Tool #9

1. It is crucial that the technology is tied to the objective. The objective is what the students are to learn, at what level, and how they're going to prove that they have learned it. The technology is there as a resource to assist the students in learning the objective. It can also be used as part of the product that the students can publish so that you know that they met your intended "target".
2. Workstations need to have an accountability factor built in. Without accountability then the the teacher will not be able to determine if the learning objective was met. We need to know where our students are in acquiring the information that they need to know, understand, and be able to use.
3. Learning Games for kids looks like it would be great as a workstation. For accountability the students can record the equations that they are solving in their math journal. Another option is for them to set a "goal" or a "target" number of questions that they need to get right or set a time limit for them to solve a certain number of problems. Then, they can reflect upon why they did, or why they didn't meet their intended goal. When they are finished they can describe how they will improve their performance next time.
Study ladder also looks really good. One of the benefits is having reports that both the teacher and the parent can access. I think that students will really enjoy earning the rewards. For the accountability piece the teacher can write some open-ended reflection questions for the students to respond to. Then, together the student and the teacher can pull up the progress that the student made and discuss it. It is good for the students to be able to discuss what they learned, enjoyed, and disliked about using the technology.
4. For the Ipad/Itouch two of the apps that I think would be beneficial in the classroom are coin genius lite, and everyday math name that number. Both of these will really grab the students attention. Counting coins is always a struggle for some 3rd graders to master. It really just takes practice and this is a great avenue for that to happen. With name that number it is really open-ended because the students can compose and decompose the number in order to reach the target number. This will really help with number sense and also with building a facts foundation. It really is important that the teacher is aware of what the students are doing in the workstation. One thing that the teacher can do is to have the itouch station in close proximity to the small group instruction area. Another thing that the teacher can do is to check on the status of the groups before taking a new small group to work with.
5. The devices can also be used during research projects. It is important that children are given opportunities to find information from digital resources. After teaching them how to do appropriate searches they can use the ipads to find the information that they need.