| ||||
 February 1999 | ||||
February 1999 | Volume 2 | Number 5
Integrating Technology into the Classroom
America Calls: Technology-based Interdisciplinary Planning and Instruction
For the better part of this century, education practice has focused on the teaching of basic skills. This approach has defined literacy as individual achievement in reading and writing. By contrast, literacy has historically meant oral and written exchanges among a community of literates (Heath, 1991). We believe that effective literacy instruction involves students in communicating with one another through oral and written discourse. When students use basic skills to access information, evaluate what they find, and then share their learning with others, they are engaging in truly literate behavior.
One of the things that has helped restore the historical concept of literacy is technology. It facilitates the sharing of knowledge with an expanding community of literates. Multimedia encyclopedias, online periodicals, electronic books, and the World Wide Web offer stimulating ways for learners to access, evaluate, and share information with other learners. Gilster (1997) describes this behavior as "digital literacy."
In exploring how educators can use technology to strengthen literacy instruction, we'd like to examine the "Technology-based Interdisciplinary Planning and Instruction (T.I.P.I.) project at Stewart Middle School in Tyler, Texas. This project involved teachers in a summer school course that prepared them for America Calls; a three-week interdisciplinary unit for Title I students. These teachers learned that integrating technology across the curriculum involves five distinct phases: (1) vision, (2) curriculum development, (3) professional development, (4) implementation, and (5) assessment.
Vision
Vision begins with an idea and culminates in an action plan. America Calls began with the idea that research-based approaches to literacy instruction could be integrated with technology to improve achievement for middle school students at risk of reading failure. America Calls culminated in an action plan for providing students with opportunities to access and evaluate information and communicate new understandings.
Teachers in the T.I.P.I. course developed a technology-based interdisciplinary unit based on Ellen Levine's book If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island (1994). Using "Units of Practice" in the Apple Education Series: Elementary Curriculum Connections (1996), they developed several activities: students examined historical and current perspectives on immigration in the United States, researched family traditions, and participated in simulations that mirrored the experiences of real immigrants.
Curriculum Development
Three features distinguish technology-based interdisciplinary planning and instruction: authenticity, integration, and function. Authenticity refers to learning experiences that mirror real-life issues, rather than contrived, practice activities (Brown & Bryan, 1998). Participants in America Calls researched their family origins, studied people who immigrated to America in the early part of the twentieth century, and gathered data on recent immigrants.
To understand what is involved in coming to a new country, students enjoyed a simulation called Pack Up 100 Lbs., requiring them to select a nation for research, identify a country for immigration, and determine (based on their research) which personal items they would need in their new country. Just as with previous immigrants, students had to limit the weight of their possessions to 100 lbs. They estimated the weight of each item they selected and calculated the total to ensure that their belongings fell within weight limits.
Technology integration requires teachers to weave technology into the fabric of instruction. In America Calls, teachers had students use electronic spreadsheets for entering and calculating data. This real-life skill mirrors work-related activities beyond the classroom. It is an authentic activity because it reflects exactly the types of planning and decisions all immigrants must make.
To organize technology integration, teachers expanded the conventional K-W-L strategy into a K-W-W-L model. In the first strategy, teachers ask students what they know about a particular topic (K), what they would like to learn (W), and then what they learned (L). In K-W-W-L, teachers begin by asking students what they already know about a topic, but then challenge students to develop questions based upon what they have listed as known concepts. For example, when asked what they already knew (K) about Ellis Island, most students referred to Ellis Island as a port of entry. Teachers challenge this "known" by asking students if Ellis Island is the only point of entry, approximately how many people entered through Ellis Island, and if the island is still operating as a point of entry. Next, teachers ask students where they might access information about Ellis Island. Finally, teachers and students brainstorm ways to communicate the information.
Based on the resources listed in the K-W-W-L chart, teachers organize students into collaborative groups. One group searches Internet sites while another locates information in both traditional and multimedia encyclopedias. Students compare online, print, and multimedia information to evaluate the credibility of each resource. Finally, students form groups that publish and communicate their findings. This instructional strategy engages students as a "community of literates" using "digital literacy."
Function refers to the effectiveness of instruction in meeting curricular goals (Devona, 1992). As in many states, Texas teachers use a state mandated curriculum. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) addresses language arts, fine arts, and content areas, as well as technology applications. For the America Calls unit, teachers correlated the activities with the TEKS requirements for English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Technology Applications for 6th through 8th grades. Project coordinators compiled a database that includes curriculum correlations, technology applications, assessments, and comments.
Staff Development
To prepare for the America Calls unit, teachers and resource people took three and one-half days of intensive technology integration training beyond their basic technology skills orientation. They became comfortable with the hardware and software, and discussed ways to facilitate instruction in one-computer classrooms as well as in computer labs. They rehearsed learning activities and spent time learning research-based instructional strategies.
