Final Project: Effective Use of Computers as

Mindtools in the Classroom

Misti Holloway and Katherine Jones

Digital Technologies in EducationITC 5220-375Spring 2012

The Civil Rights Movement Collaborative Group Projects

Cross-Curricular Project: The Help novel, the Civil Rights Movement & 21st Century

Skills Junior Honors Classes

2012-2013

Overview of Cross-curricular project: The Civil

Rights Movement & The Help

• Teachers from different curricular areas plan a unit implementing English, History, and Technology into a research project.

• The students are placed in groups of three to four students to complete work assignments for ten different work stations.

• Each assignment topic is related to an important event that took place during the Civil Rights movement.

• For each station, students read background information, research, and produce a product.

• All ten products will be put together into one presentation incorporating technology, collaboration, and creative thinking.

• Knowledge Construction Tools, Social Mediating, Dynamic Modeling Tools, and Semantic Tools are used throughout the process.

Project Goals• Students will construct knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement

while locating, organizing, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information from a variety of sources during research.

• Students will demonstrate creative thinking while developing innovative products using technology.

• Students will interact, collaborate, and publish with peers employing a variety of digital environments and media.

• Students will create original works as means of personal expression.

• Students will demonstrate a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

SOCIAL MEDIATING IN EDUCATION used with the class website

Class Websites for Social Mediating

Wiki Assignment Number and Technology

Requirements for Final Presentation (in red)• Assignment One: Harlem Renaissance

• (Design a timeline using Microsoft word )

• Assignment Two: Segregation • (Create an infomercial using Flip Video.)

• Assignment Three: School Desegregation • (Design graph using Excel.)

• Assignment Four: The Montgomery Bus Boycott • (Compose a news article and illustrate with clip art or

graphics.)

• Assignment Five: Sit-Ins • (Create “blogs” for famous people involved in sit-ins.

What would they put on their blog if they had one?)

Wiki Assignment Number and Technology Requirements for

Final Presentation (in red) cont.

• Assignment Six: Freedom Riders • (Recreate a newscast to explain detail of events. Use

Flip Video to film and save.)

• Assignment Seven: Desegregating Southern Universities

• Assignment Eight: The March on Washington • (Each student collect highlights of event from The Library

of Congress American Memory website. Explain why you selected that article.

• Assignment Nine: Voter Registration• Assignment Ten: The End of the Movement

Harlem Renaissance Time Line Station

Groups will participating in group work stations.

There are ten stations in all each focused on an important event that took place during the Civil Rights Movement.

Teacher teams will set up work stations in their classes and allow time for groups to work on research and product production.

Example of Group Work Station Set-up

Group Work

Stations 1-3 in

English Class

Group Work

Stations 4-6 in Social

Studies

Group Work

Stations 7-10 in

technology or

exploratory wheel

Group Work Station Procedure

Start at assigned

group work

station number.

Open The Help forum. Go to Civil Rights Movement

link. Find the PowerPoint

for your station. Read background information .

Review rubric for the group

work station.

Research topic and collaborat

e with group to complete assigned

task.

Assignment One: Harlem Renaissance

Knowledge

Construction Tools Hyperlinks in PowerPoint

used to build background

information.

Video linked into

PowerPoint for building

background information.

Additional research to

topic by students using assigned links.

Social Mediating

Discussion using blog

on teacher’s website.

Collaboration using Wiki

page.Students will

share personal forms of

expression such as

poetry,, art, and music on

blog post.

Dynamic Modeling

Tools

Create a timeline using

Microsoft Word 2010

Use Microsoft drawing tools

to create a timeline . Insert into

presentation

Design flow map for of

major events

Design circle

maps for research.

Semantic Tools

Click link below to open PowerPoint for Assignment One.

Overview of The Help Unit

• Students will comprehend the Civil Rights Movement and The Help novel while analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing the plot and historical events in the book.

• Students will interact, collaborate, and publish with peers through answering blog questions on the English teacher’s webpage.

• Students will create blog posts, a character analysis thinking map, and a plot diagram timeline as means of personal expression and novel comprehension.

• Students will demonstrate increased reading comprehension and plot analysis through using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

The Help Social Mediating

Students will consider and answer weekly blog questions located on the English teacher’s website.

Blogging about the novel encourages students to collaborate with classmates while increasing comprehension of the book.

The Help Semantic Organization Tools

• Students will create a character analysis thinking map on a character from the novel to demonstrate comprehension.

The Help Dynamic Modeling Tools

• Students will create a timeline of important events from the novel using the ReadWriteThink online interactive resource.

Resources http://www.classroomtech.org/integration/50ways.

htm 50 Ways to Use Technology

http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/creating-timeline.aspx

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/