Quinnipiac's School of Education's MAT program required completion of a technology modules assessment and a performance task. This presentation acts as my performance tasks and shows how to use technology in the elementary classroom in regards to teaching biographies.
2. Rational for Technology
Integration
• Today, technology plays a huge role in
children’s daily lives. Therefore, utilizing
technology in the classroom helps
engage students.
• Technology also teaches students how
to conduct their own research. Having
students write a report or complete a
project using only information from a
book the teacher provided for them is a
retelling or a summarizing task. For this
unit, I want my students to practice
their researching skills. Technology
plays a huge role in research.
• This powerpoint will show both teachers
and students how blogs, podcasts,
videos, and apps can all be used to
conduct effective research, specifically
in relation to confirming facts in a
biography.
3. Internet Content
• The websites used in this presentation are all reliable
and safe sources of information
• All information in this presentation is related to
teaching how to confirm the validly of facts presented
in a biography. Students have been given a “Who Was”
book to read about a famous person of their choice.
Upon completion of the book, the student will be asked
to confirm the facts presented through outside
research and find some new facts to include in their
report. This presentation will help teachers guide
students
• All links are cited in the notes section and clicking on
links in slides of the presentation will bring you
directly to the site
• * Hyperlinks will work during presentation view. If you are not viewing
the powerpoint in presentation view, then copy and paste URL’s from
notes sections.
4. Blog
Scholastic.com includes
a section for a teacher’s
blog.
Alycia Zimmerman used
this site to blog about
her biography unit
,which she used in her
3rd grade classroom. She
included summaries of
hands-on activities,
graphic organizers,
project and field trip
ideas, and an
explanation of how her
students utilized Voki,
which is an education
oriented animation
website
5. Internet Podcast
• The Learn Out Loud website has
many biography podcasts that
students can easily access.
• Students can use these podcasts
to confirm, question or elaborate
the information presented in their
Who Was book.
6. Instructional Videos
• Before asking students to do biography research on
websites not suggested by the instructor, one should
do a mini lesson about reliable websites. This video is
a great way to initiate the mini lesson. *Scroll mouse
to bottom left of graphic to press play
7. Internet Resources
1. America’s Story is a website presented the
Library of Congress that has facts and
stories about notable Americans.
2. Kids Click is a search site designed by
librarians with kid-friendly results. It has a
biography category where students can find
reliable websites to further their research.
3. Great Websites For Kids is sponsored by the
Association for Library Service to Children.
Its “Biographies” section has links to kid
friendly, reliable research websites.
9. Teaching Materials
• To initiate this
unit and get the
students excited
for it, the
instructor could
use this
template to
write a short
biography poem
about their
friend or family
member.
10. Teaching Materials
• The Who Was book
series mentioned
earlier in this
presentation, is a kid
friendly, Penguin
published, biography
series.
• The Who Was website
has interactive games
for each book and an
app that can be applied
to all books
11. There’s An App For That
• Bio Cube is an app (found on
ReadThinkWrite) that allows
students to organize their facts on
a 3D cube.
• Once done, the cube is printed out
and assembled.
• This gives visual learners multiple
organizing tools.
12. There’s An App For That
• Timeline is
a free app
that allows
students to
create their
own
timeline
about any
topic
13. Subject Specific Website
• On Read Write Think, there is a role
playing lesson plan that can be applied
to this biography unit.
• Historical Mixer: It includes the student
dressing up as the person they
researched and introducing themselves
to other students.
• This is especially beneficial to the
kinesthetic learners in the classroom.
• Also practices social skills, such as
maintaining eye contact, speaking
clearly, etc.
14. Use of the Internet
1. Interactive Websites: Academy of
Achievement has a “My Role Model”
interactive questionnaire. Students would fill
out information about themselves and the
website provides them with notable people
who have similar experiences or
personalities. This will help students pick
their “famous person” at the beginning of the
unit and ensure their topic interests them.
2. Primary Sources: Digital Vaults helps young
students find primary sources related to
their topic by creating a document board
based on their search
15. Web 2.0
Emodo is
similar to a
facebook
page, which
most students
are familiar
with. It allows
teachers to
post
assignments,
quizzes and
reminders.
Source of Image: http://www.puzzlebaron.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/timthumb001e-560x226.jpg
Image came from following Website: http://www.puzzlebaron.com/new-author-biographies/
Sources: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/02/get-inspired-biography-research-part-2-%E2%80%93-project-ideas
Teachers can utilize the ideas and resources suggested in this blog when creating lesson plans for their biography unit. Teachers should remembers that the activities and resources Zimmerman uses are most effective when used after the student has started to read a biography book.
Source: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Biography
For the students who struggle to read fluently, especially ELL students, listening to podcasts can be a much less stressful way to acquire facts about the research topic at hand. In my future classroom, I would explore this website prior to assigning each student their “famous person” book and make sure that my students who are behind grade level in reading are assigned a person who is mentioned on this site.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI8iIO1FXtA
Although this video does not directly concern biographies, it will help young students conduct safe and reliable research. Because this biography unit will require a lot of online research and students will be working independently with their assigned topic, it is important that they understand which websites are academically reliable and which ones are misleading.
1.) This graphic organizer was created on Kidspiration. It can be used to help the students organize their facts and acknowledge what information is deemed as important and relevant. I witnessed a similar biography lesson done in one of my field study classes and found that young students often wrote down and reported every fact they read. This graphic organizer will prevent this tendency by helping students filter their facts into categories.
2.) I think this visual will be most helpful when students are sequence and organize their biography report. Many young students have a difficult time categorizing facts. I witnessed multiple students struggling to distinguish the difference between their famous person’s life work and their historical impact. As a result, their final paper did not flow properly. This graphic organizer should prevent this problem.
Sources: http://waddleeahchaa.com/2013/09/17/writing-a-bio-poem-with-kids-free-printable-template-book-of-the-week-giveaway/
Picture: http://waddleeahchaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Bio-Poem-2013.jpg
Before doing this activity, the instructor should give a mini lesson on the elements of a biography.
Sources: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rwt-timeline/id724817238?mt=8
This app would be specifically beneficial for visual learners. Students could make a timeline of their “famous person’s” life to deepen to include in their biography report. This will show the students how their assigned notable person progressed and what events influenced their decisions.
On Read Write Think, there is a role playing lesson plan that can be applied to this biography unit.
Historical Mixer: It includes the student dressing up as the person they researched and introducing themselves to other students.
This is especially beneficial to the kinesthetic learners in the classroom.
Also practices social skills, such as maintaining eye contact, speaking clearly, etc.
