My main takeaway from using the TPACK diagram to help me look at the ways I can incorporate technology into my lesson planning is that it's really important to stick to the content you are trying to teach your students. This is why I think it's important to understand the objectives you want to address first. You need to ask yourself, "What do I want my students to understand by the end of my lesson?" before you start planning how you are going to teach the lesson and go into the logistics! While technology can be fun to work with in the classroom, it can also be distracting and unnecessary at times. By getting a good understanding of what you're trying to teach, you're setting yourself up for the types of technology that can be of use to you and your students! So instead of saying, "I really want to work with robotics this week with students so let me try and figure out how to work robotics into this week's lesson plan".... I need to step back and ask myself if the technology is really enhancing or supporting student learning. I need to look at the content I want to be covered first and see if the technology aligns with that content. If the answer is no it's not, then I need to push robotics to the side and figure out a different way to reach my students! I think this contributes to being a good "designer" for your classroom!
I feel most creative looking at this diagram because I see different avenues for my students to be creative with each other! Instead of using direct lecture as a prominent form of instruction, I am giving the students opportunities to engage with one another as they go through this unit of Creative Storytelling together. Students can actively engage with one another using JamBoard and Google Docs. They can come up with their own Creative Story working on JamBoard together as a class! I think what makes this lesson most effective is that I'm giving my students the time to re-create and re-create time and time again. They can begin by taking notes of the kinds of characters they want to include in their stories (using thinking maps and Evernote), share those ideas about those characters with their classmates and myself, and get the chance to "tweak" those characters by engaging in discussions on the google docs with peers. They get to go through the process with their peers what it's like to create and revise their creation to make it stronger.
I especially like the idea of students using coding as a way of bringing the stories they have created to life and sharing their work with people in their community by hosting a "Digital Storytelling" night. This is work that students can be proud of! Their stories are unique and personal to them as they have had the help of their classmates and me revise their finished product. Ultimately, the students got to make the big decisions when it came to their stories though! Giving them the opportunity to re-create their stories via coding is such a fun way to bring their "make-believe" setting, characters, and dialogue to life. The finished product wraps up the unit and leaves students with a permanent coded story that they created and can be shared with others!
I feel most creative looking at this diagram because I see different avenues for my students to be creative with each other! Instead of using direct lecture as a prominent form of instruction, I am giving the students opportunities to engage with one another as they go through this unit of Creative Storytelling together. Students can actively engage with one another using JamBoard and Google Docs. They can come up with their own Creative Story working on JamBoard together as a class! I think what makes this lesson most effective is that I'm giving my students the time to re-create and re-create time and time again. They can begin by taking notes of the kinds of characters they want to include in their stories (using thinking maps and Evernote), share those ideas about those characters with their classmates and myself, and get the chance to "tweak" those characters by engaging in discussions on the google docs with peers. They get to go through the process with their peers what it's like to create and revise their creation to make it stronger.
I especially like the idea of students using coding as a way of bringing the stories they have created to life and sharing their work with people in their community by hosting a "Digital Storytelling" night. This is work that students can be proud of! Their stories are unique and personal to them as they have had the help of their classmates and me revise their finished product. Ultimately, the students got to make the big decisions when it came to their stories though! Giving them the opportunity to re-create their stories via coding is such a fun way to bring their "make-believe" setting, characters, and dialogue to life. The finished product wraps up the unit and leaves students with a permanent coded story that they created and can be shared with others!