What Can I Do?
If you want to begin using technology with your students, or you have been using technology and are ready to try something more challenging, these ideas can start you on the right track.

• I am just getting started. What can I do?
• I am ready to move to a higher level. What can I do?
• I want my staff to start using technology. What can I do?

I Am Just Getting Started. What Can I Do?

Find a commercial software program to use such as software from Tom Snyder , i.e. Decisions, Decisions; TimeLiner; Science Court, the Graph Club, etc.

Find and have students use an online activity such as a simple webquest or a scavenger hunt.

Find an online lesson plan or resource and modify or adapt it for use in your classroom.

Work with your team members to plan a technology-rich experience for your students.

Find a web site/page to embellish or supplement a lesson

Modify a current lesson or unit plan to include a technology application (more than just using a word processing program).

Use the UEN Rubric Creator or Rubistar to create a rubric for classroom use.

Explore one of the most effective teaching strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works and use one of the technology applications with your class.

Learn one new software application and share it or use it with students, i.e. Inspiration, Kidspiration, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Fireworks, a database program, etc.

When students are creating a project and have a choice of end products, include a technology application. AppleWorks Project Templates | Microsoft Templates

Learn something you don’t know such as importing pictures from the Internet, copying and pasting into a word processor, working with graphics, etc.

Have students share a multimedia presentation with the class or publish it in some way.

Using the UEN Tools WWW.Activities or the Lesson Plan Tool, create a lesson with web sites that students will access and use.

Explore the online resources at Pioneer.

Establish routines for technology use including seating, computer scheduling, traffic flow, getting help, peer tutoring, assessment, group management techniques, learning centers with computers, etc.

Experiment communicating with students through the use of school email.

Create a presentation to use with your students or faculty members. PowerPoint presentations created by teachers.

Use visual graphic organizing/concept mapping software (Inspiration/Kidspiration) for brainstorming, graphic organizers, and webbing. Inspiration Templates

Showcase student projects using an electronic resource, i.e. video project, web page, etc.

Take a class or participate in a workshop that emphasizes how to incorporate technology into the classroom. Jordan District Professional Development options.

Use a digital camera or a video camera with your class. Download the pictures into products, make a movie, etc.

Adapt a technology application or activity for special populations or students.

Create a topic hotlist (a list of web sites all related to a single topic.)

Create one of these web-based activities:Treasure or Scavenger Hunt; scrapbook; Web trip; subject sampler; or guided tour.

Learn one new trick each day or each week.

Keep a manual or a book handy and read just two paragraphs each day.

Include at least one technology goal on your annual growth plan. Then do it.

Invite one or more teachers to work with you in developing a unit of study that makes full use of the school’s technology resources.

Pair up with a teacher who loves technology.

Attend workshops whenever possible.

You don’t have to know the operation of each piece of equipment and each software title in order to teach it. Let your students learn by teaching themselves and each other.

To the top

Now I am Ready to Move to a Higher Level. What Can I Do?

Find and have students use an online activity such as a Webquest or ThinkQuest activity. Before you begin examine them closely to see if they incorporate higher level thinking skills.

Include the higher-order thinking skills of gathering, evaluating, analyzing, and presenting in a unit to which you have already added technology.

Work with your team members to plan a technology-rich experience for your students. This could be an experience that lasts for more than just a few days and incorporates more complex technology-based activities

Use the UEN Rubric Creator or Rubistar for student technology products/presentations.

When you are completing a unit and are giving students a choice of end products, include a technology option.

Have students, either alone or working in groups, create a multimedia project using KidPix, Appleworks, mPower, PowerPoint, Hyperstudio, Surweb, or Corel Presentations.

Have students share their technology product or multimedia presentation with the class or publish it in some way.

Investigate collaborative learning strategies, group management techniques, and routines and then implement a group technology activity.

Teach information literacy. Have students include online information in research, but establish and implement criteria so students do not just cut and paste from online sources.

Create a classroom web page. Follow JSD Policy Guidelines.

Try using technology for student productivity, problem solving, or concept visualization rather than using a drill and practice technology program.

Create a project in which you have students use spreadsheets, data bases, or graphic organizing/concept mapping software (Inspiration/Kidspiration) to analyze information, make inferences, and draw conclusion from an investigation or related inquiry.

Have students create performance tasks (posters, brochures, newsletters, timelines, spreadsheets, etc.) to demonstrate comprehension and higher-order thinking skills. AppleWorks Project Templates | Microsoft Templates

Have students create a portfolio that includes electronic performance tasks.

Use an electronic resource that addresses higher-order thinking skills (WebQuest, Tom Snyder software, multimedia project).

Showcase student projects using an electronic resource, i.e. video project, web page, etc.

Create one of these higher-level web-based activities: Web trip; subject sampler; guided tour; cyberinquiry; research module; Webquest.

Adapt any of the beginning activities to a higher-level. One of the hallmarks of a higher-level activity is the complexity of the thinking you ask students to do: analyze, synthesize, evaluate.

To the Top

I Want My Staff to Use Technology More Effectively. What Can I Do?

Experience with Internet-based resources that will support the core curriculum such as UEN, MarcoPolo, Learning Projects and Tools, etc.

Ways in which technology can be used for student productivity with performance tasks such as posters, brochures, newsletters, timelines, posters, postcards, trading cards, etc. AppleWorks Project Templates | Microsoft Templates

Internet resources which employ higher-level thinking skills, i.e. WebQuests, ThinkQuest, Tom Snyder software, multimedia projects, etc.

Using graphic organizing/concept mapping software for brainstorming, graphic organizers, and webbing (Kidspiration/Inspiration).

Creating web-based activities such as Treasure Hunts, Scavenger Hunts, scrapbooks, hot lists, Web trips, subject samplers, guided tours, cyberinquiry, task cards, etc.

Explore technology applications of the effective teaching strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works.

Have students create group multimedia projects using KidPix, Appleworks, mPower, PowerPoint, Hyperstudio, Surweb, iMovie, Corel Presentations., etc.

Basic skills such as importing pictures from the Internet, copying and pasting into a word processor, working with graphics, etc.

Effective student Internet research.

Using a digital or video camera and downloading the pictures into student projects or movies.

To the Top