Sweet Sixteen

I am currently feeling a little overwhelmed. It is the end of March and I have two GAME plans that I would like to implement, but I am not sure if I have the time. I still am really passionate about both of my plans, but I feel that I would be doing a disservice to my students and the assignment if I rush into them too quickly. I have decided to put the Kony 2012 letter writing to legislation on the back burner right now. I need to make sure that I approach this cause with multiple options for students. I know another teacher was trying to get something started at our school and a parent complained that this teacher had a political agenda. I need to make sure that this does not become an issue. I will still give my students the option to write to our legislature about Kony, but I want to give them more options to write about as well. The main point of this assignment is to get my students to write persuasively about something that they are passionate about. As a class we need to make a list of what they are passionate about and then do research on that. They could even write about something that is going on in our community/town.

This activity could actually be combined with my other GAME plan, to create a blog. I still am really excited about doing this and was just today able to sign up for more computer lab time next week. My sophomores LOVE to argue, as do most teenagers, and I feel that teaching them to persuade in a respectable way will help them go far. I know this will be a struggle as many students (and people in general) take things personally when trying to convince someone to agree with them, but I think this is a skill that all students need to master. I think I will start with giving them a list of possible persuasive topics and having them get into partners. I feel that having groups of three will lead to one person feeling like the third-wheel and he/she will not participate as much. I know that I will need computers for the blogging part of this assignment, but I can also just utilize our school library for the research part of the assignment. I want my students to use at least two outside, reliable resources to back-up their opinion. That also means that I need to help guide them in formulating their argument. I have a feeling that some students will get too broad with their topic and will need a little guidance. After getting some feedback from colleagues and fellow Walden classmates, I am re-thinking having other teachers log in. In my mind the idea was to challenge the students, but I can just log in a challenge them myself. I may still talk to another teacher who is working on persuasive essays and have him pick a student or two to log in and blog with my students. That might be interesting and get more students involved and thinking. And getting used to blogging.

Okay, so the first step will be picking persuasive topics, researching and becoming knowledgeable about the subject. Then I will have to teach them blogging etiquette and finally let them lose to blog. I like this idea. I hope it works as well in real-life as it does in my head!

JenZ

GAME Day

For my first goal, having my students learn more about Kony2012 and contacting legislation to do something about it, I will need a computer lab and Internet access. As with many schools, we do not have computers available for all students. This is where I run into a problem. I have signed up for computer lab time, but unfortunately, it is not in the near future. Spring time is when the computer labs at our schools seem to become extremely popular, so I will not be able to get fully started on this until after spring break. I will check with our library, but that is not as convenient as the lab because students are more distracted. I think what I will start doing is showing them where they can find the senators and representatives for our state and figure out who they want to write to. Since I want them to write a letter we can start off writing it in class, a rough draft. This will give them a chance to get their ideas on paper while they are still fresh, and hopefully make it so when we actually do get to a computer lab, the typing will go quickly. Some of my students have expressed that they do not want to write about Kony because they feel that it is too political and almost like “jumping on the band-wagon” so I have decided that I would like them to find an issue that is currently taking place in our state and write a letter to one of our representatives either urging them to change something or to keep something the same. One issue that has just come about is that Washington legalized gay marriage. There is now a group trying to get that changed and they want the issue put on this November’s ballot. I will mention this to my students to give them another option to write about, but they are not limited to just that issue either. My main goal with this assignment is to get them to speak up about something that is going on in the world or our state and demand that something be done about it. Since I have a little extra time before a computer lab is available I will research to see what has been done lately about Kony and try to keep my students informed. I am also going to inform my students who are participating in the “Cover the Night” that if they want to videotape what they are doing and post it on the Kony2012 website or YouTube, I will give them extra credit. I still am not comfortable making it a requirement to the assignment, but I thought it might be a good extra credit activity.

My second GAME plan goal, having students use a blog to write persuasively, is also going to require a computer lab. I am only going to try this with one class, possible my sixth period so it might be easier to get to a computer lab. I am going to have to set up the blog appropriately so that I can moderate it, and I need to make sure that I play around with the blog again, so I am sure I remember how to use it. One nice thing about this blog is that it also shows me how often someone has been on and responded to the blog, I think only within my students, but I may use that to help grade them.  I will also need to contact a handful of teachers to participate and be a blogger. Again, this website uses code names, so the students should not know who is a student and who is not. I have not decided if I want to let them know that a teacher may log in, they may try to get investigative and figure out who is the teacher. It might be better to wait until everyone has finished blogging. To start this off I will give my students a list of controversial issues that are currently going on and have them choose a topic to debate. They will need to research it and practicing citing their sources. I already have a list, but I will need to add more and newer topics to it. Then we will go to the library and do some research. We have a great database called Opposing Viewpoints and it has a variety of topics with articles on both sides of the issue. I always do a persuasive unit, but I have never gone so far as to have them blog about it. I am really excited!

Technology GAME Plan

The two NETS-T that I have decided to focus on are: 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.  I focused on these because I feel like this is something that I always need to work on and that seems the most relevant to me at this time. 

My GAME plan for my first NETS-T, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning, is as follows:

Goals: An issue that has just now really come to my attention is the use of children soldiers, especially in Uganda. There was just recently a video posted, http://www.kony2012.com (if you have not seen this, please watch!) that explains this more in detail. I want my students to learn more about this and contact their state representative to help make a change.  

Action: As a class we just watched this video and many of my students want to take action and make a change. I want to help them with this. I am going to have my students research and find out who our state senators and representatives are and e-mail them about Joseph Kony. I want them to ask for action to be taken and for our, the United States’, continued effort in trying to capture Kony.

Monitor: I will monitor this by having each student print out the letter that they wrote to the senator/representative (they will first have to type the letter in Word) and also any responses they have received.  We will keep a binder with all of these in it to show our progress.

Evaluate/Extend: To evaluate this I will have each student reflect on what they learned from this experience. I want them to start off explaining where they were at in the beginning of this (mentally) and where they have come since then.  What have they learned and what is their next step, next issue they want to fight for.  Again, this will be similar to a KWL

My GAME plan for my second NETS-T, Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, is as follows:

Goals: Form a blog for my students to write on. Each week a different group will discuss a different topic and get feedback from the public. This assignment will focus on persuasive writing and citing their facts.

Action: My students will be put into groups of no more than three and they must choose a current, controversial topic and write a blog informing and persuading the audience to agree with their side. They must submit their topic to the blog by noon on Monday and it will remain active until Sunday evening.  As a group they will write up a couple paragraphs informing and persuading the audience, making sure to internal cite their sources and to also have a works cited at the end of their blog.  They must use two reliable resources to support their opinions. Each group member will be required to respond and write a comment on the blog at least twice.   

Monitor: This will take some time to monitor.  At first I am going to use our school’s website which uses School Fusion. This allows me to set up a blog and also monitor the comments that are made. Each participant has a code name (only I can see their real name) and that seems to help people express themselves more.  At first I will open it up to all of the high school and then maybe move it to the public at large.  I will also e-mail staff members and have one or two anonymously sign one and comment about the blogs. I feel that this will help to keep the dialogue/blog going.

Evaluate/Extend: After the group is finished with their blog they will be required to reflect on the experience. I will have them fill out a KWL pertaining to the use of a blog and their experience. This response will be due the Monday after their blog closes. I do not want to give them too much time after their blog is finished because I want their experience to be fresh in their mind.

References
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx