Technology Integration Plan

Technology Integration Plan for the French Revolution

My technology integration plan focuses on a lesson highlighting the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon in the late 18th and early 19th century. This lesson fits into a greater unit that looks at this age of revolutions, an the many causes, whether political, economic, or technological, that spawned these uprisings. This lesson is geared towards 11th or 12th grade students, and studies the political ideals, technological advancements, and individual revolutionaries, and how each applies towards the greater topic of the French Revolution.

When creating my technology integration matrix, the first content-based standard, and first matrix row, focuses on looking into the various ideals, such as liberty, democracy, and nationalism, which become driving forces for reform and revolution and the impact they have on government, society, and the economy. This overarching concept can be applied to any revolution within the great unit, and is a great introduction to the framework in which the French Revolution began. As a way to give the students some foundational information, the class would begin with a lecture to get a clearer picture of the different aspects of society that the French residents lived in. This lecture would include the use of a Smartboard to show different aspects portraying peasant and noble life. Following the lecture, we would move into a group discussion format as we worked to analyze some of the challenges that the peasants faced and what may have driven them towards embracing these revolutionary ideals. The class would be split into two teams as they prepared for a debate, with one side focusing on the need for reform, and the other side focusing on why things were find to stay as the status quo. As each group uses computers and the internet to gather information, they will have access to a group based Googledoc to help compile the data for all members to analyze. Finally, the opposing sides will debate the topic using the data and information they found, formulating viewpoints and opinions to help with the discussion. The debate will be used as an assessment to ensure that all students adequately participate in the discussion. Throughout this process, they will need to sufficiently communicate and collaborate with classmates, ensuring that they are employing research and information fluency, and using critical thinking to formulate their viewpoints based on the information they find in order to cover the ISTE standards.

The second row of the matrix goes into the discussion of the role played by scientific and technological advances within the massive social, economic, and cultural changes occurring during this period of reform and revolution. We will start by viewing a few video clips and maps on the projector, where the students will take notes and provide me with a short written assessment of their analysis relating to the importance of each technology. The majority of this section will focus on a student created map highlighting a scientific or technological advancement of their choosing alongside its various social, economic, and/or cultural changes. For this assessment, they will use a computer with internet and mapping software such as eSpatial. Once completed, links will be loaded to a class-wide Googledocs and viewed on the Smartboard with an accompanying group discussion. This matrix row highlights several ISTE competencies, all of which are covered during the map making session. These include the use of creativity and innovation, research and information literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, and technology operations and concepts.

The final row of my matrix focuses on individuals and groups that worked to promote revolutionary actions and bring about change during this time period. This section would also start with a short lecture driven by the teacher as a way to discuss some background information on the main revolutionaries at the beginning of the French Revolution. Students will be grouped into teams of 3 or 4 and work towards building a website with a timeline or in some other logical format. The students will then move to their computers with internet to begin researching further as they decide upon a main individual or group that they would like to focus on for their website activity. They can use any website or timeline creator, though WIX is one good example that is easy to use and navigate. Once the groups have completed their timeline or website, they will use Prezi, PowerPoint, or some other presentation software of their choosing, over a projector, in conjunction with their website/timeline to showcase the importance of their individual or group in the greater French Revolution. Both the website and presentation will be assessed as well by the teacher. Similar to the mapping activity, students will be able to display their creativity and innovation, work to showcase their research and information literacy skills, assess this information through critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, work in teams to promote communication and collaboration, and understand technology operations and concepts through their website creation. Overall, the technology matrix helps this lesson achieve both the NJ content standards as well as showcasing the importance of technology when applied to the various strategies employed to reach the ISTE standards as well.

Padlet Unit Plan

Antebellum Reform is often overlooked in our schools because of its location between the often more important topics of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It is imperative for our students to understand these reform movements and the importance they played in later events and political movements. I started the unit with the lesson pertaining to the Allegheny Portage Railroad, and expanded into the entire Antebellum period. While I was initially looking at technological advancements, I found a few lessons that pertained to the importance of these advancements within the overall reform movement. I found a unit (linked in the padlet) that focused on Antebellum Reform, and I used this unit when developing my unit goals and essential questions. Overhead projectors/SmartBoards and Googledocs are both important for this unit because of its focus on primary source materials as well as maps and other documents. In order to interact with the materials effectively, students will need access and sharing services through Googledogs as well as visual representation of sources and spatial understanding of maps through overheads and/or SmartBoards.

