Final Keystone

                                                   Reflection on New Literacies

            As we see new technology progress and change in our society it is imperative to continue to model our educational curriculums towards this ever-expanding world of technology.  When looking at and comparing foundational print literacy with new literacies, we see many differences and similarities between the former and the latter.  Personally I feel that the future of ELA education lies within these new literacies and we must help our students prepare for college and career life by using these new literacies.

            When I was growing up in the public school system everything we used for reading and writing was the basic foundational print literacy system that had been used for many years.  We used computers sparingly until the end of high school and we mainly focused on textbooks, dittos, lined paper, and chalkboards.   These foundational print literacies were all we knew at the time period however in today’s world we have much more access to technology in the classroom and in our daily lives.  In many cases we have seen teachers using these new literacies in the classroom however as teachers we must continue to use more applications and technology resources to teach reading and writing.  Textbooks and marble notebooks just simply do not cut it any longer.

            The term new literacies cannot be defined because the nature of the term is constantly changing along with technology itself.  New literacies are comprised of information and communication technologies that use computers and the Internet to read, write, and collaborate.  Since the Internet and computers were invented these new literacies have expanded from simple word processing software all the way to what we have today.  Some examples of modern new literacies include, Google Docs, UDL Book Builder, Glogster, educational video games, Edmodo, and Voicethread, to name just a few.  All of these applications are Internet based new literacies that allow students and teachers to collaborate and use multiple media types to create and modify ELA work.   Text, voice, audio, video, and art are all combined and used together to complete stimulating assignments that evoke ELA skills and technology skills at the same time.  The whole goal of education is to prepare students for the college and career world and as a teacher it is my responsibility to make sure my students are well prepared for their future lives in education.

                                                    

                                                       ELA Teacher Interview

            The ELA teacher I have interviewed uses computer-based technologies on a daily basis to help enhance her lessons.  She uses the Internet in her daily lecture and class time to show videos and use other web-based applications.  She also has the students use the Internet in class on a semi regular basis.  There are some good websites we have access to that are ELA related and my ELA teacher also has students often respond and use word processing software to complete assignments.  When is comes to web based new literacies my ELA teacher Mrs. Kennedy does not use a ton of them in the classroom for a few different reasons.  The first main reason is that up until we started working together Mrs. Kennedy had very little exposure to many new literacies that are available.  When I asked her if she knew what new literacies were she expressed that she had never heard that term before.  Another reason why Mrs. Kennedy has not used many new literacies is because in our current situation, working in an incarcerated setting, we often have limited access to many websites including educational ones.  Mrs. Kennedy told me that she often feels very limited in using technology because of the fact that it takes a very long time to unlock websites for student use because they have to be approved by a number of people on a long chain of command.  She also told me that if she had the opportunity to use more new literacies she certainly would give them a try however.

                         Final Keystone Unit Implementation and Evaluation

1.    Subject:  This will be a unit that will focus on ELA skills utilizing technology through having students create books using Bookbuilder.com.  The students will be learning about the environment and the importance of conservation in their science class, and this ELA lesson will help to enhance that.  The students will be creating an interactive book the addresses the topic of conservation.  The book may be about recycling, conserving resources, alternate energy, or any other relevant topic.

2.    Grade level: 7th^th Grade

3.    Standards addressed:

 -Common Core ELA standards:

Writing Standards

2.   Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

4.   Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

5.   With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

6.   Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

Speaking and Listening Standards

1.   Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher- led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Language Standards

1.   Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

2.   Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

6.   Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
 

 -ISTE/NETS technology standards:

For Students:

1.   Creativity and Innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

3.   Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.

4.   Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

For Teachers:

1.   Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

2.   Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S.

3.   Model Digital Age Work and Learning

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.

4.   Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.

5.   Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.

4.    Intended results of the proposed technology integration:  The professional development interests for my ELA teacher are that she will be learning how to utilize and implement a great online resource that allows students to create their own storybooks.  Motivation is often a problem in our educational environment and I feel that this assignment will address some of these concerns that my ELA teacher has had.  Also this program is a great way to get students involved in technology and ELA skill building at the same time.  The student will benefit form this experience because they will be enhancing their technology skills by using the online program as well as working on their ELA reading and writing skills through writing their won storybook on the topic of the environment and conservation.

