Technology Integration Plan

       The original lesson plan that I used for this matrix is about the Little Rock Nine and the effect it had on the Civil Rights Movement. Before this project, this lesson plan did not contain any technology. After integrating technology into this lesson, I think students will have a much better learning experience. With the inclusion of technology, students will be more interactive with each other and they will be able to be more creative while still learning the information. The integration of technology also achieves the goals of the standards more efficiently because students will have access to more information on the Little Rock Nine. The NET-S standards are achieved as well with the inclusion of technology. Overall, the Little Rock Nine lesson plan will work much better with the integration of technology in every section of the lesson.
          The original Little Rock Nine lesson plan involved a lecture, a group activity creating a hand-made timeline, and a homework assessment where students would research Civil Rights legislation and policies. The lesson would begin with a lecture on the Little Rock Nine through a power point presentation. After the lecture, I was going to have the students in groups create their own timeline of events from the Little Rock Nine. I would have the students create timelines by hand where they would put the most important parts of the Little Rock Nine event on their timeline. After taking the rest of the class period to create these timelines, I would have the students present these timelines and discuss each one so the other groups can see how each groups differed. By doing this, the students could be able to reflect on their own work as well as the choices the other groups made by identifying what they thought was most important. As a homework assignment, I would have the students use their textbooks to identify the Civil Rights cases and policies that were created during the Civil Rights Movement. With that, students would have to write a brief essay about one of those cases, or policies explaining what it did and how it affected the minorities of the United States. This essay would prepare my students for the next lesson that would address all of these policies that occurred because of the Civil Rights movement.
       The technology I integrated into my lesson plan was movie clips that would require a smart board, the XTimeline program on the computer, and a blog post that uses Google Scholar for research. I decided to add in the movie clips during the lecture to make it more interesting. The clips would be from the series Eyes on the Prize which in this section focuses on the Little Rock Nine. I have seen this movie in class myself and some of the images will give the students the perspective of both the Little Rock Nine and the white people who were against school integration. This technology would fit perfectly into the Social Studies standard of 6.1.12.C.13 a because in the beginning of the lecture as well as the movie clips, other events that took place during the Civil Rights movement is addressed. For example, the sit-ins and the Freedom Riders are explained because of there affect on the entire movement. As for the NET-S standard, by showing the clips of the movie, the standard of "Research and Information Fluency" is accomplished. This standard addresses the students ability to use technology as a tool to get information from. I think it is important to incorporate visuals for the students through technology so they can learn how technology can be helpful toward their learning experience.
       The next technology I integrated into the lesson plan was the XTimeline program. This program allows anyone to use it and students would be able to create their own timeline that can include images or videos. In the original lesson I had the students create their own hand made timeline as a group. I thought it would be so much better for students to create a timeline through the computer because they would be able to use images and videos. With the inclusion of XTimeline, students can portray the importance of this event through images and videos they would find online. After completing the timelines, each group would present their XTimeline through the smart board to the class. For a social studies standard, this activity would address 6.1.12.D.13.a because this standard describes the students being able to identify the most important parts of the Civil Rights Movement and why the Government had to take action. Since the Governor of Arkansas, the President, and the National Guard were all involved with the Little Rock case, this event shows why the government had to be involved. As for the NET-S standard this activity addresses many of them. This activity fulfills 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 of the NET-S standard. The most important one I think it addresses is number 2 which is "Communication and Collaboration" because of the group aspect of the activity.
         The last integrated technology I used was a blog post with the use of Google Scholar. As a homework assignment, instead of writing an essay, I would have students blog about the Civil Rights cases. Through Google Scholar, I would have students research these different cases so they can get information for their blog. I would then have them describe in there blog what the case or legislation was about and why it was so important to the Civil Rights movement. With this technology, students will be able to see each others blogs and learn about the different cases and policies when reading them. The Social Studies standard that this meets is 6.1.12.A.13.b. because it addresses the legislation, policies and Supreme Court decisions that the students would be blogging about. For the NET-S standard, the blogging and use of scholar addresses the "creativity and innovation" and "critical thinking standards." I think as a homework assignment students will also have more time to really research the case they are dealing with to give an in depth explanation of what it is and how it affected the movement.
       With this kind of technology use, students will be able to get a really good idea about what the Little Rock Nine was and its overall affect on the Civil Rights Movement. I think with the help of visuals from the technology students can get a better perspective of everyone involved and understand how important of an event this was. Visually, the technology included in this lesson really enhances the students learning experience.


Link to my Technology Integration Matrix