EDIT 2000

Today we begin our first Think Like a Teacher activity (henceforth referred to as: TLAT #1). TLATs are intended to help you think about how you can implement the tools you identify during the exploration tasks. For this project you’ll need to refer back to the Georgia Performance Standards, think about the communication and collaboration tools we learned, and information from Chapter 3. The final product will be a 2-3 page report that details a learning activity that you design for your grade/subject. This learning activity MUST incorporate a communication and/or collaboration tool (not necessarily the tool you used in the Exploration activity).

Usually, when planning a lesson, you must identify the end goal, steps to meet that goal, and what tools are necessary at each step. For instance – let’s suppose that you want to teach your roommate how to bake. In order to teach this lesson, you’ll need a recipe, cooking materials, and ingredients. Typically, you find that you make one cake with your roommate and they'll make the next one on their own. So, you'll have to:

1. Identify a skill (baking)
2. Determine how you will when the skill has been acquired (your roommate successfully bakes a cake on his/her own)
3. Identify necessary resources (recipe, ingredients, baking materials)
4. Model the skill (bake a cake with your roommate)
5. Have the learner demonstrate their understanding of the skill (your roommate bakes a cake with little or no assistance)
   
6. Assess the learning process (Does the cake look good? Does the cake taste good?)

Whether you're teaching in a classroom or you're teaching friends or co-workers about a new tool, the process is essentially the same. Regardless of the group of learners, they all have different experiences, levels of motivation, and abilities to be considered when designing the lesson. It's very likely that you've already taught someone how to do something. This activity will simply help you document a process that comes naturally.

Imagine that you have been asked to submit a proposal to do develop learning activities that use technology to improve the opportunities for communication and/or collaboration. Remember, NETS encourages students to use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Thus, lessons should encourage students to:

1. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
2. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
3. Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
4. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

Your proposal should consider the following points:

1. The activity should engage students in content learning by addressing GPS or other learning standards.
2. Technology should be used to promote one or more types of communication and/or collaboration described by the NETS.
3. The activity should allow every student to participate in and contribute to their group work with clearly defined roles.

Make sure that the proposal addresses all areas mentioned and reflect clarity of thinking as the lesson activity is developed.

We’ll be working on this project in class for several days, but it is due on Thursday, February 24 at 1:45PM  as a new webpage on your portfolio. To see how you'll be graded on this project, refer to the TLAT #1 Rubric.

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Let’s get our materials ready so you can start thinking like a teacher. Make a copy of the TLAT#1 Design Guide in your own Google Doc account to help you with this stage of the project. For today, we're only concerned with the first 3 steps in the doc.

For Thursday

1. Complete the first 3 sections of the Design Guide
2. Share your Design Guide doc with me
3. Explore samples in the textbook to come up with ideas for this project