This is an excellent post written by Lisa Johnson on May 18, 2011 on her blog Techchef4u. Make sure you check out her blog. This is what the rest of us have been waiting for. Lisa has put in a lot of time, energy and hard work creating some really clever lessons that incorporate ipad apps. She has obviously thought long and hard about the outcomes of each of the lessons and therefore selected apps that were appropriate to the type of learning that was required for each. Lisa has done this not just for her own subject area but across a range of areas.
How much easier is it to formulate your own ideas for lessons once someone else has shown you how they do it. Sometimes it is like a light goes on. All it takes is the visual and cognitive cues of seeing how someone else sets out their ideas. Our special thanks to Lisa for sharing her processes and examples. They are beautifully crafted. These are the types of well designed resources that we all need to start sharing. Enjoy!
ipad Lesson Process:How much easier is it to formulate your own ideas for lessons once someone else has shown you how they do it. Sometimes it is like a light goes on. All it takes is the visual and cognitive cues of seeing how someone else sets out their ideas. Our special thanks to Lisa for sharing her processes and examples. They are beautifully crafted. These are the types of well designed resources that we all need to start sharing. Enjoy!
After writing a series of iPad lessons, I wanted to share my process in creating the lessons:
- Theme/Topic/Content Focus: While I try to choose a theme or topic (graphic novels, government, poetry) or locate an inspiring app to build my lesson around to make the lesson general enough that it can be used/adapted by various grade levels, teachers may want to ask themselves some more specific questions as they begin the planning process:
- What TEK(S) do you plan to cover, focus on, support?
- What is the purpose of the lesson (pre-activity, review, formative/summative assessment)?
- How long do I have for the activity?
- What background information should the students have prior to the lesson?
- How will I differentiate or provide scaffolding to meet the needs of all learners?
- How will the lesson be delivered (individual, pairs, small groups, stations, whole class)
- Should activities within the lesson be completed in a certain order?
- How will the activities be assessed (questions, lab, oral discussion, project/product, blog/online post)?
- Supporting Apps & Resources: Find more apps like it or to support it (also consider what materials & resources you already have: websites, PDF’s, movies, podcasts, etc…). If you do not have supporting content already created, consider creating an ePub or interactive PDF.
- Similar Lessons: Find similar topic/theme lessons online
- Apps Mirror Interactive Sites: Find similar sites (virtual/interactive/Web 2.0) as apps (for teachers who do not have an iPad to use the same lesson)
- Projects/Assessment: Compile project ideas/suggestions/products that can be created using Web 2.0 tools, interactive sites, or peripherals (assessment and student products/projects)
- Resources & Extensions: Gather links to resources used, lessons, extension ideas, etc…
