Hillside High School, as well). We looked at them together online, and read through the ones relative to the sixth-eight grade levels, which he teaches. As we read through them, he basically commented that while his school and district have not officially implemented them to his knowledge, they were pushing technology integration via the NJ  Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS):  Educational Technology and Technology Education, Engineering, and Design , which to both of our eyes were more detailed. He stated that with all the recent standards changing, it was hard to keep up with which ones were current and applicable, and which ones the superintendent had decided to make a priority, beyond his content area, but was sure that the mandated standards were getting the most traction and visibility.

We continued to discuss his use of technology in the classes he teaches, and he stated that his lessons and activities are often technology driven. He uses a wide range of devices such as a series of products from Promethean, LTD , a company that makes smart boards, tablets, pointing devices, and a bunch of other really cool products. He especially likes the Learner Response System which allows him to track student responses to questions and myriad of other functions he felt were useful, and his school recently acquired an ActivTable which is like a giant tablet that he uses for mapping and other projects. Beyond the devices, he has his students creating and collaborating on multimedia projects and presentations, using video and digital cameras, and doing written assignments in Word. He uses a class website to transmit information, accepts assignments through e-mail, and even maintains a class "blog" in Google Groups, where his students can upload and collaborate on their work.  He also communicates with parents through the school's Genesis system.

I was not really surprised with any of his answers. Not knowing about the NETS standards didn't really concern him as he was trying to implement the state standards, and I would tend to concur with that strategy. The NETS standards are like the broad foundational document whereas the NJCCCS standards are more detailed, and frankly are the ones that we will be assessed on, so it only makes sense to focus on those.

As for my own promotion of the NETS standards, I think that I'd do as above, and use them as a background and a companion document to help better understand the NJCCCS.  With the constantly changing standards, I think it's enough to understand the key task that we need our students to become proficient at and in my opinion the NJCCCS accomplishes those without any question. My thoughts behind this may have to do with my old military mindset. Our tasks were always clearly spelled out like the state standards, so it's easier for me to grasp them and work through them.Nothig ambiguous or left to interpretation.

Updated Interactivity #4 Spreadsheet