Action Plan

I'm so happy this week because I tried a variety of tools. The most important step to me as  teacher is "HOW" not "WHAT". Actually, this is the last task of this fabulous week. Here is what was required from us to do after experimenting and exploring some tools:

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This week you've come across:
Edmodo, Animoto, About.me, Flavors.me, and Prezi

1. Think of how you could use one of these tools with your students.
2. Add your ideas to your own digital portfolio (Consider language goals, digital tool to be used, time frame, steps).

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What a surprise for my students!

I'm sure that they will be very happy with all these tools. We will start the next term with a revolution in our classroom. All these tools are fantastic and can break boredom and demotivation inside our traditional classrooms. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to make use of them in a beneficial way. I think that integrating technology doesn't mean the overwhelming use of it in all areas of the syllabus. If we do this, we will turn away from the true meaning of integrating technology. That's why I took a day to accomplish this sub-task.

My Action Plan:

Grade Level: 11th

Language Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, students will:

1. learn about the parts of autobiography.
2. write autobiographies.

Materials Needed:

1. Computers
2. Internet Access
3. Projector
4. "How to write an autobiography" sheet
5. or a graphic organizer of an autobiography.

Digital Tools to be used:

1. Animoto
2. About.me
3. Edmodo

Time Frame: 50 min.

Steps:

Pre-Task (15 min):

1. This lesson will be carried out after training my students on how to use About.me and Edmodo.
2. I tell my students that they are going to write their autobiographies.
3. I ask them to look at the sheet of (How to Write an autobiography) and discuss with them the parts of autobiography. 
4. I tell them that they are going to create their autobiographies using about.me.
5. I present the Animoto that I have prepared with the help of about.me blog's pictures http://blog.about.me/. It includes some models of About.me pages.

Here is my Animoto

During Task (25 min):

1. I ask each student to start creating his/her about.me page.
2. They can use their own photos or pictures from www.google.com that suit them.
3. Once they finish creating their about.me pages, I ask each pair to see each other about.me pages and give feedback.
4. I ask them to share their autobiographies in our Edmodo class.

Post-Task (10 min):

1. Students go to our Edmodo class to visit their peers' about.me pages and leave comments to them.
2.  I ask students to visit the Poll that I created to vote for the most wonderful about.me pages.
3. I will use our Edmodo website to create badges for the winners (Top 5 Winners).

As you see, I can't use just one tool. I mixed three of them in the same lesson. This will match my students' learning styles and intelligences. This doesn't mean that I overwhelm my students with a lot of tools without a goal in mind. Don't forget to use the tool in a beneficial way!

This is my lesson plan. I hope you like it.

Waiting for your comments and suggestions!