5.    Support and format of training needed:  For the effective implementation of the selected technology in their classrooms I will need to train my ELA teacher to use and implement the Book Builder online program.  She will need to be fluent in all of the different aspects and details of the program so that when it comes time to have students use the program, she knows it through and through.  Our sessions will be informal, as we have team meeting time every day to discuss and go over relevant issues.  This will be a great time for us to collaborate on the project and will allow me to show her how the program works along with fielding questions she may have.

6.    Requirements:  We are lucky to have classroom computers along with a laptop cart in case there are not enough classroom computers for the students to use.

7.    Learning outcomes:

a.     Create a script for an online book that follows the conventions of standard written English

b.     Use pictures, audio, and text to create books

c.     Address ELA skills through editing your peers writing.

8.    Instructional Procedures:

a.     Students will create UDL BookBuilder online accounts

b.     Students will come up with a topic surrounding the idea of environmental conservation.

c.     Students will use UDL BookBuilder to create online books that include audio, text, and pictures to better enhance the story.

9.    Evaluation plan:  In order to make sure my training meets the goals, needs, and objectives, I plan on assessing my ELA teachers comprehension by having her create her own book using book builder that she will later model for the class.  I will make sure to go through the entire project to assure that she knows the program and will be able to field any potential question that the students may have.  For my students I will be assessing their progress by using the rubric below.  I will show them this rubric before they start the project so they realize what is expected of them.

10. Evaluation Student Rubric:

•                Story Writing: UDL BookBuilder •    Teacher Name:    Mr. Carnright •      •      •    Student Name:     ________________________________________

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Focus on Assigned Topic	The entire story is related to the assigned topic and allows the reader to understand much more about the topic.	Most of the story is related to the assigned topic. The story wanders off at one point, but the reader can still learn something about the topic.	Some of the story is related to the assigned topic, but a reader does not learn much about the topic.	No attempt has been made to relate the story to the assigned topic.
Requirements	All of the written requirements (# of pages, # of graphics, type of graphics, etc.) were met.	Almost all (about 90%) the written requirements were met.	Most (about 75%) of the written requirements were met, but several were not.	Many requirements were not met.
Creativity	The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader\'s enjoyment. The author has really used his imagination.	The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader\'s enjoyment. The author has used his imagination.	The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The author has tried to use his imagination.	There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The author does not seem to have used much imagination.
Accuracy of Facts	All facts presented in the story are accurate.	Almost all facts presented in the story are accurate.	Most facts presented in the story are accurate (at least 70%).	There are several factual errors in the story.
Writing Process	Student devotes a lot of time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and editing). Works hard to make the story wonderful.	Student devotes sufficient time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and editing). Works and gets the job done.	Student devotes some time and effort to the writing process but was not very thorough. Does enough to get by.	Student devotes little time and effort to the writing process. Doesn’t\'t seem to care.
Organization	The story is very well organized. One idea or scene follows another in a logical sequence with clear transitions.	The story is pretty well organized. One idea or scene may seem out of place. Clear transitions are used.	The story is a little hard to follow. The transitions are sometimes not clear.	Ideas and scenes seem to be randomly arranged.
Spelling and Punctuation	There are no spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft. Character and place names that the author invented are spelled consistently throughout.	There is one spelling or punctuation error in the final draft.	There are 2-3 spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft.	The final draft has more than 3 spelling and punctuation errors.

                                                    Implementation Report

Implementation Overview:

            Overall I feel that the lesson implementation was extremely successful.   My students, my host ELA teacher, and I all had a great time doing this project and I think that the students learned a lot as far as new literacies and ELA are concerned.  Since the schedule of my ELA teacher and I are basically the same we were able to set aside the time needed to complete the project and we were also able to collaborate many times in advance to ensure the project ran smooth.  Another positive aspect is that we have computers in our classrooms so we did not have to worry about competing for a computer lab or signing out laptops or anything like that.  We really have a ton of freedom in our program, which made the whole implementation very smooth and seamless.  Along with the process, the students also seemed to do well with the project as well.  The students seemed to learn a lot during this whole process and I think they even had a good time doing it.  My ELA teacher also expressed to me that she was very glad to learn about this ELA tool and that she looked forward to collaborating more in the future.

