May 2005 — Features
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Technology for All
One of the early mistakes I made using technology was thinking that it would automatically engage all of my students. I now know that just because something is new d'esn’t mean it will match a particular student’s learning style; adding a technology-based activity d'esn’t necessarily improve learning either. The Intel Teach to the Future program helped me understand which technology-rich activities would be most effective. The program uses a backward-design approach that begins by asking essential questions to get at the heart of what students need to learn, as well as what skills they need to acquire and demonstrate. Once I determined what lessons would meet our learning objectives and state standards, I could then decide when and where the addition of technology would be most appropriate.
This philosophy helped me focus my instruction. I found that I had many activities for my students, but they were not all necessarily lessons. The result was a concept I call “Jobs and Choices,” wherein students understand which activities are the jobs they must perform to master the material, and which are elective choices that enable them to demonstrate their mastery of a skill or key concept.
One example is a math lesson using the “Place Value Ticket,” which is a list of activities that includes exercises from our text and games promoting and supporting our concepts. It includes four jobs that must be completed by the end of the week, and a list of six choices from which students must select two. Technology is used as a tool in several of the activities, including as part of interactive whiteboard exercises and Web-based games. By distinguishing between jobs and choices, I ensure my students are mastering their requirements while providing opportunities for alternative learning.
The addition of technology allows me to easily tailor lessons for the different levels of students —
simplifying or adding complexity to a ticket depending on the individual learner. With a Microsoft
PowerPoint activity, for instance, I may create a fill-in-the-blank template for those at a lower level
versus higher-level students who would get less direction. For example, in a unit on geometry, one of the
targets third-graders learn is to develop definitions of geometric terms from measuring, constructing,
and classifying models and figures. The jobs include looking up definitions of key terms in a math
resource book, playing a matching game with definitions and pictures, and writing a description of
a geometric shape after looking at a picture of that shape. The choices for demonstrating this target
include creating information (index) cards for each definition, using modeling clay to construct 3-D shapes,
creating a poster in Microsoft Publisher or Word that includes definitions and a drawing, or creating
a PowerPoint slide show with a key term and graphic representation on each slide.
