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 4th 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 4th
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 4th 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.
I'm so glad I got you to comment on! I feel your pain on not having a classroom to play with, but I just try to imagine that I have all the classrooms to play with instead :) I like the Native American idea, I think there are a lot of things you can get into with it. Maybe have the students group up and have them research then synthesize their research into a day in the life. They could act it out and film it or draw it and digitize it into a presentation with voice over. You could make it problem based, by giving them a scenario and they would have to solve the problem like their tribe would. So many options, lots of work though, I know that I would have only a couple teachers that would have bought in for that much time, especially with a non-Math/English subject like social studies. If you could tie it into what they were doing in those subjects you might get more buy in. Good luck, remember from one media specialist to another, you can always get teachers with free food. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that the social studies project would be fabulous! There are so many students who don't have the opportunity to travel and see so many things that they learn about and getting to know more about one or two land/water features that they are interested in - it might even spark them to convince their parents to visit it! I also really like Bill's idea about having them create a "day in the life" presentation...they could really get into that!
ReplyDeleteI think all of the ideas are great. One of the benefits that you have over all others is that you get to reach out to all of the kids in your school rather than one classroom or grade level. I am wondering if you could create/implement something that compiles all of these ideas for teachers to use as a resource in planning their lessons? Our media specialist compiles these weekly newsletters she calls "toilet talk." It sounds gross and silly, but she posts them in all the stalls of the faculty restrooms. This newsletter lists new and neat technologies that we can use in our own classrooms. I have actually "stolen" quite a few of these ideas. Could you do something similar, maybe in the form of an email newsletter that gets sent out to faculty? It would give you a great sounding board to communicate these great ideas you have!
ReplyDeleteDiana,
ReplyDeletedon't be stressed out. You are just in the right direction. And we are only brainstorming at this time. In fact, I really like your first idea. I am sure that students will have a more concrete experience with historical structures and enjoy the project! I am curious of what you will choose to do at the end. :)