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Plan of Action

Overview

Prior to participating in this telecollaborative activity, the students in my class will have learned about the following topics:

 

~ the history of educational access for various groups of people, including African-Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, English Language Learners, women, and children living in poverty

 

~ multiculturalism and culturally responsive teaching, including the following topics:

- Bank's Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform

- Nieto's Seven Characteristics of Multicultural Education

- Eight Characteristics of a Multicultural School

- Multicultural Materials and Strategies for the classroom

- Characteristics of Culturally Reponsive Teachers

- Ways We Categorize Humans

- Factors Affecting Human Relations

- The -Isms

- The Influence of Culture on Teaching, Learning, and Behavior

- Strategies for Working with Culturally and Ethnically Diverse Students

- Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Students

 

As they participate in the activities outlined below, students will be asked to apply the knowledge that they have acquired about the topics above.

 

 

Activities

Activity #1: Exploring the Voices of Youth Site

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Activity #2: Looking at Key Topics

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Activity #3: Commenting on Other's Posts

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Activity #4: Participating in Discussions

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Activity #5: Creating and Submitting Content

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Activity #6: Concluding the Experience

At the conclusion of our participation in this project, I will ask my students to complete a written reflection that addresses the following topics:

 

~ what they liked best about participating in the activity

~ what they liked least about participating in the activity

~ what they learned about diverse cultures and experiences by participating in the activity

~ how they can use their knowledge to help them in their own classrooms

~ how they might use this site in a lesson of their own

~ what they would do differently to improve the experience

 

Following the completion of these reflections, we will also hold a class discussion about our experiences participating in this project.

Now that we have had the opportunity to spend time interacting with content that is already available on the site, we will begin talking about and creating our own submissions as follows:

 

1. The first thing that we will do is review the requirements for the content of a blog post. These requirements include the following:

 

  • choice of topic

  • format of submission

  • quality and development of submission

 

2. Next, we will discuss the method for submitting blog posts and the likelihood of publication. We will also discuss alternative options if our submissions are not posted.

 

3. After reviewing the requirements for the site, we will discuss specific teacher requirements/guidelines for their submissions. These guidelines include the following:

 

  • The teacher must review all submissions to the site prior to sending them to Voices of Youth.

  • The teacher should be present when each person/group makes a submission for publication.

 

4. After reviewing the requirements for submitting posts, students will begin working on their first submission. Their first submission must adhere to the following:

 

  • Students may work alone or in groups of 2-3.

  • Submission should address one of the topics we have studied in this unit (see outline at the top of this page).

  • Submission may be in any format.

  • Submission must be evaluated by the teacher.

 

Students will be given class time to work on developing their first submission to the site.

 

5. The goal for this component of the project is for students to submit at least two original works for publication. They will follow the guidelines in step 4, though they may choose their own topic for their second and future submissions.

 

6. For any submissions that are published, students are expected to review and respond to any comments that are made.

 

7. Grading will be determined by a rubric designed for each submission type (poem, article, video, etc.).

 

Voices of Youth posts discussions every few weeks on a variety of topics. Current discussions include juvenile justice, supporting students to succeed, and texting and grammar. As a class we will spend some time looking at the different discussion options and the types of responses that students have provided. We will also review the "Ground Rules" for participation as determined by Voices of Youth.

 

Following our discussion of the ground rules, I will ask the students to locate a discussion that interests them and make a contribution that meets the criteria stated by Voices of Youth. This may take some additional time if they choose to do research to craft their response.

 

As we continue with the project, students will be expected to continue to participate in one or more discussions of their choosing. Listed below are the grading criteria for this part of the project.

 

  • A = 6-7 discussion contributions

  • B = 5 discussion contributions

  • C = 4 discussion contributions

  • D = 2-3 discussion contributions

  • E = 1 discussion contribution

 

*The quality of the responses will be factored into the letter grade.

 

For this activity, we will spend some time as a class looking at the different types of comments that are made to the various posts on Voices of Youth. I will ask the students to work in pairs to select three posts with comments. Their task will be to read each of the posts and the comments that go with them. They are to record the types of comments that are posted, specifically the ways in which the comments respond to or extend the ideas of the original post.

 

After discussing the types of comments that they read, we will discuss how we should respond to posts that interest us. In our discussion, I will establish the following rules for making comments:

 

  • comments should be thoughtful and respectful

  • comments should respond to the content of the original post

    • state agreement with supporting reasons

    • state disagreement respectfully with supporting reasons or alternate perspectives

  • comments should extend the content of the original post

    • add another idea to support the content of the post

    • add a personal example that relates to the content of the post

 

Once we have reviewed the criteria for making comments, I will ask the students to select three posts of their choice and comment on them following the guidelines above.

 

As we continue with this project, students will be expected to continue commenting on posts that interest them or that contain valuable information related to what we have been studying in class. Listed below are the grading criteria for this part of the project.

 

  • A = 18-20 comments total*

  • B = 15-17 comments total*

  • C = 12-14 comments total*

  • D = 9-11 comments total*

  • E = 8 comments or less*

 

*The quality of the responses will be factored into the letter grade.

For the second activity, students will work in small groups to look at the nine key topics that are used to organize the posts that are submitted by students. Each group will look at one topic and develop a presentation (using a medium of their choice) about that topic. In their presentation, students must include the following information:

 

  • a brief description of the topic as described on Voices of Youth

  • a description of the types of posts included in the section for their topic

  • a discussion of two specific posts that they have read and what they learned from those posts

  • a description of the ways the content for their topic relates to the various concepts we have studied in class so far (see list above)

 

Following their research, each group will share their presentation with the class.

After signing up for the site, we will begin this telecollaborative project by reviewing the contents of the site and considering how the goals of the site match up with our classroom objectives. I will ask students to browse the site and record responses to the following questions:

 

1. What does the Voices of Youth site seem to be about? How do you know?

 

2. What are the goals of Voices of Youth? How do these goals fit with our classroom objective, which asks us to analyze factors that impact student success? 

 

3. How is the site organized? What types of information are provided? Is the site purely informational or does it have interactive components?

 

4. What information from the Voices of Youth site could help you better understand one or more of the topics (posted above) that we have studied so far in this unit? Be specific.

 

5. In what ways does this site give you the opportunity to interact with others or to contribute original works?

 

Following students' review of the website, we will discuss their findings and establish some class goals for participation in this telecollaborative project. I will distribute an activity log that students will keep as they make contributions to the Voices of Youth website over the next month.

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