Final Project

This is the link to my matrix: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An22K3Z1cQ9gdElnOHYtREI1Wk9Sc3NvWWc3ODBYYXc&usp=sharing

For this final project, I chose to use the final project that I did in my curriculum 310 class last semester (inclusion).  For that final project I had to choose/make a lesson plan that could have been adapted to meet the needs of a student who was classified as special education. Last semester, my professor gave me a specific scenario that included what type of grade level and student I would be teaching to.  My "student"'s name was Austin and he was in ninth grade.  He was mainstreamed into regular education and was considered Autistic, but obviously on the lower end of the autism spectrum. For that project I chose to make a lesson plan that reflected on daily routines and time telling.  I figured that if I ever had a student with a form of autism or disability in my class, this would be a topic that could be useful to them in other aspects of their lives, even if we were solely focusing on it in Italian in my classroom.  

The lesson will consist of students listening to a passage in Italian and filling in the blanks with a time of the day.  The teacher will also introduce and discuss/demonstrate the typical daily routines of Italian students and compare them with the American culture routines. The purpose of this is so that I can test whether my students can comprehend and recognize the times of day by dialogue and the scenarios that are being read aloud in the dialogue. Students will also be asked to collaborate and work in groups to create dialogues in the target language that will reflect upon their daily routines and the times that their routines are taking place. (Example: At 1:00pm I do this, etc) For regular education students this lesson should not be that difficult considering that we have been reviewing the topic for a week, however Austin's disability means that certain accommodations need to be made for him, which do include new forms of technology.  Last semester while I was writing up this lesson plan, I included technology that I thought would be appropriate for this lesson and it was.  However, by completing fieldwork and taking other technological courses through this semester, I have learned of new technologies and new ways that I can use them to further improve and edit this lesson plan.  These new ways that I incorporated more technology are in my matrix. 

My matrix consists of the NJ standards that I used when writing this lesson plan.  It also has a list of the NETS-S standards that I learned about this semester(I was not familiar with them before taking this class).  The matrix also included a list of strategies and technologies that will help those strategies that I hope to bring into practice with the modification of the lesson.  Now I am going to give a step-by-step explanation of the matrix, so that it can be understood to someone who is not familiar with foreign language standards and teaching practices.  

The first three rows of the matrix all are under the Interpretive mode standards that are listed by the NJ department of education.  These three rows all involve the processes of understanding and comprehension that students have when taught certain topics (routines, descriptions) in a world language.  With these standards teachers are typically trying to teach content and assess whether students have processed the content being taught.  This is why I chose strategies such as direct teaching,  presentations, questions and answers, and guided and independent practices to use with students.  To put these strategies into effect I chose technologies such as PowerPoint, new Smartboard technologies, Wimba Voiceboards, and even tools such as Skype and GoogleTalk for students to use.  The powerpoint and smartboard will be used to demonstrate and teach new content and materials.  Wimba voiceboards are tools that students may use for both guided and independent practice because they obtain audio and visual tools that will help with comprehension of the topic and also to fill in the time tables of which I talked about in the previous paragraphs.  Extra tools like Skype and GoogleTalk can also be used in this mode because students will be able to interact with not only each other but also will be able introduced to communicate with Italian students over the web.(This will be more of an introduction in this mode because it is used more in the next mode).  The next few rows of my matrix fall under the Interpersonal mode standards that the NJ department of education lists.  These standards are designed to reflect that students are to begin exchanging, communicating, and using the content information taught.  For these next three rows of my matrix, I used similar strategies as I did in the first three(interpretive mode).  My strategies here include: Lecture, Demonstration, Explanation, Student Collaboration, Large/Small Group Discussions, Questions and Answers, Dialouge and Presentation.  The teacher will use technologies such as PowerPoint, the smart board, Prezi and portable devices to keep reviewing content that relates to the lesson of routines and time telling so that students can complete any activities that will be taught.  The point of these technologies are so they are comprehensible for the students.  For this part of the activity, students will collaborate with each other to create dialogues that include a daily routine (using time), and use the internet to collaborate via Skype or GoogleTalk to begin conversations with Italian students about their daily routines.  Students will be able to use portable devices, PowerPoint, Digital storytelling, and Prezi to begin putting all of their research together.  As for the dialogues they will be able to use Garzanti Linguistica (Italian online dictionary) and the tools I just mentioned to collaborate to create the dialogues both in and out of the classroom.  

The last part of my matrix includes the Presentational mode which is a section of the NJ world language standards.  In this mode students are supposed to be demonstrating their abilities to present in the target language and using other tools besides their oral skills to do so.  For the last four rows of the matrix, I again used most of the similar strategies that I have listed before, however this mode is solely student centered with the exception of some guidance(scaffolding/leading) from the teacher. These strategies include: independent practice, oral/visual presentation, explanation, homework, dialogue and student collaboration.  In this part of the lesson students are supposed to present both their dialogues and their research presentations with their Italian student to the class in Italian.  To complete these tasks technology must be used.  For the dialogues, students will be able to PowerPoint, Prezi, Garzanti Linguistica, Digital Storytelling, and Photo Story to present to the class.  Although presentation of dialogues requires speaking and acting, students will be able to digitally video themselves doing so.  As for the presentation of the cultural comparisons with the Italian students, my students are expected to use Skype and GoogleTalk to communicate with them as they are doing their research.  To present it to the class, students are expected to use PowerPoint or Prezi.  Wimba Voiceboard and Garzanti Linguistica are tools that students can use to help them improve their communicative skills besides their teacher. 

I believe that these strategies and technologies that I have chosen for this matrix and lesson plan are appropriate and an accurate way for both the teachers and students to fill these NJ Common Core Standards.