Final Week of Practicum

Once again, I have not seen my teacher use technology in her classroom. She has made several comments that she should probably try to integrate it more into her classroom, but she has been teaching for many years and has several routines that she already uses.

This week I was able to use technology in a read aloud lesson. I read my class a book about Thanksgiving and I used Google Earth to show the students different places that were significant in the story of the Pilgrims. We looked at England and Plymouth Rock, as well as the school that I was in, so that the students could make a direct connection to what we were looking at. The students responded very well to this lesson and really enjoyed looking at the different places. When we were done, the students wanted to keep looking at places.

The students have been learning quite a bit about the history of Thanksgiving and the different events that took place. They could use the digital storytelling program to produce their own retelling of the Thanksgiving story. They could then share their stories with the other members of their class.