Artifact 7

This artifact, Literature Circle was done in my Block 436 Literature in Elementary School class during the 2001 Spring Semester. This Literature Circle was constructed as a web page that focused on the literature works of Louis Sachar. There were three group members that collaborated together to complete units on a specific author or topic, aiming for the Elementary Grades. All people, especially Elementary School teachers and students would find this Literature Circle appealing to explore an adventure in Literature.

Impact:

The Louis Sachar Literature Circle Unit's purpose is to o meet different grade levels. This product basically consists of research and preparation put into a lesson on tall tales. In the future, the group can teach the unit in the schools and since the unit is online other teachers can access it and implement in their own classroom. Students also meet the North Carolina Standard Course of Study in areas of reading and writing.

Alignment:

Since computers would be the main source during the Literature Circle, each student would have a computer to work at so that a disturbance would be avoided and learning in effect be more abundant. The students would be interactive online when doing these Literature circles and critical thinking would also take place. The best learning environments are those that are creative and have ample amounts of opportunities for reasoning. I want to have a classroom that encourages diverse learners by offering activities that meet different interests and abilities so that they will want to come to school and respect me as a teacher and to promote student learning. (Tech. Standard II.E) This artifact addresses curriculum standards from a variety of standards such as Language Arts, Computer/Technology Skills (word processing, internet use, etc.), and Information Skills. It integrates other subjects into one activity. (Tech. Standard III. A) While students are participating in class with the Literature Circles there is plenty of technology that is used, so they would define a productive learning activity. Literature Circles include a link to specifically providing student instructions. Using a web page in this manner allows myself as a teacher, as well as other teachers, to provide a concrete method of ensuring how students become involved with technology. The Unit pages manage student learning through technology because it gives specific details regarding how students should complete the activity, so they will be on task (Tech. Standard III.D) Literature Circles boost the possibilities for learning to all students, regardless of their past history with schooling. The tasks that are to be done on the Literature Circles are very distinct and clear, a full example is presented so that any confusion would be virtually eliminated. If a student does not understand some of the tasks there are ways to overcome that with aid from peers, this is a group activity. Altavista helps eradicate language obstacles in the classroom. Students are empowered to learn by using their own unique style of learning and incorporating that to its full effect. (Tech. Standard VI. B) This Literature Circle is chock full of activities that teachers can use in their classrooms to get children engaged and learning. A variety of resources were used; books, internet, word processors, etc. to help encourage that there are different strategies to accomplish a Literature Circle. Not only does this Literature Circle include activities that engage students socially by working with others or make the subject matter meaningful through first hand experience, a window for educators is revealed, withholding helpful information to consider when teaching children Internet usage and such, as said before. The activities encourage students to use their thinking skills and expand their unique creativity to construct an artifact. .(INTASC Standard 1) This Literature Circle caters to the broad selections of books for different learning styles Indeed there are visual, auditory, kinesthetic learners that will be spread forth in the classroom. The classroom is also full of diverse learners in respect to Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence's, as a result, Literature Circle Units allow students to use various learning styles that involve more visual, verbal, and interactive engagement than the common lecture style of teaching. Auditory and visual roles in the Literature Circle Units focus on having students read books or stories from a certain author or topic and then the discussing aspects of the book with other members in their group. Each time students will complete and share a different role (Discussion Director, Passage Picker, Character Sketcher, Word Wizard and other possible roles). Tasks that are created to ensure that students grasp important literary fundamentals and have different tactics for formulating their answers. For instance, a student may be responsible for defining, then illustrating vocabulary words in the story which focus on the body kinesthetic learner (hands-on) whereas another group member may discuss character traits and sketch the character (auditory/visual). Students come together and interact with each other to aid with problems that are faced when they realize that their dominant learning ability is not required. Student individuality and diverse learning styles are recognized in a positive way that encourages learning for everyone. (INTASC Standard 3). Furthermore, the stations provide more than equal opportunity for technology, but also the chance for social interaction, engaged learning and the indication of self-motivation. This Literature Circle is indeed an enjoyable activity and the students will be so engaged in that classroom management and environment will be a splendid matter to think about, the students will be so occupied. Social relationships between students will also blossom with the interaction and connections they make with the books they are reading and the Literature Circles they create. (INTASC Standard 5). Literature Circles are aimed at supporting the best learning for children by exposing our discoveries to others. In class, the three small groups that were designated at different schools shared their findings by Power Point or web page to the rest of the class. Then, at an end-of-semester meeting with teachers and principals from our cooperating schools, our class shared our Media Ethnography projects. Not only was the work shared with everyone, but the teachers and principals were also made aware that the influences of media must be considered in order to provide the best learning for children. (INTASC Standard 10).