Rules, Rules, Rules!

“Deliver it using 2 forms of technology, and have your students use two forms of technology.” Wow, how am I going to do that?

This lesson plan is supposed to be centered around technology, while still delivering a regular classroom lesson. Strangely, I found this a bit challenging. I know that there are many ways to incorporate technology in the classroom, but it is something that we are not conditioned to do throughout our training to become teachers. We are taught to mostly lecture and give paper based tests. I eventually decided to create a lesson about classroom rules and their importance. I believe it is important for students to understand the meaning of rules in order to further understand government and the way that things have been done throughout history. I was going to incorporate the “creation of rules” into this lesson plan, but decided that the creation of rules lesson is an entirely different lesson. I have carried out the creation of rules lesson plan before, so I decided that this would be separate.

My brain automatically goes to the non-technology things like: group work, poster board presentations and written tests. I had to search the net to find ways of incorporating technology. I decided to used visual demonstrations of new websites, group activities, group discussions, internet searches, epals, zolo, and web video clips to assist the students with this lesson. I felt that students that are in the 5th grade shouldn’t have any trouble working with the technology offered. Students in the 5th grade should have already been introduced to some technology and should be able to follow visual directions on screen while I am giving instruction. The NETS*T that I was using was NETS*T standard III A, because it uses technology to enhance learning (NETS for Teachers 2000, 2000).
Students should be able to use this new introduced technology to create a presentation to show their understanding about the importance of rules.

One concern that I have about my lesson plan is the use of epals . I have never used epals before (Epals Global Community 2010). It sounds like a wonderful idea. My children have had internet e-pals before, but they have been with people that they know from previous places we have lived. I am planning on doing a pen-pal/e-pal exchange with some of the friends I have made here on Guam when I move back to the states. We will use our classrooms. This is different, however, because the teachers will know each other. A big problem with the epals is that the students are depending on students from other areas to complete their projects. I would have to take into consideration the fact that some students may not get responses to their questions. I decided that if this happened, that the students would be given time to search the internet for classroom rules that are posted on the internet. This would be a bit less personal, but at least they would still be able to see rules from different places.

Technology is something that is becoming a big part of our daily lives. Students are becoming more and more technology proficient. It amazes me about how well students adapt and are able to quickly figure out programs. I gave the zoho program to my fifth grade daughter to play with to see if she thought it would be a fun alternative to Microsoft Powerpoint. She was able to maneuver through the program quite quickly. As a fifth grader, she has already been introduced to so much. I believe that with this lesson plan, the students should be able to discover the uses of the program to make a creative presentation, while learning about rules and why they are important to use as a society and as a classroom. I hope that I will continue to incorporate technology into all of my lesson plans.


Resources:

NETS for Teachers 2000. (2000). Retrieved April 21, 2010, from ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) website:
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2000Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2000.htm

Epals Global Community, (2010). Retrieved April 20, 2010, from epals website: http://www.epals.com/

Zoho Show, (2010). Retrieved April 21, 2010 from the Zoho Show website:
http://show.zoho.com/Home.do