Tag: lesson plan

Kuwait, Professional Development

Introducing creation apps/programs in #IBPYP

Lissa Layman

In the fall two grade 3 teachers asked my colleague and I to introduce iPad apps to their classes. After some coaching, we decided to start with introducing the big ideas behind presenting information before the apps. We’ve done that (post coming soon) and now the classes are ready to go further with some practical application of Contrast, Alignment, Repetition and Proximity. But because I like to think big (and make more work for myself), I wondered what a lesson plan would look like for introducing any app to students.

Could we create a lesson plan that could be adapted by teachers/instructional coaches for any creation app/program (and would not be boring or repetitive for students)?

After doing some brainstorming with Andria based on Kath Murdoch‘s Inquiry Cycle, I drafted the lesson plan below. Anyone with the link is able to comment…looking forward to your warm and cool feedback!

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COETAIL, Course 2

Course 2 Final Project: 20 Questions

Lissa Layman

Another one bites the dust! We’re 2/5 of the way done with COETAIL. I’ll finish up my 4th year teaching (1st year international) and head back to the States for the summer in 22 days. Then it’ll start all over again in just over 3 months (plus I’ll be adding on courses for my M.Ed. in School Tech Leadership)!

Christina, Janette and Karen did a revamp of our school’s AUP last year for their course 2 final project. An edited version has been adapted at AIS so I chose to create a UbD lesson plan. Kelsey and I connected on Twitter and then invited Jeff to join us. It was an interesting experience to be working with 1 person in a different country and another person with whom I share an office. Although Google Docs worked well, it was sometimes a challenge to avoid miscommunications and ensure that the three of us were on the same page. I imagine these challenges would be present if we were in the same place but collaborating solely through a GDoc with limited real-time chatting may have exacerbated them.

I think our lesson has definite promise. It would probably be ideal for grades 7-9 and would take several class periods to complete. I do not currently have a classroom but would love to hear from anyone that uses/adapts our lesson plan with their students!

Many thanks to Jeff and Kelsey for being great partners 🙂

COETAIL, course 1

Course 1 Final Project: French + Tech

Lissa Layman

Although I’m not actually teaching French at the present moment, I wanted to go back and adapt some of the lessons I’ve done. In my classroom last year my students had access to Chromebooks, Google Apps for Education, iPads and iPod touches (yes, I know we were very fortunate!). I have done elements of this lesson in the past but never all together. I think my students got a lot out of the instant feedback & discussion that the Google Form provided them when doing their bellwork. I also had great success with speaking activities using video prompts and commenting on student writing (while they are writing it) with Google Docs. My students never blogged but if I went back to the classroom I’d really like to experiment with student e-portfolios using blogs or sites. I’ve also been inspired after reading Nicholas Provenzano to have my students create and others interpret. I really like how this idea can be adapted and molded to fit any content and grade level.

I can’t believe Course 1 is over already! Looking forward to Spring Break in Bangkok and Phuket 🙂