Created with Padlet

Compare & Contrast Ideas: This Day in History

This Day in History app for iPad is an interactive calendar that shows historical events for any selected day, best used on the current day, along with related media such as photos, illustrations, music, and speeches. Some examples are listening to the national anthem of countries on the day of their founding, presidential speeches on the anniversary of their inauguration, and sound clips from famous musicians on their birthdays. Furthermore, background text appears for each event to highlight interesting aspects that students may not be aware of and can discuss in class. Best of all, the app is free!

This app would be best used to start each day in the classroom as a way to get the students to start thinking critically and discussing various historical topics. They will be able to compare and contrast ideas relating to the information presented and discuss the importance of each fact. The main downside for this app is that the students will need an iPad in order to keep up on a daily basis, though I may be able to show the app from my own computer or iPad on the overhead each day if necessary. Also, because the facts presented are about certain days and not specific topics, the information is often jumbled across different narratives and not necessarily relevant to the class discussion. That being said, this app would still be good to get to the students thinking at the beginning of class.
http://www.mackiev.com/wb_ipad.html

Supporting Instruction with Technology

Google Sheets: Allegheny Portage Railroad
I focused on the Allegheny Portage Railroad lesson plan because it is a piece of technological and historical achievement that is often overlooked and only studied in Pennsylvania schools. While it may not be relevant for classrooms in California, for example, it is still a relevant topic in neighboring states such as New Jersey. Furthermore, I saw that this lesson plan was very promising, but could use a few improvements in order to be ready for the students to learn. Some gaps that took place were that the lesson only focused on using computers to view pictures/paintings and read assigned texts. With the amount of information being assessed in this plan, computer access should be used as interactive tools for the pictures and maps, as well as transitioning the students to using other technologies such as Google Docs when collecting data for their debate or a recording device for their interviews with parents or grandparents to name a few. These additional technologies will help the students feel like they own their work through student-centered instruction. Also, the lesson needed to expand slightly on the railroad's importance with regards to the United States' political expansion as it continued its movement west. I think Google Sheets is very user friendly and would be very helpful in the classroom. Also, it would be especially useful for debates and group discussions that need some prior research in order for the students to organize their materials in a simple way.

Adapt Content: Back in Time

Back in Time is an award winning e-textbook app that takes students through different time periods of the universe and Earth's history with a main focus on human civilization. Each major event covered in the app is documented within the corresponding social and historical context which includes images, a timeline, and any interesting facts that may apply. The app includes custom made animations to help bring these events to life for the students. The app is compatible with both iOS and Windows platforms, and costs $7.99.

The uses of this app for Social Studies education are endless, as each major section is covered in traditional classroom settings. I think one of the most interesting uses would be during a unit on WWI, as the students can use the app to see the historical pictures and read interesting facts surrounding the events that are not usually covered in traditional textbooks as they adapt to the new content. Besides the somewhat high price for the app, and the fact that students would need tablets to use this app in the classroom, another downside is that the app is somewhat limited in scope, focusing on the biggest events of human civilization (Industrial Revolution, WWI, etc.), but they leave out many important periods. Without this additional content, I am not sure if the price could be justified for supplemental material that will only apply to certain units.
http://www.landka.com/backintime/

History of Technology in Social Studies Education

The film projector, and film in general, has been a very useful technology for Social Studies classrooms. Students are able to view history in a way that was previously unattainable through traditional textbook studies. They can now watch movies and clips about nearly any event throughout human history to gain a deeper understanding of the material.

Share Ideas & Opinions: MackinVIA

MackinVIA is a great free tool for schools that already purchase eBooks through the Mackin platform. Through the VIA platform, all Mackin eBook products that have previously been purchased (approximately $30-$50 per book) are available in a single, customizable place, easily accessible by students and teachers alike. Furthermore, most eBooks have multi-user licenses, so an entire classroom could open the same book independently. Best of all, the eBooks are categorized based on classification, and teachers can create their own groups of documents for students to focus on.

  

 

https://mackinvia.com/

Sample login info,

School: MackinVIA

Username: mackin

Password: mackindemo

This would be a great tool for sharing ideas as the students will be able to research primary documents and sources for their history projects, and they could use the cubing technique with these documents as part of a classroom debate on the sources that they will analyze. The main downside of this site is that only schools that already use Mackin eBooks will be able to use its great features. Also, students will likely need access to tablets in order to read the documents in class, though they will also be able to use logins from home to look over the materials. 

