Practicum Project Idea

For my practicum project I will be doing a geometry review lesson. I will do this on Thursday. I found a PowerPoint Jeopardy Template on line and I am designing questions for the students to answer to review the geometry concepts they have learned throughout the year. I think this will be a great lesson especially at this time of year when the students are getting ready for their end of year tests!

Technology Lesson Idea

In my class, we are reviewing for the math core tests. I think that it would be really efficient for my class to have a review that they could re-visit to help them remember what they need to for their tests. I think that I would have the students take pictures of the main points they are learning. I would load the pictures onto photostory. Then, the students can record their voices explaining the concepts they have learned throughout the year. This would give the students a visual way to remember what they need to for their core tests! The teacher can use the laptop and projector to show the kids the review (they share a laptop and projector in each grade at my school).

Technology Inventory

It was surprising for me to see the technology that was available to the students in my school. As far as technology in the actual classroom, they were pretty limited. The only computer in the room is for the teacher at her desk. They have an old-school projector (which they use quite often) and calculators for each student. In the school, they have two computer labs available for the students to use. Each lab has 30 PC computers in it. Each grade level has a laptop and projector that is available to them. My class does not use technology very much (except for the projector). It will be exciting to introduce technology when I do a lesson with technology. I am worried that it will be more difficult than I expect.

Virtual Tour Link

Here is the link for my Virtual Tour!

http://sites.google.com/site/utahvirtualtour/Home/utah-virtual-tour

TPACK for Google Earth

Content: The content I am using comes from the Utah State Core:
4th Grade Standard
Social Studies 1.1
Classify major physical geographic attributes of Utah.
The students will also be learning about the significance of some of the sites they will explore in Utah.

Pedagogy: The pedagogy used in this lesson is very interactive and independent. The students will be able to go through this virtual tour on their own. They will be able to explore at their own pace. I think that this is effective pedagogy because the students will be able to take control of their own learning. They must complete the stated criteria, but if they would like, they can continue to explore the wonderful and diverse geographic attributes of Utah. I think that this is a good fit with the content being taught because the the students will be held accountable for obtaining the information about physical geographic attributes of Utah while they are independently exploring an interactive map of the world.

Technology: This lesson would not exist without the technology. The students will view a virtual tour from Google Earth designed by me. This virtual tour will show the student diverse physical geographic attributes of Utah. Google Earth is a wonderful tool to help the students realize how complex and diverse our earth is. This tool ties in to the pedagogy of the lesson because the students are able to move at their own pace through the tour and they get to take more from the experience than is required than they have to. This style of teaching helps students be intrinsically motivated to take control of their learning. The technology is a great fit with the content of the lesson because Google Earth is an interactive and accurate map of the world and specifically Utah. Because the students will be able to view terrain levels and close up satellite views of the diverse destinations, the students will get a more realistic experience than they would if they were to look at still photos.

Virtual Tour Plan

Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1Balanced Rock	In the first activity I will have the students look at a picture of Balanced Rock in Arches National Park.	Measure how high it is from the tip of balanced rock to the ground.
2.Dead Horse Point State Park	For the second activity, the students will read about Dead Horse Point in Wikipedia and look at a picture of Dead Horse Point Lookout.	The students will measure the narrow neck of land that leads to Dead Horse Point.
3.Mount Timpanogos	Read the Wikipedia Article. Record how high the highest peak is.	Watch a path of photos from near the summit of Mount Timpanogos.
4.Bonneville Salt Flats	Notice how flat and large this area is.	Read the Wikipedia Article about the Bonneville Salt Flats and their many uses.
Details of image overlay / path / polygon:	The student will follow a path of 5 photos from near the summit of Mount Timpanogos.

Mother Goose