Reflection for 12/13

I can’t believe it Wednesday night already?! December always seems to fly by so fast. Too little time, too much to do!

I did read Cynthia’s comment on my last reflection. She mentioned that I haven’t written too much about accessible content media. This is very true. The media component of our unit has become the last frontier for our project. I think we have put that portion of the project off for two reasons. 1. Unfortunately, I have not spent a lot of time thinking and planning in terms of accessible media in the past. I have integrated technology in lessons, but of late, I have stuck to predictable, “usual” (for example: word processing, projecting sites on my laptop, etc.) technology rather than really branching out and trying new modes of teaching and learning. 2. The second reason for the procrastination on this front is that we are less knowledgeable about this area of lesson planning and delivery. And, the unknown scares us (read: me)… a lot.

The good news is… we know a lot more about accessible content media now than we ever did before taking this course. Also, we have seen the benefits of implementing accessible tech into our lesson plans. Now, we just need to bite the bullet, suck it up, and tax our brains a little to find the right fit for accessible content media in our writing unit.

Some ideas for implementation of accessible content media…

1. Julie has found some PowerPoints on unit material that were sent along with our language arts curriculum kit. The PowerPoints would be great to use to kick off the unit. I think the kids will enjoy this format of lesson launching, in lieu of simply reading the same material in the text book.

2. We are planning to create a Wiki (or perhaps blog) for the kids to use for reading responses.

3. I toy with the idea of having the students create an electronic presentation about American symbols in order to teach the idea of symbolism.

4. The easiest connection: we will have kids type their stories and edit their work in Appleworks or NeoOffice. I am also planning to have the kids use the text-to-speech capabilities on their laptops to help them edit their work.

5. Our textbook is available online (and on audio cd), so I plan to have kids read the stories while listening to them read aloud. (We will also do a low-tech reading of each reading to work on fluency.)

6. We could teach a literary device in a Web-Quest format, as well. (For example: We may want to teach metaphors by first visiting sites to learn what they are, then visit different sites to see samples of metaphors, next visit sites where kids need to pick out metaphors, and finally, write some of their own metaphors in a wiki or a blog.)

That’s what I have to far… I plan to work with the group tomorrow and see what ideas we can generate. I am really excited to teach this unit. I think my students will really enjoy the engagements and the technology connections. Looking forward to feedback!