A Feminist Teacher Grows in Brooklyn

Final Project: Lesson Plan

2008-07-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

Unit: Representing Significant Women in History
Grade: 7-8
Language Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
• analyze the similarities and differences of several technological mediums in representing an historical event by writing a blog reflection.
• apply their knowledge of Microsoft Photo Story by creating a Microsoft Photo Story presentation representing an historical event.
• understand that historical accounts are malleable and socially constructed by creating their own differing representations of an historical event.

Standards
ESL
Students will:
1. listen, speak, read, and write in English for information and understanding.

2. listen, speak, read, and write in English for literary response, enjoyment, and expression.

3. listen, speak, read, and write in English for critical analysis and evaluation.

4. listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom and social interaction.

5. demonstrate cross-cultural knowledge and understanding.

NETS
1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

6. Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.

Prior Knowledge/Motivation
Students will have viewed and discussed the PBS documentary on women’s suffrage One Woman One Vote (1996).

Materials
Technology

Blogger
Youtube
Animoto
Microsoft Photo Story
Democracy Now! website
Real Player

Films and Texts

One Woman One Vote (1996)
Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
The Rosa Parks Story (2003)
Giovanni, N. (2007). Rosa. New York: Fiewel and Friends.
Ringgold, F. (1999). If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Procedure
This unit is designed to be implemented over the course of 3 sessions, but certainly this can be expanded and adapted to accommodate time constraints.

Session 1: Screenings of Iron Jawed Angels clip, youtube videos, Animoto video

• The teacher will screen the aforementioned media.
• The teacher will engage students in a discussion comparing and contrasting the four different versions of the women’s suffrage movement which include the following:
1. One Woman One Vote (1996)- Documentary
2. Iron Jawed Angels (2004)- Historical Fiction
3. Youtube videos- User created video
4. Animoto video- User created photo montage

Homework: Individually, students must answer the following questions in the form of a blog post to demonstrate their understanding of how different forms of media a) change the story being told and b) elicit varying viewer reactions.

Reflection Questions:
1. Using our class discussion today to help you, choose two of the four representations of the women’s suffrage movement that we watched in class and discuss how they are alike and different. You should include the following points:
• What is the medium (movie, pictures, documentary etc)?
• What kind of music is used?
• Does it look modern or old-fashioned?

You should write 1-2 paragraphs for this question.

2. Now think about these same two representations and compare and contrast how each made you feel. Did you feel sad? Did you feel proud? Did you feel empowered? (1-2 paragraphs)

3. Finally, think about all of the representations we watched in class today. Which one did you like the best? Please provide at least three reasons to support your answer.

Session 2: Using Microsoft Photo Story and Project Decisions
• The teacher will introduce another medium that can be used to represent a historical event: Microsoft Photo Story.
• The teacher will walk the students through the main features of MS Photo Story.
• The teacher will introduce the Rosa Parks Microsoft Photo Story project, which includes the following steps:
1. Students form groups of 3 and choose a version of the Rosa Parks story to use in their project. They can choose from historical fiction children’s books, an interview with Rosa Parks, or a film about Rosa Parks.
2. Students will compose their own brief account of the Rosa Parks story using their chosen source.
3. Students will create their own representation of the Rosa Parks story using Microsoft Photo Story.

Homework: Each group must email the teacher their rough draft of the text they are going to include in their photo story.

Session 3: Microsoft Photo Story Creation and Presentation
• Students will complete their photo story creations.
• Students will present their Photo Story creations to their classmates.

Conclusion
Students will compose a blog post for homework that answers the following questions:

1. Choose one student presentation (not your own) that you enjoyed and give three reasons why you liked it. (1-2 paragraphs)
2. How did this project influence your understanding of history? Can there ever be a “true” account or representation of history? Why or why not? (2 paragraphs)
3. What did you like about this project? What would you have changed? (2 paragraphs)

Assessment
Assessment Rubric

Final Project: Presentation to Students

2008-07-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

Session 1: Screenings of Iron Jawed Angels clip, youtube videos, Animoto video

Hello students,

Last class, we finished watching the PBS documentary One Woman One Vote (1996) about the women’s suffrage movement. As we discussed, a documentary is a kind of film that tells a true story. It is kind of like a non-fiction book. People at PBS put together lots of different of film footage and different people’s stories to make a film that shows us what happened. This documentary is one representation of the women’s suffrage movement, which means it is one account or version of this event. Other people can put together pictures, footage, and stories in a different way to make something different. Also, they can use different mediums. A medium is what we use to make a story like film or pictures. Today we are going to look at some different mediums and different representations of the women’s suffrage movement. As we watch, pay attention to how these representations of one story are the same and how they are different.

First, let's look at a clip from a movie called Iron Jawed Angels. This movie was made in 2004, and it aired on HBO. It is what we call historical fiction, which means that it is based on a true story but parts of it are made up.

Now, let's look at some examples of videos from youtube. These videos were made by regular people, not professional movie-makers!

Finally, here is a video I made using Animoto. It's very easy!

As a class, let’s discuss how these representations are alike and how they are different. What mediums are used? What kind of music are used? Does each one look modern or old-fashioned?

For homework, I would like you each to answer the following questions in a blog post:

Reflection Questions:
1. Using our class discussion today to help you, choose two of the four representations of the women’s suffrage movement that we watched in class and discuss how they are alike and different. You should include the following points:
• What is the medium (movie, pictures, documentary etc)?
• What kind of music is used?
• Does it look modern or old-fashioned?

You should write 1-2 paragraphs for this question.

