scenarios


 * __Consider the following questions as you read:__**
 * Is this a good use of technology? What could be better? What would you do (be very specific) to help raise the quality of integration? Are there web 2.0 tools, or other more recent resources that might make this scenario a higher-order use of technology? If you were teaching this lesson, or a similar one, what would you do differently? Be prepared to give concrete examples which would directly help a teacher alter this lesson in the future, to make it even more "higher-order." Please go beyond the, "I would make it more hands on" type comments - you need to be specific, give us details, provide specific feedback to get a lesson headed in a solid direction. Assume this is a teacher that really needs your concrete direction.**

__**Scenario One**__ **(Elementary)** When Mr. Smith starts a geography unit with his students on the “Continents & Oceans of the World”, he uses the website Trudy’s Time & Place House. Throughout the course of the unit, he has students work at various stations. At one of the computer stations, he allows two students at a time to visit Trudy’s Time & Place House. Mr. Smith knows that his students have been using the computer since kindergarten and that many of them have developed proficiency at home, so he trusts that they will be able to figure out how the website works on their own. The fact that they are working in pairs seals his decision that there is no need to introduce the website prior to the children using it independently. He sets no parameters on which activities the children do and there is no system of accountability; students simply go to the computer when their turn comes up and play games at the website. He figures that at least he is using a site that is relevant to what the students are studying, so that’s enough integration. Unbeknownst to Mr. Smith, many children spend their computer time playing the clock game or working with the calendars when their focus is supposed to be the geography portions.

To reinforce her students’ knowledge of the parts of speech and to give them a chance to practice some database skills they had just learned, Ms. Lindy decided to create some mad lib stories for her students. She adapted a story from an old “Mad Lib” book and then created a database with a field for each missing word. She took the class to the lab and modeled for her students how to fill in the fields of the database and mail merge them into the word processed story. As she expected, the students found the results hilarious!! Everyone wanted a printout of their story! So Ms. Lindy created several more databases with corresponding stories and allowed her students to take turns using them during their Writers Workshop time in Language Arts class. Sharing the funny stories from the Author’s Chair became a favorite activity in her class, even enticing some of the more reluctant writers to come forward. To extend the enthusiasm for practicing their grammar skills, Ms. Lindy took her class to the lab and introduced them to the “Wacky Web Tales” section of the web site called The Education Place. Once again, students were allowed to take turns using this site to fill in parts of speech and create wacky tales during class. Some even wanted to take the url home so they could share the fun with their families.
 * __Scenario Two__** **(Elementary)**

__**Scenario Three (Secondary)**__ To spice up a sometimes dull unit on economics, Mr. Cortez introduced the business simulation, The Ice Cream Truck to his sixth graders. He had worked with the language arts teachers, as well as the other math teachers to see if he could come up with a project that would address a number of standards, so he could keep this project running for a while. The students worked in teams to name their business, paint their truck, and choose posters and music for advertising their ice cream products. Each team received a Business Ledger Excel spreadsheet (prepared by Mr. Cortez) which they were to use throughout the simulation to keep records of their expenditures, their sales, and their profits. Once everything had been explained and demonstrated, the teams were allowed to start using the Ice Cream Truck program. At the end of each business week, they had to analyze their week and fill out a report. Mr. Cortez periodically called a meeting of the “Better Business Bureau” (away from the computers) to give the students a chance to share their learning with each other. At those times, he made a point of introducing/reviewing SOL economic terms the students had learned in previous years such as producer, consumer, inventory, cost, price, division of labor, supply/demand, profit. During their work time, students used the spreadsheets to help them keep inventory and financial records. Twice during the project, teams were audited by the IRS (Mr. Cortez) & fined if they were not keeping accurate records. They had the option of writing an appeal letter to reverse the fine. At the end of the project, Mr. Cortez merged all the spreadsheets to determine which team’s business had the most success. That team was rewarded with free ice cream! He is planning a similar unit on different SOL.

__**Scenario Four (Secondary)**__ Mr. LaPointe has been searching for web-based resources to help him teach geometric transformations to his 10th grade geometry class. In his five years of teaching, he has discovered that spatial reasoning can be a very difficult concept for many students to grasp. While he really likes the text series available to him in his geometry class, he knows that trying to learn 3D concepts from a static 2D page is part of the problem. In conducting his own search of the Internet for interactive math and science resources, he recently discovered the Shodor Education Foundation’s Interactivate website. After previewing many of the available applets and lesson suggestions, he’s identified two different tools that will help him introduce the different types of geometric transformations to his students. The first tool, Transmographer, will help him illustrate how to plot basic shapes on the Cartesian coordinate system and then demonstrate how to translate, rotate, or reflect that shape. He really likes this tool because it only uses three basic shapes and it only works on reflecting across a vertical line - perfect for the students to get a general introduction. Mr. LaPointe demonstrates this on his Smart Board several times to review.

Once the students appear to understand the transformations using the Transmographer tool, he intends to introduce the Transmographer 2 tool that allows for more difficult applications of transformation. He realizes he could save class time and just introduce the harder tool right away, because it will offer all the same features of the easier tool; however, he knows that the tool might get in the way of his students’ learning if they are confused by the many options. One of the other features of the Interactivate website that Mr. LaPointe really appreciated, was the “what?”, “how?”, and “why?” buttons available with each tool. As he was exploring the website and evaluating the resources, he found these buttons to be extremely helpful in getting him to think about his teaching of these concepts – especially, his goals and reasonable objectives. The information gathered from exploring these buttons really helped him focus his instructional use of these tools. He especially appreciated the suggested open-ended exploration questions that were provided when he visited the “what?” button. In fact, he printed them out and used them to guide his questioning and instructional direction when he introduced the tool to his students.

Ms. Carlisle’s 10th grade English class really needs help with their research skills. She has noticed that when they do research, they just go to Google, use the first link available, then copy whatever information is there. She knows they can do better. She decides to check out a laptop cart, and assign the students a research project. Each student must create a biography on a famous author, and include the typical components – background, personal information, noted works, life and death. Students can share more if they can find it. She provides a rubric and a template for them in Word. The students need to fill in each component, and cite their sources using [|http://citationmachine.net]. She feels like she has guided them enough to understand the basics. She still thinks, though, for 10th graders, they could really do so much more. Maybe next year…
 * Scenario 5 (Secondary)**