Series New Teacher Survival Guide: New Teacher Survival Guide: Technology in the Classroom

New Teacher Survival Guide: Technology in the Classroom

Lesson Objective: Watch a new teacher plan and execute a lesson improved by technology
Grade 6 / Social Studies / Technology
16 MIN

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

  1. When planning a lesson - even when you're planning on incorporating technology - what is the first question you should ask yourself?
  2. What does Sheryl argue is the power of technology?
  3. How will that aid in students' retention of material and their engagement?
  4. What is the impact of technology on this lesson?

52 Comments

  • Private message to LUIS RILE

Integrating technology into differentiated instruction enhances students' retention of material and their engagement by providing personalized learning experiences, interactive and multimodal learning opportunities, immediate feedback and assessment, access to rich learning resources, collaborative learning opportunities, and flexibility and autonomy in learning. These benefits contribute to a more effective and engaging learning experience, ultimately leading to better retention of material and improved academic outcomes.

Recommended (0)
  • Private message to Concherra Gamble-Woolfolk

1.Even when using technology into your lesson plans, the first thing you should do is ask yourself, "What are we trying to get the student to know and be able to do?"
2. Sheryl contends that the power of technology is found in its capacity to foster connections, foster teamwork, and foster collective action among students, all of which contribute to a deeper comprehension of the curriculum.
3. By facilitating peer collaboration, offering a variety of multimedia resources that accommodate various learning styles, and offering opportunities for interactive learning experiences, technology helps students become more engaged and retain the material.
4. Students' increased engagement and active participation in activities like expert Skype interviews, VoiceThread discussions, and digital research projects demonstrate how technology has impacted this lesson.

 

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  • Private message to Lorena Cornejo Rodriguez

 This video gave me a new perspective on how to approach the use of technology in the classroom. It provided a clear step-by-step instruction on how to utlilize the various tools available in this age of technology, I loved how the students were able to get their interview directly from another part of the world through the use of skype. I need to brush up on all these tools to help bring them into the classroom.  Students nowadays are very tech savvy and I need to be able to have the students feel reassured I can lead them in its use.  

Recommended (1)
  • Private message to Erin Zost

This video was very interesting.  I liked how the teacher is connecting the past for the students with the use of technology.  It is a very useful tool to create engagement with the students and to be able to connect them with experts right in the classroom.  The lesson planning that the teacher did showed how she thought out and planned ahead by making sure the technology was ready and working with a expert who has first hand knowledge on the topic.

Recommended (1)
  • Private message to Samantha Lea

Knowing how to teach with technology is becoming more essential than ever. This video really helps you understand the importance of teaching with technology and the tips in the video are lifesavers. Teaching with technology helps students become more interested in learning and also retaining the information they are taught. We live in a world where most everyone uses technology everyday. That is no different when speaking about kids. Using teaching while using technology brings the lesson to their level and makes them want to focus and study. If they get to use their phone, computer, or tablet to research and study then in my opinion and from what I've seen they are more engaged in the lesson. They are less likely to zone out and get bored because they are doing what they know and what they love to do. 

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  • Private message to LaRon Wright

1. What is the objective we are trying to achieve with this lesson.

 

2. Technology has the potential to bring a deeper and more authentic message to the lesson than simply reading and assessing.

3. Remembering a virtual tour of Anne Frank's house as oppossed to just reading about it will deepen that connection with the lesson. Speaking directly to the persons that work at Anne Frank's house can give insight that a teacher might not have readily available.

4. Deeper connection as well as on hands experience using technology that the students will undoubtedly need in the future.

Recommended (0)

Transcripts

  • Series Title Sequence:
    New Teacher Survival Guide

    Program Title:
    Lesson Planning

    ACT 1 DUCTION – CHALLENGE

    Beat 1 Introduction to Patricia

    SEE Patricia at

    Series Title Sequence:
    New Teacher Survival Guide

    Program Title:
    Lesson Planning

    ACT 1 DUCTION – CHALLENGE

    Beat 1 Introduction to Patricia

    SEE Patricia at the head of the class PATRICIA PAIVA IS A 6TH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER AT ANN STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

    THIS IS HER FIRST YEAR TEACHING.
    SEE Patricia Patricia: “Make sure all cellphones are turned off and put away quickly.”
    SEE Patricia collecting cell phones.
    My students love using technology. They use it every day, I mean with cellphones and computers at home and everything.
    TO KEEP HER STUDENTS ENGAGED, PATRICIA INCORPORATES TECHNOLOGY INTO HER LESSONS WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
    I try to use different technologies in my classroom. I do have a classroom web page. Ever day I put up the homework
    SEE Patricia on camera in front of class
    What we're going to do today is we're going to read different survivor stories of the Holocaust. And how you're going to do that is on our website. We're going to go downstairs to the computer lab and you're going to go onto our website, our classroom website. Ok, what's our classroom website, by the way?

