For this assignment I chose to do my Podcast on types of clouds. This lesson is designed for fourth grade students to learn about different types of clouds, at what elevation they are typically found, and what weather conditions are associated with that type. Also through the use of my photostory, students are able to see the appearances of all the types of clouds they are learning about.
The main Grade Level Content Expectation (GLCE) that is applied in this lesson is:
E.ST.04.11: Identify common objects in the sky, such as the sun and the moon.
Podcasts, when used correctly, could be great academic tools in the classroom. Not only could the teacher record all of his or her lessons taught for a day for students to later go back and listen to as study tools, but also it makes the lesson more exciting to the students. In addition to this, if there were some students who were unable to be in class on a certain day, they would be able to listen to the podcast so they are still able to learn the material that was covered in class on that day. I think that podcasts are especially helpful for audio learners because they are able to clearly hear the information that they are supposed to learn. On the other hand, when coupled with a photostory (as we did for this assignment), both the audio and the audiovisual learners are able to benefit because they are able to both SEE and HEAR the information.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tech Integration Plan
The unit that I have decided to design for fourth grade is on plants. The technologies that I have decided to incorporate into the lesson are: Blogs, Google Maps, Digital Story, and a Website.
I have chosen to use blogs because I think that they are very useful ways of communicating information informally though students, parents, and the teacher. By setting up a blog for this unit, I (as the teacher) will be able to post things that are going to be available for parents to view so that they understand what we have been doing in the class and what their student has been learning. In addition, there will be an area for the parents to leave private questions and comments for me so that we are working together to further the student’s learning. Finally, the students will use the blog to review the most important concepts we have learned about in class and they are also going to be obligated to post on the blog to publish what they have been learning.
I have chosen to use Google Maps because after we learn the basic life cycle of a plant and other basic information about the existence about plants, we will shift our focus toward looking at what plants are found in each area of the world. For example, some plant life that exists in Africa does not belong here in the United States. In order for students to better understand what plants grow in certain places and why they do, I will have the students work with Google Maps to learn about the adaptations of certain plants to survive in a specific area.
I have chosen to use Digital Story as one of the main student projects for this unit. After we finish the Google Maps activity and the students have learned an abundance of knowledge about various plant species, I will have the students work either in groups of independently to create a digital story. If the students work individually, they can pick 3 different countries and focus on the main types of plants that are native to that place. If the students choose to work in groups, I will have them pick 8-10 plants to do their digital story on. For both tasks, there will be certain criteria that will have to be included in each digital story presentation.
I have chosen to use a website for learning and as a review/study tool for my students. I will post all of the information that we are learning about in class as soon as it has been taught. I will also include links on our website that the students can visit for extra learning as well as practice tests where they can review the most important information. The website will be the primary source outside of class that will prepare them for the assessment at the end of the unit.
The main goal of this unit is for students to understand the life cycle of a plant and why certain plants grow in certain parts of the world. For the blog, I hope that the students will be able to post their comments and questions for their peers in myself so that they maximize their learning. I plan to emphasize with my students that there are no stupid questions and that if they do not understand something, they should post about it because it is likely that someone else has that same question. Not only is this going to benefit the students that are more outgoing and ask questions in class, but it will especially help those students who are not likely to ask questions in class. An online environment often projects a sense of safety and the students who are more timid to ask may feel more comfortable typing it on the blog.
By using Google Maps, my hope is that the lesson becomes more realistic to my students. If the students are able to see the actual location of the country we are talking about as opposed to the location of other countries and landmarks (such as the equator) it will hopefully assist in their understanding of why some plants are found in certain areas. In addition, not only will this help with the understanding of where certain plants are found, but also it will help the students improve their geographical skills and understanding of climate in each country.
By using Digital Story, I hope to improve student’s motivation for learning about the unit topic. Digital story is a newer, fun type of technology that will hopefully spark students’ learning interest because it is unique from other things that they have done in previous classes. I plan to tell the students prior to starting the unit that they will be creating a digital story about plants around the world so that they will have that mindset going into the unit. Digital story will promote the students doing research in order to find information for their story, which will also cause them to learn more. As previously stated the students will have the option to work individually or in groups, but the work load will be reflective of how many students are working on one story.
