4.

3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness

Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse
student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness.
Reflection:
The Engaged Learning Project was created to extend technologysupported student
learning and to be used as a model for other teachers of technology. !y developing the
project, " was able to integrate many components of technology for the students# lesson in
$ocial $tudies. The main focus of the lesson was the Constitution and %.$. &overnment
and was developed for '
th
graders over a period of six wee(s.
$tandard '.), *iversity, Cultural %nderstanding + &lobal ,wareness establishes the
expectations for odeling and facilitating the use of digital tools and resources to
su!!ort diverse student needs, en"ance cultural understanding, and increase global
awareness. This artifact demonstrates my ability to develop an extended technology
supported student learning experience that serves as a odel for others. This project not
only included learning about the %nited $tates, but also using digital tools to learn about
other countries governing laws which en"anced cultural understanding for all students.
-hen designing the project, there were various factors that had to be considered. /0 what
age students would be wor(ing on the project1 20 odeling appropriate uses of
technology to support Engaged Learning "ndicators1 )0 Levels of Technology
"mplementation1 '0 ,ligned content standards1 30 ,ligned student technology standards1
40 ,ssessment strategies to measure student learning1 50 ,daptations for ELL or $-*
students1 which su!!orts diverse student needs1 60 List of resources needed for
implementation of the learning experience1 and 70 facilitating the entire process from
design to implementation. This project will involve 'th grade students doing an indepth
study of the %nited $tates Constitution and the %nited $tates &overnment. $tudents will
be determining what the Constitution is and what it does, what the Pledge of ,llegiance is
and what it does and who ma(es up our &overnment and what they do. "n so doing, the
students will also ma(e comparisons of other countries# governing documents to compare
and contrast. This will !roote global awareness for the students by studying other
countries. Through many activities including writing Classroom Constitutions, writing
letters to $enators, researching the Pledge and writing a classroom pledge, comparing and
contrasting the $tate and 8ederal Constitution, doing extensive research on the branches
of &overnment, and getting to (now our forefathers1 students will lead a school
Constitution wee( and conduct a $chool wide ,ssembly to promote Constitution -ee(
throughout the school. $tudents will be posting upcoming events and advertising the
upcoming wee( to other students by updating the school website with pertinent
information. $tudents will also video short clips of things they have learned and this will
broadcast for students throughout the school after Channel 9ne and announcements each
morning leading up to our big wee(. $tudents will also share their completed wor( and
put on a presentation for parents and younger (ids in our elementary school. :opefully
this will provide a hoo( for our upcoming middle school students for $ocial $tudies
classes. ;ou can see as described above, there was no idle time with project1 " anaged
and facilitated the class so that students rotated through centers to complete tas(s which
re<uired collaborative learning by all.
Completing the Engaged Learning Project was a valuable experience for me in that it
ta(es time to not just complete a project or plan for students1 but when you want a
meaningful experience for them you must engage them and learn along with them. "
learned that modeling is crucial to using technology1 if the students see you comfortable
with the use of technology1 they will become more comfortable also. Time constraints
were a hurdle we had to face, because the class period needed to be longer to get
everything done. Luc(ily, teachers would let the students come bac( to me if they
finished wor( early and wor( with me at their convenience. The Project wor(ed well and
the students did learn things about our government and Constitution that they had never
thought about. "f " had to edit the project, " would ma(e it shorter and leave some things
out. "t really became too lengthy for fourth graders1 " thin( shaving two wee(s off could
have made a big difference.
This project was important for modeling for teachers that technology can be integrated
into any lesson. " feel it also showed that technology, if used in the correct way, does
enhance instruction for the students and help get them excited about learning. This lesson
also gave proof to the fact that students can learn without just lecture and noteta(ing.
This project helped other teachers and faculty see that engaging learners is not a hard
tas(, it just ta(es time and thought. ;ou must be willing to put the time into the correct
implementation process for technology and not just use it as a timefiller.