TPACKing for a Wonderful Educational Trip/Group 9

Overview

William Heights Elementary School opened in August of 1958. In addition to general education students, William Heights also serves students throughout the district with mental and physical disabilities. Special Education, Title I and ELL (English Language Learners) students are integrated in the general education classrooms through the inclusion program. The current organizational plan consists of a grant preschool class, two sections of Head Start (preschool), and four sections of K-5 classrooms. William Heights has a population of over 500 students comprised of diverse racial, religious, cultural and socio-economic back grounds. William Heights Elementary is part of the district William Heights Community Schools. Our schools comprise the largest district in the state of Iowa.

Technology:

At William Heights we offer two full mac computer labs (32 computers/lab). Each classroom is also equipped with two student laptops, a teacher laptop, and a hub set up to the smart board. Each school in our district has a school librarian that also acts as our technology coach. We have one technology coordinator for the entire district. We also have a district help desk that assists with technology problems.

Group Report

Curriculum: Literacy

We decided on literacy due to our belief in the importance of this subject matter. We also felt we each had a varied perspective, and use of literacy in the classroom that would make this an interesting subject choice.

Grades: 3rd - 5th

Making the choice of grades proved to be more challenging than we originally thought. Originally we thought we would do an overarching view of grades K-5, but on further review of the assignment we realized we needed to identify specific grades. In this case majority was the decider, as two of our group members are upper elementary.

Standards:

When choosing our standards we took a collaborative approach. We chose to meet in a google hangout and look at the 3rd-5th grade literacy standards together. We then each identified standards of interest that would also support each other, and decided from there. We decided on the following standards:

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. (RL.3.1) Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL.4.1) Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL.5.1) Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. (RL.3.2) Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. (RL.4.2) Respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. (RL.5.2) Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. (RL.3.3) Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions). (RL.4.3) Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). (RL.5.3)

Activities/Technologies:

When determining our activities we decided to do this individually by dividing the work. Each group member was asked to pick 3 standards, and then for each standard choose three activities and three technologies to align with each standard. This was beneficial because we were each allotted the freedom to select and create our own activities, while still building upon each others work due to the standards supporting one another. When creating these activities and determining the technologies each group member was expected to have reviewed the RWLD, and have read the articles so that each activity aligned with the conceptual ideas of TPACK.

1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. (RL.3.1)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Login to newsela.com and choose an article with “Anchor 1” (located at the top near the article title). Read the article and take the quiz, using the text as a  reference to answer the questions.

  Activity/Technology #2 - Write a friendly letter to an author of your choice (may be teacher chosen) using readwritethink letter generator, asking questions about a given story. You must include the 5 W’s and an H in your letter, and you should refer to the text in your letters to create your questions.

  Activity/Technology #3 - Work with your group to become ‘text detectives’.  Create a bubbl.us mind map of the story using the 5 W’s and and H as your guide. Be sure to include bubbles referring to the problem and solution in your story. Use the text while creating your map.

2. Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL.4.1)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Work with your group. Create a commercial for your novel using imovie. You will need to use the storyboard app on your ipad to create your detailed plan of how you will present your book and it’s main theme. Your commercial needs to include the 5 w’s and an h, and should also refer directly to the text. Your commercial should be no more than 3 minutes long.

  Activity/Technology #2 -Create a voicethread ‘quiz’ for your classmates with your partner about the book your group is reading.. Use the text to help you create your quiz. Try to ‘stump’ your classmates by writing questions that make them think about what the author is trying to tell you. These questions might start with, ‘Why do you think...’ or ‘When the author says...’.

  Activity/Technology #3 - Pretend you are one of the characters in the story. Using blabberize or voki, tell the story from your point of view. Use google docs to plan your 2 minute audio clip. Use details from the story in your summary, and be sure to include how ‘you’ are feeling in the story.

3. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL.5.1)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Work with your group. Pretend you are characters in a fictional story of your choice (may be teacher chosen). Create a dialogue between the characters that refers to the central theme of the story, and create a comic strip using toonlet.com. Your comic strip needs to quote directly from the text, and must convey the theme through the character dialogue.

  Activity/Technology #2 - Write a review of the story using your google docs account. Your job is to convince your classmates why you would or would not recommend this book. You must use the text directly in your argument, and quote directly from the text.

  Activity/Technology #3 - Work with your partner to create a powtoon or moovly presentation that will challenge your classmates to answer questions about the story. Use the text to write your questions, and you must quote the text directly when writing your questions. For example, you might start a question by saying ‘On page 45 of the story Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur refuses to eat...’ Use the 5 W’s and and H to be sure you are hitting all parts of the story in your questions.

4. Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. (RL.3.2)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Read one of the three texts offerings provided by the teacher. Once you have finished the text create a concept map using mindmeister that at it’s central location discusses the central message/lesson/moral, then support this with key details and ideas from the text. 

  Activity/Technology #2 - To complete this activity you must first have completed the mindmeister activity. Once your concept map is completed meet with your assigned groups to compare your Maps. Then create a group concept map using Inspiration that joins your ideas and thoughts into one centralized location. 

  Activity/Technology #3 - Now that you have created your individual concept map and group map it is time to teach the class. Using animoto create a presentation that tells the class what the lesson of your story was and how you came to this conclusion. Use your Maps to guide this process. 

5. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. (RL.4.2)

  Activity/Technology #1 - First access your poem of choice (from pre-approved teacher list) on adobe reader.  First go through and read the poem a few times getting an idea of its rhythm and expression. Once you have read the text a few times use adobe reader to highlight and take notes on the main ideas. 

  Activity/Technology #2 - Now that you are familiar with your poem share what you think the theme of the text is and why. To share your thoughts I want you to use voicethread, beyond that it is up to you. 

  Activity/Technology #3 - Once you have completed your voicethread go through and listen to all of your peers. Once you have completed this pick five threads to comment on. Get a discussion going, respond to questions and ask them. This process should be meaningful and reflective. 

6. Respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. (RL.5.2)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Using the same poem you chose for your voicethread activity I want you to reflect on the idea of where the author’s voice came from. Put yourself in the writer’s chair for a moment and create an idea of what the author’s idea or history behind the poem was, and what their emotions were when writing this poem. Once you feel like you have a good idea, create an outline using freemind to guide your discussion. 

  Activity/Technology #2 - Using the outline you just created, write a blogpost that goes in depth into the ideas posted in your outline. 

  Activity/Technology #3 - Review 3 of your classmates poems and blogs. Once you have completed this, choose 1. After you have chosen a blog, determine whether you agree or disagree with your classmates view. Create a podcast using podomatic that discusses why. 

7. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. (RL.3.3)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Choose a fictional story (may be teacher’s choice) and create a video diary of the main character. Using Voki, create your character’s avatar and be sure to included the character’s feelings about events and other characters.

  Activity/Technology #2 - Create a Character Scrapbook for at least two characters from a fictional story (may be teacher’s choice). On one side create a visual image of the characters and on the other side include important character traits.

  Activity/Technology #3 - Create a character map using bubbl for at least two characters from a fictional story (may be teacher’s choice). The following elements must be included: Character’s name; What the character says and does; How the character looks and feels; What others think about the character; Also, include a place to give your feelings about the character.

8. Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions). (RL.4.3)

  Activity/Technology #1 - Using a Google Doc, you and a classmate should collaborative create an alternate ending to a story. Be sure to use base your choices on changes to the ending on details from the story and inferences and/or predictions you made as you read.

  Activity/Technology #2 - Create a series of at least 4 comic scenes using Pixton to illustrate the climaxing moment from your story. Be sure to draw details about setting from the text, as well as character’s feelings. Also include direct character quotes from the text.

  Activity/Technology #3 - Create a 3D popup book using ZooBurst to highlight the main character from your book. Be sure to include important character traits, events involving your character, your character’s feelings and relationships with other characters.

9. Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). (RL.5.3)

  Activity/Technology #1 - You and a classmate should collaborate to produce a VoiceThread that both compares and contrasts two characters from your story. One partner should contribute by voicing the comparisons, the other should voice the contrasts.

  Activity/Technology #2 - Compare and Contrast two different versions of the same fairy tale. You may choose to compare/contrast characters, setting, or events. You do not have to do all three. Create two Blabberize photos to illustrate your comparisons and contrasts. The photos you chose should be relevant to your story.

  Activity/Technology #3 - Use the online Venn Diagram tool from ReadWriteThink to compare and contrast the character, settings, or events from two of the stories we have read in class. You should indicate in your title which element you are comparing/contrasting. When you finish, email your diagram to your teacher.

Individual Lessons:

Amber’s Lesson Plan: You Say “Tomato”. I Say “Tahmahto”. You Say “Cinderella”. I Say “Sidney Rella”?

Mel’s Lesson Plan: Close Reading-Are you a text detective?

Ashley’s Lesson Plan: Mapping Out Fairytales