TPACK+in+English+Language+Arts

__** English **__ English Language Arts encompasses a broad and subjective field of study. Often times we learn skills such as grammar, reading and writing skills, literary analysis, and literary elements. Studying English Language Arts is about gaining a deeper understanding of an author’s viewpoint, making personal connections to the text, and growing your knowledge of the historical context. Exploring writing in a multitude of genres allows students to make connections, analyze text, research, and dive into self-exploration and growth.

English Language Arts has a general purpose of developing a student’s comprehension and capacity for the use of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. We do this by exploring literature and writing in various genres. There are many different fields of study within English Language Arts such as Fiction, Nonfiction, drama, poetry, and folklore.

__** English TPACK **__ English includes an abundance of knowledge that students should learn. Oftentimes teachers lack the supplies they need to adequately teach. TPACK grants teachers the accessibility of different types of technology to include into their classroom. This allows students to see and hear things which can help reinforce the learning objectives set for the given assignment. To truly help students to understand the concepts being taught, technology is often needed. It could be as simple as having students use Microsoft Word to type a paper or as complex as navigating the internet to research a given topic. It is the teacher who must identify the relevancy, difficulty, and if it’s applicable to the given assignment. Below are a few examples that provide lesson samples of how to incorporate these into a classroom.

This lesson utilizes Google Blogger **(T)** while they create a portfolio collection of their work **(C)** as part of a project-based learning assignment (**P)**. __**Description:**__ This lesson focuses on 12th-grade seniors in a high school English class. They will work individually to create a portfolio showcasing work from over the course of their high school careers. They also have the opportunity to reflect on each assignment. Once completed students will load all components onto Google Blogger and present them during their mock interviews where they will receive feedback from a committee. 

**TPACK In English Language Arts (ELA)**  Implementing the TPACK model in an ELA classroom will benefit student learning enormously. First, using technology increases student engagement. It allows teachers to present content in an interesting manner. (How Technology Can Boost Student Engagement, 2014) Additionally, using technology allows students to gain skills that can be transferred into the professional world. Modern companies are increasingly relying on new technologies that require knowledgeable employees to operate. Lastly, technology is an efficient way to create easily sharable student portfolios. “They provide institutions with authentic assessments of student learning and promote the deeper learning that we want for our students. I don’t understand why more institutions aren’t using them.” (Review, 2014) This is especially helpful to allow students to review their writing process and display their final works.

__Key Points__:
 * Technology increases engagement
 * Technology allows students to gain skills that directly transfer into the professional world
 * Technology is great for creating and sharing portfolios

**Work Cited ** How Technology Can Boost Student Engagement. (2014, May 1). Retrieved April 13, 2017, from  []

Review, P. (2014, December 29). The Benefits of E-portfolios for Students and Faculty in Their Own Words. Retrieved April 13, 2017, from  []

**Sample** **Lesson** __Overview__: Students will collaboratively identify cause and effect relationships from the novel Things Fall Apart. After, student will individually create outlines and write papers describing the cause and effect relationships along with major themes or life lessons that can be tired with them.
 * Content (C)
 * Cause and effect relationships found in Things Fall Apart.
 * How identified cause and effect relationships connect with themes or life lessons found in Things Fall Apart.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pedagogy (P): Information gained from Teaching Strategies (2016).
 * Major:
 * Active learning: Students must actively participate in finding and expressing knowledge of cause and effect relationships.
 * Inquiry-guided learning: It is the students’ responsibility to use their resources and complete this multi-part assignment.
 * Writing assignments: Students write essays.
 * Minor:
 * Collaborative learning: Students work together in small groups to peer edit their essays.
 * Learning communities: Collaborative Google Doc allows opportunity to share learning, discovery, and general knowledge on cause and effect relationships.
 * Technology (T)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The main technology of the lesson is Google Classrooms and Google Docs.

__**TPACK in**__ **ELA**

This lesson utilizes Google Earth (T) to enhance reading comprehension (C) to take students on a virtual field trip and participate in experiential learning (P). __Description:__ This lesson has students use Google Earth to go on a virtual field trip of all the locations that Elie Wiesel experienced in the novel __Night__. Students will read the novel and experience some of the journey Wiesel went on. By participating in this particular type of simulation, students will gain a higher level of reading comprehension.

__**TPACK in ELA**__ This lesson introduces the students to identifying poetic devices through an interactive website.(T) The poem (C) that is used as an example is "The Raven." The students will be working in small collaborative learning (P) to enhance their learning of how to identity what is necessary. The collaborative learning groups will help those students who are reticent to learn and interact with others, and, in the best of worlds, become an active participant in class.

__**TPACK in ELA**__ This lesson takes the students into the world of William Shakespeare's :Hamlet," The broader content is literature,(C) but in being more specific, "Hamlet" is the assignment. Collaborative learning groups (P) are researching character traits by paying more attention to what the characters say and what;s being said about them. After making some discoveries, the students can discuss their ideas by writing blogs(T) on the class webpage. The students can blog and discuss within and between the groups.