EDUC 5313 Week 1 Blog Assignment

Week 1 Blog Assignment

Part 1:  Introduce yourself to us. Tell us about your current and future professional goals.

My name is Jamie Huntington, and I live in Lakewood, CA. I have been teaching 9th and 11th grade English at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, CA for 21 years. For the last 6 years, I have been teaching credit recovery, specifically working with our lowest gpa students on campus. I have been very busy during my last few summers creating a new Theater Program for my district which includes students from 6th grade to high school. My program is based at my high school, but we include students from over 10 schools from both our district and feeder districts including second language and special education students.  

In my spare time, I enjoy reading, sewing, and spending time with my family.  I have been married for 23 years and have two wonderful daughters. One graduated from SDSU last Spring, and the other is just starting her second year at UNLV where she plays softball. I have two adorable dogs who love going to the park, and I love watching the Dodgers play baseball, especially right now in the postseason. I have 13 nieces and nephews that I love to spend time with and spoil rotten.  

I am currently finishing my last class at SOSU in order to finish my Masters in Education with a Theater emphasis. I will be starting a hybrid (half online/half in person)Theater 1 class next year at my own high school, producing Grease this coming Spring, and Beetlejuice Jr. in the Summer. 

Part 2:  Review the ISTE standards for students and your state’s content standards.  Select a topic or group of standards from the discipline and grade level that interests you or that you plan to teach in the future and respond to the prompts below. 

California State Standards: College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing: Writing 2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

ISTE 1.3 Knowledge Constructor: 1.3b Students evaluate the accuracy, validity, bias, origin, and relevance of digital content and 1.3c Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions

Learning Activity:

Students in my 11th grade English class could address CA Writing Standard 2 by working in pairs to research notable figures of the Harlem Renaissance during Black History Month in order to celebrate achievements of the Black community. This project would ask students to analyze and explain the change and continuity in Black cultural identity as part of a month-long unit. The paired group must assess primary and secondary sources after detailed mini lessons on evaluating websites while creating a working bibliography. Together, paired students read through their articles to find relevant content and learn to cite sources creating a Works Cited. Students must define the Harlem Renaissance and discuss its impact, then provide researched facts that prove their chosen figure is a notable contributor to the Harlem Renaissance, choose one contribution and delve deeper, and lastly explain how this project impacted you personally and how this project impacted your realizations about Black culture. The project must be synthesized into a Google Slides presentation that includes all important information, informative headings, pictures and/or videos, links for additional learning, and an accurate Works Cited. Pairs must share their projects to the class website for other students to learn from. Some of the digital tools students will use in this learning activity include Google Scholar, Google Docs, and Google Slides as well as numerous library resources such as Gale Research, Online Encyclopedias (World Biography, Britannica), and OCPL. Students will also be accessing the Purdue Owl Site for correct MLA information. This project would address both ISTE Standards 1.3 b and c by having students evaluate articles and using the information to create Bibliographies, Works Cited lists, and Google Slides Presentation of everything that has been learned. 

Part 3:  Discuss your insights for the lesson idea you provide above from your reading of Kolb’s Triple E Framework and provide support for your idea from her work.

The Triple E Framework was created by Professor Kolb to guide teachers in integrating technology and good teaching practices in order to improve student learning. The Triple E Framework asks whether the technology engages, enhances, and extends learning while at the same time utilizing best teaching practices to increase student understanding of the lesson content. The lesson above uses technology that engages student learning by moving students from passively learning Black history in a lecture format to active learning by researching and synthesizing information found by the students themselves. Minds-on learning is occurring because students must read the articles found together and discuss whether the information proves their figure has positively contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. Google Scholar and research sites like Gale enable students to find relevant articles efficiently and quickly, enabling students to create a detailed Google Slides presentation that proves their enhanced learning and sophisticated understanding of the content. Finally, using these tools provides students an opportunity to extend their learning by giving them valuable research tools and presentation tools that will be useful to them in both higher education and their workplaces. At the same time, students learning about the Harlem Renaissance and Black history develop open-mindedness and empathy, improve critical thinking skills, and break down stereotypes and discrimination. Solid instructional practices such as active listening, purposeful partnering, and both prior knowledge and reflection are seen in this lesson which develop important soft skills such as communication, time management, collaboration, and organization.