    SEE Patricia on camera

    SEE Patricia using technology in the classroom.

    SEE her talking about her student blog

    They love to see, you know, the animations that I put or the pictures and things like that. So it motivates the students more instead of just reading from a textbook or, you know, taking down notes from the board.

    Beat II: Sheryl and Patricia plan a lesson using social media

    TO MOVE HERSELF -- AND HER CLASS TO THE NEXT LEVEL, PATRICIA IS MEETING SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT SHERYL NUSSBAUM-BEACH.

    SINCE SHERYL LIVES IN VIRINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA – THEY ARE MEETING ON LINE -- VIA SKYPE.

    Nussbaum: It’s so nice to meet you.
    So tell me who you are!

    Paiva: [Laughs] My name’s Patricia Paiva,
    Nussbaum: Right.
    Paiva: I teach language arts and social studies to a bilingual classroom. It’s actually my first year teaching. I’m having a great ol’ time.

    I want to know a little bit about the technology. Are a lot of teachers using it?

    Paiva: As teachers, yes, we do use a lot of technology. We try to use as much as we can based on the resources we have.

    Paiva: We have about two or three computers that students are able to use in the classroom and they are able to use the Internet on them. Once a week every week the class is actually scheduled to go to the computer room where all the students are able to use the computer at the same time.
    Sheryl: How about social media? Are you using much social media, you personally?
    Patricia: Facebook, I used MySpace before, but I’m not that into it any more. You know, YouTube, Twitter, things like that.
    SHERYL BEGINS THE PLANNING PROCESS BY FIRST ASSESSING ANY POTENTIAL HURDLES TO USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN PATRICIA’S CLASSROOM.

    Nussbaum: What do you think the obstacles are going to be in terms of you and I co-creating a lesson plan that’s going to use social media?

    SEE visuals of tech coordinator Manny wiping the sweat off of his brow and trying to get the Internet connection to work.

    Graphic:
    Tip: Anticipate barriers to implementing a new technology.
    Paiva: Maybe the Internet connection, if we’re not going to be face-to-face.

    We did have some technical difficulties before we started, but we did get everything going.

    It did take us a couple minutes, but I think that’s the only thing I’m mainly concerned about.

    Nussbaum: Now, does the technology coordinator help you when you’re in the lab with them, when you’re working on the blog replies and things like that?

    Paiva: Yeah, he’s …

    Nussbaum: Or are you pretty much on your own?

    Paiva: No. He’s always available. He helps us with everything we need, so he’s really good with that.

    Nussbaum: Developing a relationship with the technology support person in your building just becomes critical.

    Graphic:
    Tip: Develop a close relationship with the tecnology coordiator.

    SEE footage of Manny helping out. Nussbaum: If you have a relationship with that person, or another technology-using teacher, then you have somebody that’s going to kind of help you take baby steps and walk through in the beginning.

    Nussbaum: So what were you thinking about teaching? What was the lesson that you were kind of mulling around? Or have you gotten that far?

    Paiva: Right now, in social studies, we’re talking about the Holocaust, What I was actually thinking was having them conduct a web quest. I actually did start putting everything together. I actually had a PowerPoint that I wanted to show them prior to them even starting.

    Nussbaum: When you’re trying to design a lesson that uses technology… A lot of times, what a teacher will do is they will begin with the tools. They start thinking about what are all the cool tools? I know I want to do blogging.

    Nussbaum: Or maybe I want to do VoiceThread. The problem with that is whenever you start with the technology, it’s like a tool going looking for a problem to solve.

    You really want to start with what are we trying to get the student to know and be able to do.
    Beach: So in this Holocaust Lesson, what is it that you want to be different at the end of the lesson than it was at the beginning?

    INTV Sheryl

    The focus really needs to be on the learning. The teacher starts with the content, they look at the state standards. They look at the content that they're supposed to be covering. Then they're going to think about the pedagogy, what kind of activity am I going to do to help these kids retain this information and really learn it more deeply?” That’s when technology comes in.

    Patricia: I actually set up an objective, and if I could read it to you. If that’s OK.

    Graphic: Tip
    First define the lesson objective, then select an appropriate tecahing tool

    Nussbaum: Sure. Sure.

