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Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum |
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| Teachers implement curriculum plans, that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning. | |
| A. Teachers facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards. | |
Technology enhanced experiences are facilitated through website design and lesson devlopment. When creating a technology integrated lesson plan, I was careful to examine the Missouri Grade Level Expectations and determine which ones could best be met with the project. Each unit, I explore this and plan what will tie these standards together. In our Rainforest Project, a myriad of technology is integrated and provided to engage, enhance, and create a meaningful standards based lesson. In a geometry unit, students created "I Spy" slideshows that could then be viewed by other students. This use of technology incorporated the standards, allowed students to connect those standards to the real-world, and addressed technology standards through the process. |
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| B. Teachers use technology to support learner-centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students. | |
| Technology can provide students with differentiated experiences that allow them to explore the way that works best for them. Visual learners become engaged by mapping their spelling words. Auditory learners become engaged by creating a podcast as a summary of their story. Scaffolding tools help to create a bridge from lower level to higher level learning. Tools like Moodle, research links, and blogs can be used to allow students to take their learning to the next level, whatever that level may be for them. Technology allows for one student to be working on classifying their spelling words, while another student is finished and developing a PowerPoint lesson on the Latin origin of the spelling words. | |
| C. Teachers apply technology to develop students' higher order skills and creativity. | |
Technology provides excellent opportunities for students to create. In a weather project that I created, students are not just researching weather, but they are developing their higher order thinking skills by creating their final product. Students are also challenged to think in projects like "Where in the World is Mrs. V?" and digital storytelling. Digital storytelling challenges students to collaborate and produce movies on various topics. One successful project completed by my fourth graders was a Diary of the Civil War. Technology takes students learning to places that pencil and paper alone could not. |
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| D.Teachers manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment. | |
| In a technology-enhanced environment, advanced planning is the key. Students need access to teacher selected, curriculum driven materials in an easy to use format, such as a weekly links lesson page that I develop with Dreamweaver. Also, in an inquiry based setting, as a teacher is facilitating, students need a quick method for receiving help. This poster that I developed with PhotoShop CS2, details my plan for students to receive help at their workstation. Additionally, classroom guidelines and rules for the technology are imperative for the management of materials and learning. | |
