‘Integrating ICT and Cooperative Learning: Teaching the Death Penalty through Multimodal Projects and Critical Expression’

INTRODUCTION

The New Curricula are aimed at teaching of literary modules even more interesting and interactive, mainly through the integration of ICT. Thus proposal deals with the inclusion of ICT, and more specifically, the Nearpod digital learning application, as well as the use of the cooperative group method, learning through exploratory processes, and the development of the students' critical ability on Modern Greek Language and Literacy. The teaching scenario refers to assigning group projects, based on the student's learning profiles, on the topic of the Death Penalty. The intended outcomes of the proposed teaching scenario are the enhancing critical thinking, fostering collaboration and improving digital literacy.

I. INTRODUCTION

In general, the integration of technology in education is a challenge of our times (e.g. resource limitations, teacher preparedness and resistance to change) ultimately aimed at turning students into active participants in new developments, and making them familiar with diverse learning models. At the same time, an effort is observed, mostly in public schools, to include students with different learning profiles in each class. Taking all of the above parameters into account and in the context of this teaching model, it is attempted to adapt teaching to the abilities and performance of all students in order to create the personalized learning and ensure a commonly accepted level of basic knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Therefore, emphasis will be placed on making use of a variety of teaching methods (differentiated instruction).

II. DESCRIPTION

This is a teaching in the Modern Greek Language to the 3rd Grade of High School of General Education of one teaching hour. It is addressed to a class of fifteen students and concerns the presentation of already assigned assignments on the topic of the death penalty with the aim of further deepening the subject. This teaching is entirely harmonized with the teaching instructions according to the Course Curriculum (it belongs to the thematic unit of punishments in the course of the Modern Greek Language) and aims at the student's response to the studied texts by producing spoken (debating), written (poems) and multimodal texts (presentation or infographic) in a defined communicative context, developing documented their personal opinion. The rubrics for a argumentation, creativity and cooperation would provide insight into how learning, outcomes will be measured.

In previous lessons, students watched a video through the flipped class technique about the last death row inmate in Greece, entitled 'The last execution of a death row inmate in Greece' (https://www.google.gr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2a hUKEwi15PXi_bKEAxXQhPoHHUulA7kQtwJ6B AgOEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwU75hWnly24&usg=AOvV aw2KZk1Bzd23Pd1kPu6hBOoj&opi=89978449); they reflected on the topic of the Death Penalty, and were smoothly introduced to a teaching criterion through both non-literary ('Thoughts on the death penalty' from an essay by Albert Camus, and 'Death Penalty: The Ultimate Penalty' by columnist Eirini Chamourgka) and literary texts ('Life is Beautiful' by Lina Nikolakopoulou) from the Subject Bank of Graded Difficulty (Subject: 27614), also using teaching material from the school textbook of Expression-Composition, Issue C, pp. 80-86.

More specifically, they have distributed worksheets (see Appendix) to the students with assigned tasks per groups and based on their different profiles. The distribution of the projects has taken place based on the unique inclinations of the students. It is aimed at differentiated teaching and the involvement of all students in the teaching process. Students with an excellent performance will participate in a speech contest, while students with a moderate and good performance will be involved in artistic and digital projects. Each group has been given a name associated with the project assigned to it, and the aim of these projects aim to view and teach the death penalty through different approaches to learning. Each group has a coordinator who will undertake to present their projects to the whole class. Then, there will be a short discussion regarding the impressions of the students on the content and the teaching method for the teacher to reflect on the positive and negative elements of the present teaching aiming at his/her continuous improvement.

Goal Setting

In the context of this teaching, the following goals are set for students:

In terms of knowledge

• To acquire general knowledge on the subject of the Death Penalty.

• To put forward arguments for and against the Death Penalty.

• To delve into the Death Penalty.

• To become familiar with representative texts on the topic of the death penalty.

• To build new knowledge by actively participating.

• To become familiar with the production of poems associated with the subject of the Death Penalty.

• To understand the power of language expressiveness.

