Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits

The Process

Instruction:

View Mrs. Smith's lesson. This plan is based on a typical lesson plan. You might want to save it or print it so you can take notes as you go along.

Resources:

1. Begin by considering what resources you have available already that might help her. The technology inventory worksheet might be helpful.

2. Your next stop should be the Virginia Department of Education's website to take a look at the Scope and Sequence and Teacher Resource Guides for fourth grade science. As you explore, be sure to bookmark any websites you find that might be useful for your science teacher.

TIP! You might want to try using a "portal" where you can post your bookmarks to share with others. One popular site among educators is called PortaPortal. Once you set up an account, you can save your favorites here, get to them from any computer and share them with others. Click here to see the PortaPortal associated with this webquest.

3. The World Wide Web can be a great resource for teachers. While many people often start with a Google search, a more efficient way might be to start with some resources created just for educators:

No matter where you find your sites, you'll need to evaluate the website for both accessibility and appropriateness. Kathy Schrock, famed Internet maven, offers more web evaluation tools than you will ever need.

4. Mrs. Smith found out from the secretary that there is a $1000 software budget, so she decided to see what software might be available for purchase to support the lesson. Her media specialist suggests visiting CCV Software online since they have lots of software and offer excellent prices for K12 schools. Her goal is to find at least two software programs that might be appropriate. After finding several software titles that her school doesn't already own, you want to find out if anyone has reviewed these particular titles. SuperKids has a large database of software reviews.

5. Besides content-specific software, she thinks about the productivity software you probably already own. For instance, how could she integrate a word processor, spreadsheet, database or multimedia slide show? Both Microsoft and Apple have websites just for educators where they show how their products can be integrated and offer lots of best practices. Finally, Inspiration is a graphic webbing program designed just for schools. they also offer integration ideas and templates for classroom use.

Integration:

6. Now it's time to help Mrs. Smith develop her instructional strategies. Often, when technology becomes a part of the plan, the instructional focus moves from being passive and teacher centered to more active and student centered. How can she utilize the resources she found to help her achieve this goal as well as the goal of integrating technology? Include whatever strategies you think will best impact student learning as well as demonstrating the power of technology to support instruction.

7. She will also need to consider the hardware and software support she will need to incorporate the strategies. Can she use the four computers in the classroom or does she need to sign up for the computer lab? If she is showing a website to students, will she need a projector? If she decides to purchase software, how many licenses will she need? Who will install the software and maintain it if something goes wrong? Note: This can be the biggest barrier for teachers in integrating technology so be sure to spend some time considering what resources you have available for the teacher to access.

8. Of course, now that you've changed the strategies, she will probably also want to think about a different kind of assessment. Often, this is the one area where teachers can easily find ways to incorporate technology. What ideas do you have for your fourth grade science teacher about how to integrate technology to help make the assessment authentic?

Click Evaluation to continue.

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits