Molly Anderson EDMT 380-002
Spring 2004

In the Spring of 2004, I created a lesson plan entitled "A Summer Day - A Map Mystery". Using the links provided below, you may access the different components of this lesson plan, including a web component as well as a software component. On this page is the final reflection, written after the assingment was completed.

Final Reflection
Description
In the spring of 2004, I created a lesson plan entitled “A Summer Day” for EDMT 380. This lesson was a geography lesson intended for fourth or fifth grade students and incorporated several aspects of technology. For this reason, I believe it met ISTE Technology Standard IIC: Teachers identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability. In formulating this lesson, I created utilized not only instructional software, but also created a topic hotlist to serve as a resource for my students to complete their assignment. Part of choosing the software was evaluating it for accuracy and suitability. I learned a considerable amount on how to locate these resources as well as employ them in a way that most benefits my students and sets them up for success.

Analysis
Before I created this lesson, I had very few ideas on how to incorporate technology into my classroom. As a matter of fact, I have always considered it a weakness of my teaching style and lesson plans. Although I believe it is important to incorporate technology into the classroom, I simply did not know how. I’m sure I could have figured it out; however, I did not know how to ensure that the technological resources I chose would be beneficial to my students. In the case of instructional software, it is easy to be swayed by a sophisticated appearance, even if there is no content. However, there is much more to effective instructional software than impressive graphics. It must apply to the content area, and must teach some sort of lesson, and not just be a fun game for the students to play. In evaluating the software I used, “Neighborhood Map Machine,” I learned what questions to ask and how to be critical of the software I may one day use in my classroom. Similarly, I discovered how to find the right websites to use in a topic hotlist – not all are suitable for student use. Before I started creating this hotlist, I thought I was relatively skilled at searching the internet. However, I soon discovered that creating a hotlist, which involves searching for multiple websites that would serve my purpose, was much harder than I had originally thought! In my exhaustive search for websites that would work in the context of my hotlist, I discovered just how much useless information is on the web! It is important not to take a website at face value; I must always look deeper to ensure the information is accurate and beneficial.

Reflecting on Growth
As I finish creating my final lesson plan for project 1, I realize just how much I have learned about technology resources and their accuracy and suitability. For instance, I incorporated the software into my lesson plan before actually evaluating the software. Once I evaluated it, I realized it wasn’t quite as well-suited for my lesson as I had originally thought it would be. As a result, I had to tweak my lesson plan a bit (actually, a lot) to make Neighborhood Map Machine fit into the broader context of my lesson plan. Here, I learned a very important lesson – always check out the software before you decide to use it. It may not always serve the purpose I originally plan on it serving; in fact, it may not be at all relevant or useful. If I could do this project again, I would probably choose different software, as this oversight caused me quite a bit of extra work. I also learned a lot about what makes a good website, and just how long it takes to create a successful topic hotlist. I feel that as a result of working on this project. I have greatly improved my internet searching skills, a skill that will undoubtedly come in handy in the future! In this way, I have turned a weakness into a possible strength. After spending so much time working on technological resources, I realized just how valuable these resources are and plan to incorporate them into my future lesson plans. Even if the search and evaluation process takes a long time, it is worth it so that my students can benefit from what technology has to offer them.
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Questions? E-mail me at andersmb@uwec.edu
Page last updated on: 17-May-2004 8:41 PM