The Bill of Rights Institute, Constitution Day Lesson Plan
I
thought that Interactivity#4 was a fun and informative assignment. It was great
being able to both plan and create assignments through the use of technology.
In this case I specifically used the Internet and other resource applications
like Google Spreadsheet to organize and plan tasks for students. The Internet
also gave me an idea of things to try in my classroom. I thought teaching the
Constitution is very relevant and important for students in both civic life and
curricular standards. I tried to accomplish covering many of the NJCC standards on this "unit". Early American history is probably my favorite time
period to learn about, so I thought this lesson was a good idea. The website I
found the lesson plan on had numerous resources like the 7 Articles of the
Constitution handout and homework/classwork sheets.
I
felt that using technology could be helpful especially for the homework
assignments I required for this unit. For example, the Governments Around the
World handout requires research, and the lesson plan provides a website that
students could utilize; of course students can do their own online research as
long as they use credible sources. For this assignment, the teacher can also
suggest students to create graphic organizers through technology such as
PowerPoint in order to comply with the lesson plan. The use of technology can
help bridge the understanding and accessibility of this lesson for the
students. It is also important that the lesson complies with state curricular
standards. The Internet also serves as liaison for teachers to learn different
ways of implementing lessons and to be aware of the curriculum standards. Overall
the use of technology, like the Internet, facilitates student learning and
teacher awareness. However, it is important that the use of technology in the classroom should always support the learning experience.
In this activity, I wanted to make sure technology filled in the gaps of
supporting classroom activities/assignment. Ultimately the student is being assessed on content knowledge, not computer skills.
I checked out your spreadsheet and I really liked the technologies that you added that the lesson did not already have because sometimes just requiring students to search the internet isn't really enough to infuse technology into a lesson in an effective way.Databases are also really great for finding actual documents and articles.
ReplyDeletePaige,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you in that I too beleive that tecnolgoy in the classroom should be integrated and utilized in meaningful ways. As you stated, it should be used to "support the learning experience." I think that in trying to use technology in the classroom, many times teachers may unintentionally take away from an authentic learning experience. For example, PowerPoint is a great educational tool that many teachers and students alike use. However, when PowerPoints are used simply to present information in a "matter of fact" way without any discussion or analysis, it defeats the purpose of such a tool. Too often I see that students simply read off PowerPoints and use too many graphics that can be distracting. I think that technology in this sense in ineffective and actually hinders the learning process.
Paige,
ReplyDeleteTechnology definitely needs to be integrated and used effectively in classroom discussion. We live in a technological age that is heavily dependent on our knowledge of certain technologies. And i do believe as you mentioned in yoour reflection that technology can make complex concepts easier to understand and make things more accessible to students. However, i do agree with Sharmina that we are overly dependent on technology and we often become lazy because of it. For example instead of doing an assigned reading a student can look up info on the web thats an abridged and "dumb"" down definition of a concept. We need to find ways to halt them from happening.