    Paiva: My objective was, “After reading and watching a video about the life of Anne Frank....

    the students will be able to examine the life of other children who lived during the holocaust by conducting a web quest and creating a video/PowerPoint—which I’m not sure about what we’re doing here yet—

    Nussbaum: The PowerPoint piece, isn’t social media. PowerPoint and video is basically where you’re connecting with the computer and you’re connecting with the technology.

    What we want to do is we want to take them past the creation of knowledge, which is what they do in the PowerPoint, or what they do with the web quest.
    Paiva: Mmm-hmm.
    Nussbaum: And now, we’re going to move them over to where they’re sharing, connecting, collaborating, and acting collectively.
    Paiva: OK.
    Nussbaum: That’s where we really start to look at the power of social media in helping kids to internalize the curriculum.

    Nussbaum: We want you think of yourself as a connected learner who can connect to other people. You and I right now are connecting. We’re sharing ideas.

    This is what connected learning’s about. But then we also want to allow your students to connect and to collaborate. To think about who can they put in their personal learning network that’s going to help them learn more about this topic.
    TEACHERS SHOULD ALSO CREATE A NETWORK OF OTHER LIKE-MINDED EDUCATORS
    INTV Sheryl
    Starting to use technology as an educator to connect and to collaborate with people around the world using tools like Twitter, they can pick and choose and vet certain educators and then they can throw a question out to their personal learning network. Like, “I want to teach a lesson on the holocaust, and I'm trying to decide what would be the best for to do it while reading the “Diary of Anne Frank.” Does anybody have any ideas?”
    Graphic: Tip:
    Build a personal learning network Nussbaum: So I had an idea as you were talking. I happen to have a good friend who is a first-year teacher as well.And she has just recently moved to the Netherlands. I went to see her in Amsterdam, and guess what’s in Amsterdam.

    Paiva: The museum of Anne Frank.

    Nussbaum: So it might be that we could do something where your students could maybe interview Mary, or Mary could go to the museum and get your students to work with the subject matter expert there via Skype.

    Nussbaum: Do you think that would be anything that would be exciting?
    Paiva: Yea. I think that’s very exciting actually.

    SEE Sheryl on screen SHERYL ALSO SUGGESTS PATRICIA USE VOICE THREAD TO ASSESS HOW WELL STUDENT’S HAVE GRASPED THE LESSON ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST.
    SEE Voice Thread.
    VoiceThread will allow each child to create their own slide, and they can weigh in on that slide.

    Nussbaum: They can even talk and narrate what you’re seeing. You could have those same teams of five… Have a different section that they’re going to create and put it all together in the VoiceThread about different children that lived during the Holocaust and things like that.

    Paiva: [Holocaust.] OK.

    Nussbaum: And make that part of the objective. So that the VoiceThread becomes the assessment.

    Graphic: Tip:
    Integrate technology into the assessment

    Nussbaum: The greatest place to put technology is in the area of assessment. So by thinking about, “What can I have them create? What artifact can I have them work through using this technology to create or connect and collaborate with someone that is then going to prove to me thatthey’ve mastered this lesson?”
    Nussbaum: I think we’ve got a great way to kick it off, with the reading and the interviewing of the expert that’s actually in the Netherlands…
    Paiva: Mmm-hmm.
    Nussbaum: At the Anne Frank House. That’s where this is.
    Paiva: Yeah.
    Nussbaum: Then they’ll get to see the house that she lived in.
    Nussbaum: All right. What questions do you have so far? What are you wondering about?

    Paiva: No. I’m actually very anxious to do this lesson. They’re going to enjoy it. All my students love to use the computer. They always ask every time they’re done with work, “Can I use the computer?”

    Maybe I can come on site and watch you teach.
    Paiva: OK. That will be awesome.
    Nussbaum: Would that be great?
    Paiva: Mmm-hmm.

    Nussbaum: All right. Wonderful. Thank you so much! I enjoyed talking to you today.

    Paiva: No problem. I also enjoyed talking to you. Thank you so much!

    Act II: TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOMON – CHALLENGE

    Beat 1: Sheryl and Patricia meet

    SEE Sheryl entering the Ann Street Elementary School.

    ON THE DAY OF THE LESSON, SHERYL TRAVELS FROM HER HOME IN VIRGINIA TO NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, TO OBSERVE PATRICIA’S CLASS.
    Sheryl: Hi, how are you? So good to meet you face to face.

    Patricia: You too!

    Beach: So what are we doing today, how have you decided to...?

    Paiva: So today we're actually going to have a Skype conversation with some people from the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.
    Paiva: And the students are actually going to brainstorm some questions. They already have some questions in mind. So they're going to just ask them questions about the museum and the history behind it and all of that.

