Integrated Unit & Lesson Plan Reflection

I choose to present my sixth-grade Global Warming WebQuest/lesson plan because it was part of my integrated technology unit. I found that presenting part of a lesson was harder than presenting the whole lesson itself. During my presentation, I felt that I had to provide my audience with some background on what my “students” had already done and where they were going before I could begin my assignment of delivering part of the lesson. Being the first person to present was also tough because I did not have the opportunity to “follow” anyone’s lead or make adjustments to my lesson and presentation as I learned from other people’s presentations.

Successes: I believe that my lesson went well. I was clear in my role as a sixth-grade teacher, provided clear and simple oral and written instructions and managed the class properly. I was able to provide enough content/background knowledge so that students understood where I was going with the lesson, why it was an important topic and what was expected of them. I was pleased that the class was engaged with the WebQuest and enjoyed the links.

Areas to Work On/Weaknesses: I wish that I had more time to have students work on the WebQuest. However, due to the fact that I was assuming that the class was a group of sixth-graders, I had to role play and explain the process of the WebQuest before they could begin-- just like I would with a “real” class. This is what I would normally do with my students before starting any new task or assignment. All in all, the class did have a chance to play with the links on my WebQuest and even gave me a few helpful suggestions on how to improve the final product.

As for how the content and the pedagogical domains worked with the technological domain, I believe that the WebQuest lesson incorporated what my “students” had learned about global warming and created an opportunity for them to further their knowledge through a technologically based unit (WebQuest). The integrated unit and lesson allowed for students to role play, collaborate, expand their knowledge, reflect on their learning and collaboration process, apply new knowledge and synthesize what they have learned through the creation of a multi-media collaborative project and presentation.

TPACK: Using the TPACK model really helped as I began to plan my integrated unit, lesson plan and WebQuest. The model helped me establish and organize what I already knew (content knowledge), how I wanted to go about teaching the unit (pedagogical knowledge), as well as, helped me determine the best way to integrate technology into the unit (technological knowledge). TPACK really serves as a road map for teachers because it forces one to assess the goals and objectives of the lesson. I will definitely continue using it in the future.