Community Walk

Technology in the Classroom!

TPACK- Using Technology in the Classroom

Critical Strategies for English Language Arts

• Reading comprehension
• Grammar
• Essay organization
• Decoding
• Sentence structure- syntax

Understanding by Design: Research Paper

Understanding by Design:

Writing a Research Paper

Summary of Curricular Context:

The skills needed to write a research paper are important to be successful in 9^th grade English, as well as for the rest of English and High School. The prior knowledge that students will have is:

      Knowledge of basic paragraph and essay format.

      Familiarity with the internet, and how to utilize it for research.

      Knowledge of the MLA format.

      Knowledge of how to peer edit.

Illinois State Standards (Objectives):

Research:

5.B.5a- Evaluate the usefulness of information, synthesize information to support a thesis, and present information in a logical manner in oral and written forms.

Writing:

3.B.4b  Produce, edit, revise and format work for submission and/or publication (e.g., manuscript form, appropriate citation of sources) using contemporary technology.

3.B.4c  Evaluate written work for its effectiveness and make recommendations for its improvement.

Unit Goals:

1. Students will be able to synthesize the research material that they have gathered into a coherent and interesting research paper.

2. Students will be able to apply the skills that they have learned to construct future research papers, no matter the subject.

Stage 1

Enduring Understandings:

1.  Why does research matter?
2. Can anyone conduct research?

Essential Questions What are the essential questions you can ask to guide inquiry?

1.  How should research be conducted?
2. Does format, with regard to writing a paper, matter?
3. Is it important to break the research process down into smaller steps?

Knowledge:                                                 

      Where does a thesis belong?

      How do you determine between a quote that is viable and one that is not?

      How do you gather facts?

      What is the importance of drafts and editing?

Skills:

      Word Processing

      Searching on the internet

      How to write an outline

      Paragraph and essay structure

Xtranormal- Top Travel Destinations with Leonardo and Gandhi

Top Travel Destinations with Leonardo and Gandhi

Teacher Identity- Mr. Feeny from "Boy Meets World"

When I was thinking about a clip to choose that portrayed a teacher in media, my mind jumped to the show “Boy Meets World”. This show was a staple of my upbringing, and one of the central characters was Mr. Feeny, the wise-yet-tough high school teacher of Cory, Topanga and Shawn. In the clip I chose, Mr. Feeny is chastising his students for not taking advantage of all of the technology at their fingertips. Instead of using the internet to learn, the students use it to play computer games. Because this clip is about 10-15 years old, it is interesting to think about how much has changed in our classrooms since then. Although not all schools have the same resources, many have smartboards, and teachers are encouraged to integrate technology into their classrooms. Mr. Feeny’s character illustrates the dichotomy between “old” and “new”. Although I think that technology can have some negative implications for our students, the attitude that it is something insidious that is detracting from our students’ learning is dying out. At the end of the clip, Mr. Feeny walks out on his class. He does this to show his students that he is disappointed in them. Mr. Feeny is depicting the stereotype of the paternal, and somewhat gruff, older male teacher.