Unit Plan Canvas

Creating my canvas was a process which aided me in creating my unit plan on Slaughterhouse Five, which it enabled me to articulate and conceptualize my expectations. While the single lesson I had worked on for the previous Interactivity was a starting point, I needed to broaden what the unit as an entity would focus on, rather than honing a specific lesson. By writing a brief unit plan, I was able to focus on the overarching themes of the unit. An essential questions aided in focusing myopically on a single theme, while still considering relatability to the lesson plan as well as the unit. I very much liked the idea of adding photos and especially a video to the canvas, while it added another dimension to the unit. By viewing the trailer to the movie, students see visual synopsis of what they will encounter in the novel. Adding additional resources creates depth to the unit, while the sources I chose build upon important themes and background knowledge. For my unit on Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, I plan to focus on the fatalism which pervades the novel, which is implemented through the apathetic language ("so it goes", a crux of the novel which is repeated hundreds of times) as well as the broader theme of the degradation of the belief in free will.

Exploring Slaughterhouse Five

Technology and Pedagogy

I chose this lesson plan because I felt as though it was a holistic approach to incorporating writing, Literature, art, music and technology with even distribution. This lesson is exemplary of using technology as a crux, rather than a supplement within a lesson, which is beneficial as well as relatable to students. Instead of using technology as an adornment, this lesson is equally student driven as it is technology, literature or art-centered. I have found that, in terms of teaching strategies and Common Core Standards, in relation to English specifically, that there are no standards which align well with using different arts and technologies within a lesson. While W.11.12-6 mentions the use of technology vaguely, there is no snug fit for connecting literature to the arts using technology. I find this somewhat synesthetic lesson a highly efficient one, while it is mainly student-centered, and also engages all types of learners with a multitude of interests- which to me, is essential to achieving curriculum goals. The only other technology I would incorporate into this lesson to make it more effective is photography and film, while I believe these mediums perfectly embody the essence of "brief, urgent messages- describing a situation, a scene; when seen all at once they create an image of life which is beautiful and surprising and deep." (Vonnegut, 111-112), while film and photography do exactly this, capturing single images or ideas which, when put in a sequence and in a context, can express a grand idea or emotion.

Spread Sheet

Web 2.0

While conducting my student teaching this semester, it’s hard not to notice the complete disconnect between the technologies thrust upon teachers within the school from top down, and their implementations. For example, since the beginning of the year I have heard endless qualms from all the teachers I have encountered about the difficulty and utter uselessness of the ten separate accounts teachers are required to utilize- one for their grade book, one parent portal, one curriculum changes, one for attendance, one for progress reports, ect. The problem is not that these technologies are ineffective, but in practice it would be sensible to have software in which all of these utilities could coincide in conjunction with one another. Many teachers within the district have made it their mission to supply the schools with Google tablets, while all students and teachers are required to have a Google account which is frequently utilized for a multitude of purposes. In fact, Google had a promotion which would sell their tablets at one third of the cost to schools, a proposition which was brought to the school board, but was turned down.

            While technology, if used efficiently, could be a liberating tool from the antiquated “lecture style” classroom structure, giving autonomy to students to learn in non-linear ways. Instead, because of the political and economic structures which keep the business-like model of schools intact, students must continue to succumb to the socialization and ideological agenda inherent within our educational system. We have not traveled far from Common School-like doctrine, using schooling as a vehicle to instill ideologies which benefit the economic and political need of the times. While I do believe that technology such as computers could be highly beneficial within the English classroom, I find it imperative that students as well as teachers receive the proper education in how these technologies work, in order to use them efficiently and creatively. Web 2.0 can be a fantastic way to implement non-linear content within the classroom. Using Google Drive to collaborate and share essays, blogs, podcasts, and even lessons can be a highly effective tool for student-centered learning. By empowering students to be the agents of their own education, as well as supplying both students and teachers with the proper background and skills to utilize these technologies, the linear dynamic of the classroom could have the potential to be a catalyst for divergent and critical thinking. 

History of Technology in English

Books continue to be a highly influential,yet in many cases antiquated, medium which instill schooling's implicit curriculum- not very different from the lessons taught from McGuffey's Eclectic Reader.