Integration of Technology into Instruction

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur is the first important American author to ask the question, "What is an American?" Although Crevecoeur was describing life in the British colonies in America, he used his character, James, to comment on the principles of social organization that were making American society different form any that had gone before and to portray, for the first time, the new consciousness of emerging American society.

Objectives:

• To think about what it means to be an "American"
• To discuss the impact of an author's word choice and sentence structure on the interpretation of the text
• To identify some major themes and development of the Letters....
• To compare and contrast issues, values, and ideals in Crevecoeur's Letter... and the Turner Thesis
• To compose paragraphs and essays of sensory appeal, personal essays, and critical essays that use detail, illustration, comparison, and definition.
• To understand and use technological tools, especially web browsers and word processing applications
• To use search engines for gathering information from the Internet.

Time Required:

Approximately two weeks: one for reading and research and one for writing.

Materials, Tools and Resources Required:

• Computer with word processing software and Internet access
• A list of search engines and how to access them
• A copy of Chapter III from Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer (The whole chapter can be downloaded from the Internet.)
• Assignment sheets that will organize the student's note taking

Teacher Preparation:

• The teacher must be familiar with Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer.
• The Teacher must be familiar with the historical setting of the letters. The unit theme of the American Revolution suggests late 18th century America as do Crevecoeur's letters.
• The teacher must be familiar with the Turner Thesis and be able to make comparisons between Crevecoeur and Turner.
• The teacher must explore the Internet to find useful sites for this assignment.
• The teacher must identify characteristics American traits (and list them) based on both readings. readings. These will become the basis for discussion.

Ideally, eleventh grade students should have the general knowledge appropriate for grade 10 in reading, writing , speaking, and listening as California English-Language Arts Content Standards for Grade 10 suggests. However, because of low reading skills, it may be necessary to create a sheltered version of the Crevecoeur, or at least edit it.

Procedure:

Step#1

Web Browsing Demonstration: Teacher should take the class to a Computer lab with Internet access and possible LCD projector or television connected to the computer to demonstrate using a web browser. Students take notes while teacher demonstrates the browser feature: navigating, menu bar , open location, bookmarks, searching on Yahoo and other search engines, examining "hits," copying and pasting a location (address/URL) on the notepad or a Word file.

Step#2

Teacher reviews with students the list of items for student search in " What is an American" - Handout #1 which includes searching for a portrait, historical background, and short summary of each chapter in Letters form an American Farmer.

Step #3

Students use search engines and databases (either on campus or at home) to find and bookmark at least three web sites that may assist them in the search. Some suggestions are:

www.yahoo.com

www.google.com

http://search.amico.org

Step #4

Students search for material that gives them insights into their personal quests, using the Internet for their main research tool.

Step #5

Students complete "What is an American" - Handout #2 called "Annotated List of Web Site."

Title of web site

Address (URL) of web site.

A brief discussion of what the site contains.

Step #6

Once all the students have found a copy of the Letter... #3 "What is an American," have the students copy and paste the entire document on to a Word file.

Step #7

For convenience, provide a hard copy (handout) of the entire text. Read assigned text aloud with class. While reading, the teacher will discuss and list the "American" traits of this period, and then consider with the students, whether the traits mentioned by Crevecoeur are valid today.

The required time for this activity will be approximately one week.

In an ideal setting of interdisciplinary teaching, students will be using the same method to find information on Frederick Jackson Turner, and will download the lecture on which the Turner Thesis is based and studied in their U.S. History class. Discussion on Turner will also be lead by the History teacher-concurrently.

Bring U.S History teacher and the American Literature teacher together to discuss similarities and differences between Crevecoeur's "What is an American?" and the main ideas in the Turner Thesis.

Use of the Venn Diagram will be most helpful.

Step #8

Students will begin assembling a list of American character traits for the current time. This list will serve as a pre-write of their essay (which will be their final assessment) on what it means to be an American today.

Step #9

The Literature teacher will review the conventions of writing: the importance of the thesis statement, introduction, map statements, topic sentences, transitions supporting details, quoting the text, and conclusion. Students should be given some class time to write a paragraph or two in response to the rhetorical question of "What is an American in 2000?"

Step #10

Students should use their notes on "What is an American" by Crevecoeur and the Venn Diagram of Crevecoeur vs. Turner as a tool in drafting, evaluating , and revising, their essay on "What is an American in 2000?"

Step #11

After peer-editing, and one teacher response, the student should type in his or her final draft of the essay onto a Word document, preferably saved under the same file as the downloaded copy of Crevecoeur's "What is an American?"

Assessment:

Classwork

• Students will be given an activity grade for their work at the computer based on teacher observation. Students are to be at work, participate in class activities, attend each class period, and complete task on time.

Handouts

• Students will be given a grade on completed handouts.
• "What is an American"- Handout #1 (student search)
• "What is an American"-Handout #2 (Annotated List of Web Sites)
• Notes on "What is an American"
• Venn Diagram of Crevecoeur and Turner"

  *This is an interdisciplinary exercise. The final assessment will be an interdisciplinary unit essay on Revolutionary War.

Expository Essay

• Students will be given a grade on the essay that discusses what it is to be an American in 2000
• See rubric.

Handout 1 "What is an American?"

Handout 2 ANNOTATED LIST OF WEB SITES

Notes "What is an American?"

Venn Diagram

Rubric 1

Rubric 2

Thematic Unit: The American Revolution

This is the American Literature component of an interdisciplinary American Studies program. Students are concurrently enrolled in U.S History and American Images. The four-week theme around which all three classes are organized is The American Revolution.

LAUSD Academic Standards of Language Arts:

3. Read interpretively to determine both literal and implied meaning in increasingly complex and varied reading materials, both assigned and independently selected.

5. Write clearly- using the formal conventions of the English language, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, word choice, paragraphing, and figurative language-in a variety of writing styles suitable to particular situations.

6. Locate, evaluate, and synthesize information for specific purposes, using a variety of sources, including interviews, the library/multi-media center, and a range of current technology.