9/27/07 -- Module #1: Educational Research and Lesson Plan Templates

How can we teach with technology?

More specifically, how can we use the Internet in the way it was originally designed, as a means to communicate information, so to enhance learning? This question has evolved over the years, from creating simple personal "point-and-click" resource guides, to today, where more serious pedagogical questions, such as "connective writing" are being addressed. Let's look at some examples of the various ways we can design online educational resources to help improve teaching in the classroom.

Point and Click Resource Guides

Ever been observed by an administrator while teaching a lesson? If you have, you know the burning question always asked in the ensuing debriefing: what standards framed your lesson? For better or worse, teachers today must know education standards like chemists know the periodic table. Having them a "click away" is at least a calming thought for new educators, often swamped with stacks of papers -- the tell-tale sign of a first year teacher: "where is that ... ?" Just last week I updated a semester's worth of math homework sets to the new edition of the math book, only to lose the paper, now I have to do it all over again. This time, I'm posting the assignments to my website as soon as I'm done.
So here's an example of bundling the canon of education standards binding upon New York City teachers. All of the New York State standards can be found at the Curriculum, Instruction and Instructional Technology website. Specifically, the following standards will be useful to elementary teachers:

• Elementary Math Standards
• Elementary Science Standards
• Elementary ELA Standards
• Elementary Social Studies Standards
• Elementary Arts Standards
  

New York City has its own standards, based on the State standards above. Also, check this list of NYC resources.

Taking it to the Next Level...

I've been in professional development sessions where the above example is about as far as today's question was developed: a static page of information, reflecting all of the work done in the session, but as soon as the class is over, the page grows old, neither updated or revised, an electronic dusty book. A lot of teachers' web pages are very similar, listing outlines of content, sample exams, student rankings, but never showing what is most important in education: how learning new concepts can reshape our understandings and perceptions of the world around us.
Part of the reason why education web pages suffer this limitation is because many teachers are "digital immigrants," that is, we are more comfortable reading those dusty tomes in a dimly lit corner of a library (at least I know I am) than we are getting online and surfing the 'Net. The converse is true for our students.

Instead of writing a few web pages and saying, "there, I'm a technologically savvy teacher," we need to push ourselves, just like we push our students. Here are some examples of the frontiers of educational technology that illustrate more dynamic, permeable uses of technologies in the classroom.

• Visions 2020: Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies

You'll need to set up a free account using your email address at the Innovate Journal of Online Education to access the following articles:

• Changing Needs, Changing Models: Instructional Technology Training at Bronx Community College
  
• Teaching Social Software with Social Software
  
  
  

Note: The last article describes an education class at Teacher College, Columbia University. Every article in Volume 2, Issue 5 is well worth reading.

One of my own personal examples of implementing this pedagogy is my science blog. Scrolling through the entries, you can see how my own online lessons have evolved over the years, and, more importantly, how students have commented and responded to these lessons. Some lessons have been revamped over the years, others discarded, just like any teacher would do when the next September rolls around...

My current frontier (and yours as well for this class), is to build online resources that are continually updated, not be me, but by my students. All of you will be contributing to my lesson plan wiki, just like my previous students did, so that as time progresses, so to will this collaborative student research lesson plan website, built by student teachers, for student teachers, without the boundaries of an all-knowing professor. This is a far cry from the static "point-and-click" web page, and, hopefully, a better way to inculcate learning among our students.

Finally, although I went online when Reagan was president, and I've had my own websites for over a decade, many of my pedagogical ideas achieved critical mass when I picked up Will Richardson's book last year. Much of what we will explore this semester can be found in his $30 book:

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, And Other Powerful Web Tools For Classrooms
By Will Richardson (Paperback ISBN: 9781412927673)

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Homework

You will need to access the following websites to complete this session's homework assignments:

• My Furl account
• Furl "How To" Guide
• ERIC search engine
• APA Citation Format
• Lesson Plan Word Template

APA Citation Format

Citing an article requires including information that will allow anyone (including you) to find the article at a later date. Generally, you must include the author's name, the date of publication, the article's title, the page numbers, and the publisher. Use the following examples to help create the correct citation format.

Article in Journal Paginated by Issue

Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every issue; therefore, the issue number gets indicated in parentheses after the volume. The parentheses and issue number are not italicized or underlined.

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.

Article in a Magazine

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31.

Article in a Newspaper

Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference in APA style. Single pages take p., e.g., p. B2; multiple pages take pp., e.g., pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-C4.
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today, pp. 1A, 2A.

Evaluation

• Each student will read the above bulleted articles, and submit an anonymous comment that includes your name, and one thing discussed in each article that you would like to see implemented in this class.
  
  
• Students will form groups of no less than two and no more than three students. Each group will decide which content area (math, science, social science, art, or language arts) they will research for their lesson plans, etc. Each group will post a comment to this posting, listing their names and content area.
  Note: Once a group has posted a content area, no other group may choose that content area.
  
  
• Each group will choose an Aim for a lesson plan appropriate to the chosen content area. The group will then use the ERIC search engine to locate four articles that pertain instruction of that Aim. Each group will post a comment that includes their names, and the correct APA citations of the four research articles.
  
  
• Each group will use the lesson plan template to design and write a lesson plan based upon their ERIC research articles.
  
  
• Each group will produce a 150 word essay that summarizes
  
1. the lesson plan Aim chosen
2. how the ERIC research articles helped shape the design of your lesson plan
3. the NYS standards that are applicable to your lesson plan, and
4. how you plan to implement this lesson plan

Questions? I know you have them. When we're not in class, the best way to ask me is to ...

POST A COMMENT!

(Sorry I shouted so much.)