Training Technology Using To Kill A Mockingbird

Final Project:

I am presenting some Selected Guided Practice Activities for Teaching to Kill a Mockingbird with help from Technology. Although I like to think that my students have been exposed to a wealth of pedagogical strategies during their participation in my Methods for teaching High School and High School Alternative American Literature they still ask questions about how one weaves these strategies together to help students interact with and make meaning from a longer work of fiction. Provided below are a sequence of selected guided practice activities one might implement before, during, and after the reading of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. They are culled from the suggestions of a number of Writing Project teachers. They are presented in bullets as a skeleton plan for a literature unit rather than as a full-fledged demonstration lesson and they culminate with various options for writing without taking any specific writing task through the process to completion. (Note: Page numbers referred to are from the 35th Anniversary edition, 1995, Harper Collins.) We will follow the standard TEKS E.1 All students will read and comprehend general and technical material.E2. Read with developing fluency a variety of texts, such as novels, poetry, drama, essays, research texts, technical manuals, and documents.E5. Respond personally, analytically, and critically to a variety of oral, visual, written, and electronic texts, providing examples of how texts influence their lives and their role in society.

 

 

 

Lesson 1: Prereading

 

·         Before starting to read To Kill a Mockingbird, ask students to read “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss or, better yet, show the video. “The Sneetches” is the tale of how the StarBelly Sneetches discriminate against the Plain-Belly Sneetches, excluding them from games and weenie roasts, and how Sylvester McMonkey McBean bilks the town out of all of its money by putting on and/or removing stars on the persons of Sneetches to the point that no one can any longer tell who’s who. Ask students to do a quick write in reaction to the story. They may be reminded of the holocaust, write about prejudice in general, or focus on who the Star-Bellies are at their school. Have students share in small groups and then discuss the themes of the story as a whole class.

 

·         Create a context for the novel by reviewing the time frame in which the novel was written (in the 1950s during the Civil Rights Movement) and the time frame it focuses on (the Great Depression of the 1930s). Scott Foresman (Lange, 1997) has an excellent Novel Works Kit on Mockingbird complete with biographical information on the author, memorabilia from the 1930s (including sheet music for songs, photographs, a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, an anti-lynching poster, newspaper articles on the Scottsboro case, etc.), color art transparencies, a time line, etc. Give small groups several documents each and have them teach the class what they have learned, using power point. After groups report, ask students to turn to a partner and relate what had just been shared to their reading of “The Sneetches.”

 

During Reading

 

Chapters 1-8

·         Read the first three paragraphs of Chapter 1 aloud.

·         Ask students:

·         What kind of a narrator does this novel have? How do you know?

·         Do you agree that this story will be a flashback? Why or why not?

·         You have already been introduced to five characters. Who are they and what is their relationship to one another?

·         What events will the novel trace?

·         How does the writer arouse your curiosity and build suspense?

·         Have students stand and follow the description in paragraph one to imitate Jem’s injury. This may increase their investment in finding out what happens.

·         As students are reading Chapters 1-8, ask them to create character charts for Scout, Jem, Dill, Boo, Calpurnia, Atticus, and Walter. The character chart should include:

·         Character’s name • A quote describing the character’s appearance

·         A quote spoken by or about the character that shows personality

·         A one sentence description showing the reader’s thoughts/ideas/ reflections/speculations about the character

·         After students read Chapter 1-8, have them reread the description of Maycomb on pages 5-6 and find other details about Maycomb from the subsequent reading. Then, ask them to draw a picture of Maycomb, using details from the text in their sketches. (Students can turn this sketch into a map when they read Chapters 9-10) here they will use Glogster.

 

Pose this journal activity:

 

Imagine you are Boo Radley at the end of Chapter 8. In his voice, write a diary entry using Inspiration of what is happening from Boo’s point of view. Include mention of specific encounters between you (Boo) and the children. You will need to draw inferences about Boo’s diction…keeping in mind the background information we have on him.

 

Chapters 9-16 • Ask students to make a Time Line of the events in these chapters again they will either use a graphic organizer or Glogster to perform this task. (Glogster was developed in 2007 as a social network for teenagers allowing users to create free interactive posters - glogs. Glog®, short for graphic blog, is an online interface for mixing text, audio, video, images, graphics and more. Glogs provide canvas freedom with portrait and landscape options, an editing tool and simple drag & drop function for adding media. Glogster EDU was launched in 2009 to serve the educational community. Glogster EDU allows teachers and pupils to use glogs as instructional aids and share their glogs in private virtual classroom.)

 

·         Give students these study questions to respond to: • Scout is involved in three altercations in these chapters. Two are physical, one is not. Describe each and explain their relationship to the larger context of the novel.

 

·         Why do the people of Maycomb resent Atticus for defending Tom Robinson?

Lesson Two: Background research on Encarta.

·         Use the Encarta CD Rom in the library. It is designed to help your understanding of the book by giving you background details on the historical and geographical setting.

Lesson Three: Video: English Video Classroom

Ÿ  You can show the first 7 minutes of video.  The video should include details about the author and how her personal experience is used in the novel background to the problems in "The South" and the role of the book in raising public consciousness about civil rights. Students take notes as necessary.  Class discussion of any points can be raised.

