Introduction
Overview
Narratives
Exhibits
Reflection 
 
 
Reflections on the Unit 

     In planning this unit, I put much thought into how technology could be used in meaningful ways to help more students achieve the requirements of the curriculum.  The Discussion Board Assignment was my first success in achieving this goal.  It gave the students an opportunity to discuss the novel out of class at the moment they were reading.  Students could, and did, post messages asking their classmates for help about parts of the novel that confused them.  Without the use of this technology, students would have struggled through the assigned reading, waiting until the next class session to ask questions.  In addition, I found that this technology enabled some of my quieter students to become more vocal through the safety of posting messages.  Possibly the most insightful message about the text was posted by a student who never spoke in class.  He found his voice through technology. 
 

 
     Another important benefit of integrating technology into the unit was the engagement of struggling and unmotivated learners.  I was thrilled to see the students who typically struggled in Language Arts take on leadership roles within their groups for the Campaign Presentations and the Multimedia Project.  The student in charge of technology in almost every group was the one who usually struggled to complete assignments or did not perform well in class.  The chance to use computers and technology seemed to draw these students into the lessons. The assignment-completion rate for the Multimedia Project was much higher than that of any traditional assignments I gave the students.   Considering that three or four students typically did not turn in class work, an unusually high number of students, twenty seven of twenty eight, completed this detailed assignment.  The completion rates for the Campaign Presentation and the Online Comma Quiz were even higher at 100%.  I can definitively affirm that the use of technology encouraged the most unmotivated students to engage in and complete the assignments while also providing struggling learners with an alternative way of expressing knowledge.  
 

     Conversely, I found that some aspects of using technology in the unit did not work.  The Online Review Game was outstanding when I tried it on my desktop computer, but when I projected it onto the large-screen classroom monitor, it was not effective as a whole-class activity.  The images were too small for everyone to see, and students really needed to control the mouse individually to get the most from the game.  In the future, I would change this to an individual, versus whole-class, activity.  Additionally, because there were only nine laptop computers for the entire class of twenty eight students, not all students had the opportunity to input slides and get the experience of working alone on the computer during the Multimedia Project.  I stipulated that each group have one technology leader to oversee the creation of PowerPoint slides, but due to the lack of computers and time, this person input slides for all members in some groups.  In the future, I would schedule time for each student to work on the computer to ensure that everyone got the experience.  In the Multimedia Project, I also see opportunities to reverse the order in which I had students complete the work.  I had the students write the paper first and then the presentations, but I think I could use the outline feature in PowerPoint to teach the importance of creating a strong outline before writing a paper.
     I think I could also improve this unit in the future by creating a webquest for students to get background information on the author, William Golding, and the context of the time period in which he wrote Lord of the Flies.  I think students would enjoy finding the information themselves and then sharing their findings in a whole-class discussion rather than listening to me lecture.    

      When I first began planning this unit, I knew that I wanted to integrate technology in ways that would enhance, not detract from the lessons.  My fear was that the class would become more about using technology than about the novel, Lord of the Flies.  I also worried that I would spend so much time teaching lessons on how to use technology that I would lose valuable days.  After teaching the unit I can report that both of these assumptions proved false.  The feedback was enormously positive from students who said the class was "fun," and they had never had a class like this before (where they used the computers so much).  While I take these comments as important endorsements, the true measure of success is that the students met all of the curriculum standards.  Students who typically struggled or did not apply themselves were engaged in the assignments and found that learning Language Arts can be "fun." 
     As a result of participating in the Mitten Project, my fears of using technology in lessons have been alleviated.  Yes, occasionally the hardware did not work or I ran into an obstacle with the software that I was not sure of how to correct, but these were minor problems compared to the benefits.  In fact, it was a good learning opportunity for the students to see me stumped and work with me to solve the problems.  I continue to look for new and more meaningful ways to use technology.  I am especially intrigued by my finding that struggling students worked more diligently and were more engaged in lessons using technology.  I plan on looking for articles and research on this concept to see if others have had similar findings.  Overall, I see many more opportunities to integrate technology into every unit I plan.  I believe, as a teacher, I would be remiss in not using and having my students use tools that are absolutely necessary in today's world.  With only a few computers on hand and limited software, I was still able to create meaningful lessons that instilled a deeper level of understanding among my students.  My experience and the results have been even more positive than I anticipated.
  
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Questions or Comments: lkr@comcast.net