Integrating Technology in Language Arts:

Kimberly Dyar

This workshop will focus on practical ways to enhance language arts lessons with technology. We will explore several sites with resources that can be used in any English language arts class. We will discuss tips for integrating technology in instructional planning. There will be time for developing technology infused ideas relevant to each participant's curriculum.

Personal Education Press allows you to make various game boards and worksheets. You can make a class set of bingo boards using any terms you wish, and it will make each card unique so that you don’t have 30 winners! Do it at http://www.educationalpress.org/educationalpress/ Select the view/edit lists button. Then after typing in your words, click button update lists. Next, click on Bingo Boards in the upper left corner of the screen and select the number of squares you want on each card. Work your way down the instructions on the left hand side of the screen to make a set of bingo boards. REMEMBER TO REFRESH THE SCREEN AFTER YOU PRINT EACH BOARD OR YOU WILL HAVE MULTIPLE COPIES OF THE SAME BINGO BOARD.

Brainpop.com has mini-movies 2–3 minutes long that can be used in mini-lessons as hooks or review. They have a simple pre-assessment quiz for students followed by a humorous animated video clip featuring a boy and a robot who answer “Dear Abby” type inquiries about how to do various things in reading, English, and other content areas. These are ideal for a one-computer classroom if you use a presenter. Note: you will need speakers to support the sound portion of the movies if you use them with a whole class. Find them at http://www.brainpop.com

sample titles: dialogue, public speaking (good one!), the writing process, types of sentences, parts of speech

Author chats are available at http://www.authorchats.com/ and have archives of various author interviews. Use these archives for author studies, to enrich a novel, or to highlight how authors use particular skills (getting ideas, crafting a piece, developing characters) in writing. Cut and paste comments from these chats to develop scripts for students to perform as reader’s theatre or as a class simulation of a talk show featuring a famous author (or several authors, perhaps all of whom you feature in a reading workshop). Some of the authors are Avi, Bruce Coville, Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Cushman, Jean Craighead George, Virginia Hamilton, Walter Dean Myers, Jack Prelutsky, Louis Sachar, and Laurence Yep. You don’t need a computer in your classroom to do this because you can prepare the scripts ahead of time.

CyberGuides are similar to web quests. Go to http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html The Cay, A Day No Pigs Would Die, My Side of the Mountain, Hatchet, The Outsiders, Tuck Everlasting, and Where the Red Fern Grows are featured titles. There is also a virtual museum on causes of the Civil War (and a CyberGuide about Abraham Lincoln), many projects related to folklore, and activities related to Medieval Chinese inventions.

For every research paper that drove you crazy because student didn’t do their works cited/bibliography pages properly, there is a solution. Citation Maker creates the proper entry in both APA and MLA style for any resource if you type basic information into the given fields. Go to http://www.landmarkproject.com/citation_machine/cm.php Students can cut and paste correct citations directly into their papers. You may wish to use this as an accommodation for students with special needs.

The American Memory Collection features primary sources with lesson plans and photos. There is a section of this site at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/puzzle/puzintro.html that has virtual jigsaw puzzles based on photos from history. This is a great computer center for historical fiction units. [If you need to download Shockwave, you may enter your actual information, but be sure to check off the box at the bottom regarding e-mail notification!] Look for other resources at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/ There are many items to enrich the 8^th grade language arts curriculum including letters from gold miners and their relatives, photojournalism from the Civil War, the Civil War through a child’s eye, and analyzing Civil War photographs.

General Tips for Integrating Technology:

1. Always have a back up plan! Things may not always work the way they should.

2. Practice using the technology ahead of time in the same way you will as a presenter. Play with it until you are comfortable using it.

3. Tell your students you are trying out new ways of teaching and are taking risks, just as you ask them to do. I have found students to be very accommodating if there are glitches when they know you are trying to make things more interesting for them.

4. Make it purposeful and relevant to the curriculum or use a different method to deliver the information. Students need to learn a variety of skills, and we have a limited amount of time with them, so we can’t afford to invest time in technology for the sake of technology.

