Rationale
The purpose of this
module is to integrate technology into a specific thematic unit from the 1st
and 2nd grade curriculum. The unit will be on living things,
concentrating on Animal Life in Oman.
Students will engage in inquiry about the living things
they see in Oman and have had experience within their own lives, as well as
other living things they have access to through online books
(tumblebooklibrary.com, starwalkkids.com), and internet resources (Brain Pop
Jr., PebbleGo.com, National Geographic Kids, American Library Services for
Children, World Almanac for Kids, World Book Online). The teacher will teach the unit using a smartboard where the kids will view the online books for listening, reading and oral discussions. The
teacher and students will work collaboratively on the graphic organizers
(graphic.org), displayed on the smart board, to classify the animals. Students
will classify a variety of animals based on their characteristics, these
classifications will be written down by each student on individual charts. They
will then create journals and collect artifacts from home and their travels
(animal bones, shells, pet toys, pictures), as they learn about the features of
living things and how the needs of living things are met by their habitats. Students will be a part of a research group
(groups of two) and become an expert on one living thing, finally creating
their own technology-based presentation, using Book Creator application on the
iPad, to share their knowledge. Their charts, journals and presentations will
then be published on the class blog for their families to view across the globe.
At the end of this unit the students’ learning outcomes should be:
·
To become aware of the diversity of living things in Oman.
·
To understand the structure, functions, and reproduction of
living things.
·
To understand how and why living things are dependent on
their environments.
·
To gain an increase of vocabulary about living things in Oman
through tasks done in class, like their own journal, animal matrix chart and
Venn diagrams.
·
To understand how to create their own books independently on
Book Creator.
A thematic unit was chosen to integrate the knowledge
of living things in Oman, which will give the students the opportunities to
seek information, and take ownership, from the technologies provided to them. Roessingh
(2014) article, Grandma’s Soup,
explains the importance of thematic instruction in the classroom for language
learners and she claims that these thematic instructions provide engaging and
motivational tasks for the learners to have a chance to collaborate and think
critically on projects, and thus leading to English language proficiency. These meaningful tasks will utilize the technological
tools provided which will “provide scaffolding
for students with limited English proficiency to demonstrate concepts, connect
meaning, and add relevance, depth, and texture to a topic of study” (Zainuddin,
Yahya, Morales-Jones, & Whelan-Ariza, 2011, p. 358).
Assessments of this
thematic unit will be based on both formative and summative assessments. A rubric
will be created for the learners based on their learning outcomes and will consist of students’ organizational charts for
classifications, their journals, students paired work, and their final project
of the technology based presentation.
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