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Lesson Planning with Technology        checker.gif (609 bytes)

What do you want to teach?

  • Technology will provide the means (tool) for teaching
  • Technology is a tool not a content
  • Cover only that part of technology skill necessary to teach your chosen content

How do you teach?

  • Technology supports many different methods of teaching
  • Technology is not a method
  • Technology (computers, calculators, Internet, etc.) is something used to enhance the learning

How do I get started?

  • Brainstorm ideas
  • Get organized
  • Determine your resources
  • Determine your skills
  • Plan and deliver the instruction
  • Plan something "do-able"

How do I link to assessment?

  • Concept mapping
  • Determine student outcomes first then develop plans
  • Design evaluation then design activity
  • Match evaluation to the SOL so that the plan stays on TARGET

What makes a good lesson?

  • Meets the SOL
  • Helps students learn
  • Is possible within the confines of time and resources
  • Focuses on content
  • Uses technology as the delivery system (a tool)!

 

Technology Lesson Plan Criteria

Guiding Questions:

  • Is technology used to SUPPORT the instructional activity?

Technology is a tool. It should NOT be the focus of the lesson. You teach students how to use a word processor because you need the tool to publish a poem.

  • Is the use of technology transparent?

Ideally students will be learning how to use the application as you teach the content. It should NOT be the lesson. Remember when you learned to type a paper in high school/college. You learned because it was necessary.

  • Is the lesson/activity intrinsically motivating?

Don’t depend on the novelty of touching a computer to create excitement in your classroom. Your content and how you present it must engage the learner, not the tools used.

  • Can the lesson be taught without the technology?

Probably the answer is "yes" but does the inclusion of technology make the lesson more meaningful, more powerful?

The basic lesson design does not change. Target audience, objectives, materials, lesson description, evaluation and timeline are all part of the design. You are simply using a new tool and perhaps a new teaching strategy to deliver the instruction.

How to get started

  • Use a current lesson plan you view as a success
  • Locate lesson plans on the Internet to get ideas
  • Adapt lesson plans of others to your style for a first attempt
  • Ask your colleagues for help—many minds make short work of a project
  • Examine what you want to accomplish—be sure that you don’t waste time by adding technology
  • Include all types of resources in your plan—traditional as well as new ideas
 
This page was updated on:  04/10/02