Vocabulary Lesson for Unit Reflection

In my Literacy in a Middle/High School course, we prepared a 15 minute vocabulary lesson based off of our chosen units to teach for the duration of the semester. The unit I have chosen to teach is a US Civil War and Reconstruction Era unit, and for the vocabulary lesson, I chose to examine the terms ‘scalawags’ and ‘carpetbaggers’, in context with the Reconstruction era. To teach these terms, I began the lesson with a nearpod slide asking my classmates, in general, if they have ever heard of either of the words before. After responses came in, we looked at a reading from history.com titled “What are the difference between a carpetbagger and a scalawag?”. My classmates took turns reading passages aloud from the article. We then briefly discussed the terms, basically creating a solid definition and differentiation with the two words. I then passed out a song from 1868 written by T.E. Garrett called “The Carpetbagger Song”. We first looked at the cover page of the song as a class to see if the drawing conveyed a meaning of the term carpetbagger. After a quick discussion, I had planned on simply reading over the lyrics to the song, but one of my classmates was quick to volunteer to sing along to the song. Following the song, I asked a few discussion questions about the song to my classmates. To finish the lesson and to check for understanding, I asked my classmates to answer a nearpod slide asking them to write down one similarity and one difference between a carpetbagger and a scalawag in the Reconsturction Era. My lesson plan to this vocabulary unit is linked below.

Lesson Plan for Vocabulary Unit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11hFd-HtCiCGsRP4ELHuUK0MpHPc6kBsA5HT6E0LNTT0/edit?usp=sharing

In my view, this vocabulary lesson adequately addressed Performance Criterion 5.1: Engage Learners and 5.2: Integrate Cross-Disciplinary Skills. To engage my classmates in the vocabulary lesson, I presented them with two sources, one primary and one secondary. I felt as if it was appropriate to review the secondary source first in order to ground a basic understanding of the two terms.  To present the primary source, I printed out two copies of the lyrics, with one copy being the original lyrics written in music format, as well as an easier copy to read of the lyrics in case they were unfamiliar with reading music. Through analyzing the song, the students were able to gain context for the vocabulary words by examining both the cover page and the meaning of the lyrics. As I mentioned previously, I had originally planned to simply review the lyrics, but one of my classmates asked to attempt to sing along, so this shows me that my classmates were engaged and appearing to have fun with the vocabulary lesson.  I also feel as if this is cross-disciplinary with Language Arts because throughout the lesson, students were given two types of texts differing in styles and asked to read them aloud to the class. Throughout the lesson, my classmates were gaining an understanding through examining texts and class discussions.

The first reason I chose these two words to explore more in depth is because both of these terms arose out of differing perspectives between Southern democrats and those who supported the Reconstruction efforts. I feel as if it is important for students to understand why and how negative terms and labels for groups of people come about, and why Southern democrats may have felt negatively towards Northerners coming to the South and Southerners siding with the Union. I also felt like it was important to discuss and learn these terms because throughout history, and in general, carpetbagger carries a general meaning and it is important to discuss the context of the word as it pertains to this era of history. Another reason why I feel it is important to cover these terms for my unit is because the final performance assessment is individual profile project where students will in depthly research an individual from the US Civil War and Reconstruction Era and they will be writing their ‘mock diary’. Some students in the class may be interested in doing their project on an individual who was influential in the Reconstruction efforts, so it will be important for these students to realize there was a difference of opinion among Reconstruction efforts in the South and the negatives labels these individuals had due to a difference of opinion and perspective.

From this vocabulary assignment, I have gained insight about the progress I am making with my presence and pose while teaching, as well as continuing to learn about how to teach vocabulary within my content area. In regards to my teacher presence in front of a classroom, I have been focusing on enunciating my words better and not trying to rush my thoughts to the students. After reviewing my recording, I do feel as if I am improving on making my voice more clear for students to understand and did not seem to find any place where I felt rushed. One area that I do still need to improve on is being more prepared on what discussion questions I should ask when I turn to the students for answers. In this video, I believe I ask relevant discussion questions to the readings we reviewed, but do not feel that these questions provided the understanding I had originally intended for. Moving forward, this forces me to think about how important it is for myself as the teacher to plan backwards, starting with what I want students to know and understand at the end of the lesson, and planning more concise discussion questions around those concepts. Although I do wish I had worded and guided our discussion a little differently, I still do feel as if my classmates learned the vocabulary words because they all provided sensible answers to the formative assessment at the end of the lesson. Teaching vocabulary in history or social studies is unique because each area of study and each era within that area of study has vocabulary that is particularly relevant to that moment, and understanding the vocabulary is part of understanding the historical big ideas. Through this vocabulary lesson, I learned it was effective to find analyze a primary source because it creates an engaging and hopefully memorable experience for the student. If they can remember a few words to the song or have an image of the cover page in their head, they will always remember these two terms while continuing their work in the unit. In regards to teaching vocabulary in the future, I hope to provide more unique and engaging formative assessments to check for learning. In my last few teaching episodes, I feel as if I am only providing Nearpod formative assessments, so I hope to look into other ways to formatively check for understanding of ideas, and in particular to literacy, vocabulary.

