Reflection on Technology­Enhanced Unit Curated Toolkit and Unit Design

Martha M. Hill FRIT 7739 Fall 2015

This was an extension of an idea that I developed last year in my third grade class, and I planned and developed the concept due to the difficulty of remembering the facts and information that surrounded the SSH36 curriculum requirement of nine historical characters. When I developed the UbD Design for this particular assignment, I tried to find an engaging resource that would satisfy the Social Studies requirement as well as the technology requirement in our Standard Based Report Card.

My students loved the concept of creating a Fakebook page through the classtools.net application, and they were excited about the challenge of adding graphics, researched information, and their own creative touch to the assignment. The structure that was given to them through the rubric helped guide them with specific parameters of the design; required blocks of information, the number of posts that would show a sequential historic timeline of events that the historical character contributed in their lifetime to American history; yet, they still struggled with writing in first person narrative for their posts.

I then spent time in the classroom adapting their writing block with conferencing on how to produce narrative writing, and how first person narratives reflect the students “becoming the character” with personal anecdotes, reflective writing on accomplishments in their life , and how family and friends were instrumental in how they lived in their particular period of history. I know now that this should be focused on earlier in the semester, so that their writing will reflect their instruction, rather than having to correct earlier posts.

I also would utilize a skill of keyboarding before they begin this assignment, as some students laboriously type a sentence post, and entering the site with their unique URL can be difficult for those that do not have the opportunity at home to practice this skill. I also have to make time in the Media Center or in my room during ELT so that

students that do not have technology are able to complete the assignment without penalty of late entries at assessment time.

My unit would reflect these suggestions as I have several that have limited access to technology, as well as parental support in preparing these assignments. I would also designate peer conferencing for the class, as it enlightens and assists all students to have critique from someone other than their instructor. They respect and support each other through this time set aside for conferencing, and they demonstrate tact when helping to revise and edit writing and composition of the sites.

I have also created a QR chart with links to past Fakebook profiles that earned the grade of Exceeds on their sites. This motivates students to achieve, as well as give them a basis of what an Exceeds looks like. The curated toolkits assist with research strategies and sites, and the sites that are given are proven to have reliable and appropriate information for this particular assignment.

I will continue to utilize this Unit Design as it proves to provide students the necessary creativity in production of a standard, it allows the students to work at their own pace, and has proven to be important to the assessment of the historical characters as the students that do well on this project, shows a strong inclination to do well on Historical Character Assessments as a result of procuring research on each individual.

Resources Fakebook: www.classtools.net/FB Blendspace: www.blendspace.com Listl.y: www.listly.com