Blog 1: Project Ideas

I am a little overwhelmed right now with finding an idea for incorporating technology into a classroom lesson. I am currently a Media Specialist and therefore do not have a homeroom. I do like to collaborate and work with the teachers at my school, so this is a possibility for my technology implementation project. There are just so many things you can do with technology; I just do not know where to start. I have started brainstorming a few possibilities. I used to teach 4^th grade, so that is where I am thinking about focusing my attention.

One idea I have thought about is incorporating Glogster into a lesson. I love how Glogster works. One of the 4^th grade social studies standards is to describe and locate physical and man-made structures in the United States. I think it would be neat for the students to research a particular feature and create an interactive poster about the feature. Many students will never got to actually visit these features, so it would be great to put this together for students to feel like they are there. I feel like this would be at least a level 4 on the LoTi scale.

Another idea is to incorporate using idioms, adages and proverbs with technology. These are common phrases that students must be able to understand. They could create a classroom resource by using Powerpoint to put all of their phrases into one place. This is definitely at least a level 4 on the LoTi scale because people use these phrases in the real world every day and students must understand what the person is actually trying to say. In my past experience, students have enjoyed learning these different phrases.

Another option is to incorporate the Native American 4^th grade social studies standard into a project. Students have to research different tribes and they could create a Powerpoint presentation or web 2.0 tool to display their findings. 

I feel like I am on the right track with my ideas. I plan to really start digging into these ideas more this week. I also want to meet with a fourth grade teacher to see if she likes these ideas or if she has other needs to be addressed with the use of technology. I am looking forward to this project, because technology can make work so much more fun sometimes and it is incredible to see the creativity that students display when technology is involved.