1. The outcomes of the implementation: student learning outcomes and technical procedure outcomes.

- Learning Outcomes:

            -Create a script for an Internet based book about environmental conservation.

            -Use pictures, audio, and text to create an online Bookbuilder book.

            -Address ELA skills through editing you and your peers writing.

-Technical Procedure Outcomes:

            -Use a web 2.0 tool that helps students use new literacies in ELA.

            -Use Bookbuilder to create an online interactive project.

2. The adjustments you had made to accommodate students with special needs

- During the implementation process there were indeed some adjustments that had to be made for students with special needs.  One of the classes I created the unit for is a low level ELA class that has many students with IEP’s and other disabilities.  For some of the students in this class I had to make accommodations to endure that the lesson was on their specific level.  One example of an accommodation that I made was that for some of the students I had to dismiss spelling errors, as state on their IEP’s.  Another adjustment I had to make was that I had to take the unit more slowly with my lower class then the other classes.  Basically the lower level classes needed to be prompted and redirected on a greater level due to their special needs.

3. The adjustments you had made for the effectiveness of classroom management

- Because our classes in the jail are relatively small and with their being two teachers present in the class there were very few adjustments that I had to make for more effective classroom management.  We constantly deal with motivational issues in our classes however for this specific assignment our students really seemed to respond well and also seemed to have a good time with it.

4. The questions asked by the students

- My students are often very inquisitive when it comes to assignments, especially when they are unfamiliar with a specific tool or application.  Some of those questions include:

            -Where did I find the UDL BookBuilder application?

            -Why are we using it to create books?

            -Why don’t we just use some other program we already know?

            -What is the purpose of the book we are creating?

            -Can the book be a made up story?

5. The problems students had encountered during the implementation process.

- During the implementation process we did have some problems that the students faced, most of which were technology-based problems.  One of the problems I saw a few times was an issue with the computer log on that the student received.  Since the students in the classes are constantly changing it is often hard to keep up with creating log on user names for all of the different students who were doing the projects.  So in this case some students had to start by working on the idea of their book on scrap paper until they had a valid log in user name.  Another problem that students faced was the fact that there were not as many pictures as they would like that they could insert into the book.  Since the Internet is limited and search engines are disabled the students had to find inventive and creative ways to get pictures for their books.

6. The decision(s) you had to make on the spot to make the implementation easier and smooth.

- The whole implementation went pretty smooth as a whole however I did have to make a few on the spot decisions to keep things going.  One decision I had to make was when we had students who did not have computer log in ID’s.  Since students may not under any circumstances log in under any other name than their own I had to have students without user names work on their projects offline in paper.  I had them write their scripts and think about pictures and ideas they wanted to implement into their books until they had actual computer log in’s.

7. The feedback from the students.

- Overall the students seemed to really enjoy the project and they seemed to work hard on the assignment.   When I asked them if they enjoyed it they said it was cool and that they would like to do more projects like this in the future.  One thing they did not like is the fact that they have limited Internet availability, however this is something that cannot be amended.  Overall though I was pleased with the feedback I got form them, as they seemed to respond well to project.

8. The timeframe (was there enough time as you planned for)

-The timeframe I set for this project seemed to work out perfect.  We stuck to our implementation plan and everything ran pretty smooth.

9. What you learned from the implementation including proposed changes for future lessons?

- One thing that I learned from the implementation is that you can never prepare too much for any project implementation.  I think that if I did this project again I would try to make sure that the student log in information was up to date and accurate.  I would also like to maybe make a folder up of pictures that students could insert into their books that are from the Internet.  We have the ability to send items such as documents and pictures out to each computer do the students can use them.  This is something I would like to do in the future to make it easier for students to find good and relevant pictures.