Staff development focused more on organization and management of technology integration than on "how to" sessions for hardware and software. Focusing on how to operate equipment and navigate software is inherently related to a sequential, isolated skills approach to learning that limits effective integration. Software-driven staff development inhibits technology integration because teachers learn individual software titles rather than research-based instructional designs. Staff development that is focused on instruction and application of technology as a tool for instruction helps teachers develop an appreciation of technology's real advantage–enhancing communication.
Implementation
"First thing, I have on the television [used as a presentation station projecting the computer screen] because they connect with that. They know what they're going to do. Some are spreadsheets. Some are working on the K-W-W-L chart, some researching Ellis Island. Some are researching their country on the Internet." (Ruther Causey-Green, Tyler, Texas).
Following the three and one-half day staff development session, teachers met their Title I students and introduced the three-week America Calls unit. On the first day, teachers initiated the daily morning meeting, a scheduled block of time for whole group instruction, organization, and management. They introduced If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island by reading from the text, making assignments, and offering multimedia instruction through desktop computers connected to televisions. Then, for the next three weeks, students worked alone or in groups to study Ellis Island, access bookmarked websites, use multimedia research software, research their own families, complete assignments, and publish findings. They interviewed relatives and community members, created Biopoems (Vacca & Vacca, 1993), designed spreadsheets, scanned family photographs, prepared an Ellis Island newspaper, and authored books.
Assessment Technology-based Interdisciplinary Planning and Instruction requires three types of assessment. First, teachers and leaders assess their vision.. T.I.P.I. requires a shift in thinking about what constitutes literacy, ways to facilitate instruction, the role of technology, and how students learn. The Stewart Middle School administrators and faculty worked through this fundamental shift remarkably well. One faculty member who felt reluctant to integrate technology stated, "I've changed my whole way of teaching. I'll never go back to the way I used to teach. Students are working harder and doing more." Another teacher observed "They're excited. You can see it. When they come in the room you can see it."
Evaluating this project also requires assessing staff development. Even though accomplished teachers participated in this project, the move from traditional instruction to interdisciplinary approaches with technology proved challenging. Technology integration requires significant financial and human resources as well as philosophical considerations. But in one staff development evaluation, a teacher wrote that she "learned about technology while learning with technology." Another positive response was that the experience opened their eyes "to the many, many possibilities for using technology in classrooms."
One faculty member indicated that teachers needed more time to "play" with the software. It is significant to note that in early childhood research, the concept of "play" is connected with "work" and "learning." We know that play is the work of childhood, but adults, too, can learn new technologies through play.
Teachers also asked for more time to develop meaningful lessons. Although online resources provide instant access to information, finding and reviewing good sites takes time. And although teachers usually critique resources before implementation, electronic resources require specific analysis. Software, such as electronic texts and multimedia encyclopedias, should reflect authenticity, function, and integration. Good software simulates life beyond the classroom and engages students in authentic learning activities.
Finally, assessment must address student achievement. In this project, teachers assessed achievement through observing active engagement, attitudes, and publications. Although teachers observed and enthusiastically shared students successes with one other, students voices also echo the success of America Calls. Their comments indicate that with technology the workload is greater but they learn more. In one group, students commented on the importance of talking about what they learn and sharing their work. In other words, these students naturally seek participation in a community of literates. As one student reflected on her experience with using the Internet and scanning photographs into a computer, she observed, "Besides learning about immigration and Ellis Island, we learned how to produce different documents on the computer. I also learned about the people in my class. The things we learned will help us later on in life."
Conclusion
Because technology enhances opportunities to access, evaluate, and communicate knowledge, it restores historically-grounded concepts of literacy. The America Calls project demonstrates that Technology-based Interdisciplinary Planning and Instruction requires considerable human and financial resources. Educators considering this approach should keep in mind that vision, staff development, curriculum, implementation, and assessment are what make it successful. Students tell us that technology requires more work but that the effort is worthwhile. Teachers tell us that appropriately integrating technology into instruction has the power to improve teaching and strengthen learning.
References
Apple Education Series (1997). Elementary curriculum connections. Apple Computer.
Brown, J., & Bryan, J. (1998). "Interdisciplinary planning and instruction for diverse learners: Horizontal and vertical considerations." Missouri Reader 22 (2). 14–23.
Devona, H. (1992). "Whales, incredible ocean mammals." Journal of Geography 91, (4). 166–170.
Glister, P. (1997). Digital literacy. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Heath, S. B. (1991). "The sense of being literate: Historical and cross-cultural features." In R. Barr, M. Kamil, PB. Mosenthal & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, 3–25. White Plains, NY: Longman.
Levine, E. (1994). If your name was changed at Ellis Island. New York: Scholastic.
Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (1993). Content area reading. New York: HarperCollins.
Copyright © 1998 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Customer Service • Contact Us • Join Us
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
1703 N. Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 USA •
1-800-933-2723 •
1-703-578-9600
Copyright © ASCD, All Rights Reserved •
Privacy Statement