Reflection on Influential Technologies

The three most influential technologies for me, to date, have been my cell phone, computer, and car. With today’s cell phone technology, we can do everything from email to homework to entertainment and communication on a cell phone; the possibilities are truly endless. I know that I often use it as a quick reference guide if I’m trying to figure out some information while on the move. In addition, I use different news apps to stay apprised of what’s happening in the U.S. and abroad, and it is through these apps that I first learned about events such as the Syrian refugee crisis in Germany or the benching of Johnny Manziel; the range of news and information is limitless. Cell phones are also great resources of information about our friends and family. One downside to this technology is the overuse of cell phones in today’s society, something I am guilty of as well, often using my cell even when I am out with others or in classes. Like the one student said in the video, I am texting all the time, often more than I talk with others. I have tried to tone this down in recent years, but it is still a main aspect of my cell phone usage as it is like my “third hand” and I ensure to bring my phone everywhere with me. The biggest different with my phone usage and those in the videos is the lack of social media and picture taking that I engage in. I practically never use social media, and while I do take some pictures during my travels, I never share them with others online like the one student mentions.

The second technology that has greatly influenced my life is a computer. While computers have been somewhat supplanted in recent years as the only source of information by cell phones, they are still an amazing source for research and information and have additional capabilities that a phone’s limited processes may be unable to perform. For example, I am currently working in a research capacity on African-American school segregation in Northern states. There are several great databases with newspapers scanned where I can search for the information needed, some dating back to the 1840’s. This information would be much harder to collect and synthesized if it had to be done manually. In addition to the traditional research and information on the web, a wider access to videos, documentaries, and other non-traditional sources of information have made computers indispensable when gathering new information, though we do sometimes become slightly over-reliant on their capabilities which can cause some laziness if the information we’re looking for does not appear instantly. I definitely agree with many of the students in the video regarding the necessity of their laptops and how if there were no computers, most of my hobbies would also disappear. For example, one of my main hobbies is watching different TV shows, and I tend to watch all of them on my computer. One thing I typically don’t use my computer for is the creation of websites, something that several of the students in the video mentioned, though I am trying to learn more on that topic with this blog.

The third influential technology that has impact my life, though not traditionally considered technology along the same lines of computers and phones, are cars. While it doesn’t have search capabilities for information like a cell phone or computer, my car has brought me to numerous destinations over the years that have aided in my learning experiences. I am able to read as much as I want about certain places on sites such as Wikipedia, but without seeing and experiencing it for myself, I will never fully grasp much of the information provided. In my undergrad, for example, I was studying the Civil War in one class and had never been to Gettysburg. One weekend I decided to drive there and experience the history and location for myself. While it was great learning about the event in class and online, it was really amazing experiencing it in person, something I would’ve been unable to do without the technology of my car. None of the students in the video mentioned cars as a technology they use, though that’s not surprising based on their ages. I am positive that once they begin driving more they will see its benefits, and will end up using it in new and imaginative ways to aid in their information gathering.

Pew Survey Results: Teachers' Technology Use

I found it interesting that 73% of teachers said that they or their students used cell phones in the classroom or for assignments. This was very surprising to me as someone who was told growing up to ensure cell phones were never seen or used without repercussions, so I am glad to see this changing. One result that was not surprising, unfortunately, was the continued negativity and hypocrisy towards Wikipedia. Even though 87% of the respondents used Wikipedia on their own, they still discouraged students in the focus group from using it despite the benefits it provides as a source of research and information.

As an aspiring teacher, I would rate on the high end in most of the categories discussed. My main strengths are quickly adapting to new technologies and the use of different search engines and research tools for classroom activities. While I do use some of the social media sites, I wouldn’t say I’m a frequent user or use them to their full purpose, especially compared to the 26% who use Twitter. As I transition to a classroom setting, I will remember the 45% of teachers who have students share on a website or the 41% who have them work through GoogleDocs.

I have encountered many teachers who couldn’t do much outside of basic computer work, much less 73% that are “very confident” in their online search capabilities, so it is good to see this trending upwards today.  The ones who used the most technological were true to the survey in that they were often in the under 35 group. It is good to see the growing trend of technological acceptance in the classroom as a tool to further a student’s education and understanding of the material.