For the webpage, my hope is that the students will use it as a study tool and to maximize their learning for the assessment that they will be taking at the end of the unit. As previously stated, I will be posting notes to everything we talk about in class each day after it has been taught. In addition, I will post diagrams and illustrations for the students to print off at home to study with and also put up links to certain websites that will assist in their learning. By doing this, not are the students more easily able to access the information without worrying about forgetting it at school, but parents are also able to utilize all the resources to help their student study.
I hope to teach this unit on plants in approximately 2 weeks (possibly 3).
The timeline for the unit includes:
Day 1: Introduction to plants, characteristics, etc.- post notes on website and have students post and comment on blog
Days 2-5: Learning about the life cycle of a plant and plant cells- post notes on website and have students post and comment on blog
Days 6-8: Researching plants around the world through Google Maps- have students post and comment on blog
Days 9-13: Researching the internet for their digital story and posting on the blog about their findings- have students post on website and blog
Days 14-?: Creating a digital story and presenting to the class on presentation day- upload students’ digital stories to website
Final Day: Assessment
The unit I have planned to do is for fourth grade students on plants. Prior to the unit beginning I am going to set up a blog and a website for the students of my class to utilize. First, the students will be learning in class about what a plant is, what are its characteristics (including plant cells), and also the life cycle of a plant. As soon as the school day ends on a day we have addressed plants, I will post all the information we covered on our class websites along with some pdf files of certain diagrams and/or illustrations that may assist in student’s learning. In addition to me posting information, my students are going to be obligated to post on our blog each night about something that they learned about plants in class that day. They will also need to comment on someone else’s blog post as well each day. After the students have learned all about the characteristics of plants and have constructed a couple in-class diagrams to assist in their learning, I will spend a day teaching them how to use Google Maps and how we are going to use it to research plants in other countries. Over the following few days we will research many countries as a class and figure out why some of those plants grow in some countries but not others. Once they are comfortable using Google Maps, I will give them 2 days to research plants of other countries either as a group or individually for their digital story. During all of these days of learning the students will be expected to continue blogging and commenting on our class blog. After their research is completed, I will have the students construct a digital story either individually or as a group with certain requirements to include. My goal here is that they begin to make connections as to why some plants are found in some countries and not in others. Once everyone has finished their digital stories I will post them on the website and we will watch them as a class. Following this presentation day I will give students the opportunity to use the website to study all the information we learned in order to prepare for the assessment on our last day of the unit.
I have chosen to use blogs because I think that they are very useful ways of communicating information informally though students, parents, and the teacher. By setting up a blog for this unit, I (as the teacher) will be able to post things that are going to be available for parents to view so that they understand what we have been doing in the class and what their student has been learning. In addition, there will be an area for the parents to leave private questions and comments for me so that we are working together to further the student’s learning. Finally, the students will use the blog to review the most important concepts we have learned about in class and they are also going to be obligated to post on the blog to publish what they have been learning.
I have chosen to use Google Maps because after we learn the basic life cycle of a plant and other basic information about the existence about plants, we will shift our focus toward looking at what plants are found in each area of the world. For example, some plant life that exists in Africa does not belong here in the United States. In order for students to better understand what plants grow in certain places and why they do, I will have the students work with Google Maps to learn about the adaptations of certain plants to survive in a specific area.
I have chosen to use Digital Story as one of the main student projects for this unit. After we finish the Google Maps activity and the students have learned an abundance of knowledge about various plant species, I will have the students work either in groups of independently to create a digital story. If the students work individually, they can pick 3 different countries and focus on the main types of plants that are native to that place. If the students choose to work in groups, I will have them pick 8-10 plants to do their digital story on. For both tasks, there will be certain criteria that will have to be included in each digital story presentation.
