Lesson Planning with Technology

Post to your blog your thoughts about lesson planning with technology. For those of you who have been teaching (either as a teacher or as a student on Prac) post your thoughts about what is the most difficult about planning a lesson and if there are any resources you might like to share (don't forget to pop them in the wiki!). If you haven't taught before, post your thoughts about what concerns you the most at this point - as a beginner. This post will be a good one for sharing ideas, collaborating and helping each other. Lesson planning takes a little while to get used to when you are starting out on your teaching career.
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There are so many things to consider when creating a lesson plan. Everything from classroom management, learning spaces, resources, questioning, prior knowledge, various abilities in a class  and more need to be considered in order to conduct an effective lesson for students. It can be challenging as a new teacher as how you teach will not be the same as your teaching partner often. Thus, you may need to take a different spin on things.

When I'm planning a lesson or learning engagement, I use backwards by design so I know where I want my students to know by the end. From there I think of how I'm going to grab their attention at the beginning and provoke their ideas about a topic.

As I begin to plan the lesson, I only use technology if it makes sense in a lesson. Sometimes it's better to use paper and pencil, drama or hands on building and that's okay too. As I plan the lesson and think of integrating a technology tool I think about how it would change the learning experience for the students. Does it enhance the learning engagement? Does it make the teaching more effective? Doe sit make the learning more engaging and effective? Are there

The most challenging part about lesson planning is finding the best tools to use to teach the curriculum. There are so many resources available to teachers but it can be very time consuming to look at each one before choosing. There are also so many ways to teach the same lesson so it's about choosing the right tools for the job that will best support your students. It is very important to me that when I do integrate a technology tool that I have tried it out before I allow my students to use it. It is important that I have some knowledge about it so I can problem solve with my students as they use it. I also feel it is important to vet it to make sure it truly fits the need of a lesson.

One of the ways I decide on if the technology integration of a resource would be effective is by looking at the SAMR model.

image from: http://cdno2.gettingsmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SAMR_model.png

While some technology tools enhance the experience, the goal of technology integration in a lesson is to transform the learning. For me, when I'm using technology in the classroom, I am for modification or redefinition of the learning experience.

Resources for lessoning planning in general:
- For IB teachers, the Online Curriculum Community (OCC) provides lots of work samples, unit plans and lessons.
- The Teacher's Corner
- ReadWriteThink
- TES lesson plans
- Lucy Caukin's Readers and Writers Workshop books
- Edutopia