Productivity Tools

Productivity Tools Project
Now that you have begun to build a foundation in state and national content standards and levels of technology implementation, it is time to begin putting together your classroom. You'll use various productivity tools: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to prepare materials for your class.Use the link to the productivity tools project description to get the specifics on the deliverables you will be expected to create.

Before you begin working on your materials, you'll sit in on a short lesson on using templates to streamline your work. On Tuesday, you'll have a short seminar on analyzing survey data in Excel and using drawing tools to create classroom layouts. With these sessions, you'll have all of the tools and resources you need to complete your task by Tuesday, January 31.

For Tuesday:
Look over the available templates and begin working on your productivity tools project.

LoTi and Standards

Contrasting Viewpoints
After viewing the Mabry Middle School site - what examples of technology use did you find? What responses could you give to the Stoll and Prensky articles? Is there always one right answer?

How does the Roblyer article help support uses of technology in K-12 classrooms. Is "fun" reason enough for using technology?

Curriculum Standards
Technology integration aside, how do teachers know what to teach? How do they know what students should learn? Every state has standards and every content area has national standards. There are even standards for technology integration. Georgia is transitioning from Quality Core Curriculum Standards (QCC) to the Georgia Performance Standards. You'll want to become familiar with the state standards for your content area and grade level.

You'll also want to be familiar with the ISTE standards for technology integration -- this course, and all of your projects, are based on these standards.

Levels of Technology Implementation
Once you know what content you should address for your subject and grade level, how do you know what types of activities to inclue? Look inside of an elementary school that integrates technology into its curriculum. Using the Levels of Technology Implementation to quantify what is going on in a classroom is a good way to begin. You'll be referring to these levels, along with standards, in all facets of your project work.

For Thursday
1. Print a copy of the standards for your subject area/grade level.
2. Based on your standards, type a response to the following questions. Bring a copy of your standards and your response to these questions to class on Thursday

*Why did you chose this content area/grade level?
*In general, what is the content focus for your grade level?
*What surprised you about your standards?
*What specific standards address the needs of the "digital generation"?
*What specific standards lend themselves to technology integration?What is it about them that causes you to determine this?
*If you were actually teaching this content area/grade level what would you want your students to know and be able to do? What would be your priorities? What would you want them to remember from your class?