Cooperative Learning Model

General Cooperative Learning Model
~Native Americans Review~

1. First I would tell my students that they are going to be creating Digital Stories on one of the 5 major Native American tribes in Utah. I will explain that the students will be divided into groups of four and each person in the group will have a job. Those jobs are, researcher, writer, narrator, and driver. 
2. I will tell my students about the importance of responsibility, and how each person must fulfill their jobs. I'll also explain that it's ok to help others with their jobs, but that doesn't mean to take over the job completely. I'll lead a discussion on why these things are important and we'll talk about what happens when these things don't happen. I will also relate it to their future careers for authenticity.
3. Students will create their Digital Stories on their assigned tribe. I'll walk around the classroom and monitor students' behavior and help them with their stories.
4. Students will blog about the activity summarizing what they learned about responsibility and working with a group.
5. Within the blog students will also answer two questions.
1. How well do they think they helped with the project?
2. How well do they think the other members in their group helped with the project?
6. As a class we will watch each of the Digital Stories. I will use them as my final assessment of my students' understanding of their assigned tribes.

Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Model

~Methods of Multiplication Review~

1. First I'll explain the Jigsaw model and what we do with it.
2. I will explain to the students that while we are working on this Jigsaw lesson, it's really important for the students to listen to each other. They want people to listen to them, so they should be respectful and listen to the others that are teaching too.
3. I'll group the students into their expert groups and home groups. The expert groups will need to be differentiated by ability. Each expert group will need a mixture of higher, middle, and lower math students.
4. Have the students get into their expert groups. Each expert group will be assigned a specific method of multiplication. They'll also have a video to watch that explains their method completely. Students will take notes on the video so they can teach their home groups. I'll also meet with each group and help them understand their method.
5. Students will teach their home groups. Each student will have a handout with different math problems that they must solve using each of the methods of multiplication. The handout will also have questions regarding how well students explained their method to their peers, and how well they listened when a different method was explained to them.
6. Students will now complete a quiz on their own that asks them to use a different multiplication method for each question.

Graffiti Cooperative Learning Model

~Rocks and Minerals Review~

1. The Graffiti questions students will answer during this lesson are:
1. What are the layers of the earth and what are they made of?
2. What is a mineral?
3. How many facts can you write about Sedimentary Rocks?
4. How many facts can you write about Igneous Rocks?
5. How many facts can you write Metamorphic Rocks?
6. What is weathering and erosion?
2. Students will be divided into six groups. They will be randomly grouped.
3. I'll explain the Graffiti process to the students.
4. I'll explain to the students that the social skill we'll be working on during this lesson is respecting others' ideas. I'll explain to the students why this skill is important and that while students are working with their groups, they need to be respectful of the ideas of the students in their groups.
5. Markers will be distributed to groups. The posters with the questions will be posted on the walls of the classroom.
6. Groups will answer questions. Rotating from question to question after a certain amount of time on each.
7. Groups will return to their original question and will summarize the answers. Students will create a presentation to share with the other groups. The students can choose from PowerPoint, Prezi, Powtoons, or some other similar technology to present. Students need to have their tech choice approved by me before they create their presentation. Students will be reminded of the social skill of being respectful of others ideas.
8. Students will share their presentations with the class. I'll reinforce the idea of being respectful of others ideas.
9. Students will blog a reflection of the activity explaining how well they contributed to the group and how well their group worked on respect.
10. Students will complete the formal Rocks & Minerals test.

Vocabulary Aquisition

Three Lessons for Vocabulary Acquisition Model with Technology.

