Content, Technology for Integrated Tech. Plan

In my current field placement, a first through third grade integrated Montessori classroom, literacy is a definite focal point--the students produce written work in their journals for close to an hour each day ("Independent Writing"), and, although some students thrive when  composing "traditional" written work, many students truly struggle when attempting to strategically represent their thoughts and ideas in their compositions. I have had the opportunity to work individually with several of the lower achieving writers in the class, and (as I have mentioned in previous posts), many of these students have exceptional ideas; they are simply unable to transfer their "mental" stories onto paper. Therefore, I have selected a specific second grade Grade Level Content Expectation (GLCE) that places extreme emphasis on the actual content found in a student's literary work, and not on the form or production of the composition.  My designed lesson will focus on second grade "English/Language Arts" expectation W.PS.02.01, which states, "[Students will] develop personal style in oral, written, and visual messages in both narrative (e.g., descriptive language, use of imagination, varying sentence beginnings) and informational writing (e.g., facts, effective conclusions"). In order for the students to best be able to meet the criteria mentioned within this GLCE, they will have the opportunity to utilize Dragon Naturally Reading 10.1,  a free, downloadable speech-to-text tool that will allow the students to verbally narrate their constructed story, thus proving them with a medium through which their literary ingenuity, creativity, and uniqueness can shine through.

The "Big Idea" content goals for this lesson will include the following:


- All writing should have a distinct and clear purpose, and should be written with a specific audience in mind (i.e., instructor, peers, family, etc.)

- The development of a literary"style" depends upon the author's ability to engage their audience within a detailed and thoughtful narrative

- Although the mechanics of one's writing (i.e., grammar, punctuation, capitalization, correct syntax, etc.) are extremely important components, a writer's ability to both produce and represent his/her thoughts through written composition is equally as important.

Lesson Objectives:

* Using Dragon Naturally Speaking 10.1, the students will work individually (with explicit instructor scaffolding) to create a one-page piece of fictional literature

* The students will be required (and encouraged) to create personally unique and creative compositions--as previously mentioned, through the integration of the "Dragon" speech-to-text technology, the students will be able to fully focus their attention on the content of their work, and not on its mechanical/grammatical form.

Based upon my observations of my CT's students, I believe that a definite misconception that they collectively possess in regards to the act of writing is that this area of literacy cannot be "writer centered"--all of the students seem to believe that their pieces of writing were constructed strictly for their instructor to critique, evaluate, and return to them. Many of them are seemingly under the impression that the act of writing is purely academic in nature, and that it cannot be an individualized or enjoyable process. I believe that, through the implementation of my selected technology into this designed lesson, the students will be able to truly write for themselves, thus allowing their individual "voice" and literary style to present itself.