TLAT #1, Part 2: Exploring lessons.

We started working on the first Think Like a Teacher activity Monday. We’ve worked through Step 1 of our Lesson Design Guide so you have a good idea about which of your curriculum standards require students to communicate and/or collaborate. See how a Martha’s Vineyard teacher uses Skype with her students. (We’ll start the video about 3 minutes in).

In order to complete the TLAT #1 (due Wednesday, September 29th) you’ll need to complete the Lesson Design Guide that was shared to your Google Docs account. We’ll work through step 2 and 3 in class today (and for HW) and you will do step 4 on your own by Monday. We’ll finalize things on Monday in time for you to turn in your project Wednesday.

Your grant proposal will be evaluated using these 5 criteria from the grant letter:

1. The lesson activity should engage students in content learning by addressing Georgia Performance Standards or other learning standards.
2. Technology should be used to promote one or more types of communication and/or collaboration described by the National Educational Technology Standards.
3. The lesson activity should allow every student to participate in and contribute to their group work with clearly defined roles.
4. The grant application should address all questions posed and reflect clarity of thinking as the lesson activity is developed.
5. The lesson elaboration and reflection should show how the lesson activity would impact student content learning and engage them in communication and collaboration opportunities.

When teachers plan learning activities for their students – the first thing they must do is identify what they must teach (curriculum standards). Then, they must look at their students’ strengths and weaknesses (learner profiles) to determine how best to teach the curriculum (teaching strategies). Students might be confused by the topic, unmotivated to learn it, likely to forget the important details, etc.  Good teachers try to anticipate issues like this as they plan their learning activities.

Find other students in the class with similar grade levels/content areas and discuss the “big picture” you created in Step One. Discuss with them the challenges you listed in implementing collaboration or communication in your lesson.

Today’s task is to explore lesson resources and come up with several ideas for your lesson.

Let’s look at some other resources for using technology to promote communication and collaboration. There are many other places teachers can go to get ideas for instructional strategies: lesson plan sites, ideas from other teachers, and information from national organizations (National Council for Teachers of Mathematics: NCTM, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: ASHA, International Reading Association: IRA, etc.)

Once you’ve come up with 5 possible learning activities it’s time to look at Step 3. This is the step where you take your 5 ideas and select the best one.  Why do you need criteria to make this choice?
There are already 3 criteria in your evaluation chart (in Step 3). These criteria are from the grant letter you read on Tuesday. Use your “Big Picture” from Step 1 and come up with 2 additional criteria to use to select the best activity.

Once you’ve selected your 5 criteria you can rank each of your 5 activity ideas based on how well each one meets the criteria. You might rank them 1-5: 1 meaning the activity does not meet the criteria and 5 meaning the activity meets or exceeds the criteria. The activity with the highest overall score is the one you should select to move on to Step 4.

Homework

• Make sure you have brainstormed 4 to 5 possible lesson ideas and type them in your design guide.
• Complete step 3, choosing one lesson idea you think will be a good fit.  If you have a chance, discuss with me you ideas before you leave today.
• There will be no class Friday.  Use the time to work on your TLAT. By Monday you will need to complete section 4.  We will work on section 5 in class.  If you have any questions and would like to meet with me on Friday, please email me in advance to set up an appointment.

Thinking like a Teacher

Today we begin our first Think Like a Teacher activity (forever referred to as: TLAT #1). For this project you’ll need the Georgia Performance Standards, knowledge of communication and collaboration tools, information from Chapter 3, and your brain. Your final product will be a write-up (2-3 pages) of a learning activity that you design for your grade/subject.  This learning activity MUST incorporate a communication and/or collaboration tool.

As a new teacher, you have opportunities to apply for grants to improve the resources and tools you have available in your classroom. The principal of Aderhold School passes along a letter about a grant that is of great interest to you. You can read the letter here.

The letter describes the purpose of the TLAT #1 and the expectations – you’ll be graded on the 5 components listed in the “Selection Process” section of the letter. We’ll be working on this project in class for several days – it is due on Wednesday, September 29 at 12:20 pm. Here’s the basic timeline:

9/22 - TLAT #1 Part 2 &3: explore lessons
9/24 - TLAT #1 Part 4: elaborate lesson (No class, unless you need help.  Do it on your own.)
9/27 - TLAT #1 Part 5: peer review and reflexion
9/29– TLAT #1 due by 12:20 pm – should be on a new webpage on your portfolio

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Let’s get our materials ready so you can start thinking like a teacher.  I’ve shared two items with you in your Google Docs account – two class rolls* and the lesson design guide.  Since I sent you versions that you can only view, but not edit, you’ll need to open those two documents and make a copy of each of them.
 *You need only copy one class roll, depending on what you are teaching.

If you don’t have these documents in your Google Docs account, it means I don’t have your Google username – please email it to me as soon as possible: dporcaro@uga.edu

We’re going to go over these two forms – but let’s hear some ideas and advice from former EDIT 2000 students about the Think Like a Teacher project.

We're on a roll
Let’s look at the class rolls – you’ll see headings that relate to what we discussed during our Teacher Boot Camp a few weeks ago. The information on these rolls will help inform your decisions on the Lesson Design Guide.

The Overview section of the Lesson Design Guide is designed to help you understand the format of the guide.  Note the references to TPACK throughout the guide.  TPACK means Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge. If you want to know more, you can watch this really cool conference talk (it's about 30 or so minutes long).

Section 1 of the Lesson Design Guide uses alot of information from Chapter 3 in your text. We’ll work through some of Section 1 during class today. It’s really the most important section (as students in the TLAT intro video mentioned).

FOR Wednesday:
Complete part 1 of the design guide. We’ll discuss your responses on Wednesday and move to part 2.