In terms of skills

• To implement cognitive strategies for acquiring new knowledge with an emphasis on strengthening the students' agency and initiative.

• To be led to value judgments of sociological, moral, psychological interest.

• To become familiar with exploratory-experiential learning and to be active on it.

• To practice intersectionality.

• To activate by processing the poems their judgment and imagination and to build new experiential learning.

• To practice their text reading, evaluation, and interpretation skills.

• To practice the perception of different textual genres.

• To develop metacognitive skills.

• To work together to accomplish a common goal and complete a typical assignment.

• To practice searching for information and making use of digital resources.

• To develop skills in organizing and presenting information in an attractively way.

• To produce pre-planned oral and written speech.

• To publish their assignment on the school's website.

• To enjoy literary creations that are associated with this subject.

• To act as readers following their reading path and enjoy the readers' response.

• To enhance their ability to recognize multimodality and become aware of image and speech conversation.

• To produce multimodal texts.

• To practice in the development of arguments.

• To practice critical literacy.

• To practice digital literacy.

• To identify through specific reflective processes: a) what they learned, b) the stages that they followed.

• To practice active listening.

In terms of attitudes

• To develop mental abilities (critical ability, etc.) in the context of digital literacy.

• To adopt values such as respect, appreciation, and cooperation through the cooperative group method.

• To realize that the subject of the Death Penalty has influenced and continues to influence literary and non-literary creation.

• To acquire a positive attitude towards Modern Greek Language, since it relinquishes its anachronistic character and puts students in a leading role in the teaching process.

• To develop empathy through the perception of timeless social norms.

Structure of Teaching – Activities

STAGE A

At first, it attempted to draw on the knowledge of students that already exists, according to the principles of constructivism, regarding the subject of the death penalty, which they have already approached in other subjects and classes (Practical applications of moral reflection [source: Principles of Philosophy 2nd Grade of

High School - Humanities] - Plato Protagoras [source: Philosophical Discourse 3rd Grade of High School - Humanities]. Section 6 (The educational significance of punishment as proof that virtue can be taught - Violation and contempt of human life (Murder - Death Penalty - Torture) [source: Topics in Christian Ethics 3rd Grade of High School), as well as in previous lessons of Expression – Composition. Thus they will structure their new knowledge in order to have a holistic view of the subject. It is a smooth starting point to trigger the teaching process. Through the connection of the subject of the Death Penalty with other subjects, students have the opportunity to realize the value of intersectionality to be able to understand better and perceive new knowledge. At the same time, they view the subject of the Death Penalty from many angles, thus expanding their critical ability.

Digital Artists, which is the first group, will follow, and after announcing the difficulties they may have encountered and how they dealt with them, they will present their work to the whole class. The project was assigned to them was to make an infographic or conceptual tables or a presentation on the types of death penalty, the countries in which it still applies today, etc. To create these projects, he/she will use specific digital applications, which have been suggested by the teacher (such as Coggle.it, Gitmind, Canva.com), so that he/she can receive his/her continuous guidance and face together the difficulties that may be encountered.

In this way, they make their reflection and develop metacognitive skills as they describe the strategies through which they approached webography and the application they used to create their works; they also adopt a positive attitude towards the subject of Modern Greek Language, as the latter relinquishes its anachronistic character, and highlights the leading role of students in the teaching process, apply cognitive strategies to acquire new knowledge, with emphasis on the enhancement of the students' agency and initiative, and practice the skills of text reading, evaluation, and interpretation.

Furthermore, they develop and appreciate cooperation as they work together to finish a joint project within the prescribed time, along with critical and digital literacy, and realize that speech and image work smoothly together through the infographic. What is more, the infographic helps students condense a large amount of information into a visually interesting format making it easier for them to remember the key points of the subject. Finally, it offers students the opportunity to express their creativity and develop skills to organize and present information in an attractively way.

The coordinator of the first group undertakes to present the project and other members act supportively.

