Technology Integration

            During a 3 day unit, we are learning about main idea. In the first lesson, students are only learning to identify what main idea is. The next day, students are learning that we need to support our main idea with evidence and determine what evidence can help support our main idea. In the final lesson, students are finding the main idea of a passage with evidence, independently. There are many ways to incorporate technology within all lessons. 

In the first day of this unit, students will create a Flipgrid as an exit ticket to express their understanding of main idea. They will explain what it is and how much of a grasp they have on the concept. This will be a quick formative assessment for me to determine what they are understanding in the first place. Flipgrid will allow students to express what they know in an engaging manner. Students will share their thoughts through video, rather than having to worry about writing their thoughts on paper. “Technology supports the accessibility needs and reading level variations of students, allowing each to access content at an appropriate level of rigor” (Murawski & Scott, 2019, p. 85).  This creates an opportunity for all students to participate and share their thinking. Flipgrid also allows for students of all backgrounds to express their thinking. “Fortunately, digital tools and technologies like social media platforms, videoconferencing software, and collaborative reading and writing spaces enable educators and their students to connect across time, space, and cultures” (Dwyer, 2016, p. 132). Students can also share their video clips with peers to collaborate with one another and increase their understanding of the concept at hand.

            For the second day, students can listen to the text-to-speech option of the article online. “Allow students to use text features in their work, too, rather than requiring only narrative descriptions. Digital versions also allow for enlargement of text, enhancing details of pictures, or text-to-voice” (Murawski & Scott, 2019, p. 40).  This helps students struggling in reading to learn the concept without struggling with phonemic awareness and fluency.  Students will then log in to Kahoot to practice identifying main idea in a set of questions. Kahoot is a game-based platform that engages students in academic content, while allowing them to express their understanding of standards.  It is important to create “personalized learning environments that were rich in literacy so that students could obtain the knowledge and skills they needed to become proficient readers and critical thinkers” (Moody & Morrow, 2017, p. 19). Technolgoy creates opportunities to do this, and Kahoot engages all learners and provides for collaboration amongst students to figure out the correct answer.

            Finally, for the third day, students had to read a passage and create a RACE response to determine the main idea and cite evidence to support their thinking. They had to write their paragraph in a word document. Having students do this prepares them for their future and practices their typing and technical skills on the computer. It is one thing to be able to determine the main idea and state evidence verbally, and it is another to express this information through writing and typing on the computer. However, this skill is necessary for future success, academically and our current job market.  In order to ensure students are utilizing technology appropriately, I will be walking through the room, checking in with students, and listening to their collaboration, as well as taking part in their discussions. This will allow me to check for student understanding and engagement during these lessons.

 

References:

Dwyer, B. (2016). Teaching and Learning in the Global Village: Connect, Create,

Collaborate, and Communicate. Reading Teacher, 70(1), 131–136. https://doi-

org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/trtr.1500

Murawski, W. and Scott, K. (Eds.). (2019). What really works for universal design for

learning. Corwin. 

Morrow, J., & Moody, L. (2017). DIFFERENTIATED AND MEANINGFUL INSTRUCTION: 

        Turning around districtwide performance by immersing students in an engaging, literacy-rich 

    

        environment. Literacy Today, 35(1), 18–19. literacyworldwide.org