Tasso,+James

Deliverable #2

First, let me give some background information about the unit of study. One of our main units of study is called Turning Points. In the Turning Points Unit, we study the Cold War (including the Vietnam War) and the Civil Rights Movement. My lesson plan is focused on the Civil Rights Movement and is designed to last 4 to 5 class periods. The plan calls for the students to analyze 11 primary source documents from the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The documents include letters, telegrams, and one photograph from 1962 and 1963. The documents deal with the economic, political, and social issues in Alabama during this time. This lesson meets the Social Studies curriculum standard 6.0. It states that the student knows and understands how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance. My goals for the students are: 1) analyze a written document for the position of the writer (bias) and for content: 2) synthesize an historical position based upon the document analysis; and 3) understand the events of Birmingham (in 1962 and 1963) and see how the positions held by individuals affected the state of Alabama. By the end of the lesson I hope for the students to be able to see how civil disobedience can challenge and change structures of authority. On the first day of the lesson, I hand out an analysis sheet which contains 8 questions to be answered based on the document. Before the students start, I demonstrate and model a telegram from Diamond Brothers, a New Jersey company which changed their plans about opening a manufacturing plant in Birmingham because of the conviction of Martin Luther King Jr. I walk the students through the questions so they can see how to approach the analysis. This way they are able to see my thinking and ask questions if necessary. I encourage the students to work with a partner so they are able to talk their way through the documents, as we did as a class. At the end of the lesson, the students will have an on demand essay based on their analysis of the documents. They are allowed to use their notes. I envision the use of a blog as being a key component in the future for this lesson. I think the use of a blog will give the students more opportunity to share their learning and analysis with more students in the class, and potentially with other classes. Unfortunately I have not been able to use a blog with this lesson because my blog is still in the foundation stage, and I’m still learning about the potential uses of blogging. Some students struggle with the analysis, so when they get to work with a partner they’re able to share their thinking. I would hope given the opportunity to share with several students, their learning and comprehension of the material will increase. I clearly see how using a blog could help the students share their learning and get a better grasp of the content, therefore have a better understanding of what was happening in Birmingham Alabama. There are some issues that I need to figure out before I can implement this as part of the lesson. I need to figure out how to encourage the students to take the time to access the blog to share their thoughts. A lot of eighth grade students will not do the work unless there is a grade attached to the assignment. I would have to count it as some kind of grade (homework or quiz) based on their comments and responses. Another concern is how to set up the blog, different links for each class? I also have to figure out what to do with the students who do not have internet access, although I’m sure it would be a small number. These would be the largest hurdles to clear to make this lesson work. Deliverable #3

Proposal: As we enter the 21st century, we are obligated to prepare our students, technology wise, for a worldwide education. Using technology, like blogs and wikis, can better prepare our students for a global economy and a global education. My proposal is to institute a pilot program to use a blog for the 8th Grade in Cluster 1. By doing this we can improve communication and learning between parents, teachers, students, and administrators.

What is a blog? A blog is basically a webpage that can be easily created, accessed, and updated from anywhere there is an Internet access. A blog is a forum which fosters communication by posting comments and then having other people respond to the comments. On a blog, the teacher can communicate to the parents student’s assignments, rubrics, general instruction, and what is taking place in the class. Students and parents can respond by adding comments, asking questions, and students can post assignments.

Service Providers: There are a number of different blogging services. Some of these services are free, while others charge a fee. Blogger, which is provided by Google, is a free service and there is easy access for all users. The only thing necessary to use Blogger is an Internet connection. In addition to easy accessibility, there is also an easy step by step set up for teachers on how to use the service.

Evidence of Blog Usage: A couple of the articles that we read, “Virtual Support via the Blogoshpere” and the “Pew Internet Project Data Memo” contained statistics about the number of students (13-19) who use Face Book and My Space. The articles talked about how the numbers are drastically increasing in usage, but we still in American schools choose not to utilize this technology. The main point here is we are missing a teaching moment. Students are interested in this technology and we should take advantage of this. This would also help in teaching on line security to our students at the same time. An example of a blog that I think would benefit my school is at []. It is from Blanchester, Ohio and contains everything from the parent student handbook to monthly newsletters and teacher blogs. It seems to be very cost efficient because it seems to be almost a total paper less school. The information on the blog contains a lot of the flyers that are sent home to our parents in our school. Also, our principal sends out some of the same information that is contained on the blog through emails, but they’re individual and I’m sure parents feel bombarded with emails and probably do not read all of them. By having a blog containing this information it would eliminate this problem. Another blog that I found interesting was at []. This blog was more colorful and appealing and was also full of information. It’s located in Seattle, Washington and gave a good description of the activities and general information about the school. This information would be helpful for someone who was moving to Seattle and looking into their public schools.  Possible Roadblocks: · Training and staff buying into blogging; · Safety concerns, including cyber bullying; · Cyber vandalism; · Parental access to computers; · Cost; · Time consumption;

