Today we talked about TPACK and how TPACK works in the classroom. We had a discussion about combining content, pedagogy, and technology into each lesson. I found it pretty easy to integrate technology into my lessons once I knew what the content was going to be and how I was going to teach that content to the students. I believe technology can be used all the time and I believe it enhances student learning and teacher strategies.
We also had the opportunity to go outside and take pictures focusing on position words. I think this would be a great activity for students when they are learning position words. Most people have a camera and all they have to do is take the camera outside and take pictures of people using the position words. This is a simple lesson which uses technology to enhance the lesson and create a fun learning opportunity.
We also created an I SPY picture with our 5-10 items we were to bring into class. I can not wait until we create the rhyming description to go with it and put all of the class pictures together to create the book. This would be a fun activity to use for any age level. They get the chance to work with technology, which would be the camera, and they have the opportunity to create their own description using rhyming words.
Both of these activities today where hands-on and fun. I think it is very important to create hands-on lessons to engage students in their learning and with technology it is easier to create hands-on lessons.
Venturing out of the classroom with digital cameras to capture position word pictures was indeed a meaningful activity. It is one thing to memorize a list of position words (prepositions) but performing the position words brings the content to a much higher level of understanding and connects students to the content in a meaningful way.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a fan of the “I SPY” series and I agree that it will be exciting to write the text and see the project come together.
I did enjoy taking pictures outside the classroom. I think we could make the position word activity into an assessment of sorts. I played a game with my preschool students using perspective. I had to set up the game every time and each time, depending on the level of the student, I had then describe in multiple ways the spacial relationship of the objects. I think my students would have LOVED going outside and taking pictures in this way and making a book out of it!
ReplyDeleteThe I Spy activity is actually a perfect assessment tool --- if they take the picture and label correctly you know students understand the meaning!! At least it appears they would. Keep thinking about TPACK and what makes that different than just thinking about integration....
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