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WRITTEN COMPONENT
Stephanie Van Eps
LITR 630
25 June 2015

Introduction
As teachers of 21st century learners, we must realize that the nature of literacy is
changing. With the new demands of these ever-changing technologies, literacies
and the way we teach them must also evolve. In fact, new technologies require
new literacies (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004, p. 1570). This means that the
way we think about, talk about, and teach literacies to students has to change if it is
to meet the needs of the 21st century and beyond. We know that technology is
everywherestudents are immersed in social media, quick searches, and instant
communication with those near and far. However, just having technology does not
equate to true access. Students must understand explicitly how to use and be
literate in new technologies. Increasingly, it is access to information and the ability
to use information effectively that enables individuals to seize lifes opportunities
(Leu et.al, 2004, p. 1575). It has been stated that literacy is the key to social justice.
In the past, this simply meant being able to read print text. Now, however, the idea
of literacy has evolved to include multimodal, non-linear, online texts. This requires
new critical thinking skills in order to navigate these new challenges and keep up
with the demands of the global community and economy (Drew, 2013; Leu et. al,
2004). With these ideas in mind, I chose to focus on teaching students how to
evaluate online informationa skill required for many research papers in eighth

WRITTEN COMPONENT
grade Language Arts. This lesson meets many important standards, expanded upon
below.

Standards
International Society for Technology in Education
This lesson meets Standard 1 of the ISTE, Students demonstrate creative thinking,
construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using
technology, with particular attention to 1c., Use models and simulations to explore
complex systems and issues. First, students are able to build new knowledge of how
to evaluate information through the use of online links. They are also asked to
critically and creatively create and share an online infographic detailing the most
important things to keep in mind when evaluating information. Students are able to
use the five Ws model (Castek, 2012) in order to systematically evaluate
information. They are provided scaffolded instruction through the gradual release of
responsibility model.
It also meets Standard 2, Students use digital media and environments to
communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual
learning and contributing to the learning of others, with attention to 2a., Interact,
collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital
environments and media and to 2d., Contribute to project teams to produce original
works or solve problems. Through the use of gradual release, students are able to
first learn from the teacher expert and then to collaborate with peers while
exploring websites. Not only do students collaborate to problem-solve, but they also

WRITTEN COMPONENT
collaborate to create online infographics. These are then published to a class wiki,
allowing them to share both with peers in the class and with peers in other
classrooms.
It attends to Standard 3, Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use
information, in particular to 3c., Evaluate and select information sources and digital
tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks. This standard is especially met
through the lesson plan, as it is the main focus. Students are specifically asked to
evaluate and select information sources based on criteria. This kind of critical
evaluation requires additional comprehension skills and strategies (Drew, 2013, p.
322), and therefore, the lesson taught is explicit and systematic in order to guide
students towards this type of analysis.
Standard 4, Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research,
manage products, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate
digital tools and resources, is met, in particular 4c., Collect and analyze data to
identify solutions and/or make informed decisions. This standard is also a key focus
of the lesson. While the benefits of online sources are countless, one major problem
that students face is the sheer volume of entries one search engine provides as
users struggle to evaluate and read all of the search results (Carroll, 2011, p. 30).
Along with the volume comes the question of reliability and how to evaluate authors
that do not necessarily have to be experts to get published. Because of this,
teachers must engage students in real discussions about how to find quality
information (Carroll, 2011). This lesson aims to provide students with access to the
questions they should be asking and the types of tests they can give to websites
in order to evaluate the information provided.

WRITTEN COMPONENT
Kentucky Teaching Standards
Standard 6 of the Kentucky Teaching Standards are all met through this lesson. This
standard includes the use of available technology to:

design and plan instruction

implement instruction that facilitates student learning
integrate student use of technology into instruction
assess and communicate student learning
demonstrate ethical and legal use of technology

These standards are met through the authentic implementation of technology

throughout. The use of the weebly allows for all students to access and navigate the
links provided, as well as the five Ws test, adapted from Castek (2012). It is
important that students are able to scroll and click on the actual websites instead of
evaluating a handout, so the use of the weebly is crucial. Likewise, through the use
of gradual release, I will be able to provide explicit instruction on how to evaluate
sources, instead of just handing students a computer and allowing them to search
with no guidance. Students will also use the online tool easel.ly.com to create new
products and will then publish these to a class wiki in order to share with an
authentic audience. Both the evaluation of sites and the creation of the infographic
will allow me to assess student learning. Last, by teaching students how to evaluate
sources for credibility, the ethical use of technology will be reinforced. It is
important that they know when information is reliablefrom an expert with sources
cited and references listed. This will support the expectations for the writing that
they publish themselves.
International Literacy Association Standards
Standard 1.2, Candidates understand the historically shared knowledge of the
profession and changes over time in the perceptions of reading and writing