Launching a Technology Initiative

Technology Initiative Contract Example:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tBn-zrvevoWCQoUSbPfXkC09oZIlQZE_rDwms_EefZs/edit?usp=sharing

Technology Initiative Letter to Home Example:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UltcwWhNsk0dX8yynvDQrL9kpkZMBphAG01A9st2Whc/edit?usp=sharing

In my Literacy in Middle and High Schools course, we  devoted some class time to developing an example of both a letter home to parents and a contract that would be theoretically signed if we were to launch a technology initiative in our made-up school. During class time, we gathered into our Professional Learning Communities, which is broken up by content area within the class, to discover and gain more insight about launching a technology initiative in a school community, while keeping in mind the concerns that may arise among parents and guardians. To create these examples, our PLC explored numerous contracts and letters home to parents that have already been used by schools across the country. We pulled sections and ideas from  multiple sources in order to create a message home to parents that first and foremost, their child will be safe and secure while on the internet at school, as well as pointing parents in the right direction for developing a safe and secure digital experience while students use their device at home. In our letter home, I feel as if we were explicit about having parents be actively involved in their students technological journey to not only keep them safe online, but as well as improve their digital literacy so they will be best prepared for the 21st century job market and world around them. Our PLC chose to start a Google Chromebook initiative, due to the influence of google classroom and the  cost of technology compared to something like an iPad. The contract starts off with a pledge, as well as providing a list of actions students are responsible for having a school-issued chromebook. The letter home begins with why we as teachers feel it is important for their students to have a chromebook inside and outside the classroom, and finishes with providing resources to  the parents addressing common concerns and an open line of communication if they wish to know more or create additional control settings

By creating this contract and letter with my PLC group, I feel as if I addressed the Vermont Educator Performance Criterion 1.1: Learning Theory, 1.2: Developmental Theory, 3.1: Active Engagement, and 3.2: Positive Social Interaction. We addressed Learning Theory by providing insight to parents on how and why this initiative is beneficial to their students learning inside and outside the classroom. This will create more engaging opportunities to learn and technology will only grow more present in each student’s individual lives as their years go on. This project also addressed Developmental Theory because we outlined to parents that this technology initiative is crucial not only as a student but also a human being by improving their digital literacy in the classroom to foster independent thinkers when they leave our schools. Performance Criteria 3.1 was addressed in a few ways, I believe, by outlining to parents that this initiative will allow for more active engagement throughout their student’s academic career. I also feel we addressed this same criteria in the sense that we as teachers are actively engaged with the parents and guardians of our students in order to create the best learning environment for each individual student. Introducing technology into student and family lives can be stressful and full of questions, but it is imperative for us as educators to establish an open line of communication between us and families so we can be the most effective teachers as possible, and so students can get the most out of learning. Lastly as a group, I feel we addressed Positive Social Interaction by telling the parents and guardians that at our school and during the time these students will be using the technology under our supervision, they will be safe and will be blocked from any negative websites that may deter or distract learning.

As a future educator, I have many hopes and one major fear revolving around digital teaching and learning.  My one main fear revolving around digital teaching and learning is the fact that our society and individual lives are highly digitalized already as it is, and feel that perhaps digital learning may take over some student’s lives and they may miss out on activities outdoors due to the dynamics of the world we live in. That same fear, though, gives me hope that one day I can be an educator who values digital teaching and learning, but also provides memorable learning experiences outside of the classroom and not involving technology. I hope to one day be an educator who finds the balance between digital learning and hands-on learning, because I truly do believe either of those two things could engage any learner in some form or another. Although I understand technology can provide engaging and meaningful learning experiences for students, I also understand that many of my personal learning experiences that I hold most dear to me take place outdoors and not near technology. As a high school student that experienced a weird blend of technology in the classroom, I feel as if I have some digital professional development ahead of to ensure I am a successful digital teacher. Through this, though, I am excited because I did not learn digitally very much at all during my school experiences, so learning as a professional will be an active learning experience that will require myself to be open with the changes new technology brings. In my mind, technology and digital tools for learning will always be changing and they will continue to change, so it will only be beneficial to myself and students if I am open to this change and learn with and through my students as we become better digital citizens together.