Technology Through Our Eyes

ENL Proficiency Level | ENL Program | Standards | Technology

Appropriate for all English Proficiency Levels   |   Stand-Alone   |  9-10W4, 9-10SL1, 9-10L3  |  Jamboard

Content

I can create an image that illustrates how to use technology in a positive way.

Procedure

This took multiple days to complete.

First, students brainstormed the various ways they use technology. We discussed how many hours a day they spend on technology and how it makes them feel. Then, I pre-taught vocabulary words that students would encounter in the Social Media Test Drive activity, “Healthy Social Media Habits”. After exploring this activity together, students learned ways to create better habits when using social media. As a class, we recorded these habits, which included turning off notifications, setting a timer for apps, and putting their phone down to do something else. We then discussed why it is important to build healthy social media habits, and students focused on how it would help to limit their time on their phones and video games, which would reduce stress and anxiety. Students followed the tutorial on Social Media Test Drive that showed them how to turn on time limits for their various social media apps on their phones. 

The next day, we read the article, “Social Media Struggles: All About the Likes” on News-O-Matic. Students came up with the main idea of the article, which included both the positive and negative aspects of social media. 

Following this, students looked at multiple images created by artist John Holcroft that illustrated negative ways in which people use technology. Each image was shared on a Jamboard presentation, and their assignment was to write a word that came to mind and a sentence describing the image or a connection they made. They could also include questions they had about the image. After students wrote on each slide, we shared our thoughts. Then, they completed the teacher created worksheet to reflect on one image that stood out to them the most. 

Students described how technology was impacting the people’s lives in the image and brainstormed what a positive use of technology would look like instead. Students then discussed with a partner which image resonated with them the most, and their assignment for the final project was to create an image that shows a healthy or positive change from the first image. 

We reviewed ways to use Buncee and Google Slides to create a digital image, but most students chose to draw their pictures instead. After, we scanned the images and put them on a Google Slide presentation side by side with the original John Holcroft picture they chose. We reviewed aspects of how to design a presentation as well as what to do while presenting and listening to their classmates. 

Students completed a checklist to track their progress on their presentation. While presenting, students shared how the picture they created showed a solution to the problem that they observed in the first image, and how technology can be used in a positive way.