At this stage, a reasonably short video will be shown to the whole class from the "Reporters without borders" ERT1 show by St. Kouloglou 'https://youtu.be/nPyDieKtc-M?feature=shared', and then, after looking at the data of the Eteron survey on the reinstatement, or not, of the death penalty in our country, which was carried out in April 2023, a speech contest will begin based on the worksheets, with arguments for and against the death penalty from the second group, i.e. the Orators. Thus, group members undertake to carry out this speech and counter-argument process to represent their group. On the one hand, with the screening of the short video, they reflect on the death penalty and the attention of the whole class is focused on the debate that will follow.

Moreover, through the speech contest, students acquire the status of a speaker, and their self-confidence is boosted as they are asked to defend their arguments with courage and candour in front of their audience and practice the skills of reading, evaluating, interpreting, and writing an argumentative text by producing pre-planned oral speech. Thus, they gain a comprehensive understanding of the arguments, respecting the opposite view through the juxtaposing of their positions and by delving into the subject of the death penalty, as they approach it from a moral, philosophical, religious, social, political, and cultural point of view. Also, they prepare themselves for their future role as thinking citizens of a democratic country.

STAGE D

Duration: 10'

The presentation of the third group, i.e. the Poets, follows at this stage. They have been asked to apply the Fibonacci sequence of Mathematics to one or all three poems that were given to them in the worksheets and create their poetic speech. The goal of this project is for students to realize the intersectionality between subjects that seem to be completely different from each other, such as Mathematics and Literature while enjoying literary creations on the subject in question. The students also practice producing poetic speech with a bit of assistance and help offered by this sequence, following their reading path and enjoying the readers' response. They cultivate their imagination and creativity, understand the power of language expressiveness, and realize that the subject of the Death Penalty has influenced literary creation and continues to do so.

STAGE E

Duration: 5'

Discussion in the classroom follows at this stage, along with an evaluation of the lesson's content, the way it is implemented, and the impressions of the students and the teacher. The expected outcome is for children to reach value judgments from a sociological, moral, and psychological point of view and realize that a composition topic can be approached in multiple ways, depending on the specific characteristics of each child. Also, to find out through specific reflective processes what they learned and the stages they followed. Finally, they understand that the contemporary public school can foster those children's skills that will prepare them for their future roles (which serves as proof of a democratic school that is in line with technological developments, offers equal opportunities, and is human-centred). In the end, it could be proposed that the outcomes of the projects be published on the school's website.

III. CONCLUSION

Therefore, the use of ICT in the teaching of the Modern Greek Language and Literature is a challenge and at the same time a necessity for teachers. They must use new digital tools, personalized learning, collaborative learning to achieve the desired learning outcomes. It is necessary for teachers to be trained in new digital tools and applications to overcome the challenges of ICT integration, creating a path for systemic improvements. The use of ICT, AI and virtual reality in Modern Greek Language teaching should be emphasized for broader educational outcomes, such as fostering digital literacy, critical thinking and preparing students for the modern workforce.

WEBOGRAPHY

APPENDIX

WORKSHEET

MODERN GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, 3RD GRADE

SUBJECT: DEATH PENALTY {"image_source":{"path":"images/79ede9df34bc45d1792779105d99ddd1a4013c7de98f41f0aa7606d5bb2f9892.jpg"},"content":"","chart_caption":[],"chart_footnote":[]}

GROUP A: THE DIGITAL ARTISTS

Work together and create conceptual tables and infographics on the subject of the death penalty (you could create conceptual tables with the countries that currently implement it, the different ways that it is implement, etc.)

In order to create them, you can use one of the following tools: Coggle.it, Gitmind, Canva.com.

If you face any difficulties, you can create a special report in the form of a presentation (in PowerPoint).

GROUP B: THE ORATORS

After watching the short video entitled 'Death Penalty' from the 'Reporters without borders' ERT1 show by St. Kouloglou,https://youtu.be/nPyDieKtc-M?feature=shared and looking at the following data from the Eteron survey on the reinstatement, or not, of the death penalty in our country, which was carried out in April 2023, work together to create a speech contest with the arguments for and against the death penalty. Raise moral, religious, legal dilemmas that result from the imposition of the Death Penalty.

