You may be the Technology Specialist, the Coordinator for Instructional Technology, IT Coordinator, Technology Director or the technology teacher for your school–tasked with finding the right computer project for each K-6 classroom unit. You have a limited budget, less software, and the drive to do it right no matter the roadblocks. How do you accomplish your job?
You are just as likely to be the classroom teacher, tech enthusiast, with a goal this year—and this time you mean it—to integrate the wonders of technology into classroom lessons. You’ve seen it work. Other teachers in your PLN are doing it. And significantly, you are trying to comply with the requirements of Common Core State Standards and/or IB guidelines that weave technology consistently into the fabric of all units of inquiry as a method of delivering quality education. How do you reach your goal?
Try this book:
How Technology Can Jump-Start the Inquiry-based Classroom:
There are thirty-five lessons, broken down by grade level as follows:
- Kindergarten—7 lessons
- First Grade—10 lessons
- Second Grade—10 lessons
- Third Grade—12 lessons
- Fourth Grade—16 lessons
- Fifth Grade—17 lessons
- Sixth Grade—12 lessons
Did you count more than thirty-five? That’s because many lessons are appropriate (with some adaptations) for multiple grade levels.
Each lesson includes practical strategies for integrating technology authentically into core classroom lessons. They are easily adapted to any number of subjects, be they science, literature, history, or another. The focus is on easy-to-use online tools (with some exceptions) that are quick to teach, inquiry-driven, intuitive, and free. You introduce the tool, demonstrate the project, answer clarifying questions, and let your students’ curiosity loose.
Do you need this book if you bought the K-6 Technology Curriculum with its 32 lesson for each grade level? In fact, this book was originally intended for you. The hundreds of schools across the country that use that curriculum asked for it. Why?
- Their school didn’t have some of the software suggested in the textbook (say, MS Publisher)
- Their classes finished a lesson earlier than planned.
- They needed 34 lessons instead of 32 (many schools have longer years than the book allowed for)
- Their school aligned with Common Core State Standards, which meant they needed more lessons that required publishing and collaborating
- There was a particular unit of inquiry that wasn’t addressed in either the curriculum or toolkit
- They wanted more web-based tools and less traditional software
Some had been using the curriculum for several years and simply wanted change.
If you’d like to be notified when it is available, click here.
Projected availability: Mid-July.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade, creator of two technology training books for middle school and three ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.