1. Paleontologist
1. Introduce the word Paleontologist to the students. Walk them through spelling it on the board. Help them spell it correctly.
2. Have the students go to Answer Garden and answer the question, "What do you think Paleontologist Means?" Lead a discussion on the students guesses.
3. Break the word down into prefix and suffix. Look at the patterns it makes, especially the suffix -ologist.
4. Divide the students into groups and give them books that use the word Paleontologist. Have the students make note of where the word appears and what they think it means based on the context clues.
5. Have the students present their findings.
2. Place Value
1. Introduce Place Value to students. Walk them through spelling it on the board. Help them spell it correctly.
2. Ask the students to hypothesize the meaning of Place Value by adding a sticky note to a Padlet Board.
3. Explore the word by breaking it apart. Look at its synonyms and antonyms.
4. Watch a StudyJams video on Place Value.
5. Have the students answer the question, "What is Place Value?" on an exit card.
3. Summary
1. Introduce summary to students. Walk them through spelling it on the board. Help students spell it correctly.
2. Ask students to hypothesize the meaning of the word summary. Students can think-pair-share their hypotheses.
3. Explore the word and its components using Popplet. Create a class popplet. 
4. Watch a YouTube video about writing a summary.
5. Ask students if they want to add anything to our Popplet. Have the students answer the question, "What is Summary?" on an exit card.

Direct Instruction

Three lessons integrating technology and the direct instruction model.

1. Utah's Three Regions!
1. First I would introduce the lesson by explaining to my students that Utah has three different geographical regions. I would use a PowerPoint with pictures of the three regions.
2. Next I would show my students my pre-created arcgis map of Utah's three regions. It will already be separated and have pictures of the different regions.
3. Third, I would have the students open a new arcgis map. I will also open a new map and walk the students through separating one of the regions of Utah step-by-step.
4. Last, I would have the students separate the last two regions on their own. I'll walk around and answer questions and help the students with any problems they may have.
2. Fractions!
1. First I would introduce the lesson by telling my students that we're going to learn about fractions today. I'll explain to the students that they will be determining fractions from pictures, words, and numbers.
2. Next I'll present fractions to the students by showing a video from Scholastic's Study Jams that teaches students about fractions. Students can watch this video again and again.
3. Third I'll guide the students through several fraction problems in their math book. I'll have the same problems on the whiteboard and I'll walk the students through several. I'll ask a few students to come up and solve problems as well, giving them the opportunity to be the teacher.
4. Students will work on several problems independently. I'll walk around and answer any questions they may have.
3. Podcasting!
1. First I would introduce the lesson by explaining to my students that they are going to be radiostars! I'll tell them that they are going to be telling people about any topic they want on a podcast, which is radio on the internet.
2. Next I'll present a podcast to the students. I can present one that I've already created or one that was made by professionals such as Stuff You Should Know.
3. Third I'll show the students how to make a podcast by projecting Spreaker DJ on the board using my iPad and AppleTV. We'll make a podcast as a class about a topic that the class agrees on.
4. Divide the students into small groups and have each group create a podcast about an agreed upon topic.

Initial Course Goals for EDUC 6820

For this course I have three specific goals:

1. Create a unit that only uses technology. Every aspect of the unit incorporates tech. This will include the hook, lesson, and assessment.

2. Learn about a new technology and know how to use it in my classroom. I want to have a specific plan in mind so that when next school year comes, I will use it.

3. To become even more awesome than I already am.

Blog 11

Blog 10

How will you acquire technology for your classroom?

Now that I've written the proposal for the grants, I think that asking for grants is a great way to get technology into my classroom. I've already used donorschoose for other materials in my classroom, so I'm also going to use that.

How does the use of technology impact your classroom management strategies?

It definitely keeps me on my toes. I have to make sure that each student is on task and isn't trying to do their own thing on the computer. Many students can be quite sneaky. I also have to help students take care of the technology so that it isn't broken.

Why use technology if you always need a backup plan?

I use it because I enjoy it and I know the students enjoy it. I'm ok with having a backup plan when I can usually use the fun technology. :)

Blog 9

How does the combined backward design and technology-rich focus impact your unit design?

I loved it and I hated it. Ha ha! I loved the fact that it kept me focused and really made me think about what I was putting into my unit. It helped me see what would be worth using and what wouldn't. I really liked having the essential questions and then going back and making sure my questions really matched the core and that my students would actually be answering the questions with their performance assessment. I realized that my students wouldn't be answering all of the essential questions with the performance assessment. So I kept looking and digging until I figured out that my essential questions weren't as aligned with the core as I first thought. I struggled to put it all together, but I feel that by having the backwards design and technology as a focus really helped me to create a strong unit. Of course I know that it isn't perfect, and I'm excited to see what your thoughts are on it so that I can make it even better. :)