2. Now think about these same two representations and compare and contrast how each made you feel. Did you feel sad? Did you feel proud? Did you feel empowered? (1-2 paragraphs)

3. Finally, think about all of the representations we watched in class today. Which one did you like the best? Please provide at least three reasons to support your answer.

Session 2: Using Microsoft Photo Story and Project Decisions

Hello students,

The past couple of days we have been talking a lot about women of the suffrage movement. I want to move on to another significant woman in history, Rosa Parks. This time, though, you are going to make the representation using a different medium, Microsoft Photo Story. With Microsoft Photo Story, we can tell a story using images, sound, and text.

Here is your task:
1. Form a group of 3.
2. Choose a version of the Rosa Parks story to use in your project. You can choose one of the following representations:
• Interview with Rosa Parks found on Democracy Now!
• Children’s books (Rosa by N. Giovanni and If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringgold)
• Film (The Rosa Parks Story (2003))

3. You will use this representation to make your own digital photo story using Microsoft Photo Story. After you choose which medium you want to use as your source, summarize the story that is told in your medium.
4. Today we will write our rough drafts of the text we will include in our photo stories. Tomorrow we will work on finding images, music, and/or narration to go with our text.
5. Tonight, I want you to email me a rough draft of the text you will include in your Microsoft Photo Story. Remember that this is a rough draft. You will be able to make changes tomorrow if you want!

Session 3: Microsoft Photo Story Creation and Presentation

Hello students,

Today we are going to put create our Microsoft Photo Stories! Check out this website to get specific directions about how to make your own Microsoft Photo Story.

At the end of this session, we will present our photo stories!

Now that we have finished presenting, please answer the following questions in a blog post for homework:
1. Choose one student presentation (not your own) that you enjoyed and give three reasons why you liked it. (1-2 paragraphs)
2. How did this project influence your understanding of history? Can there ever be a “true” account or representation of history? Why or why not? (2 paragraphs)
3. What did you like about this project? What would you have changed? (2 paragraphs)

Podcast Reviews and Standards Assignment

2008-07-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

The website ESLPOD offers a series of close to 400 podcasts by experienced ESL educators on everyday topics, such as how to talk in English about feeling angry, to more advanced topics, such as important cultural figures like photographer Annie Leibovitz. The website also includes a number of teacher resources, including a blog and learning guides; however, there does seem to be a fee involved for these ancillary features. The podcasts I listened to ran about 15 minutes and included a dialogue followed by a discussion and explanation of the language used. The podcasts seemed to be geared toward an older audience. For example, in the podcast about how to talk about anger, the speakers referred to someone as a "schmuck" and said he was "foaming at the mouth." As such, I could see this resource being useful as a listening exercise in a high school or adult ESL class, but I do not see myself using it with my elementary students. If a teacher is willing to invest, the learning guides seem like they could be really helpful because they include the following items:

Complete transcripts
Definitions
Sample sentences
Comprehension questions
Additional explanations
Cultural notes
Tips on improving your English

2. The podcasts found on ELT Podcast seemed more like something I could use in my classroom that includes students in grades K-8. These podcasts also employ dialogues to focus on basic conversation skills and themes, but they are generally much shorter and simplistic. Also, the speakers perform the dialogues three times at varying speeds, which I think would really help with differentiating the listening task for differing levels of beginner students. The podcasts on this site are free and include transcripts, as well.

3. The podcasts on Interesting Things for ESL Students also seemed useful for my particular classroom. More specifically, I was pleased to see that this website had podcasts that could be used with my younger students, which was something I didn't see on other websites. For example, this website had a podcast on learning the song "A Bicycle Built for Two" and other songs that native English speaking children know. Additionally it included the lyrics for the song and other links to related resources, like a youtube video of the song. Besides songs, the website had podcasts teaching different verb tenses, which could be useful for older students. The website appeared to be an entirely free resource.

Connecting ESL and NETS Standards
When reading through the ESL and NETS standards, I noticed a distinct overlap in their mutual emphasis on critical thinking. More specifically, ESL standard 3 requires students to, “listen, speak, read, and write in English for critical analysis and evaluation,” while NETS standard 4 mandates that students “use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.” It would seem, then, that the NETS standard 4 is an extension of the ESL standard 3 in that it asks students to go beyond just critical thinking and evaluating and actually employ those skills to solve problems and make decisions.
I honed in on these complementary standards because I have been working to imbue each of my lessons with a critical thinking component. In a previous course on ESL and the content areas, I created a thematic unit entitled “Whose Stories Are Told?: Significant American Women of the 20th Century,” in which students were required to think critically about what kinds of narratives are perpetuated in American culture, whose stories are sometimes told if you look hard enough, and whose stories are virtually always ignored. Moreover, students were asked to interrogate why our society values certain stories and silences or erases other. In creating this unit, I devised several activities that easily include both ESL standard 3 and the NETS standard 4.
For example, in one project, following an in-class study of excerpts from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, students were asked to explore the Conservation International website and find out their own ecological footprint. Next, they were asked to hypothesize whose ecological footprint is larger and therefore more damaging to the earth: people who live in the city or people who live in the country? Subsequently, the students interviewed in person and via email people who live in the country and people who live in the city to calculate their ecological footprint and created a graph that portrayed their findings. All of these steps embody the ESL standard 4 that asks students to think critically and evaluate. However, the students did not stop there. The final step of the project asked students to devise a plan of action for both people who live in the country and people who live in the city to reduce their ecological footprint and present their findings and plan of action in a formal presentation to the class. In this concluding step, students moved beyond critical thinking and evaluating and began to solve problems and make decisions, part of NETS standard 3.