EDTE 286: Special Topics in Educational Technology
Final Project: iMET Knowledge Web PDF Document
Sara Martin
CSUS Imet 8

As an Adobe Master Teacher, I am contracted to write lessons for the Adobe Digital Kids Club Website. All of the lessons I write involve integrating technology into the middle school curriculum. Lessons are written using Microsoft Word and converted into a PDF for submission. The following link contains an example of one of these lessons:

Photoshop Elements Lesson Plan PDF
Alliteration Poetry
By Sara Martin, iMET8

Annotated Bibliography

Strategies for Integrating Technology

  • Fusion, Educators Integrating Technology, from Willard R2 Schools. May 20, 2005. Janetta Garton, Technology Curriculum Director, Willard R2 School District. Comprehensive list of strategies, including specific categories, ideas and links, for integrating technology into the K-12 curriculum. Specific ideas for integrating language arts projects, including poetry and included.

Integrating Technology Into the Curriculum

  • North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, a subsidiary of Learning Point Associates. Contains a checklist for those who seek to:
    • Engage stake-holders in a technology planning process to enhance learning opportunities and school improvement efforts.
    • Learn from research findings and case scenarios about problem-solving technology practices implemented in schools today.
    • Identify technology needs and evaluate implementation progress

    Specific ideas to assist teachers in:

    • Beginning to integrate technology into their daily practices.
    • Aligning their personal technology vision with their school's technology vision for schoolwide improvement.
    • Taking a professional development approach to learning about using technology to enhance their classroom practices

Technology in Action, Integrating Technology

  • Lesson plan for writing and publishing an acrostic style poem. Developed by Janice Johnson. Microsoft Word software application used. Links to additional resources and websites are included.

Why and How to Integrate Computers into Language Arts Curriculum

  • Smart Library on Literacy and Technology. Two researchers, Janice Stuhlmann and Harriet Taylor, discuss the benefits of using computers in a language arts curriculum, and describe specific strategies for integrating computers into language arts classes. They argue that computer-based resources can add great benefit to a language arts curriculum. According to Stuhlmann and Taylor, using computers as a way of teaching language arts can:
    • shift the locus of control to the student
    • increase student self-esteem
    • actively advance the student's personal literacy levels, and
    • promote a whole-language approach to literacy.
  • The authors say that using computers to teach language arts can create a three-way interaction between teacher, student and computer. They identify 4 specific benefits to this interaction.
    • Students are free to experiment with language in creative ways
    • Students have the opportunity to develop confidence and become aware of their own expertise. Research indicates that student empowerment increases as students are challenged with higher-order reasoning and problem solving activities. In these situations, students are more responsible for creating their own knowledge.
    • Research shows that students perform better when their assignments are created for real audiences. Children write better and more carefully if they believe that the goal of their work is to communicate something to someone. According to one author, "Regardless of the format, children can see benefits from their written work when it is no longer only an assignment."
    • Several studies have found that when computers were part of the language arts curriculum student attitudes benefited.
  • In order to bring these benefits into real classrooms, Stuhlmann and Taylor present what they say are "proven strategies" for integrating computers into a language arts curriculum.
  • The authors point out that a key benefit of using computers in language arts curriculum is that it allows students to appreciate the active role that they have in the products that they produce.