TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW

In this globalized new world, technology has taken over every home, every street and even every classroom. Teachers are facing completely new ways of teaching that in most cases- ease the task of presenting students with new concepts that they will use. However, in order to understand how to get in touch with these new elements that have invaded our classrooms it is very important to understand what technology means. When people hear about technology they immediately think of a computer, a smartphone, a wide screen TV or any other devices. Nonetheless, people are not aware that the word technology refers to every useful object or tool that human kind has invented in order to ease the task of living. Therefore, when we talk about technology in the classroom we can comfortably link this word to all the elements we use every day. In fact, when we think of technology as a better way to do things we can bring this feature to the classroom. We have a 100 pages notebook that is better than a 50 pages copybook, we use pens that are better than pencils; nowadays teachers use whiteboards instead of blackboards which have lessen the risk of suffering any respiratory disease, and so on. So, whenever you are using a common element in the classroom you have to be aware that you are making use of technology. Consequently the question does not remain in what objects you use in the classroom in order to say that you are using technology, but it remains in how you are using those objects. Classrooms may be provided with the last versions and the best brands of 21st century devices, but if a teacher does not know how to use them, he cannot say that he is making use of technology. If a teacher forgets how to use the classical flashcards or the useful whiteboard and asks the students to throwaway their copybooks in order to replace them with devices such as iPads, and he does not even know how they work; then he is not making a use of technology. Although a teacher has at hand the last devices, he must know how to make them useful for the purposes of his classes; otherwise he should remain using the classical technology until he feels comfortable in finding a way of adapting new technology to his teaching methods. Therefore, technology in the education field must be understood as a way of easing the teaching task. Do not let yourself become one of those few cases that find technology as an obstacle to develop comfortably your teaching sessions, instead of finding it as the best way of providing your students with all the knowledge you have. MICHAEL MNDEZ GRANADOS

TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY LESSON PLAN APPLIEDD TO TECHNOLOGY PRE-SERVICE TEACHER SCHOOL LESSON TOPIC Michael Mndez Granados Marco Tulio Fernandez. Section D. Lets watch cartoons. Fables through videos 2 hours 5th *Students use the information related to the components of a fable in order to identify the main idea of a fable presented as a cartoon. *Students identifie the characters of the video using the known vocabulary related to animals. *Students identify the main situation of the video and describe it using the known vocabulary related to verbs and actions. *Students identify the main idea of the video and the moral that it gives. General description: the teacher will use the computer and video-beam or head projector in order to present the students with a fable in a video format. The fable will be presented as a cartoon that lasts 12 minutes. The video is available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGCvtuPqXvQ CLASS STAGES Pre-watching Before presenting the students with the video, the teacher will provide them with the title of the fable/video: The lion and the mouse. He will ask the students some questions that lead to prediction such as Do you think the lion and the mouse are friends? Is the lion an evil character? Is he going to eat the mouse? What do you think the story is about? These questions will

LESSON LENGTH GRADE CLASS OBJECTIVES

watching

Post-watching

allow the students to limit the settlement of the video they are going to watch. Then the teacher will present the video. He will be stopping the cartoon at the end of every important scene in order to ask questions about the characters, the events and the development of the story. This will allow the students to understand what they are watching in order to get the context of the story. Once the video is finished, the teacher will provide the students with a workshop in which they have to develop several activities that will help them to confirm the predictions they made on the pre-watching stage and to assess their comprehension of the fable. Once the students are done with their task the teacher will play the video once again in order to review the questions and the exercises of the workshop. This video will be presented along with a text containing the fable. The procedure described in this lesson plan is a support of a lesson based on the development of reading skills.

Comments.

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES TO EVALUATE LEARNERS There will be three aspects to be taken into account in the assessment of the class. Concepts acknowledgement, performance and attitude.

Concepts acknowledgment

This item will be assessed according to how the students identify and recognize the different elements and characteristics of a fable and relate them to the known vocabulary they find in the text. 1-2 The student cannot identify the elements of that compose the fable, nor relate them to the known vocabulary. The student identifies some of the elements of the fable but cannot relate some of them to the known vocabulary. The student identifies the elements of the fable and relates them to the known vocabulary in order to understand the main idea of the text.

3-4

4-5

Performance This workshop has its own way of assessment, for it has concrete activities to be developed by the student. Moreover, pronunciation and orthography will be assessed in quality and not in quantity throughout the different stages of the class.

Attitude Students would be graded by their participation, and on how did they communicate to their classmates and teacher by giving and receiving information about the known words of the fable.