Presented by: Groups 6&7 Teri, Kate, Susan, Jen & Julie Chapter 5 Question 4 Presented by: Groups 6&7 Teri, Kate, Susan, Jen & Julie

Mr. Emerson vs. Technology

TECH-PACK in Action: Analyze a Scenario Mr. Emerson wants his students math grades to improve and has been told about the use of interactive whiteboard activities that use game formats such as Jeopardy for practicing math concepts.

Tech-PACK Components What is Known What Must be Learned Technology Mr. Emerson has learned about Smart Board activities in game format (such as Jeopardy) that teach math concepts from a colleague. - Mr. Emerson currently has a Smart Board in his classroom but only uses it for his PowerPoint presentations.   Mr. Emerson must first learn, himself, how to prepare and feel comfortable with these activities before he can expect his students to find success with them. He needs to become familiar with the interactive whiteboard activity software called Notebook. -Notebook will give the lesson the interactive qualities. For example, the teacher may use Notebook to develop a lesson that allows students to move objects around or touch the screen to enter an answer of a math question. -There are many free downloads to those who purchase a whiteboard and there are also lesson plans available in sites such as ABCTeach or TeacherVision.

Pedagogy -He is viewed as a successful teacher. -Most of his students enjoy his class and make good grades -He cares about how his students are doing in his course. -A colleague told him that his students find review games such as Jeopardy on the Smart Board engaging and motivational so Mr. Emerson is hoping the same will be true for his students.   -the students must feel these activities are helping them in order for them to be motivated. -Mr. Emerson may want to go beyond the Jeopardy game and find an activity that best fits his group. -Mr. Emerson can use the following site to offer his students some engaging and challenging bell work activities on the SmartBoard: http://www.mathvizza.com/lessons/algebra2_5/.

Content -Mr. Emerson feels confident in his ability to grasp the concepts of applied mathematics, even though teaching ninth grade is his second career, after previously being an accountant. -He sometimes has to review algebra and other topics before teaching them to his students. -These are the topics his students are having the most problems with. -He wants to make sure his students are ready for the end of course state test and is looking for ways to help his students review. - Mr. Emerson needs to spend some time reviewing the areas he finds hard to teach so that he will be better able to teach it. This could also help his students have more success. -Since he has some difficulty with algebra content, he will be better able to teach it. He will personally understand some of the problematic areas.

Part B Identify the context and logistical issues in this situation that he must address to implement this new strategy effectively in his classroom.

Mr. Emerson has only used the whiteboard for PowerPoint presentations so far; therefore, he might need to have some training on how to use the whiteboard interactively.

The Jeopardy Game is an interactive math game with a large variety of free software available for students to play individually or in groups. Mr. Emerson would have to learn how to use the Jeopardy software correctly. Fortunately, there are many examples of the game being played online which he can use as tutorials. He would have to decide if he wants to use it as a group or individually for select students. The Jeopardy games allow you to save templates so the teacher can design the game according to levels of the students.  

He would have to measure the effectiveness of the game on his student’s knowledge. For example see what they knew before and then test them after they have been doing the game for a few days. This would allow him to measure if the technology is increasing the student’s math skills.

Flash Jeopardy games were designed by a teacher for use in the classroom as a SmartBoard review. He can play the game offline if he does not want to run into technical difficulties. He will just need to download the free Jeopardy Player and create a special folder for any games he acquires. If he is not sure how to create a new game he can find a demonstration clip that will walk him through the process of making, saving, and playing a Flash Jeopardy game.  

Since he is already used to PowerPoint he will find the Flash version quicker and much easier than the tediousness of changing many PowerPoint slides.