    All right, great, well looks like we're ready to go!
    Paiva: Yes we are!
    Beach: I can't wait.
    Paiva: I know, I'm so excited, as much as they are.
    Beach: All right, should we go to class and go meet the kids?
    Paiva: Yes.
    Beach: All right, great!
    SEE Patricia in front of the class Patricia to class: What we are going to do is we are going to the computer lab very quickly now. We’re going to have an introduction.

    Anna’s going to be the person introducing our class. You have your little card. Put it in your head, whatever it is, you introduce yourself, you introduce your students. you introduce your classmates.

    When it’s your turn to ask your question, I want you to introduce yourselves. Say, Hi my name is blank, introduce yourselves and ask your question. Okay, let’s start with the ladies, line up quietly.
    See kids walking out of classroom/ wipe to Amsterdam.

    Beat II: Introduction of the Ann Frank House Museum.
    SEE the Ann Frank House in Amsterdam.
    Lower Third: Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Holland

    SEE images of Annemarie preparing to Skype TODAY PATRICIA’S CLASS WILL BE USING SKYPE TO INTERVIEW ANNE-MARIE BEKKER, A HISTORIAN AT THE ANNE FRANK HOUSE IN AMSTERDAM.

    SEE wide shot of the classroom Patricia: Shh, make sure to listen because it’s hard to hear

    SEE introduction by student. Anna: We learned a lot about Anne Frank and we just want to learn more information about it. So, we’re very happy.
    Patricia: We are going to start with some questions, so we’ll have the students come up and introduce themselves and ask some questions.

    Annemarie: OK, can you please have the students speak slowly and loudly?

    Patricia: Yes, we’ll have them speak louder and a little bit closer to the camera.
    Jennifer: Hi, my name is Jennifer and my question is, do you think you ever felt the way Anne Frank did by experiencing what she had been through in the house?
    Diego: Hi my name is Diego, and my question is what must you do to keep the museum open to the public?
    Natali: My name is Natalie, and the question I’d like to ask is how important do you think is the history behind this museum?
    Michael: My first question is, what types of artifacts is present in the museum?
    SEE wrap up. Patricia: We’re still going on with Anne Frank and the holocaust so I’m sure we’ll have some more questions and we’re going to do some more research. But I just did want to thank you personally so much personally for your time and your effort and all your hard work. And let’s just say bye boys and girls..

    Class: Bye.... (applause...)

    INTV with Annemarie

    Lower third:
    ANNE-MARIE BEKKER, historian,
    Anne Frank House Anne-marie Becker: It worked well. It was very nice to see the children and to receive the questions and to ask the questions.

    And I was impressed about how much they knew already about Anne Frank. The questions were sometimes quite difficult for me to answer, but a very nice experience.

    Beat 3 Conclusion and Debrief

    Beach: So, wow, that was exciting, right?
    Paiva: It was. Right. The kids had a great time.
    Beach: They did. How did you enjoy it?
    Paiva: I also enjoyed it personally. You know, I noticed that the kids were so engaged and I love seeing that.

    Beach: It was very inspirational to me. I thought that you did a fabulous job. I wanted to talk, if I could, just a little bit about some of the things I observed in the beginning.
    Paiva: Okay.

    Beach: In prep for the lab, as you got ready to go, I thought it was very clear and I think, a lot of people don't realize when you're going to do a technology-based activity, there's as much that goes on before you go to the lab, then there's the during the lab, and then there's the after the lab, isn't there? And you could tell you had thought that through.

    It’s really important that you think about how the pedagogy is going to change when you are putting together a lesson plan that involves technology.

    You’ve got to rethink your attitudes, your dispositions, your philosophy of education to some extent. How you’re going to group kids, the management techniques you’re going to use. The delivery of the lesson, and the assessment.

    Patricia showed some perfect examples of that, where she had the kids working together in groups, they were collaborating, and then she actually had to think through even in room position, how was she going to change things up once we got down in the lab.

    SEE Patricia in front of class. Patricia: While we are in the computer lab, we are going to sit in front of the projector. We do have some of the chairs already set up, so make sure that you sit quietly.
    Sheryl: So there’s logistical things like that. Then actually in the lesson plans she had to think about, alright, how am I going to give the students ownership of this so its actually them asking the questions and interacting with this person.

    But yet I’m still accomplishing the objectives and the content that I want to do at the same time. You may have seen when she stopped, she kind of summarized, and she then she would let the person go back through. Or if she felt like the students question wasn’t answered or wasn’t clarified.
    Patricia: I just want to tell them again to make sure that they heard. Remember we saw that she had pictures on the wall. Remember that? So what they actually did was take it out, they preserved it, and they put it back onto the wall. and they put like a glass. So it kind of helps preserve it to keep it up to date. Alright?