WRITTEN COMPONENT
development, processes, and components, is met through this lesson by allowing
students to assess the types of real websites they would encounter from a typical
search. By recognizing that most students use the Internet rather than print text
when looking for answers (Carroll, 2011; Baildon & Baildon, 2008), I am attending to
the changes in reading and writing development. Students must know how to
engage in this type of complex search and evaluation of sources, and this lesson
meets those needs.
Standard 2.2, Candidates use appropriate and varied instructional approaches,
including those that develop word recognition, language comprehension, strategic
knowledge, and reading-writing connections, is also met through this lesson. Using
the five Ws test, students are asked to evaluate many levels of text including
academic tone, bias, reliability, broken links, etc. This is a specific type of word
recognition, language comprehension, and strategic knowledge needed to evaluate
informationsome that bridges print vs. online and some exclusively needed for
online evaluation. Students are also able to connect reading and writing by
synthesizing the information gathered and creating an infographic to be shared with
peers.
Standard 2.3, Candidates use a wide range of texts (e.g., narrative, expository, and
poetry) from traditional print, digital, and online resources, is met through the use
of six different linkssome articles, some blogs, some business/organization
websites. Students are also able to share information through the online infographic
tool.
Standard 4.2, Candidates use a literacy curriculum and engage in instructional
practices that positively impact students knowledge, beliefs, and engagement with

WRITTEN COMPONENT
the features of diversity, is met through the long-term goals of this lesson. This will
act as frontloading for a deeper lesson on how to create change through research
and evidence-based argument and discussion. In the long run, students will be able
to engage the principal in dialogue and come to an understanding. This shows
students that evaluating information in order to make change is a real and needed
part of lifeand the Internet is a very real piece of that.
Standard 5.1, Candidates design the physical environment to optimize students
use of traditional print, digital, and online resources in reading and writing
instruction, is met through the use of Chrome Books. Our school has a class set so
that each student will be able to use his/her own. Students will also work together in
pairs to maximize the collaborative process.
Common Core State Standards
The following Common Core Anchor Standards are met through this lesson:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in
words.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and
specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the
relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar
themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches
the authors take.

This lesson is planned as a first step in teaching students how to evaluate content
presented through online resources. It asks students to critically think about the
reliability and validity of authors and informationincluding citations, bias,
audience, and relevancy. Last, the basis of this lesson is to compare various texts in
order to address how different authors take different approaches to the same topics.
This is used to build explicit knowledge about how to evaluate information.

WRITTEN COMPONENT
TPACK
To teach effectively, teachers must have content knowledge (CK) and pedagogy
knowledge (PK). They must understand the content they are to teach and must also
know the best way to teach it. TPACK is acquired when teachers additionally gain
technology knowledge (TK): when they effectively and appropriately integrate
technology into the learning process (Davies, 2011). The lesson meets these
requirements first through integrating content knowledge. Knowing that students
must build understanding of research in order to create an evidence-based
argument, this lesson plants those first seeds. Eighth grade is a big year for
research, MLA citation, and essay-writing, so this lesson serves as the first of many
in learning how to evaluate information and synthesize it in new ways. Next, it
attends to pedagogy knowledge in many ways. Using gradual release (I do, We do,
You do) meets the needs of adolescent learners. It is also important to use authentic
research with an engaging topic that students will buy into. Students will also want
to learn how to evaluate information if they know that the end product will be to
affect change within their school community. Students will also be engaged through
the use of online infographics and publishing through a wiki. Last, the effective
integration of technology is apparent. No piece of technology is used just to use it.
Rather, each piece is purposefully chosen to provide real and meaningful learning
opportunities for studentsthe weebly, the online links, the infographic, the wiki,
and later the use of Google Docs to collaborate on a letter to the principal.
Conclusion
According to Carroll (2011), we must equip our students with online reading
comprehension skills, critical thinking skills, and continually provide opportunities
for rich, varied, and authentic literacy learning to set our students up for the

WRITTEN COMPONENT
successful future they deserve (p. 32). This lesson aims to do those thingsboth in
the short-term of the four-day lesson and the long-term of the culminating activity
to affect change through research. Students will learn how to systematically
evaluate online information in order to problem-solve and express opinion and
argument in an academic and respectful way.

References
Baildon, R. & Baildon, M. (2008). Guiding independence: developing a research tool
to

WRITTEN COMPONENT
support student decision making in selecting online information sources. The
Reading Teacher, 61 (8), 636-647.
Carroll, J. (2011). From encyclopaedias to search engines: technological change and
its
impact on literacy learning. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years,19 (2), 27-34.
Castek, J. (2012). If you want students to evaluate online resources and other new
mediateach
them how. In Lapp, D. & Moss, B. (Eds.), Exemplary Instruction in the Middle
Grades: Teaching that Supports Engagement and Rigorous Learning. New
York: The Guilford Press.
Davies, R.S. (2011). Understanding technology literacy: a framework for evaluating
educational
technology integration. Techtrends, 55 (5), 45-52.
Drew, S.V. (2013). Open up the ceiling on the common core state standards:
preparing students
for 21st-century literacynow. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56 (4),
321-330.
Leu, D.J. Jr., Kinzer, C.K., Coiro, J.L., & Cammack, D.W. (2004). Toward a theory of
new
literacies emerging from the internet and other information and
communication technologies. In Rudell, R.B. & Unrau, N.J. (Eds.), Theoretical
Models and Processes of Reading. (1570-1613). Delaware: International
Reading Association.