Sample+2

Response Journal

Lesson: Questions: How does technology enhance the lesson? Could the lesson have worked without the technology? The technology allows students to easily view and respond to each other's work. The teacher also provides specific resources in folders on the wikispace for students to evaluate as well as providing a list of websites for students to extend their exploration. This lesson could have worked only in part with paper-based resources. The elements of student research and inter-class communication would be lost.

What exactly does the technology allow students to do? The technology allows students to share their ideas efficiently. Students evaluate resources provided by the teacher and search specific websites for additional information. Students post their results to folders on the wikispace, which ALL students later use to produce an "informed piece about the pros and cons of British imperialism in India."

What impact does technology use have on the Common Instructional Framework? This lesson explicitly includes three elements of the CIF. Students work collaboratively, write to learn, and engage in answering guiding questions. The technology is most effective in getting the students to work collaboratively.

What are the issue (technical, logistical) a teacher would need to consider in order for this lesson to be successful? This lesson would require a good deal of pre-planning. Students are divided into groups of three, and each group gets a folder on the wikispace containing 9 documents to evaluate. Each document is issued with a set of guiding questions for the students' evaluations. I think that the lesson should include MORE communication among the students. The way it is currently designed, groups of 3 students post their responses to the documents to the wiki, and highlight arguments that THEY believe to be pro- and anti- British colonialism. The entire class is then expected to use these evaluations to write an "informed piece" about the topic. I think this lesson would be enhanced if students were allowed to respond to each other's evaluations of the original documents.

How is the learning target supported by the technology use? The learning target is supported by the technology use by allowing students to easily communicate with each other. As noted above, I believe that the lesson could have included greater opportunities for collaboration.

How is or could assessment be supported by the technology use? **Assessment is not supported by technology in this lesson. If the students' "informed piece(s)" were posted to the wiki and were opened for student comment, this would be a more effective use of the technology. **