Unit Overview
The unit I have planned and implemented centers around Homer’s The Odyssey. This unit includes interactive activities and technology based activities. My original plan included to use a United Streaming video and assignment, a meet-the-characters tea party, a double-entry-diary on Google Docs, a series of blogs, an art project, and a podcast as a culminating activity. In implementing the unit, I made a few significant changes.
Before reading, I had planned to use a video on United Streaming. After reviewing the video, I decided it would not engage my students. Instead, I showed a history channel documentary on ancient Greek beliefs and customs. After this, the students participated in a meet-the-characters activity in which they took on the roles of characters from the story and got to meet and greet each other. These pre-reading strategies helped scaffold student understanding of a complex text that was written nearly 3,000 years ago.
Google student accounts were not up and running at the time I implemented this unit, so I had students make double-entry-diaries in their notebooks. This strategy helped them to think about their reading. I also had students respond to blog prompts throughout their reading. You can view these at the following links:
http://jwbirnstihl.edublogs.org/2011/09/05/violence-4/
http://jwbirnstihl.edublogs.org/2011/09/12/heroes-4/
http://jwbirnstihl.edublogs.org/2011/09/18/art-1-4/
After reading the first section of the epic, students created red figure painting style urns. These were based on the style of the art of the ancient Greeks. I have included a picture below.
When we finished reading The Odyssey, we did a culminating project. I had planned to use class time to create radio theater podcasts; unfortunately, the computer lab was solidly booked around this time. In lieu of podcasts, I gave students a project assignment which included a variety of options (some technology and some not). Students could choose to create a MyFakeWall, a podcast, a travel brochure, a piece of artwork, or a sequel to the epic. Unfortunately, I didn’t save the MyFakeWall links from my ninth graders doing The Odyssey, but I have a couple from my tenth graders doing Troy linked below.
http://www.myfakewall.com/w/Achilles_101
http://www.myfakewall.com/w/Andromache_3
Many students wanted to do the MyFakeWall project, but the website was having some major issues at that time. In the end, only a handful of students finished projects using it because it was not working properly.
Learner-Centered
Students were engaged in some parts of the unit and were less engaged in other parts (especially in just reading the text). As teacher, I determined a majority of the learning outcomes. Students were able to make choices about their projects, but this unit gave students limited options.
Relation to Core Content
This unit was content-driven. I tried to bring in technology in those areas in which it enhanced student learning. However, with the difficulties in Google Docs and MyFakeWall, the technology really was more limited than I had planned.
Student Achievement
Students were, as a whole, successful in this unit. There were some students who did not complete the projects. I don’t know whether the technology enhanced student understanding.
The Odyssey is a complex text and is really unlike anything that students will have to read on the EOC. However, the thinking strategies that we used can be applied to other reading. I teach The Odyssey because it is part of the literary canon, but it is hard to make it truly relevant to students.
Pedagogical Change
I did not make any major changes to the way I teach for this unit. I have implemented some of these activities in the past and have also tried some new ones. I tried to incorporate some of the reading strategies that I learned about when completing my master’s degree and some of the new technology activities I learned about through the Pinnacle program.
Reflection
The unit went OK. I was really frustrated with my technology integration because I was not able to successfully do anything I wanted to do. I could not get computer labs because they were all being used for the two week window at the end of the unit. The alternate assignment that most students wanted to complete, MyFakeWall, had problems with loading and creating walls.
My students did OK with the unit and many of them enjoyed the story. However, I don’t feel like this was the best I have ever done teaching it. I think I was distracted by too many extraneous factors to give my full focus to teaching and to teaching well.
I kept telling myself I would do a different technology integrated unit because I was not especially proud of this one. I didn’t want to blog about it because I just felt like it could have been so much better. However, I never got around to it. With a new prep this year, most of my energy has been devoted to figuring out a new curriculum. It has not been an easy year for me, and while I enjoy the challenge of teaching something new, I simply feel burned out. I hope that in the future I will be able to better balance my life and to devote more energy to student-centered, technology-integrated lessons.