I have chosen to use a website for learning and as a review/study tool for my students. I will post all of the information that we are learning about in class as soon as it has been taught. I will also include links on our website that the students can visit for extra learning as well as practice tests where they can review the most important information. The website will be the primary source outside of class that will prepare them for the assessment at the end of the unit.
The main goal of this unit is for students to understand the life cycle of a plant and why certain plants grow in certain parts of the world. For the blog, I hope that the students will be able to post their comments and questions for their peers in myself so that they maximize their learning. I plan to emphasize with my students that there are no stupid questions and that if they do not understand something, they should post about it because it is likely that someone else has that same question. Not only is this going to benefit the students that are more outgoing and ask questions in class, but it will especially help those students who are not likely to ask questions in class. An online environment often projects a sense of safety and the students who are more timid to ask may feel more comfortable typing it on the blog.
By using Google Maps, my hope is that the lesson becomes more realistic to my students. If the students are able to see the actual location of the country we are talking about as opposed to the location of other countries and landmarks (such as the equator) it will hopefully assist in their understanding of why some plants are found in certain areas. In addition, not only will this help with the understanding of where certain plants are found, but also it will help the students improve their geographical skills and understanding of climate in each country.
By using Digital Story, I hope to improve student’s motivation for learning about the unit topic. Digital story is a newer, fun type of technology that will hopefully spark students’ learning interest because it is unique from other things that they have done in previous classes. I plan to tell the students prior to starting the unit that they will be creating a digital story about plants around the world so that they will have that mindset going into the unit. Digital story will promote the students doing research in order to find information for their story, which will also cause them to learn more. As previously stated the students will have the option to work individually or in groups, but the work load will be reflective of how many students are working on one story.
For the webpage, my hope is that the students will use it as a study tool and to maximize their learning for the assessment that they will be taking at the end of the unit. As previously stated, I will be posting notes to everything we talk about in class each day after it has been taught. In addition, I will post diagrams and illustrations for the students to print off at home to study with and also put up links to certain websites that will assist in their learning. By doing this, not are the students more easily able to access the information without worrying about forgetting it at school, but parents are also able to utilize all the resources to help their student study.
I hope to teach this unit on plants in approximately 2 weeks (possibly 3).
The timeline for the unit includes:
Day 1: Introduction to plants, characteristics, etc.- post notes on website and have students post and comment on blog
Days 2-5: Learning about the life cycle of a plant and plant cells- post notes on website and have students post and comment on blog
Days 6-8: Researching plants around the world through Google Maps- have students post and comment on blog
Days 9-13: Researching the internet for their digital story and posting on the blog about their findings- have students post on website and blog
Days 14-?: Creating a digital story and presenting to the class on presentation day- upload students’ digital stories to website
Final Day: Assessment
The unit I have planned to do is for fourth grade students on plants. Prior to the unit beginning I am going to set up a blog and a website for the students of my class to utilize. First, the students will be learning in class about what a plant is, what are its characteristics (including plant cells), and also the life cycle of a plant. As soon as the school day ends on a day we have addressed plants, I will post all the information we covered on our class websites along with some pdf files of certain diagrams and/or illustrations that may assist in student’s learning. In addition to me posting information, my students are going to be obligated to post on our blog each night about something that they learned about plants in class that day. They will also need to comment on someone else’s blog post as well each day. After the students have learned all about the characteristics of plants and have constructed a couple in-class diagrams to assist in their learning, I will spend a day teaching them how to use Google Maps and how we are going to use it to research plants in other countries. Over the following few days we will research many countries as a class and figure out why some of those plants grow in some countries but not others. Once they are comfortable using Google Maps, I will give them 2 days to research plants of other countries either as a group or individually for their digital story. During all of these days of learning the students will be expected to continue blogging and commenting on our class blog. After their research is completed, I will have the students construct a digital story either individually or as a group with certain requirements to include. My goal here is that they begin to make connections as to why some plants are found in some countries and not in others. Once everyone has finished their digital stories I will post them on the website and we will watch them as a class. Following this presentation day I will give students the opportunity to use the website to study all the information we learned in order to prepare for the assessment on our last day of the unit.
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