Integrating Technology Tanis Seats EDU /03/16

What evidence did you see and hear by watching Mr. Pronovost Differentiating Instruction Through Interactive Games that supports what has been learned thus far regarding setting & communicating learning objectives, using the gradual release model, giving feedback, and assessment?  Before the students are divided into groups for computer time and instructional time with the teacher, Mr. Pronovost goes over his expectations with the students explaining what he expects students to receive before moving forward. He states the students need to do 3 games and get an 85% in order to move forward to DreamBox.  This allows the students to understand what they are supposed to do and what the teacher expects from them. Allowing the students to use technology into their lessons guides the students toward using different skills, strategies, and procedures independently. This also allows the students to assume more responsibility with less help from the teacher. The computer program gives the students immediate feedback, unlike the teacher walking around trying to assist each student and provide each student with their own feedback.  Incorporating technology into the lesson also allows for the teacher to work with a small group of students and assist those students with the one-on-one attention that they may need. Mr. Prononvost states he assess his students every 6-8 weeks to reassure they have improved from when school started until then.

 Mr. Pronovost incorporates technology into his lesson by allowing students to work independently on their laptops and IPods, while Mr. Pronovost works with a small group doing more one-on-one instruction with the students. I believe using technology to promote differentiated instruction is great!  During my time as a co-teacher, we incorporated math and reading computer games into our lessons. My co-teacher had a small group and taught her lesson to the students, I had a small group of students to reinforce the lesson that she taught, we had another group working independently on an activity, and we had another small group working on the computer on their lessons. We did this every day and would rotate into groups every 25 minutes. All four stations were different but allowed for different instruction for each students learning styles. How does he specifically structure his lesson to incorporate technology? How does using technology promote differentiation?

What evidence is there of varying levels of cognition? Identify the levels of Depth of Knowledge (DOK) you observed students reaching during the various stages of the lesson.  The levels of DOK that I observed during Mr. Pronovost’s lesson were Level 1: Recall and Reproduction. During the beginning of the lesson, Mr. Pronovost ask his students about a math problem and he ask is it addition or subtraction. Level 2: Skills and Concepts, the students had to think about the math problems Mr. Pronovost gave them. This made students think about the approach they wanted to take using their problem solving skills. Level 3: Strategic Thinking: the math games provided students with problems that promoted more abstract thinking. Level 4: Extended Thinking: students are gathering and analyzing the information from the games. I believe this method allowed students to use the most complex cognitive effort.

 I believe this type of learning environment builds students confidence not only in math but in themselves. The students are able to retain more information because they are learning through technology. I know firsthand my students were excited about computer time and moving to the next levels on their games. They also were able to explain math problems to me because they retained the information better than just learning it from the book and doing a worksheet or formal exam after every chapter. How do you believe this type of learning environment makes students feel about their capabilities with math? Why?

References  tech-to-learn-differentiated-instruction-interactive-games-video