Technology Supported Lesson Plan Reflection

I have never made one before, so making a technology-supported lesson plan was definitely a learning experience for me. I knew that teachers needed lesson plans to keep their schedule organized and to make sure to stay on task within a lesson, but I didn't know that lesson plans act as proof for the teachers' implementation of the ISTE standards and the State Education standards. I also learned that lesson plan templates are a huge help in organizing the lesson plans. Teachers already have enough work on their plate just trying to figure out how to create a successful lesson that meets all the standards and is interesting to the students without having to create the format of the lesson plan.

I think I got all of the ISTE and Idaho standards I needed for this lesson plan. I love Heart of Darkness, so it was fairly simple for me to think of a lesson plan involving the novella. I made sure we had an in-class discussion about the knowledge I wanted the students to have for their projects. The students were then asked to use technology by posting a video speech to their blogs. I think it was a pretty good integration of technology into a lesson plan in which I normally wouldn't have thought to use as much technology.

I would definitely have to adjust a few things after applying this lesson into an actual classroom. I'm not sure if the school in which I teach will have access to webcams, or will even have enough computers for my students to use. If the majority of my students don't have access to webcams outside of school, this lesson plan will probably have to be modified even more. Christine suggested the use of podcasts as an alternative to video speeches. I like this idea, and will have to research podcasts further (or just wait until we learn about them in class!).

This project shows that I know how to integrate the technology we are learning about into an actual classroom setting. I feel the actual application of these tools is the whole reason for taking this class, and I feel as though I've successfully executed this.