April Johns sent me the following information with very specific lessons. I know
we will all find this useful!!
We have a class at our school called Literature and Technology -- it is a senior
English class. That teacher, not being highly technical, came to us (two
co-librarians) a year ago to help establish a better curriculum. Here are some of
the things we worked with her on:
1) Beowulf -- the defining moment
Students wrote about a defining moment in their life. Teacher commented and graded.
Students came to the library to create a powerpoint of their defining moment. What
made this different was that they were not allowed to use words on any slide other
than their title slide. We taught visual literacy: finding images online,
scanning images, "white" space, appropriate pictures, resizing and cropping
pictures, use of an overall theme, and quality transitions and actions. In other
words, we got rid of the gaudy colors, all the bells and whistles, and the paper on
a screen. Heck, we even covered organization of their e-locker by creating a
folder for this project, and learning NOT to label every file with their name but
something meaningful.
The student shared their wordless stories with the class.
2) Canterbury Tales -- attributes of the characters
Students learned to create a chart (not a spreadsheet). Our first attempt was to
create the chart about themselves and friends. We used categories such as eye
color, relationship [family, friend, co-worker], temperament... With this chart we
taught the use of different fonts for specific reasons (column and row headers vs.
information), centering information, picking and resizing specific images, and we
incorporated color in the headers. Also, we worked on NOT writing full sentences
in the cells.
For Canterbury Tales the students and teacher brainstormed the headers of
attributes important to the pilgrims (appearance, temperament, whether or not
Chaucer liked them...). The teacher gave each student 2-3 mandatory pilgrims; they
students picked another 3-2 pilgrims. I believe they had to do 5 (or 6?) pilgrims.
They had to find appropriate images online and resize them, fill in the attributes
the class had determined, and use font and color as we had required in the previous
chart.
The student shared their C.T. tables with the class, serving as a review before the
test.
3) Hamlet
Creating an invitation to the play "The Murder of Gonzaldo" -- the play Hamlet puts
on for his mother and uncle.
Students learned about alignment, use of complimentary fonts, emphasis through font
size, boldness, and word art, and other visual elements. We present it with a
small powerpoint of our own with do's and don'ts, plus we had a handout of various
examples of invitations (mostly wedding ones we found online) and fonts so students
could see quality items.
4) Macbeth -- online searching techniques
We took several famous phrases from Macbeth and taught the students how to do
advanced Internet searching, using plus/minus and quotation marks as well as trying
different search engines. Students were to find modern day examples of the phrases
-- used mostly in advertising. This was a one day assignment in the library.
5) British history/literature research paper -- their final -- turned into a web
page.
Students did their usual research to write a paper. They were given a variety of
British history or literary topics to pick from. They were required to write on
three separate subtopics of their topic; such as: Stonehenge: who built it and how
was it constructed; it's purpose and uses; and what's happening today with it;
Henry VIII: His wives, his children, his reign.
So, in realize they wrote several smaller papers for this project. One was an
introduction to the topic, and the other three were on their subtopics.
They used the library for the usual research, and of course, we helped with
bibliography. The paper was completely written, read with suggested corrections by
the teacher, and basically complete (not really -- they learned a lot about getting
things done on time!!) before they came back to the library to turn it into a
webpage.
We used Microsoft Word for this and had they convert each section into a web page.
They applied a theme and had to insert appropriate images. We required 2 frames --
and small index on the left, and the information frame on the right. They had to
link all the index to the appropriate page. They were required to have at least 2
live links in their information pages, as well as live links on their bibliography
page. They were also required to have an "about the author" page.
At the end they were all copied onto a flash drive for the teacher so she could
take home to grade. They presented them to the class. This was in lieu of their
final. It was hard work for ALL of us, the libraries barely a step ahead of the
students on the learning curve, as well as providing a lot of serious
troubleshooting!! The students were often still writing sections of their paper,
the about the author, or downloading images. They still said it was the most
awesome thing they did. BTW, we never did publish them -- that is not our intent
at this time. Time will tell whether or not we eventually publish...
In all of this we worked with the teacher to create a rubric of requirements for
each assignment and gave suggestions on the grading. She preferred to grade all
assignments on her own. We WILL be working with her again this coming year. I
don't believe we will add anything more at this time, but will reconsider next
spring how to tweak or add to the assignment.
We have worked with our French teacher to do:
1) a trip to Paris.
Using Paris.org students had to find a hotel and restaurants, find attractions to
see, figure out when things are open and how much they cost. Students had to read
the metro schedule and tell what trains/buses they need to take and how much.
Sorry, can't remember if it was a worksheet, a paper, or presentation.
2) How Do You Get To...
Students worked in pairs to create a simply powerpoint in French. It worked as a
dialogue. How Do You Get To the bank (from the school). We copied some of the
pictures from their textbook, took pictures of the actual buildings in our town
(library, local grocery store...), or found some online. They would write the
directions from school, include the picture on another slide or two. The ending
slide was a thank you. A very simple project for first year foreign language
students. We were really teaching powerpoint in this lesson.
Driver's Education -- Plan a Trip
Our driver's ed teacher brings his classes in every semester to plan a trip -- of
at least 1200 miles. They have to pick a car online (carmax.com...) and give
price. Also they must give the size of the gas tank and how many miles per gallon.
Next they have to use Mapquest.com to map the trip from their home to the
destination. Mileage is figured.
Next, they have to show where they will stop: for gas, and overnight (the teacher
limits the driving to 8 hours per day).
We are suggesting to take it further next year and add a budget, and what meals the
students will eat. But, really that has nothing to do with driving.
Even though the French and Driver's Ed lessons don't really utilize us teaching
technology, it is amazing how much the students do not know about filling in data
(mapquest, carmax), interpreting information (carmax, paris.org), using the back
button, reformatting for printing, grabbing an image from another file... Thus, I
include these as examples because our students need to fill in these gaps as well
as go on to the deep research and awesome creations possible with today's
technologies.
Various classes: Career Brochure
Our students are required to research careers several times in their years at our
school. Many teachers have shifted away from a career paper to a tri-fold
brochure. Students are still researching a career, but are learning to organize
the information in another way, as well as the usual on fonts, sizes, and images.
Learning to re-orient the paper, create columns, and insert column breaks to get
from one section to the next are skills taught. Students also need to understand
that when folded the first column you type on for a brochure is NOT the cover of
the brochure!
We have one science teacher who requires the career chosen by the student be
related in some way to chemistry. Also, his students are required to write a one
week diary incorporating all the research information: advancement, education,
salary, working conditions...
All classes -- Skinny Books
Skinny books are very popular at our school -- they are manilla folders devoted to
one topic. Teachers might use they on important topics related to a book the class
is about to read, or an historical time period. Cover is image/s. Information on
the 2 inside pages. Some teachers have a bibliography on the back page; more
teachers are requiring a set of 10 to 20 questions covering the inside information,
by the creator of the skinny books. Oh yes, the creator has to turn in the answers
to the teacher as well. I believe these are used both as pre-reading before a unit
is began as well as review prior to the final test.
Again, we are not into heavy teaching of technologies -- more assisting where we
are needed. But, if this helps bring your teachers in to the library, or gives
some of their assignments a boost, OR gets the word out that your are an
innovative, effective collaborator -- all is good.
Best of luck,
April Johns, Librarian
Larkin High School
Elgin, IL
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation.
* LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
* LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
* EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
* LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LM_NET
Mailing List Home