Integrating and planning for Digital Technologies in the classroom

Crucial in any lesson plan or activity is obviously finding resources and preparing the learning space. In this lesson they talk about:

·         Classroom materials

These will obviously be different based on the school you are at. I love that they talk about plugged and un-plugged activities which make concepts at times more approachable due to teacher’s confidence or availability of technology.

·         Software

Once again it is finding out what you already have and then looking for inspiration. There are so many blogs, pinterest, teacher resources pages, curriculum examples etc you can use.

·         Books

This is a great example of how you can integrate subjects to create a wholistic approach. I love the idea of using fiction and non-fiction, songs, poems etc to engage and expose students. I am currently looking at setting up a QR code library in my classroom and these would be some resources I would want to include. The examples given in the MOOC via their picture is ‘G is for googal – A math Alphabet book’ and ‘Hello Hello’ by Matthew Cordell. A great idea they also suggest is creating your own books in collaboration with your students which is something my tandem teacher and I do all the time.

·         Terminology

Once again with a focus on integration, the MOOC suggests using key terminology in spelling lists and other activities in class. This would tie in perfectly with some of our Talk 4 Writing focus texts such as procedural. I also love a good word wall so once we shift our focus next term to Digital Technology that is something I will be looking at.

·         Sharing and presenting work

I have to say sharing and presenting work with digital technologies has always been an area I feel a bit up and down about. I love the idea of creating something and sharing with your peers, doing an assessment or even just for showing your learning. I do then struggle with the idea of what happens to it now? For me this has been solved a lot by using Seesaw as students are able to publish their work and it’s not just forgotten about. Seesaw has also allowed me to explicitly teach and then constantly revisit actively safely, ethically and morally-minded online which the MOOC also places a huge emphasis on.

How you set up your classroom for students to share or present and then the rules around those would need to be discussed and taught at the beginning of every year, just like classroom rules and expectations.

·         Project ideas

I have not come across one student so far who doesn’t love a good project. The MOOC suggests if this is the case create a project with a focus on Digital Technologies. Some examples they give are:

·         An inventor of digital technology, for example, find a list such as this one and have students select an inventor.

·         Researching how a digital technology works and presenting it with a poster, book or demonstration.

·         Researching careers in computer science. For example, on the DotDiva website students can find a job that aligns with their interests and use the suggested ideas for a profession to research

A lot of these ideas I find once again cross over into other subjects areas. For example, researching an inventor ties in nicely with the Year 6 focus of looking at events and people who changed the world. Researching how a digital technology works could be a very basic or very complex project depending on the topic that relates to writing procedures.

For the most part this is how we as teachers plan anyway. What I am noticing more and more with Digital Technologies though is the potential for lessons and activities to become quicker and Digital Technology strengthens at your school because the skills you have to teach in the first few years, will eventually be something that is learnt in the earlier year levels that will come through. As with anything new, it takes time for efficient ways of creating a scope and sequence, but also highlights the importance of it.