HOW IT WORKS
In Who’s Who In Black History, students
create
and
play games to learn about the roles that African-Americans
have played in American
history
in fields such as arts and education,
science,
politics,
the civil rights movement, the
military,
and sports. They also complete a
research
project on a significant Black person
in
history. This project requires the use of
a
variety
of computer programs and resources.
Students
take notes from CD-ROM encyclopedias
and
Internet sites as well as books and encyclopedias
from the library. The final reports
they
create will be shared with the class.
The
activities and lessons for this unit were designed
to reach students with learning
disabilities,
allowing
them to work in small groups
while
practicing new skills and working
one-to-one with
teachers. Because of its open-ended structure,
students who have varied abilities
can
engage in the activities and research at
different
levels.
For students with reading and writing
problems, a smaller set of research
questions
can be developed. Students with greater
abilities in reading and writing can
extend
their research accordingly.
THE
STUDENTS
The
fifteen students in my class are eighth
graders.
The class is a MIS (Modified Instructional
Setting)
1, so many students have learning
disabilities
and/or emotional difficulties. The
classroom
does have eight computers, and the students
also made use of computers in the
library.
There was no Internet access in my
classroom,
so we used the library computers to
do research on the Internet. Prior to this
unit,
most
of my students had not had formal training
in
typing, using the Internet, or using
CD-ROM encyclopedias.
THE
STAFF
I
have taught in the MIS 1 program for two
years.
This year, I am working in a
Chancellor’s District
School in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I work with
an extremely motivated and energetic
staff.
Many
of my ideas came from worksheets that a colleague
of mine gave to me. And although there
are no paraprofessionals in the room, I do
have
the assistance of an ESL teacher who comes
in once a day. While we were working on
this unit, she held writing conferences
with
students
in my class. Also, the librarian and computer
support personnel from Project Smart
were very supportive of the project.
WHAT
YOU NEED
Computers
with Internet access are needed
along
with software such as the Grolier’s
Encyclopedia
CD-ROM
and the ClarisWorks wordprocessing
program.
Markers, highlighters,
dictionaries,
large index cards, and student folders
were used to collect and present
information,
and
to prepare each student’s report.
You
may want to use some of the handouts that
I have prepared, too.
OVERALL
VALUE
This
unit engages students in a variety of
activities
that
challenge them to learn skills in
technology,
language
arts, history, and math. The
students
use technology to help them read and
comprehend informational material, and
produce
displays
(with tables, charts, and graphs) as
well as written and oral reports.
Activities
and
lessons are presented in a clear manner and
offer students multiple opportunities for mastery,
while allowing them to work at their
own
pace.
At
the completion of this unit, students will
not
only have a variety of skills in using
computers,
writing
reports and analyzing data, they
will
have learned about the accomplishments of
many Black people in history.
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