Solutions: ** Training and the staff buying into blogging ** —We can utilize one or two hours from our 4 mandatory after school hours for training. By doing this, the staff would not be required to use their time for training. They would be more likely to approach blogging with an open mind. The staff will also buy into the program once they see how easy it is to use and set up a blog. **Cost**—Blogger is a very friendly user service which is free, therefore it would not cost the teachers, district or parents any money. ** Time Consumption ** —After observing the training and reviewing the pilot program, the faculty would see how easy it is to blog and how it can be a time saver. They would be able to see that it takes little time to add comments or updates, which in the long run could save the teachers time from making phone calls. We currently write updates to the Grade Leader, who then sends out an email. This would not be necessary with a blog, therefore saving more time. Plan: The goal is to pilot a program to use a blog for Cluster 1 Grade 8 as a way to improve communication. We would meet as a cluster in the beginning of June during one of the four mandatory hours. This would ensure that we would be able to implement the blog for the beginning of the school year in September. This would give us the summer to set up the blog and meet, if necessary, to finalize ideas and discuss questions and concerns. After the first trimester we would meet to see how things are working and what/if any changes are needed. We would meet again at the end of the second trimester to discuss where we are and any concerns. Finally, at the end of the school year we would present our blog to the faculty and explain our program. Hopefully at this point the administration would see the benefits and implement the blog for the entire school the following September. This way it would give the faculty the summer to experiment and plan for September. Also if there were any questions, they could contact us about their concerns or questions. Once we have a school blog set up, there would be different links for the various clusters and grades. With a school wide blog, all information can be sent to parents electronically, thus eliminating paper copies and saving money. Money would be saved because you would use less paper, less toner for the copying machines, and less time needed for people to copy. Finally, by instituting blogging we will also solve a couple of other issues. First, students (especially 8th grade students) tell their parents they don’t have homework. Some times they use their planners and sometimes they do not. Also, at times, they will “forget” their planners in school. By blogging all this information (tests, projects, and homework) could be posted and the parents would not have to rely on irresponsible students. Next, parents could see the rubrics and projects and know what and when assignments are due. They could also help their students when needed. Finally, our School Improvement Team has identified parent/teacher communication as a goal. Blogging will also fulfill this aspect. Parents will learn what is being taught in all classes and be able to communicate with the teachers.
 * Safety Concerns, including cyber bullying ** —Although we currently have an Internet user agreement, we can easily add on to this. It would include: what is appropriate language to be used on the blog; explain that bullying or using the Internet to put down other students or to start rumors would not be tolerated; teaching students how to be safe on line; and also consequences for breaking the established rules. We can also use aliases so no real names of the students would be published.
 * Cyber vandalism ** —Once comments and assignments have been posted on the blog, they cannot be changed or edited by anyone who reads the blog. This will assure that students and/or parents could not edit, delete, or change the postings.
 * Parental access to computers ** —Most parents have either internet access at home or at work. Also, most people have cell phones and with a lot of cell phones today, i.e. Blackberries, they have internet access on their phones. Therefore most parents should have access to the necessary technology. For parents who do not have access, we can send home paper copies. We already do this for parents who do not have access to computers for progress reports and report cards.

Jim Tasso Grade 8 Social Studies Gaudet Middle School Middletown RI jtasso@mpsri.net EDC 921 Final Project—Teaching Unit At Gaudet Middle School we have thematic units for Social Studies in Grades 5 through 8. The units are Movement of Ideas, Turning Points, an Ancient Civilization Unit, and a Geography Unit. The focus for my Teaching Unit is the Turning Points unit, referring to significant turning points in history. In the 8th Grade we focus on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. My teaching unit will focus on the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Unit covers a number of major events and people who were associated with the movement. A couple of the major events that we study are the Little Rock Nine and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. We also learn about major influential people of the movement, like Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez. Major Supreme Court decisions that affected the movement are also studied. For example, we start with the Plessy v. Ferguson court decision in 1896, which allowed for “separate but equal” facilities. Another major court decision that we study is Brown v. Board of Education, which called for the integration of schools. Finally, to end the Civil Rights Movement, we learn about affirmative action by discussing some readings on the topic. The resources that we use to cover this material includes 2 lessons from the textbook, primary source readings and documents, and the award winning “Eyes on the Prize” video series. After going over this material, the students will analyze primary source documents from the state of Alabama and then have an on demand essay to write based on their analysis. There are a number of activities that I use before we start with the analysis of the documents. This ensures that all students will have the same background knowledge before the analysis. I use the “Eyes on the Prize” video series as one of the activities. These primary source videos offer a good overview of a number of events that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement. We also use primary sources and articles that deal with the Civil Rights Movement. For example, we read and discuss a number of articles concerning affirmative action. Finally, there are two lessons from the textbook that we also use for background information. When we use the textbook, I will usually use a reading strategy, like a FQR. The first thing I would do for this unit would be to set up a wiki. Since some of the documents are more difficult to analyze than others, the students would benefit by using a wiki. This would allow the students to share their analysis with their classmates and other students within the cluster. They would be able to have conversations about the documents, their interpretation of the documents, and be able to learn from each other. Since they would be able to share their thoughts and opinions on the wiki, it would benefit all students. Students, who are shy and do not like to participate in class discussions, would benefit greatly because they would feel more comfortable participating in an on line discussion. Students, who might not discuss their analysis because they might be concerned if they’re “wrong”, would probably be more likely to share their analysis in this forum. Since this assignment is time consuming, I would also set up a blog (if I didn’t already have a classroom blog set up) and post links to the documents or put them on the blog. I usually end up sending copies of the documents home because students work at different paces, and therefore, some students usually do not complete the assignment in the allotted time. By having the access to the documents and the ability to share their information on line, I would not have to waste paper thus making it more environmentally friendly. Podcasts and videocasts are other tools I would incorporate into this unit. There are a number of different speeches by influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement that I can introduce to the students through podcasts and videocasts. For example, I could use Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in this format. Finally I would use a screencast and record my original example that I demonstrated in class. This would enable the students to go back and watch my example again if necessary. This would help both resource students and ELL students. The students will work with a partner and analyze 11 primary source documents from the Civil Rights Movement. These documents come from the Alabama Department of Archives and History and are dated from 1962-1963. The documents focus on the social, political, and economic problems that were happening in Alabama as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. Also, from the analysis you are able to get a sense of what the rest of the country was feeling towards the people and state government of Alabama. Before the students analyze the documents, I model the format and show the students how I would analyze a document as an example. The following are a series of questions that the students use as a guide in analyzing the documents.
 * Introduction: **
 * Pre-Activities: **
 * Assignment: **

