Final Project: Esperanza Rising Unit

To view my final project, click here. 

Overview
For my final project, I created a series of assignments and activities related to the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan.  I chose this novel because it is taught in the sixth grade at the charter schools I support.  My plan is to share these ideas with my supervisor and, hopefully, promote more discussion about bringing technology into our classroom.  As discussed in previous posts and during class, I do not anticipate that major changes will be made immediately, but I hope to position myself as a person who can help when the company is ready to invest in our students' 21st century literacy skills.


Inclusion of Technology
Given the reluctance of some to bring technology into the classroom, I tried to design activities that blend traditional print literacy with digital literacy.  For example, the Character Journals assignment could be done in a notebook or on a blog.  I was also cognizant of the fact that sometimes technology is hard to access in schools.  There seems to always be more teachers and students wanting access to computer labs than time available.  So, I tried to build some flexibility into the activities if the technology was unavailable.  For example, the Image Slideshow could be narrated live for students in front of the classroom or recorded with a microphone on VoiceThread.


Additionally, I limited the inclusion of technologies to VoiceThread.  Digital literacy skills addressed are limited to image selection and description as well as audio recordings (Image Slideshow, Character Interviews, Digital Book Talk).  Blogging is suggested but left as optional (Character Journals).  I also focused on point-of-view and role play (Character Journals, Character Interviews).



Sequencing
Activities are designed to build on one another.  The Establishing Historical and Cultural Context assignment prepares students to complete the Image Slideshow.  Likewise, Character Journals serve as preparation for Character Interviews.

Each activity description includes:

• Preparation or collaboration needed in advance
• Assignment description with step-by-step guidelines for implementation
• Customized rubric created for the assignment
• Rationale of how the skills build digital literacy and why this matters
• References to outside sources (when applicable)

Design
I decided to create a wiki since it seemed like the most logical way to organize the information.  I created a sidebar to help viewers navigate from page to page. 

Reflection and Portfolios

Taking this course has been an eye-opening experience.  When this course started, I viewed it primarily as a means to completing my Masters degree.  I was hoping learn new ways of engaging the urban, economically disadvantaged students that populate the charter schools I support. Unfortunately, I do not know whether I am any closer to accomplishing this task.

Learning about the incredible possibilities that digital media affords in the classroom, whether it is primarily used by teachers or students, has lead me to be quite frustrated with the company I work for.  The classrooms in our schools do not even have ONE computer.  Not even one.  In most schools, teachers share about 2-3 computers in the teacher workroom.  Our teachers do not have the training or resources to bring in critical 21st century digital literacy into the classroom.  My awareness and heartache about this has changed since this class started.  Previously, I really didn't think much about it.  Throughout the semester, I have been brainstorming ways of bringing what I'm learning into our schools, and I do not believe that I am any closer than I was before.  We even had one school administrator REQUEST a website where teachers could share questions, successes, lesson plans and more about the literature anthologies developed by our company.  When I learned of this, I offered to develop and maintain a wiki for teachers at the school, and I said that I would do it without pay in my spare time.  I mentioned that I've been learning about this and could use it as part of a final project for my graduate course.  I was turned down.  They said that they didn't want me working on that project, paid or unpaid.

One classmate suggested that I continue to bring up my ideas and suggestions, even if they are turned down.  Eventually, the company will realize that it's 19th century model (and I do mean 19th century...our teaching method was developed in the 1880s and is now copyrighted) is not sustainable in the American public school system.  It will have to change.  They will have to adapt.  I can poise myself to be a resource during that time.  I like this idea.  It gives me hope and motivation to continue learning about the value--and potential drawbacks--of bringing digital media into the classroom.

It would be interesting to track student responses to writing prompts or reading passages in an online portfolio.  For example, students could post a blog or wiki page on a regular basis.  The prompt could either be a state-style writing prompt (many of these encourage students to write about personal experience or aspirations) or as a reflection of a novel, short story, poem or other reading passage.  If these were done weekly or bi-weekly, be the end of a semester, each student would have a nice portfolio of his or her writing.  Advanced or older students could be encouraged to incorporate personal photos and other images into their writing.  Mid-way through the term, students could go back and reflect on how their writing has developed and set goals for themselves in future postings.  For this type of an assignment, I believe that the most important aspect of assessment is development--how has the student's writing changed or advanced?  One potential problem with student reflections is that they might not be authentic.  Students might hesitate to offer honest criticism of their own writing so that they don't put "bad ideas" into mind of the teacher (i.e. grade-giver).  If the reflect is viewable by classmates, they also might not want to point out their flaws--or strengths--to their peers.

Minnesota e-folio might be useful for high school students applying for colleges.  It would be a way to store their writing, other work, transcripts, and personal statement(s) all in one place.

As stated earlier, I plan to continue learning about the benefits of bringing computers and digital literacy into the classroom as a way of positioning myself for the inevitable future development of our company.  I think the best way for me to do this is to regularly read educator blogs, keep up with the latest information from education organizations (e.g., NCTE), and network with other educators who are currently employing these technologies in their own classrooms.

Writing Assignment

For my final project, I am working on planning a unit for the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan.  As part of that unit, students would write character journals as they read the novel.  Character journals are nice for several reasons.  Students become more engaged with the story because they start to look at events and dialogue closely to see how it impacts or is interpreted by a specific character.  Character journals also allow students an opportunity to engage in role-play, which as we have discussed, has a variety of benefits.  Journal entries are typically shorter, so they are assignments that can be done quickly during class or as homework.

My assignment gives a nod to blogging but would primarily be a paper-based assignment.  I did this intentionally because I am trying to develop a unit that could easily incorporate digital writing to add depth but could also be implemented if the technology were not available.  In the assignment description, it notes that entries could be completed in the students' blogs, which implies that it is something that would  have already been developed.  I'm still not sure how comfortable I am with using student blogs as a form of communication or assignment medium in a middle school classroom.  It brings up questions of privacy, availability of computer-access, and efficient use of instructional time. (SIDEBAR:  I predict that much time would need to be spent on set-up, organization, maintenance, and introduction to blogging.  Instructional time is valuable and limited and could probably be spent in better ways.  I think blogging would be great if it could be done in collaboration with a technology or computer class so that English periods could be spent on the communication and writing aspect of it.)

The rubric I created does not address presentation in any way.  This was not an oversight.  The focus of this assignment is on content and voice, which seems most appropriate for a character journal of this nature.  Other parts of the unit will concentrate on presentation.  I think it is important to focus primarily on only a few traits of writing in each assignment.

One concern I have about using rubrics is that they tend to skew the point value.  Too many points can be assigned to a given trait or element when the same value of points is used for each row.  I think the rubric I created avoids this because it has multiple rows for the same trait (content) that focus on different skills (support and accuracy).  In my experience, rubrics are helpful for grading.  However, I typically find errors in them in terms of how grades are distributed after I start the grading process.  I don't know how to avoid this.  I spend time thinking about possible scenarios and outcomes to see if the rubric is fair and accurate, but something almost always surprises me.

While completing this assignment, I found a very helpful website from the University of Wisconsin - Stout that includes many rubrics for use with digital writing.