The unit I have planned and implemented centers around Homer’s The Odyssey. This unit includes interactive activities and technology based activities. My original plan included to use a United Streaming video and assignment, a meet-the-characters tea party, a double-entry-diary on Google Docs, a series of blogs, an art project, and a podcast as a culminating activity. In implementing the unit, I made a few significant changes.
Before reading, I had planned to use a video on United Streaming. After reviewing the video, I decided it would not engage my students. Instead, I showed a history channel documentary on ancient Greek beliefs and customs. After this, the students participated in a meet-the-characters activity in which they took on the roles of characters from the story and got to meet and greet each other. These pre-reading strategies helped scaffold student understanding of a complex text that was written nearly 3,000 years ago.
Google student accounts were not up and running at the time I implemented this unit, so I had students make double-entry-diaries in their notebooks. This strategy helped them to think about their reading. I also had students respond to blog prompts throughout their reading. You can view these at the following links:
http://jwbirnstihl.edublogs.org/2011/09/05/violence-4/
http://jwbirnstihl.edublogs.org/2011/09/12/heroes-4/
http://jwbirnstihl.edublogs.org/2011/09/18/art-1-4/
After reading the first section of the epic, students created red figure painting style urns. These were based on the style of the art of the ancient Greeks. I have included a picture below.
When we finished reading The Odyssey, we did a culminating project. I had planned to use class time to create radio theater podcasts; unfortunately, the computer lab was solidly booked around this time. In lieu of podcasts, I gave students a project assignment which included a variety of options (some technology and some not). Students could choose to create a MyFakeWall, a podcast, a travel brochure, a piece of artwork, or a sequel to the epic. Unfortunately, I didn’t save the MyFakeWall links from my ninth graders doing The Odyssey, but I have a couple from my tenth graders doing Troy linked below.
http://www.myfakewall.com/w/Achilles_101
http://www.myfakewall.com/w/Andromache_3
Many students wanted to do the MyFakeWall project, but the website was having some major issues at that time. In the end, only a handful of students finished projects using it because it was not working properly.
Learner-Centered
Students were engaged in some parts of the unit and were less engaged in other parts (especially in just reading the text). As teacher, I determined a majority of the learning outcomes. Students were able to make choices about their projects, but this unit gave students limited options.
Relation to Core Content
This unit was content-driven. I tried to bring in technology in those areas in which it enhanced student learning. However, with the difficulties in Google Docs and MyFakeWall, the technology really was more limited than I had planned.
Student Achievement
Students were, as a whole, successful in this unit. There were some students who did not complete the projects. I don’t know whether the technology enhanced student understanding.
The Odyssey is a complex text and is really unlike anything that students will have to read on the EOC. However, the thinking strategies that we used can be applied to other reading. I teach The Odyssey because it is part of the literary canon, but it is hard to make it truly relevant to students.
Pedagogical Change
I did not make any major changes to the way I teach for this unit. I have implemented some of these activities in the past and have also tried some new ones. I tried to incorporate some of the reading strategies that I learned about when completing my master’s degree and some of the new technology activities I learned about through the Pinnacle program.
Reflection
The unit went OK. I was really frustrated with my technology integration because I was not able to successfully do anything I wanted to do. I could not get computer labs because they were all being used for the two week window at the end of the unit. The alternate assignment that most students wanted to complete, MyFakeWall, had problems with loading and creating walls.
My students did OK with the unit and many of them enjoyed the story. However, I don’t feel like this was the best I have ever done teaching it. I think I was distracted by too many extraneous factors to give my full focus to teaching and to teaching well.
I kept telling myself I would do a different technology integrated unit because I was not especially proud of this one. I didn’t want to blog about it because I just felt like it could have been so much better. However, I never got around to it. With a new prep this year, most of my energy has been devoted to figuring out a new curriculum. It has not been an easy year for me, and while I enjoy the challenge of teaching something new, I simply feel burned out. I hope that in the future I will be able to better balance my life and to devote more energy to student-centered, technology-integrated lessons.
