Learning Activities
The following sample learning activities demonstrate how to integrate particular technology resources into the classroom to guide learning and assessments.
Curricular Resources That Guide Instructional Design
You are teaching a class of 8th-grade English language learners. Your current lesson is "Summarizing the Plot and Determining the Theme and Moral of the Story," addressing the standards "RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text," and "RL.8.2, Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text."
Using a smart whiteboard, you start by defining and discussing the vocabulary words necessary for your students to understand the content of the lesson, being sure to compare and contrast the words "theme" and "moral." You then show "The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper Read Aloud" a YouTube video from "Story Time With Miss Jeannie." Following the reading, you return to the smart whiteboard to plot the story of The Little Engine That Could using a story plot diagram.
Using a smart whiteboard, you start by defining and discussing the vocabulary words necessary for your students to understand the content of the lesson, being sure to compare and contrast the words "theme" and "moral." You then show "The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper Read Aloud" a YouTube video from "Story Time With Miss Jeannie." Following the reading, you return to the smart whiteboard to plot the story of The Little Engine That Could using a story plot diagram.
Formative Assessment Strategy
Following the preliminary presentation procedures and modeling, you have your students break into groups with each group at a different station. At one station, students take an objective online quiz you created for them on Kahoot! independently to see if they can match the vocabulary word with the correct definition. When they finish they instantly receive the results of their quiz. By the end of the station rotation time, you will have the results of each student's quiz and can determine which words your class struggled with and can re-teach them as needed. You will also see which students may need a little additional support and can offer one-on-one instruction as necessary throughout the rest of the lesson. At another station, students work collaboratively to determine some synonyms for the words, using interactive word bubbles to map the words. At a third station, they work collaboratively to create a photo collage of things that are related to the vocabulary words. And at a fourth station, they use sentence prompts to independently write short paragraphs describing what the vocabulary words mean to them.
Summative Assessment Strategy
Students are divided into groups to work on their own story, plotting the action of the story and determining the theme and moral. Each group then presents their story to the class. You and your students evaluate each presentation based on a rubric, which you show on your smart whiteboard.
For a second example of a summative assessment utilizing technology, let's say that you have just completed a unit on creative writing. As a unit assessment, your students write a fictional short story, use Grammarly to check for spelling and grammatical errors, and post their stories on your class blog. Once all stories are posted, students must each choose three short stories to comment on, giving thoughtful feedback to their classmates. You grade your students based on a rubric you gave them at the beginning of the lesson. Their grades are based on both their own stories and their peer feedback.
For a second example of a summative assessment utilizing technology, let's say that you have just completed a unit on creative writing. As a unit assessment, your students write a fictional short story, use Grammarly to check for spelling and grammatical errors, and post their stories on your class blog. Once all stories are posted, students must each choose three short stories to comment on, giving thoughtful feedback to their classmates. You grade your students based on a rubric you gave them at the beginning of the lesson. Their grades are based on both their own stories and their peer feedback.
Piper, Watty and Loren Long. The Little Engine That Could. New York: Penguin Group. 2005.
“Story Time With Miss Jeannie.” The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper Read Aloud. YouTube. April 4, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2EhWYGbi5o
“Story Time With Miss Jeannie.” The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper Read Aloud. YouTube. April 4, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2EhWYGbi5o