1. Developing Teachers to Improve Unit Plans Using Technology
Welcome to our Integrating Technology PD. Today, we will be discussing ways to incorporate technology into any lesson. (For the purpose of this presentation, there are screen shots to assist in visual aids, whereas there would be a live presentation of these platforms during the PD session).
Evelyn Welch
Grand Canyon University: EAD-523
September 12th, 2018
Dr. John Gustafson

2. Agenda/Topics to Be Covered
Why Technology
The Lesson Plan
Brain Break
Lesson Activities for Mon-Fri
Technology that can be incorporated
Wrap up
Here is the Agenda for today so that you know what to expect from this PD. It might seem like a simple thing to do, but this is one way that you could incorporate technology into your classroom. Creating a simple agenda for the day, that can be up on the promethean will help your students stay focused. It can also ease some anxiety for students that need to know what to expect. (Read slide) As you can see, we will be discussing a week’s worth of lesson plans and each day, we will add something new to the lesson that involves technology. We will also be discussing how to utilize these platforms that will help make your lesson plans more engaging. While we will be utilizing a lesson plan unit that was designed for Language Arts, you can apply all of the strategies and platforms to all other content areas.

3. The Why of Technology
Instructional approaches and teacher quality play an important role in student achievement (Hegedus, Tapper, & Dalton, 2016).
Technology allows for proactive strategies that help us implement accommodations for students with disabilities (Nepo, 2017).
Our students that were born around or after 1980 have spent the majority of their lives surrounded by technology and have used technology for almost aspect of their lives (Larkin & Huett, 2013).
Before we can begin to understand how to incorporate technology into the classroom, we need to know why we would bother with technology in the first place. What does research say about it? According to Hegedus, Tapper, & Dalton (2016) What the teacher does and the measurable elements of the teacher’s background, preparation, and experience plays a role in student achievement. When we discuss preparation, this includes the addition or incorporation of technology. When we understand how to implement technology, the students have a much better chance of being successful. What about our students with disabilities and the students that are learning English for the first time? The use of technology helps up meet the diverse needs of our students (Nepo, 2017). We teach students that have spent their entire lives completely surrounded by technology (Larkin & Huett, 2013). It is pure ignorance to think that we could teach without utilizing something that is an every day normal for these students. Why not utilize something that they know and enjoy to help them learn?

4. Mission and Vision
We, as citizens of JIS K-8 Center, pledge to create a city within a school where students, staff, parents and community members work cooperatively to create an environment in which all students will discover their niche and realize their personal and academic potential. We pledge to create a city where there are no homeless, no rejected, no unwanted, and no resented. A city where every person is valued and every person's talents are needed. We pledge to create productive citizens for tomorrow by being productive citizens today.
In order to master our mission and see our vision come to life, we must make every effort to ensure that we are preparing the students to be successful in society. In the world today, nearly every job available requires the use of technology in one form or another. Even a simple job at a grocery store or restaurant, the employees will need to use a computer system or cash register to assist their customers. Or let’s say a construction job, guess what…technology is there too. What about a job as simple as a working for driving service? Yes, technology is there too. How can we prepare our students for a society that utilizes technology if we are limited to paper and pencils? It will simply never work.

5. The Lesson Plans
Learning Objective: The students will be able to identify, write, and use actions verbs correctly.
Vocabulary: verb, action word, predicate
ESOL and ESE Strategies: vocabulary, repetition, question and answer techniques, visuals, one-on-one assistance, simplification of text through diverse learning activities, kinesthetic activities, small groups, total physical response, vocabulary building
There are certain things that every lesson plan must include. Remember, we are going to be utilizing a lesson plan that was designed for a second grade language arts class. The lesson plans include activities for each day of the school week. As you can see, our objective for this week is related to identifying and using action verbs correctly. We have specific vocabulary that you want to introduce to your students as well as strategies to use for students that have ESOL or ESE needs. Nothing is more effective than differentiated instruction, so keep these strategies in mind as you work with your students.

6. Monday
The teacher will ask the students to watch as she performs an action (such as clap, march, jump, smile) and have the students guess what the action is.
The teacher will write the action words on the board and then explain that words that stand for actions are called verbs. Verbs are words that tell what is happening or what has already happened in a sentence. They are a part of the predicate of a sentence. Have students copy definition into notebook.
Write the following words on the board and have students copy/identify only the verbs: run, boy, bake, school, dog, wink, gate, clap, sit, fish, jump, bed.
Assessment: Students will identify the verbs from the chart above.
Home Learning: Students will complete a teacher created worksheet on verbs.
Let’s start by looking at Monday’s lesson plans. (Read slide). This is a reasonable lesson plan. However, we could make this lesson plan even more engaging and interactive with the use of a little technology. For example, instead of the teacher writing the words on the board, the teacher can project the words on the Promethean. The teacher can also use Brain Pop or Brain Pop Jr. to help explain the topic of verbs.

7. Brain Pop Jr. Brain Pop Jr. Verbs
You should have login information for BrainPopJr. If you do not have access, please speak to your grade level chairperson. For the purposes of this presentation, you can use Meadowlane for the username and password. Please be sure to request your access information from your chairperson. (Perform live presentation while providing directions) Once you get to Brain Pop Jr., you will search for the subject you need and click on the video clip that you want to share. You can not only share the videos, but you can also have the students complete an interactive quiz and you can also print out a version of these quizzes. This can be utilizes as an additional form of assessment for the students.

