Tuesday, August 9, 2011

When Planning a Lesson

Often times when I am speaking to teachers and administrators,  I become involved in conversations that blend technology, information and skills all together. When planning a lesson, there are three distinct things a teacher must keep separate when planning their lesson and/or unit.   The first one is information or content.  A teacher must ask themselves what is the most critical/important information their students need to know?  That information is available within the recent roll out of the national core curriculum and on recently released ACT/ SAT.  National Core Curriculum Link and ACT Preparation Site.

In recent years, with educators not knowing what careers will be available in the next five to 10 years,  it is crucial that within our classrooms we are building skill with the important information we have.  As we unpack what is expected of us in the national core curriculum one can easily see an emphasis is placed upon skill development.

Lastly, a tool is an instrument that is going to assist us in building skill and/or relaying relevant and important information.  For example, You Tube, Google Groups or + are tools and not skill or information but the instrument used to relay or develop it the other two areas.

I hope this helps when you are speaking to other individuals about successful technology integration.

Here is a video I created to go into more detail.





Thursday, August 4, 2011

How Flipping Supports Our Secretary of Education's Vision


I saw this video from Arnie Duncan on combining services and meeting the needs of the community.  I spoke about how the flipped classroom is a game changer.  Flipping allows all students the opportunity to learn in environments that are supportive. When watching the video please consider how the flip is more than just a movement, it is how we should be supporting our students and their learning.  We are transitioning as a society and our schools are failing.  I feel that the reason they are failing is because we have not properly adjusted our delivery practices to meet the needs of our students.  He makes several points..