4.2.4:OVER EXPOSED SEXTING AND RELATIONSHIPS and DICTIONARY ADVENTURES! Creating a class dictionary

Lesson development is central to the work of every teacher. Lesson development is a process of creative design and decision-making that includes three elements: (1) what to teach, (2) how to teach, and (3) how to know what students have learned and the infusion of technology tools supporting all three aspects of lesson development.

I evaluated:

Section   A   OVER EXPOSED SEXTING AND RELATIONSHIPS   (Grade 9-12)

 http://cctionline.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/Education_Digital_Society/dccs_9-12-unit2-overexposedsextingandrelationships.pdf

 Section B      DICTIONARY ADVENTURES!   Creating a class dictionary (2nd Grade)    http://edtech.boisestate.edu/bridges/cds/Dictionary/dictionarytitlepage.htm

This evaluation is centered on the three interrelated elements of   teaching lessons:

Academic content (what to teach)

Teaching goals, methods, and procedures (how to teach)

 Learning assessments (how to know what students have learned)

 Lesson development using technology   which involves how teachers use electronic resources to facilitate these processes

In Dictionary Adventures and over exposed sexting relationships, both   teachers decided on   the teaching goals, methods, and procedures they would use in their classes. The goals are the reason why a lesson is being taught.

Dictionary   Adventures    specifies   two types of goals   which   complement each other during the lesson.  The teacher leads students on a journey of self-discovery   through the dictionary practice where children use the words they  have located to describe themselves and the others after taking each other’s picture and remodeling it  with technology.

Content Area Objectives Addressed:

1.      Alphabetizing to the third letter.

2.      Use dictionary skills of locating word to determine definition, guidewords, entry words, and multiple definitions.

3.      Interpret a dictionary page.

4.      Assess relevance of themes to self.

5.      Identify ways of improving self-concept and self-esteem

 Technology Objectives Addressed:

1.      Use a digital camera.

2.      Inserting pictures from floppy disk into a document.

3.      Resizing picture inside of document.

4.      Word processing skills/rules when typing definition.

5.      Saving to their file on the server.

While Over exposed sexting relationships sets 3 teaching goals reflecting on the students’ prior knowledge of the use of social media, sexting in particular and pegging it to their daily lives. This is appropriate   since these students are of Grade 9-12. They use social media and are most likely the engage in on line relationships.

Students will be able to:

1. Explore the role of digital technologies in romantic relationships.
2. Analyze risky forms of self-disclosure and their possible consequences.
3. Identify strategies for avoiding sexting while enhancing  positive relationships

 In Dictionary   Adventures the students were   involved in a project through which they were introduced   to the dictionary through finding the shades of meaning of a new word. This   led   to each student writing 4 descriptive sentences of   themselves and one descriptive sentence of their neighbor. The students took pictures of each other using Mavica digital camera that saves images to a disk which they   inserted   in their written document. The students used a word processor to type their names, pronunciation and definitions. The students   then used these pictures to create a class book   all they as a repository for the library.

Since this was a project, the teacher employed continuous assessment where the students were assessed on their ability to insert images from a floppy on to the computer, resizing images, typing text sand following a set of directions.  Their basic knowledge of multiple definitions for words was also assessed. On the other hand, the students   co-operated in helping the others who lacked skills in managing various aspects of the project.

This lesson scores very highly in the integration of technology in the classroom.  The teacher kept the focus of the lesson on dictionary practice , where the students  used  the afore mentioned technology tools in a  vocabulary and  writing descriptive sentences  in  individual and group work to come up with  a class picture book for the classroom repository.

The teacher analyzed her learners in terms of their linguistic and technology skills and gave them tasks that helped build their skills further.

This lesson ranks high following the constructivist approach and the ASSURE lesson model.

In over exposed sexting relationships an overview of the lesson with the title: ‘What are the risks and responsibilities when you share online in a relationship?’ is given as: ‘Students explore the risks and responsibilities of carrying out romantic relationships in the digital world. They watch a video about a girl who sent a “sext” message to her boyfriend, which he then shared with others. After discussing the video, students create an ending to a story about a girl who is pressured to “sext.” They brainstorm ways to avoid sexting and to use digital technologies responsibly in romantic relationships’.

This is a very good summary of   the essence of the lesson. All the resources and reading   materials in class and for take home are given. The reading materials are topical, up to- date, relevant and authentic. The introductory video: “Ally’s Story – Second Thoughts on                                      Sexting,” an abridged version from MTV’s Sexting in America: When Privates Go Public. Is an example of an authentic material.

Each aspect of the lesson is introduced with an action verb such as: Distribute, Instruct, Invite, ask. This gives the teacher the direction the lesson should take.

The lesson   progresses in three interrelated steps: Warm up, (introduction) where the teacher sets the scene by asking questions which tests the students’ background knowledge regarding what social media are there for communication, how people in distant relationships communicate using technologies and what risks there are in this. The students are then guided to the crux of the lesson: risks and responsibilities in using technologies to communicate. This is an excellent way of situating the students in the learning context.

The body of the lesson is subdivided into three sub topics: Self-Disclosure in Relationship, Sexting: Risky Self-Disclosure and How Should It End?  Through which the students in their groups explore questions that deepen their understanding of these sub topics. In self-disclosure in a relationship, the students discuss   self- disclosure what self-disclosure is and its attendant risks in groups. In Risky self-disclosure, the students watch a video and answer questions related to it. And in how should it end? The students are supposed to provide the ending to the story in the video. This encourages the students to think about their personal response if they found themselves in a similar situation. In their discussion, the students   discuss how attitudes about, and experiences with, sexting have a lot to do with gender and   double standards. This is an excellent way of preparing them to meet the challenges of using digital literacies in their daily lives.

The lesson concludes with a wrap   up exercise taxing the students to create a short online multimedia presentation explaining how they would use social media to teach teens about   sexting using free on line tools such as Prezi (www.prezi.com), ShowMe (www.showme.com) or VoiceThread (www.voicethread.com).

Further, the students were given an extended assignment to do an on line research on selected websites and write   brief reports   about the legal aspects of sexting by teens.

This is an excellently crafted lesson with a clear progression of the theme wrapped up in a neat conclusion. The students used technology to understand the extent to which, when misused, technology (social media) can be very destructive.

The lesson was learner centered – the students were challenged to discussion questions in groups and giving personal responses towards a situation, which encouraged critical thinking and other higher order thinking skills. They had hands on experience while creating on line multimedia presentations. They were also engaged in on line research to galvanize the topic and later on, they would learn on their own the skill of writing a good report.

Conclusively: Learning took place.

 Both lessons are excellent examples of   simple ways to infuse technology   across the curriculum.

Both lessons depicted the use of SMAR TPACK and ASSURE model very well. 

 Let me try to create my own lesson plan and evaluate it too!