8. Tuesday Teacher will orally review the definition of a verb,
Handout- Verb: A verb is an action word/Verbs are Sweet.
Whole group will check answers.
Assessment: Students will evaluate their own work.
Home Learning: Students will complete a Teacher created worksheet.
On Tuesday, the teacher can provide a quick review of verbs. (Read slide) Or, the teacher can utilize additional resources that are available such as ClassFlow! We will discuss a little information about ClassFlow as it relates to this specific task. If you are interested in learning more about how to navigate and utilize ClassFlow, we will be hosted a PD on one of our mandatory PD days.

9. Class Flow Sign in with Clever Apps and Services
For those of you that have never used CLassFlow, it is available on your apps and services page of your Miami Dade County Public Schools Employee Portal. (Provide live demonstration). You will need to login using Clever and your MDCPS login information.
Apps and Services

10. Class Flow Marketplace Search for Verbs
Once you are there, you can search under MarketPlace for Verbs. You can limit your search to activities and by grade level like I did to make it easier to find exactly what you want.
Search for Verbs

11. Class Flow Connect your students!
Let’s Play! (This should be a live presentation on ClassFlow). For this activity, the students can categorize the words into nouns and verbs. This is a fun and engaging way to assess whether the students are grasping the concept. You can either have this as an interactive activity on the promethean, where the students get up to move the pieces or they can connect on their own computer or laptop using the code provided! If it is your day with the laptop carts, this is a great activity! You can even save the student’s responses and print them out for a grade.

12. https://app.gonoodle.com/discover
Brain Break
Go Noodle
Children are not the only ones that need a brain break…We do too! I think many of you know what Go Noodle is, but for those of you that don’t know, this is a website that provides fun and engaging brain breaks using movements and dances to help get out all of the jitters from your classroom. We are going to do one together now! Get up out of your seat and make sure that you have enough room to move around. I can guarantee that this will be a class favorite! (Complete a chosen Go Noodle Activity).

13. Wednesday Teacher will orally review the definition of a verb,
Handout – Recognizing Verbs
Whole group will check answers.
I hope you enjoyed your brain break. Let’s take a look at what is scheduled on the lesson plan for Wednesday. Remembering that Wednesday is a short day, there is only time for a short review. (Read slide)

14. Discovery Education Look for Verbs and limit to K-2nd grades.
Just like the ClassFlow, you can find Discover Ed on your Apps and Services page in the MDCPS employee portal. Begin on your homepage and search for the topic that you want, in this case verbs. Then, limit the grade levels to K-2nd to ensure that the video that plays is at the proper level for your students.
From your home page…Search for your topic.

15. Discovery Education Teacher’ Guide. Verbs in the Desert.
Since we are working on the Desert and Desert animals in Science and Social studies, the perfect video to show today is “Verbs in the Desert.” You can play the video and ask your own questions, or you can click on the link for the Teacher’s Guide. This link will open up a teacher’s guide that includes an entire lesson plan plus additional information that is helpful for quick reference. It also includes a list of the questions that are presented on the screen during the video.
So many choices….

16. Thursday Teacher will orally review the definition of a verb,
Handout: Verbs
Whole group will check answers.
Assessment: Students will evaluate their own work.
Home Learning: Students will complete a Teacher created review worksheet.
(Read slide) Thursday

17. Assessment Practice Brain Pop Jr. ClassFLow Discovery Ed Kahoot
Assessment is the best way to determine whether a student has gained the knowledge that you expected them to gain from the lessons that you have presented for them. Before you provide an assessment, it is important to provide a valid form of review. In order to do that, you can utilize any of the platforms that have been presented or you can introduce another platform such as Kahoot. This is an interactive website that can be played on cell phones, laptops, computers, and tablets. The teacher creates a quiz and the students have to answer the multiple choice questions. The student that answers the most questions correctly, and with the quickest time, will win the game. Any of these platforms will serve as a valuable form of assessment practice for the students before presenting the final assessment for the week.

18. Friday Review HL handout and review definition of verbs.
Teacher will administer test for grade.
It is time to asses and this can be done using any of the platforms described or through a teacher created test.

19. iReady Family Center Start with Reports…
From your iReady account, you can access the Family Center to help parents get connected. You can even change the settings to Spanish if you have parents that need assistance in Spanish. In our district, this is a very big need for the parents of students that have recently moved to the United States from Spanish Speaking Countries.
You can choose English or Spanish for the parents!

20. iReady Family Center
There is so much information available for each individual student. Again, you can change the settings to Spanish to help the parents better understand.

21. iReady Family Center You can choose Reading or Math
The Family Center is very easy to locate and can be shown quickly to the parents and/or guardians of the students. From this page, the parents can find all of the information that they need to help them understand how their child is doing and how they can help their child (children).
The Family Center has a lot of information, including Frequently Asked Questions.

22. Survey
PD Survey.docx
In closing, you are required to complete this survey in order to receive full credit for participating in today’s PD. Your feedback is very helpful and will allow us to make appropriate changes to future PDs. Thank you so much for being here today, we look forward to receiving your feedback.

23. References
Hegedus, S., Tapper, J., & Dalton, S. (2016). Exploring how teacher-related factors relate to student achievement in learning advanced algebra in technology-enhanced classrooms. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 19(1), doi: /s
Nepo, K. (2017). The Use of Technology to Improve Education. Child & Youth Care Forum, 46(2), doi: /s
Larkin, D., & Huett, K. C. (2013). Students' Engagement with Learning Technologies. Psychology Teaching Review, 19(2),