Last week, we learned about Heuristics.My definition: ways to make my life easier.
There are going to be a lot of decisions I’ll have to make as a teacher, and using a plan based my own personal and pre-determined heuristics will allow me to make these decisions wiser and faster. When incorporating technology into my classroom, I want to make sure that I am doing it to enhance my lesson and better serve my students, not just “check off” part of my 21 century skills requirement. We had to make an Infographic to show this process of choice, here is my first draft:
Basically, I want to make sure that anything I use is worth the costs that it comes with, and that it is an effective tool. That is, I want the technology to make my lesson the best it can possibly be. If those two requirements are met, then I examine what that technology is designed to do. Does it help students with phonics instruction, motivation, engagement, comprehension, vocabulary, word identification, self-monitoring, etc? How is it designed to help my students? I have to be able to see a clear purpose and benefit to it.
Finally, I will use the planning cycle to use the technology appropriately. That involves creating a specific instructional goal, outlining the tools and approaches needed to accomplish this goal, considering the contributions of the tools to instruction as well as the constraints, weighing the positives against the negatives, and carrying out the instruction. The planning cycle is driven by intentional reflection and planning for instruction. With any technology I use, I will have to reflect before, during, and after using it for my lessons to determine if it is the right choice.
Light the Fire 