At the beginning of Raj Dhingra’s TED talk he said, “When
you change the thinking, you can change the rules, you can change the
solution.” What an interesting way to
look at technology in education and education in general, it’s all about
changing the way you think. Sometimes
the smallest adjustment can make the biggest difference.
This week the assignment was to take an existing
lesson plan and adjust it by selecting purposeful technology to support
instructional standards. I choose a
lesson for first grade students using graphing with a technology piece embedded
into the lesson. After reading the
lesson plan I didn’t think that technology was used as much as it could have
been. In the original lesson the teacher
had students ask students at a local college to list their favorite things and
students created a database based on the college students answers and then
compare to see who in the first grade class had similar favorites in various categories. Students then drew a picture of themselves
with the college student they shared similar favorites with and wrote a
sentence explaining their drawings.
It’s a good lesson but very basic and doesn’t require much
technology. One suggestion I would have
made is make it a year long project and the first grade class and college class
could have had a pen pal program through out the year and used Skype as well as
other technology to create a greater connection between the two groups. I have found once students have a connection
with their learning they become more motivated learners. When I adjusted the lesson I removed the pen
pal piece for my Kindergarten students because I wanted to focus on the
graphing instead of comparing similarities and differences with a writing
component. I adjusted a workstation that
I currently use and extended it into a graphing/math lesson. The adjustments I made to the lesson allows
my students to use the “technology candy” that Raj Dhingra talked about instead
of having the technology sit on the shelf.
As I adjusting the lesson plan for my students I kept the
SAMR model in mind:
·
Substitution- Technology acts as direct tool substitute,
with no functional change.
·
Augmentation- Technology acts as a direct tool
substitute, with functional improvement.
·
Modification-Technology allows for significant
task redesign.
·
Redefinition-Technology allows for the creation
of new tasks, previously inconceivable.
(Puentedura, 2010)
I wanted students to be able to create something on their
own using information that they had found.
I wanted students to use various parts of Bloom’s taxonomy to add value
to there learning. Sonja Delafosse’s
video highlights many of things I want my students to do. She shares what it means to be a 21st
century teacher. No longer are we
expected to have students sit in their desk and watch a teacher go on and on
and write on the chalkboard instead students are participants in their learning
instead of spectators. “Students do not
need to entertained, they need to be engaged” (Delafosse, 2011)
Image Courtesy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=075aWDdZUlM
Technology needs to be used a tool and not as a toy in
classrooms. The lesson that I created is
almost like a treasure hunt for my students.
They need to look for certain information in the text and video they are
learning from and then record that on their treasure map (recording
sheet). Like most of the learning in Kindergarten
students don’t see learning as boring instead they want to complete the task
and share what they have learned with their classmates. Similar to what some of the stories shared in
the Barbara Means article, such as the “software-based activity can influence a
teacher’s core instruction” (Means et al., 2006).
Changing students thinking about learning is changing the
solution as Dhingra suggests. Sometimes
it’s not the students thinking that needs to be changed instead it is the
teacher’s way of teaching. Learning
doesn’t need to paper and pencil all of the time nor does it need to be
technology off of the time instead the challenge for teachers should be how to
find that happy balance of both.
Thank you to Cari for helping me add some new elements to my
lesson! It was new experience to work
with someone in different concentration area and grade level but it gave me new
insight into what I do and what my colleagues do on a daily basis.
References
Delafosse,
S. (2011). Teaching in the 21st Century. Retrieved April 14, 2015, from https://youtu.be/075aWDdZUlM
Developing Lessons with Technology. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 14, 2015, from http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0136101259.pdf
Dhingra, R. (2012). Can Technology Change Education? Yes!:
Raj Dhingra at TEDxBend. Retrieved April 14, 2015, from https://youtu.be/l0s_M6xKxNc
Means,
B. (2010). Information Technology and Teacher Education: Focus on student
learning or on teacher change? Journal of Research on Technology in
Education, 42(3), 285-0307. Retrieved April 14, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ882507.pdf
Puentedura, R. (2010). SAMR: A Brief Introduction.
Retrieved April 14, 2015, from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2011/10/28/SAMR_TPCK_In_Action.pdf
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