How Web 2.0 Changed My Novel Unit Plan

Web 2.0 Technology Implementation in Novel Units
English 9/Honors 9

Technology Objectives

• Students will learn how to centralize their technology tools for their tablets by using gmail accounts, IGoogle, Google Reader, and Blogger for all school and personal work on tablets.

• Students will create a blog site through Blogger to write personal journal responses as assigned for the novel unit. A common theme will run through the blog journals, and that theme is the importance of family traditions and family relationship for teens today.

• The academic students will write blog journals related to Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, and the honors students will write blog journals related to Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. Both novels are “coming-of-age” stories about teen and young adult protagonists.

• Students will also implement some additional tools in their blog projects, including a podcast and a Picasa slide show related to one of their journals about family and friends.

• Lastly, students will comment on fellow students’ blog journals in a constructive way to build community in the classes.

Implementation of the Technology Plan

As we begin our novel unit in both the academic 9 classes and the honors 9 classes, we will spend the first lesson setting up a gmail account for each student and creating an IGoogle homepage. If we have time, we will add the Google Reader to homepage. Each student will create the gmail account with their John Carroll username and password. Also, students will only identify themselves with a first name and last initial. Also, students will set up permissions to only allow invited viewers to their Blogger site.

After the students have set up their accounts, they will then create a Blogger site to create a themed portfolio of blogs (journals) that they are required to write throughout the novel unit. Both novels present the theme of the importance of family traditions and ties to each other. The journals will not only react to certain aspects of the novel, but the blog journals may also be stories that the students share about their family life. In past years, students have created Family Scrapbooks with these journals and pictures. Now with Blogger, podcasting, and Picasa image sharing, students can create virtual Family Scrapbooks.

Once students have personalized their blog sites, then they will create at least one podcast using GCAST and Audacity. They will share a story orally. Also, students will create a slide show related to one of their journals or for their homepage of the blog site by using Picasa Image Sharing.

We have the luxury of every student having a laptop in class, but the beauty of these programs is that they can access them on any computer, so their projects will be readily available to them, and I believe that they will be proud of their creative work and their Web 2.0 expertise.