5. If you are using an Internet site instructionally, check the site prior to each use so that you are sure it is still active. Explore the various links within the site to see that each one works properly.

6. When you want fresh ideas in a particular curricular area, search the Internet for resources by typing in your subject or genre + “lesson plans” or “activities”. Be open to exploring ideas posted for other grade levels; you can adapt ideas to fit your students and find many new resources.

7. If you have limited computer resources, or use iBooks, consider having students work in groups to use the technology you have access to. I have found that students are willing to share computers, up to 3 students per computer, if the work is engaging.

8. Remember that you don’t have to do it all. Start at your comfort level and stretch yourself beyond it gradually. Move at your own pace and try one thing at a time.

9. Creatively use the variety of resources the Internet provides: pictures, videos, museums, articles, online publishing, lesson plans, games. Don’t limit yourself to one type of media.

10. Be willing to learn from your students. Some of them know more than you, and it will empower them to be able to assume the teaching role or make suggestions when the opportunity arises.

11. NEVER assume that technology use ensures good teaching or mastery of outcomes and indicators. Technology is a tool; you are the teacher.

Some possibilities:

*Create slide shows for students to watch as they enter class: scanned cartoons, quotes, images set to music, photos of recent class projects/student presenters, or notes for the warm up.

*Create your own CyberGuide (or web quest) in MS Word. Create questions you want students to answer. Find places they can go to for answers. Make the web address an active link by going to Insert and then selecting Hyperlink. Type in (or cut and paste from the web address that appears when you visit the site) the site address in the box after Link To: section. Then click on the OK button. Students can work through a few questions and visit the specific web pages you have preselected to find the answers. You can print the web quest and have students write down answers on the paper copy while using the electronic copy to access links. In my opinion, in middle school it is unrealistic to expect all students to use the Internet skillfully for in-depth research without any guidance. At this stage in their education, it is appropriate for them to learn how to read, interpret, and evaluate sites to which they are specifically directed. This document is a web quest or CyberGuide that assumes the question “How can I use technology in my curriculum?”

*Find images to introduce concepts to students or build background. For example, I use Civil Rights Movement photos from the following sites prior to reading the Malcolm X article in the 7^th grade Power Unit.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/man/photogallery/

http://www.time.com/time/newsfiles/civilrights/

Students will interact with primary sources and create their own questions for discussion based on the images you select for them to view. This is an excellent way to introduce new topics because their own curiosity motivates them to learn.

*For 8^th grade teachers who link reading workshops of historical fiction to American history units taught in 8^th grade social studies, visit http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/index.html for lessons developed around simple primary source materials. This page also has a lesson on equity in education as it relates to the Civil Rights Movement (for 7^th grade teachers).

*Find photos of people you are studying (authors, historical figures, general representatives for a group of people—i.e., Irish immigrants) and use them for visual notetaking. Search the Internet using the name of your person + “image,” “photo,” or “picture.”

*Visit the Bookhive at http://www.bookhive.org/ for book reviews, online storytellers (some of whom participate in the annual National Storytelling Festival). They also have a plethora Harry Potter trivia type riddles for various character and creatures from the beloved series. You can also search for book reviews written by other students. Some parts of this site tend to be a little on the elementary side, but could be adapted. Note: I have been unsuccessful at getting the storytellers’ performances to play. However, your school’s technology person may be able to help you with this part of the site.

*One related advantage of using online storytelling resources (text and performances) to teach speaking and listening outcomes is it promotes valid multicultural education, in which our actual language arts instructional materials come from a plethora of cultures.

http://backpack.ipsd.org/clow/story_telling/st_listen.htm

This site features student storytellers.

http://www.storyteller.net/

A variety of resources are available here, including text stories ideal for telling.

http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/storytellers/

PBS has gathered a variety of Native American storytellers, provided e-mail addresses for students to contact storytellers, and invited students to share their stories.

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/professional_resources/howto/storytelling_coach.html

If you want advice on how to coach student storytellers, this is the place to visit.