    Beach: One of the first takeaways that we had when you and I started planning the lesson, is we talked about that you really want to start with the learning. Not the tools. So as you're thinking about the technology, you always want to ask yourself, "Am I doing this just because I think Skype's cool?" Or is there something that would really deepen the learning by using Skype in this way? And there was.
    Paiva: Right.

    Beach: Let's talk about planning. So how did you plan for this? I know the idea is to just use a few tools and then really plan from there because if you get too much technology going on, that's another thing that teachers do sometimes--// You didn't. You used just a few tools. How did you go about preparing?

    Graphic
    Tip: Try out new technology before using it in the classroom.

    Had you used Skype a lot before?

    Paiva: No, it was actually my first time using it. I did hear about it before. I knew a little bit about how it worked. I mean, I knew a little bit, not too much. But I did test it out on my own. I created my own Skype account. I did test it out a little bit at home.

    //
    Beach: So that's pretty important tip, right, whenever teachers are going to use new technologies--we'd never bring a video in and just pop it in and say, "Let's watch this." We always go home and watch the video first and then we bring it in. And so it should be the same way with technology. Teachers should use it first and kind of figure out how to trouble shoot it.

    SEE actuality of Patricia taking awhile to load the pictures.

    So tell me how you thought the lesson went. What did you like? What did you think went well? And what would you change?
    Paiva: I think it went very well. There's some things I would change.
    Just when I was doing the modeling with the voice thread. It was taking a little bit longer than I thought.

    Beach: As you were going through the voice thread, there were some things that I was thinking of as you were going through. Having them each create their own is almost like a whole other lesson in and of itself.

    Beach: But I think what might have been better to fit it in quickly with what today was doing--which I think you were trying to do an assessment of today's stuff--would have been for you to create one ahead of time, like you did. You could have used that as modeling, you could have shown that for your objective but then had them each comment, right then.
    Paiva: Right.Beach: What’s something you took away from this Skype interview.

    The last thing I wanted to talk about was the final takeaway. And that takeaway is when we really look at what happens after the lesson. I thought the discussion that you had with your students afterwards, about technology, was just brilliant.

    SEE sound on tape of Patricia discussing with students. Patricia: We did use a lot of technology today, right? So, my question is, what are your thoughts based on all this technology that we used.
    Jennifer: The great thing about technology is that, in books, we can read about history, but we can’t talk to other people and know what their experience might have been.

    Patricia: Good, I’m glad you brought that up.

    Graphic:
    Tip: Discuss with your students what they liked and didn't like about the technology.

    Having that kind of conversation where your students actually can say "This really worked for me, and this is why, and this didn't" not only gives them ownership in the lesson, but it really is helpful for you to think about how to use those technologies in the future.

    Beach: So I'm really excited for you. Do you think you're going to use technology again in your lessons?

    Paiva: Yes, definitely. And that will be just because I keep going back to that engagement that the students had, and that motivation. I definitely want to use it again.

    Beach: Well, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed working with you.

    Paiva: I enjoyed working with you also.

    Beach: Thank you so much. It was a lot of fun.

    Paiva: Thank you.

    Conclusion Montage

    SEE montage of students in the classroom. Bring up music. Perhaps slow motion shots. SEE Sheryl from time to time.

    A lot of teachers say, “who’s got time for that? I just can’t make the time.” If you’re going to ask yourself, why do I change, why should I put the energy into it? Why should I put the effort into it? The reason you want to do it is for the children’s sake.

    We live in a time of fast-paced change. Now what we’ve got to do is to produce kids who are going to be collaborating with people all over the world, often online.

    And as one of the students said today, and did so eloquently, the technologies are just going to change. We’re using iPhones now, but she said 25, 50 years in the future they’re going to be using crazy mad who knows what. We’ve got to make sure these kids have the digital skills to help them be prepared for the world that awaits them.

    The Takeaways

    Anticipate barriers to implementing new technology.
    Develop a close relationship with the technology coordinator.
    First define the lesson objective, then select an appropriate technology.
    Build a personal learning network.
    Integrate technology into the lesson assessment.
    Try out new technologies before using them in a lesson.
    Discuss the technology with your students to determine what worked and what didn’t.

School Details

Ann Street Elementary School
30 Ann Street
Newark NJ 07105
Population: 1196

Data Provided By:

greatschools

Teachers

teachers
Patricia Paiva Cunha
English Language Arts / 6 7 / Teacher