Katherine Cenci Peary
November 22, 2005
1. How did you implement your cyberlesson? (small group, whole group, posted on the Internet to be done at home, individually, as a learning center etc.)
Since I am not currently teaching in a regular language arts classroom, I implemented my cyberlesson with the students enrolled in my Reading Acceleration program. I designed this lesson and its corresponding unit to be a supplement to a historical fiction reading unit currently part of our sixth grade curriculum. It was specifically crafted to assist students in gathering the background knowledge necessary to comprehend the two fiction texts, The Art of Keeping Cool and Don’t You Know That There Is A War On ?, companion novels in this unit of study. The activities incorporated in this cyberlesson were created for the nonfiction text, Rosie the Riveter. Teachers use this text to encourage students to read and understand nonfiction text as well as provide them with some of the historical vocabulary, events, and people they need to know to read the other two novels in the unit. Since there is a renewed interest in nonfiction reading in the area of language arts, I decided to gear my cyberlesson toward nonfiction.
2. How did your students respond to the project?
My students appeared to enjoy the opportunity to utilize the computers during our regular reading time. They were knowledgeable enough about the program, Power Point, to self-navigate through the program. Students responded positively to the graphics and the component of reading text from different sources (websites and text). Students seemed to find the virtual tour at the end of the lesson the most engaging. They were more challenged by what the directions were asking them to do. Additionally, these students were not as familiar with the topic of World War II as I had originally imagined. Several times, they were stuck on vocabulary associated with this time period. I was also struck by the sluggishness with which these sixth graders typed their responses to one of the activities.
3. Strengths?
I think that the main strength of this cyberlesson is that it will be used a supplement to a unit that is already in place in our sixth grade curriculum. In the regular classroom, students’ background knowledge of the topic of World War II will be addressed through several other activities. By the time, they encounter the cyberlesson a context for learning will have been established. I also believe that the variety of activities presented in this lesson will help motivate and engage students in nonfiction text. This activity also requires that students read and apply meaning across multiple pieces of text. The drawing, writing questions, and virtual tour activities generated an enthusiasm for a sometimes dry topic.
4. Weaknesses?
A weakness in the cyberlesson is the amount of World War II topic specific vocabulary present in both the text and internet sites. The targeted readers had a hard time processing the amount of information presented in just a few pages of text. I believe this problem could be minimized by presenting this lesson in context with a unit of study on this topic.
Another weakness that I found was in my own lack of experience teaching nonfiction text. It did not immediately occur to me just how deficient my readers are in independently constructing meaning in a text like Rosie the Riveter. I found myself explaining both tasks and texts at times slide by slide. This problem could be rectified by pairing targeted readers with students with more background knowledge on the topic and the reading of nonfiction text.
5. How would you modify the way in which you implemented the project to make it more successful?
In order to make the project more successful, I would present this activity again in the context of the unit rather than just randomly assigning it. I didn’t immediately consider having the text on tape for students but perhaps that is a differentiation that teachers would find helpful for targeted and special education students to maximize their independence with the activities outlined in the cyberlesson. Additionally, I have already modified the lesson to include definitions of specific vocabulary and a site that describes the concept of rationing. The before reading activity has been tweaked to reflect inferential thinking about how life as usual has changed. Students seemed to have a hard time making predictions from the pictures presented. This site gives students specific examples of rationed amounts of food, gasoline, etc. This way the can have a clear understanding of the sacrifices being faced by the people who lived during this time.
6. Recommendations?
My recommendations for implementing this cyberlesson include:
*Providing students with background knowledge of World War II (key people, places, events, and vocabulary).
*Having additional adults in the computer lab to address any questions with technology.
*Consider providing differentiation in tasks (modify parts of the guided lesson by providing scaffolds, inserting examples where needed)
*Another idea is to use this as a challenge activity for the higher readers the sixth grade classroom. Perhaps they could design another cyberlesson based on this one for one of the novel in the unit.