Christy Keeler's Teaching Portfolio Lesson Plan, Week 8

Topic: How can students use technology to learn independently?

Date: Week 8

Students will:

• Define learning strategies and list examples of strategies that use technology.

• Describe digital books, providing suggestions for mainstream classroom usage and benefits to special needs populations.

• Critique technology-rich lesson plans and their related materials.

NETS-T Standards:

1A. Teachers demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology.

2A. Teachers design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.

2B. Teachers apply current research on teaching and learning with technology when planning learning environments and experiences.

3A. Teachers facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards.

3B. Teachers use technology to support learner-centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students.

3C. Teachers apply technology to develop students’ higher-order thinking skills and creativity.

3D. Teachers manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment.

5B. Teachers continually evaluate and reflect on professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of learning.

6A. Teachers model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.

6B. Teachers apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.

Materials:

Procedures:

As students enter the room, hand them a copy of the learning strategies opening activity sheet and ask them to sit in their assigned groups. Assign three students quotes to be read during the digital book lecture.

4:00 Sponge Activity: Learning Strategies Using Inspiration (30 minutes)

Have students review the opening activity sheet and work in their groups to design their “plays.” Each group will receive a lesson from the Center for Advanced Technology’s Computer-Based Study Strategies website along with necessary materials, names of their assigned group members, and an explanation of the activity. They will have 30 minutes to learn the assigned learning strategy and prepare a role play that teaches the concept. The lesson strategies include: self-questioning, textbook notetaking, focused notetaking, and expanding outlines. Students may work in or out of the classroom during their preparations. And may use the teacher computer as part of the role plays.

4:30 Opening (5 minutes)

1. Announce daily outline.

2. Announce daily objectives.

3. Review objectives from last week and ensure there are no questions.

• Identify and locate curriculum-specific software useful for instructing in K-8 classrooms.

• Identify methods of utilizing curriculum-specific software in classrooms having only one computer.

• Evaluate software quality based on its instructional usefulness.

4. Ask if there are any questions about the instructional software evaluation assignment.

5. Inform students about the status of their grades.

4:35 Role Playing: Learning Strategies (30 minutes)

Have all students move to the front of the room. Ask all students from each group to come forward and present their role play. As each group finishes, ask the class what they thought of the strategy and how they think they can use the strategy in their individual classrooms.

5:05 Lecture: Teaching students to learn independently (20 minutes)

Introduce students to the following concepts:

• What is a learning strategy and how do learning and instructional strategies differ?

• What are some examples of learning strategies (e.g., mnemonics, K-W-L, outlining, concept mapping, reading strategies)?

• What are the benefits of teaching students learning strategies, and how do these benefits relate to the 21^st century skills (e.g., independent learning, lifelong learning)?

5:25 Break (5 minutes)

5:30 Lecture/Demonstration: Digital Books (45 minutes)

Segue to this lecture by noting that students have, as long as there have been printed books, used books for independent learning. Today, e-books are very accessible and provide features that enhance student learning. Present the modified digital books lesson prepared by Mark Horney. When to the part that says “Quote,” have the assigned students read their quote. Then, demonstrate various types of digital books including:

• Living Books Software

• MightyBook.com

• DeAnza.com

6:15 Group Work: Critiquing Professional Work (25 minutes)

Ask and answer general questions relating to the Lesson Plan II assignment. Then have students get in triads and discuss their lessons. They should show each other the first drafts of their lesson plans and tell their group members what they have planned for their materials creation. Following each lesson plan presentation, the remaining group members should critique the idea verbally and on modified copies of the grading rubric. The written critiques should be given to the person who wrote the lesson plan so they can use these as they work to improve their lesson.

Call all students together for the last five minutes of the group work section and ask:

• What were some of the great ideas your colleagues had for their lessons?

• What are some areas you see consistently need improvement?

6:40 Closing (5 minutes)

1. Review daily outline and objectives.

2. Tell students about the readings for next week and remind them they will need to be up-to-date on their readings for next week’s class.

a. “The Learning Power of Webquests”

b. “Some Thoughts About Webquests”

3. Remind students that Instructional Software Evaluations are due next week.