If
one was to talk with 10 teachers, more than likely there would be 10 different
responses to how to plan an effective integrated lesson. My way of integrating a lesson might not be
the most effective, but it is one I have thought of and tried to plan for
classes I have had to substitute teach for long term assignments. I would make a list of the common core
requirements for the appropriate grade level.
After making a list of the appropriate common core requirements, I would
create the lesson plan for the students.
As I am planning the lesson, I would then look to see where it would be
most appropriate and useful to the students to use technology. To make the lesson more interesting to the
students, I would relate the work to the trends for the age group being
taught. I have noticed the students are
more apt to pay attention if they can relate the things they enjoy to the
lessons being taught.
The
objectives are needed in order to inform the students what is expected of them
for a particular lesson, a particular unit or for the year. The objectives are a way of alerting
students, teachers and parents of where the students should be throughout the
school term. For me, the objectives keep
me focus on teaching strategies.
Sometimes, what I am teaching leads me to other things, and I need a
reminder in order not to go too far off course with the students. I have to remind myself the students are only
able to take in so much and not to overload them because they began to shut
down. The main thing is to keep the
students engaged in the lessons. Once
their focus is lost, it is hard to get them to refocus.
Getting
the students to engage in information processing is possibly one of the hardest
things to do. We must teach a variety of
students and have all of them actively engaging in the lesson. One way of doing this is to find things the
majority of the students will be interested in outside of the classroom and
using those as an example to teach the lesson.
For the students not interested in the same thing, the teacher should
recognize the difference or what might interest those students and talk with
them individually while the class is doing classwork or group work. This will allow the students to get the
individual attention needed to keep them actively engaged in the lesson and
allow the teacher to make a connection where one did not exist.
I
do not feel a different lesson plan is a necessity when having students use
computers. Rather than creating a whole
different lesson plan, the teacher should be aware of a way to incorporate
computer usage into the current lesson plan.
Technology should not be the whole lesson but a part of the lesson to
enhance what is being taught.
In
my opinion, the computer functions given by the state should be something to
enhance the objectives. The computer
functions should not take the place of the instructional portion of the
subject. If the computer functions are
taking the place of the instructional portion of the subject, then, there is
not enough emphasis being put on learning.
It
is possible to use the computer for every objective or lesson, but the question
is whether it will be wise. Once
technology is inserted into the lesson, the students tend to focus more on the
technological portion and not the actual lesson being taught. Teaching students is important. The technological portion of teaching is easy
for the students to comprehend, so, I don’t feel it is as important to focus on
technology. If one was to put a computer
or technological device in front of a student, it would take them possibly 10
minutes to figure out how to make it work, what are the advantages of the
device and how to use the device for the particular subject being taught. I feel students are capable of learning the
technological portion with little or no instruction.