Do you agree or disagree with each one of the following views?

The death penalty should be reinstated for some crimes

Διαφωνώ: Disagree

Μάλλον διαφωνώ: Rather disagree

Μάλλον συμφωνώ: Rather agree

Συμφωνώ: Agree

: Don't know/No answer

Συμφωνώ & Μάλλον συμφωνώ: Agree & Rather agree

Διαφωνώ & Μάλλον διαφωνώ: Disagree & Rather disagree.

Retrieved from: What the Greeks think of the death penalty, 48 years after its abolition - BEST TV, Kalamata (best-tv.gr)

GROUP C: THE POETS

Let's try to combine Literature with Mathematics!!!

After reading the following poems on the Death Penalty and applying the Fibonacci sequence (the sequence of numbers, in which, each number is equal to the sum of the previous two is known as the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34,...), make your own poem on the Death Penalty. You can apply the above sequence to one or more of the poems that are given to you.

POEM 1

Konstantinos Kavafis, 27th of June 1906, 2 p.m. Poem source: http://cavafis.compupress.gr/index3.htm When the Christians brought him to be hanged, the innocent boy of seventeen,
his mother, who there beside the scaffold
had dragged herself and lay beaten on the ground
beneath the midday sun, the savage sun,
now would moan, and howl like a wolf, a beast,
and then the martyr, overcome, would keen
"Seventeen years only you lived with me, my
child."
And when they took him up the scaffold's steps
and passed the rope around him and strangled
him,
the innocent boy of seventeen,
and piteously it hung inside the void,
with the spasms of black agony—
The youthful body, beautifully wrought—
His mother, martyr, wallowed on the ground
and now she keened no more about his years:
"Seventeen days only," she keened,
"seventeen days only I had joy of you, my child."
[1908]

POEM 2

On the death of Ashraf Fayadh

Poem source: https://www.google.gr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj61tyroOiKAxW5RvEDHcCMF4gQFnoECBwQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpolitropi.greek-language.gr%2Fkeimeno%2Fsto-thanato-tou-ashraf%2F&usg=AOvVaw2sJlKdvETexrd5luzoYAyT&opi=89978449

Ashraf Fayadh is a Palestinian poet who was sentenced to death in 2014, by a Saudi court, for apostasy, atheism, and spreading ideas of atheism in society. The conviction was based on a witness who testified that he heard him insult the Prophet Muhammad and Saudi Arabia, and on a collection of his poems that he had published in 2008.
You showed him
His sentence is worth it
You showed the poet
Kill him
This is the only way to trigger
The events
And this is the only way
To condemn him
To eternity

Do you know how many would envy his fate?
But they are not condemned
Because not everyone is a poet
Even if they write poems.
Eleni Lintzaropoulou, Diastixo, 10/1/2016

POEM 3

Nikolas Michas, "fear (in) the end", Aegean, 2013. Poem source: https://www.poiein.gr/2013/04/11/ieeueao-issao-ooi-oyeio-ia-oiauoae-aeaassii-2013/Poëiv.

Death row inmate

I lit a candle
to ignite hope at heart.
I burned a daisy to see if you love me,
because pulling off its petals takes time.
As soon as I saw the flame in the petals, I put it out.
There was only one petal left,
and I couldn't remember the order I had started;
loves me? Loves me not?
Loves me not? Loves me.
I didn't like maths as a kid anyway.
That's why I stuck in practice.
I could solve theoretical problems.
Never my own, though.
I tried to find a pacemaker to put in my mind.
Unfortunately, I never managed to find the dead end
that prevents me from running in my dreams, as well.
I love you.
It is important But It slips away Spontaneously Before It matures.
This always condemned me.
If there was a death penalty for Love,
we would all be dead.
Because, who has not pulled off the petals of a daisy
that was burned in "Loves me not"?
Fortunately, there are many.
Unfortunately, we think of the ones that we have pulled their petals off.