Education Rethink: Day 1 - Computer Lessons

John Spencer’s Lesson Plans

August 17, 2009

Basics

Unit: Introduction to Computers

Topic: Rules, Procedures and a Sample of What We’ll Do

Class: 7th Grade Computers

What do I want students to learn?

Content Standard

Strand 5: Digital Citizenship- This strand requires students to understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology practice and ethical behavior.

Concept 3: Impact of Technology

Develop an understanding of cultural, historical, economic and

political impact of technology on individuals and society.

Essential Question

What will we be doing in class?
Is technology good for society?

Content Objective(s)

All students will assess at least 5 pros and 5 cons of technology using a T-chart

Language Learning Goal

Share information in a group setting
Use at least three content vocabulary words in a T-Chart

Behavioral Objective

Students will apply the class procedure grid to each of the grouping formats

Content Vocabulary

Embed
Environmental
Social
Economic

Academic Language Vocabulary

Criteria
Pros
Cons
Assess

How will I know when a student has learned it?

Time	Grouping	Activity	Feedback / Reflection
0-10	Individual	Bell Work Personal Survey – get to know you activity	Keynote looks nice, but it’s too hard to do split screen, so use PowerPoint next time
10-15	Group	Pair-Share based upon answers	For the introvert students, it might have worked better to go with partners on this one
15-30	Whole Class	Procedure Grid – questions on one side, group on other, answering	This always works well, but maybe I should do a group brainstorm of questions first
30-40	Partners	Computer Rules – why each one is important	Next time try case studies or skip this entirely – be sure to add something about turning chairs to look at me during directions
40-50	Partners	Guided Practice: Assess the pros and cons of technology Include the criteria of environmental, social, human, economic costs and benefits	In second hour, I skipped the last part, did this and then did a “Belief Walk” and it was more successful – also tried front-loading the vocabulary for the ELL group
50-55	Individual	Closure: Exit card – which will eventually be in a Google Doc

Assessment

Exit card – a quick view of what they learned
Pros and cons – look for higher-order thinking in their analysis and at least one reason why that goes beyond “good/bad” and an understanding of the content vocabulary

How will we respond when they don’t learn?

Intervention: A short digital ethics survey for those who have a hard time with it.

How will we respond when they already know it?

Enrichment: Wiki – the dangers of technology in society (Social Voice Wiki)

Examples of Best Practices Employed as Needed

Activate Prior Knowledge: What they know about technology
Questioning Strategies: based upon Bloom’s Taxonomy (analysis level)
Visual Models: T-chart, Keynote visuals
Metacognition: Asking them (in bell work) why it’s important to think about technology
Cooperative Learning: Partner brainstorm, partner pros and cons