Week 1 Blog

Week 1

Introduction

My name is Amber Walsh, and this is my 18th year teaching. I have taught in the Chickasha Public School District for my entire career. I have taught 3rd grade, kindergarten, first grade, and high school English. I have served as a team lead for the kindergarten and English departments. I am currently teaching American Literature as well as AP Composition and Literature to juniors. 

My husband and I own a dirt/concrete construction company. We have two wonderful sons. One is a senior and graduating this year with the dream of being a paramedic. Our youngest son just wants to grow the business when he gets out of school, but he has to wait a bit longer, since he is finishing his 8th-grade year of school. 

Goals

My goals for this class are to learn how to integrate technology more effectively into my English classroom to make it more engaging for the students. With the decline of student engagement due to social media, I want to be able to present technology in a positive and constructive setting to be able to capture their attention. 

Lesson

One of the most pressing challenges that I have as an educator in the English classroom is that my students struggle with the ability to find reputable sources. One of my main focus areas is having students construct essays with relevant and reliable information. I would like to prepare a unit in which students would be able to recognize reliable versus unreliable information. This lesson would be a great segue into the research for an essay. The lesson would present a variety of sources from journals, news articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos. I would present this material in a slideshow format for students to refer back to by posting on Google Classroom. Students will be instructed on a variety of techniques for verifying information. After completion, students will be given digital flashcards to sort the sources. The students would then have a self-checking system in place to sort cites into viable and nonviable information. In a world of online knowledge, students don’t know the names of encyclopaedias that were once household names. Exposing students to these sources will effectively enhance research time rather than sifting through the barrage of information that Google floods them with. Having students sort through information with an understanding of the difference between Reddit and the Smithsonian would help students in research without the frustrations that they face. Too many times, I see students take one of two paths. The first is that the student finds the first source and produces subpar information in their essay. The other is that the student will shut down completely and would rather risk the chance of being caught asking AI to write their essay. The students will then show mastery of the skill upon the completion of their essay.

Standards

The lesson would give students the ability to obtain the knowledge of what to look for in a source and how to locate it. This precursor to essay writing would provide a strong integration of the Triple E Framework by Kolb, due to the fact that it would enhance student engagement with guided practice, enhancement with visual representations, and extension by connecting students with authentic experts (Kolb, 2020). In InTASC, the lesson would give students a deeper understanding of the Learner Development Standard. Specifically, 1(d) “...how learners construct knowledge, acquire skills, and develop disciplined thinking process…” (InTASC, 2013). The Oklahoma Standards that this lesson would focus on are 11.6.R.1 “Students will find and comprehend information about a topic, using their own viable research questions” (Standards, 2021), 11.6.R.2 “Students will synthesize relevant information from a variety of primary and secondary sources, following ethical and legal citation guidelines” (Standards, 2021), and 11.6.R.3 “Students will evlaluate the relevance, reliability, and validity of the information gathered” (Standards, 2021). Finally, this lesson would integrate the ISTE Standards of 1.3.a “Use effective research strategies to find resources that support their learning needs, personal interests, and creative pursuits” and 1.3.b “Evaluate the accuracy, validity, bias, origin, and relevance of digital content” (ISTE, 2024).

Conclusion

Having students be guided in the research process and explicit instruction on how to find valid information will empower students to navigate technology with ease and confidence. Before learning about InTASC, Kolb, and ISTE, I didn’t understand how to help my students to be able to bridge the gap between reliable and unreliable information. I now have the knowledge to be able to enhance the research skills of my future students. 

Citations

Education Oklahoma Academic Standards English Language Arts. (2021). ELA Standards. Oklahoma State Department of Education.                                   

    https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/osde/documents/services/standards-learning/english-                language-arts/ela-                     standards/2021%20Oklahoma%20Academic%20Standards%20for%20English%20Language%20Arts.pdf. 

InTASC: Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0 A Resource for         Ongoing Teacher Development, 2013. https//:.files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/5D558115.pdf

ISTE. (2024). ISTE Standards for Students. https//:iste.org/standards/students. 

Kolb, L. (2020, December). Triple E Framework. Triple E Framework: www.tripleframwork.com.