Ÿ  Vocabulary: teacher places a range of words on the board (e.g. prejudice, fanaticism, discrimination, racism, bias, bigotry, intolerance, injustice, and so on. Gives students 10 minutes to look up words in dictionary and put them Quizlet for later reference to study and then discuss the differences so students gain a clear understanding of the ideas behind the terms, in order to enhance understanding of their reading. (Quizlet is a lightning fast way to memorize vocabulary lists. It's like flashcards, but much more fun and interactive)

Ÿ  Teacher hands out texts and reading schedule.

Ÿ  Teacher hands each student handout # 2 "poetry on prejudice". Explain that this will help alert them to one of the themes of the novel, and also give them extra experience putting together static images, (as I intend to undertake a study of static images later in the year).  Teacher goes over handout and draws students' attention to requirements of the assessment, discussing the visual and language techniques as detailed on the handout.

Teacher places students into pairs, they are to spend the rest of their period

discussing rough drafts and how they might go about communicating their ideas

visually. They can work together using Inspiration: So what is Inspiration 9

It is used for visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations, use Inspiration® 9, the ultimate thinking and learning tool. Brainstorm ideas, structure your thoughts and visually communicate concepts to strengthen understanding with the Diagram and Map Views. To take notes, organize information, and structure writing for plans, papers and reports, use the integrated Outline View to focus on main and supporting ideas and to clarify thinking in written form. With Inspiration's Presentation Manager, transform your diagrams, mind maps and outlines into polished presentations that communicate ideas clearly and demonstrate understanding and knowledge.

• Homework: students are to come to class with a rough sketch of their static

image, with such details as layout, color, symbol and font clearly indicated, ready for peer response next period.

                Footnote: English Video Classroom is available from You-tube or

 

Ÿ  The Culminating Activity is a Jeopardy Final Exam covering the To Kill a Mockingbird Unit. The exam is scored according to the percentage of correct answers.

Ÿ  Have students take the post-test.

Assessment

The pre and post-test is a true and false test that covers the objectives for the To Kill a Mockingbird unit. The pre and post-test are graded according to the percentage of correct answers. The Final Exam is a scantron test that includes multiple choice, true and false, and matching questions. In addition, there is a writing component for the Final Exam.

Results

The results of the pre and post-tests indicated that the students improved their knowledge and the Final Exam scores also reflected that most students met the objectives.

Resources

Ÿ  Looking Closely at the Novel

Ÿ  Student Survival Guide to KLMB

Ÿ  To Kill A Mockingbird: Growing Up in the 1930s

Ÿ  To Kill A Mockingbird - Teacher Guide

Ÿ  To Kill A Mockingbird Teacher Resources

Ÿ  Pre and Post-Test

Ÿ  Final Exam

Student Handout # 2 "Poetry on Prejudice" (Contact Instructor for a copy)

 

 

 

Cognitive Learning Theory and how it relates to Technology Integration

Cognitive learning theory has always focused on how students process information and the best educational strategies educators can use to promote student understanding of material. I incorporate various technologies to highlight the diverse cognitive needs of individual students and promote knowledge that is easily accessible and promoted to long-term memory to be continually referenced as new knowledge which is scaffolded with already learned material. As educators we should stay continually abreast of current and new technological innovations as they can assist in greater acquisition of knowledge by the student and create more unique and creative learning experiences. It is up to us to vary our teaching strategies with the understanding that individual students process information in unique ways.

My students are no longer satisfied with learning through pencil, paper, and a book. They are surrounded by a world of increasing technology. Since that is the case, the job of an educator is to bring those same experiences into the classroom. Technology is the key to the cognitive learning theory of helping students create long term memory in retaining subject content. Our goal as educators is to change short term memory into long term memory. We want students to be able to easily remember what they have learned.

Using cues, questions and advanced organizers will help this connection to take place. Graphic organizers are something that we use daily in the classroom. There is not a better way to organize our thoughts or ideas during a lesson. These organizers lend themselves to technology use. Often times we create a graphic organizer through the use of Microsoft Word or Excel Spreadsheets. This goes hand in hand with summarizing and note taking as well. Students are summarizing information as they use a graphic organizer. This is note taking, without just copying something off of the board. These organizers “focus on enhancing students’ ability to retrieve, use, and organize information about a topic”

Students can process limited amounts of information at any given point in a class, but that information is far more likely to be retained in long-term memory if the information begin presented is paired with a unique experience or relies upon multiple sensory inputs during presentation Organizing and brainstorming software, such as Kidspiration, allow learners to add and organize information as it is being introduced.  This supports the idea that declarative facts are stored in long-term memory, and that long-term memory is improved by the connections made between ideas.  If data is not organized going in, retrieval will be more difficult or impossible.  Using organizing software also can give that visual picture. Virtual field trips takes this one step further and gives the episodic experience that helps with long-term memory.  If students are able to view important historical places online or take a live tour of a museum, that long-term memory will be strengthened and that concept will have a much more chance of being recalled at a later date. 

As a multiple core teacher, I was interested in how I could apply cognitive learning theory to my different classes, specifically math.  In reflecting on my own teaching, I realized that thinking through a problem out loud, which I do frequently with my students, supports the creation of an episodic memory for my students, especially if I am lucky enough to give my out-loud thought process the right amount of humor and able to make it interesting.  This is an important realization as I think it is important to realize some of these techniques are already being practiced in class, and now I have reason and theory behind them.