Unit 2: Technology to Increase Engagement and Understanding
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Overview
In the last unit, you discovered what effective phonics instruction looks like and some of the challenges. The Fundations content scored higher in the areas of systematic and explicit. However, a major flaw was engagement. This is often the case. We find curriculums that have strong content but there is trouble with implementation, or it simply doesn't meet the needs of your current students. In the book, Unstuck, the authors describe this as a performance plateau (Goodwin, 2018). We will explore this problem and potential remedies in this unit.
Objective: Discover how technology can increase understanding.
Essential Question: How does the brain process language? How can technology increase engagement and understanding?
The learner will...
compare the effectiveness of a lesson that utilizes technology to previous lessons.
reflect on the benefits of instructional technologies by understanding how the brain processes language.
learn the basics of Google Slides in order to create a lesson. (optional)
Modified Lesson
* Due to the unforeseen events caused by the pandemic, I was not able to record a lesson in a classroom. Instead, I have created a lesson walkthrough. As you watch the walkthrough, consider:
- How could this lesson be further differentiated for students?
- Does the technology make the lesson more engaging?
- Provided ID could not be validated.
In the lesson, I referred to Google Slides and ScreenCastify. You can use the hyperlinks to navigate to each site to explore these technologies further.
- requires a free Google account
- I used this to make animations in the lesson
- requires a free account (paid version available)
- Chrome Extension
- I used this to incorporate sound into my slides
Modified Fundations Lesson Presentation
Revisit the rubric you used in Unit 1 to score the Fundations lesson. Does this adapted lesson change the score you would give? Rescore the lesson considering the modifications.
Brain Processing
In another course I took through the University of Albany, I explored how the brain processes language to improve my own phonics instruction. If you'd like to dive deeper into that topic, you can find my project here.
In summary, the brain draws on many parts of the brain simultaneously to comprehend and produce language. Reading is a skill that our brains must learn. I like to think of it as coding a computer. Language is a code of symbols that we train our brains to understand. Eventually, our brain learns shortcuts to these codes and creates neural models that allow for automatic recognition. What does this mean for phonics instruction?
Parietal-Temporal Area
The connection between these regions in the brain is specifically important for early reading instruction. This area processes how letters look and sound. It analytically pulls apart words and aides in decoding. Additionally, this region is responsible for processing senses, which makes multisensory learning incredibly important to activate neurons in this area.
Dorsal Pathway
This stream of neurons carries information from the primary visual cortex to the parietal lobe where the sense of sight can be processed.
Occipital-Temporal Area
Strong, fluent readers, show more activation in this region of the brain. Getting our students to this point would be the goal. This region of the brain stores neural models of words and their meanings. Those neural models allow for instant recognition, which makes reading possible.
Given this information, consider how important it is for educators to activate the parietal-temporal lobe when teaching phonics. When we incorporate strong visuals and multisensory methods, students will learn to read.
source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020
Think back to the modified lesson. How did changing the delivery of content improve engagement and understanding for students? We'll host our discussion in Google Docs.
reference: Honig, B., Diamond, L., & Gutlohn, L. (2013). Teaching Reading Sourcebook. Arena Press.
Google Slide Basics
So, now that we have seen the potential for increasing student engagement and understanding, how do we get there? In the next unit, you'll be asked to create your own lesson. Here is a tutorial of the basic features available in Google Slides if you have not used it before.
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animations:
In the video, you can skip ahead to the time 9:45 for specific instructions on animations.
I've included a screenshot of the animation sequence I used to mimic the blending and reading pattern.
When you feel ready, head to Unit 3.
