LEARNING CONNECTIONS |
Social Studies
Technology on the Oregon Trail
©2008 JUPITERIMAGES CORPORATION
Adding technology to existing lessons has helped boost
the motivation of my special
education students and provided just
the sca olding and di erentiation of
content they need to participate in
regular classroom projects. Here’s how
I used technology to help capture students’ attention and draw on the prior
knowledge of my special education
students.
I started with a historical ction
unit developed by the eighth grade
English language arts teachers and
literary specialists at Novi Middle
School. Students assume a pioneer
persona, travel along the Oregon Trail,
and create a handwritten memoir of
their journey. e unit is divided into
seven sections, each with a scenario
prompt focusing on the events to be
experienced. e prompts are:
Prologue: Hopes, Dreams, and a Mess of
Provisions; Fresh Start; In Sickness and
Health; Indians; River Crossings; Last
Leg; and Settling In. To provide background for the students, unit activities include research, discussions of
authentic journal memoirs, and digital
videos corresponding to each scenario
prompt.
I expected my students to be able
to write a historical expository. I used
technology to di erentiate the content
and to provide social collaboration
through online discussions.
Di erentiating the content. Using PowerPoint, I created a multimedia presentation titled Head West for the ELA
teachers and students. It was intended
to capture the attention of my students,
o rganize the entire unit into
one central location, and
allow for independent
student access. e slides
are the scenario prompts
with the corresponding
animated actions, audio
Continued on page 34.
By Vera Williams
