Blog Post #3

My idea for a 4th grade Language Arts lesson plan incorporating technology, would be for my students to do a book review with a powerpoint presentation. First, I would break them into groups of 4 and assign a moderate chapter book for each group to read over a week. After reading certain books, I would have them research on the internet ten different facts about the author to include in their slideshow. Then they would have to make a Powerpoint explaining to audience the conflict, characters, theme, and resolution (along with the facts about the author). On their Powerpoint they will have to add clipart images, images of their book from the internet, and altogether make their slides creative and presentable. Having them create a Powerpoint and then teach their story to others is a great learning mechanism that really helps children to remember the material. Powerpoint is a beneficial tool that lets the students be creative and independent.

The internet can be a risky tool and has it's disadvantages as well. Luckily I am going into Elementary Education so abusing the internet won't occur as likely than say in middle and high school classrooms. But just in case, I will always make sure to walk around and be alert to what each student has on their desktop. Kids can be very sneaky and can hide things as you walk by so I will be sure to interact with them and look at each project thoroughly. For my age group, I imagine my students will be trying to log onto game websites while they are supposed to be working. It concerns me that my students might be using the internet inappropriately but if I keep attentive and constantly am walking around the students should know to stay on task.

This site is free and allows students to play educational games, earn tickets, and then win prizes. Also you can donate your tickets to your school and raise money for them. As a teacher this is a good website to use and then when they get a certain amount of tickets you can also reward them with a simple prize. I thought this site was very interesting and definitely looked fun for kids!