Tech in Lesson Plans

The students would be using this website to show with online manipulative’s how to solve simple addition problems with sums less than ten. Instead of using the doc cam just to show the manipulative’s they would be able to use this poster board website to display their work before they use the of doc cam to physically show the addition happening.This would help incorporate more technology for the students and also getting use to showing and solving math in a variety of different ways.

The site that I want to incorporate into the lesson plan that I have already created is the free online poster board. The site is free and basically functions as a paper poster board would but with much more access to materials. This website would help meet a variety of different NETS Standards. First it would help meet under Creativity and Innovation, letter c which states ” Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.” The students would be using a model (poster board) to show how they did their math problem. Another standard it would meet is under Research and Information Fluency letter C which states “Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.” The student’s would need to know how to use the poster board website successfully in order to complete the task they are given. This website would also meet the standard that falls under Digital Citizenship letter b which states “Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.” The students would be presenting their poster board that they have created with their math problems on it to the class. They would be working in a group collaborating and it would be essential that they had positive attitudes so that they worked well together and came together productively. The last and final NETS standards that this piece of technology helps meet is under Technology Operations and Concepts letter b which states “Understand and use technology systems.” The students would not only need to know how to use the website, but they would need to not how to use a computer and the internet.

Some prerequisites that would need to be dealt with before class would be making sure that everyone in the classroom has joined the free account and can easily and knowledgeable access their account. Also, as the teacher you should be able to do pretty much anything and everything on the website. If a student has a question while creating their online poster board with their math problem, you should be able to answer it with ease and not much time. Another prerequisite idea would to actually use the online poster board in your other classroom activities before they actually have to. That way they get use to seeing it and get a feel for how it works.

The website is good for a few different reasons. One, it is bias free. Another is that each of the functions on the website are easily accessible. Another great thing about this website is that it is free. Who doesn’t love free? Especially for teachers who are working with a small budget. One other great thing about this website is that it saves paper. Instead of using a huge piece of poster board, that the students nor you are ever going to look at, you can use this online version and not waste any paper. It also saves money for the student’s parents so that they do not have to go buy supplies to make a poster board.

The negative aspects of this website mostly have to do with the accessibility for different age level of students. If you are working with smaller children, it is possible for them to use this, but they are going to have to have a lot of instruction before hand. If you show this website to fifth graders for example, they are going to need less guidance and will be able to figure things out on their own. Another negative of the website is that it does not give much instruction of how to use it. More than likely the teacher would need to help the students learn how to navigate through the website. Maybe even doing an example problem on the online poster board before hand would help. It creates more work for the teacher because they would have to help the students understand what each of the buttons do and how they work. In the long run, it would be worth it because the students’ could use this website for the rest of their lives.

I think that without any guidance from the teacher this website would be great for Grade 5 and onwards. With teacher guidance, I think that this website could be used at any grade or age level. Not only would this website help with content material but it also helps with hand eye coordination, working with technology that is similar to many technologies around us. It is never too young to open the world of technology to our classrooms. They have to start somewhere.