1. Describe the document. Is this a letter, a will, a bill of sale or some other kind of document? 2. What is the date of the document? Is there more than one date? Why? 3. Who is the author of the document? Is this person of historical significance? Do you believe that the author of this document is credible? Is this document written as a requirement of the author’s occupation or is this a personal document? 4. For what audience was this document written? 5. List three points that the author made that you belief are important. 6. Why do you think that the author wrote this document? Use quotes from the document to support your position. 7. List two things from the document that describes life in the United States or in Alabama. 8. Write one question to the author that is unanswered by the document.  ·  Letter from Clarence J. Jones, President of Tuskegee Institute Young Democrats Club, to Governor George Wallace;  ·  Letter from Lucian Lentz to Governor-elect George Wallace;  ·  Letter from J. A. Barclay, Manager Northrop Space Lab, to Governor Wallace;  ·  Letter from Jerry Tanton, Pastor of Pine Grove-Ebenezer Methodist Church, to Governor-elect George Wallace;  ·  Letter from John Rutland, Pastor of Central Methodist Church, to Governor-elect George Wallace;  ·  Telegram from Albert Boutwell, Mayor of Birmingham Alabama, to Governor George Wallace;  ·  Telegram from George Andrews, Member of Congress, to Governor George Wallace;  ·  Telegram from William McAndrew, Vice-President NBC News, to Governor George Wallace;  ·  Telegram from L. H. Foster, President of Tuskegee Institute, to Governor George Wallace; <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  Telegram from Governor George Wallace to President Kennedy; <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  Photo published by The Inter-Citizens Committee, Inc. of Birmingham Alabama which shows a black protester being attacked/restrained by a police dog and a policeman. 1. Analyze a written document for the position of the writer (bias) and for content. 2. Synthesize an historical position based upon document analysis. 3. To understand the events and the positions held by individuals who were involved in events in Birmingham Alabama in 1963. 4. Through the analysis be able to see how the events affected Birmingham, Alabama and the United States socially, economically, and politically. **Turning Points Unit Standard 6.0:** The student knows and understands how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance. **Writing Assignment/Prompt:** After reviewing the documents from the state of Alabama in 2007, historian John Hazard noted that the Civil Rights Movement was exaggerated. He stated that the Federal Government overreacted, and the violence and the impact on the society, economy, and government were not as bad as it was reported. In an essay take a stand for or against his viewpoint. In your essay include how the society and economy were affected, and how/why a confrontation developed between the state and Federal Government. Use specific details from the documents to support your stand. The accommodations for this unit will depend upon the type of disability and/or language barrier (ELL students). For most resource students it usually is a matter of extra time and working with the resource teacher. For students who may have a more severe learning disability, I would have them research and write a general summary about the Civil Rights Movement. This way they will be learning about the entire event and hopefully get a broad understanding of the Civil Rights Movement. I would use the same accommodations for ELL students whose language barrier prevents them from doing the analysis.
 * Analysis Questions:**
 * Documents to be analyzed: **
 * Goals: **
 * Extension and Adaptation: **

Meet: <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  An engaging hook/lead <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  A clear authoritative thesis statement <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  Maintaining a focus/controlling idea <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  Sufficient detail from your analysis of the documents to display your content knowledge <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  Free of errors that impede the reader’s understanding <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  Conclusion Exceed—In addition to meeting the above requirements, your essay clearly shows a higher level of analysis of how the content affected the social, political, and economic situation in Alabama and the United States.
 * Rubric: **