Project Based Inquiry In the course, New Literacies in Media, I had the opportunity to collaborate with my peers on a Project Based Inquiry assignment. Throughout this assignment, I found that students engagement in informational texts increases when technology is integrated into instruction as a tool for students to apply their knowledge and understanding.
In my second grade classroom, the process began by first identifying the social studies objective that would be taught and assessed during the assignment. Next, I selected the informational texts that my students would be reading to learn the material. Finally, I selected an innovative Web 2.0 tool that my students would use to demonstrate their understanding of the content.
In groups of three of four, students read grade - level informational texts about the seven continents. Each group was responsible for locating specific facts about their continent. For example, what hemisphere is it located in? What bodies of water border the continent? After locating and recording the specific facts, each group was responsible for sharing their newly developed knowledge with the class. And this is where it really got exciting!
As a class, my students created a PREZI presentation to demonstrate their knowledge of each continent. Each group had the opportunity to share their facts and record their facts in the PREZI presentation. After the presentation was created, each group presented their information to the class.
Reflecting on the process and product of the Project Based Inquiry assignment, it is clear that the application and integration of a technology tool increased my students engagement in reading and exploring informational text. For the first time in my career, I had made my social studies instruction active and engaging. As a result of this experience, I have integrated Web 2.0 tools such as PREZI across the content areas to increase my students engagement in the reading of informational texts.
Teacher Research: A Study of Literacy and Technology In the course Teachers as Researchers, I had the opportunity to complete an action research project within my second grade classroom. Specifically, I choose to analyze the following question: What happens when my students share their thinking and understanding of literacy concepts on a classroom blog? The classroom blog would serve as a digital platform for my students to publish their writing and share their thinking while collaborating and communicating with their peers. It was my hope that by integrating technology into my literacy instruction in the form of a literature response blog, my students would be encouraged to express their critical thinking and thus extend their understanding of essential literacy concepts and skills.
Prior to posting a response on the classroom blog, each student was responsible for reflecting on the informational text that was to be the focus of the blog post. Reflecting on my students responses, it is clear that the use of a technology tool increased their motivation to participate in the collaborative class discussion. My action research project gave me the opportunity to "respond to the changing array of media technologies and resources used both within and outside the classroom to make education more responsive to today's learners" (Larson, 2008, p. 121). Furthermore, the digital platform was a simple, yet effective method for increasing my students engagement in informational texts. Throughout my research, I found that my students were committed to their learning in a way that I had previously not seen in my other instructional methods. My experience as a teacher researcher allowed me to recognize the value and importance of continuously reflecting on my instructional methods and techniques in order to ensure that my students are actively engaged in constructing their own knowledge.
Common Core Connections Project Based Inquiry: RI.2.1, RI.2.5, RI.2.6, W.2.6, W.2.7 Literature Response Blog: RI.2.5, RI.2.6, W.2.6