TPACK Lesson Plan Template: A Product Review
Karen Ann McCay
June 4, 2017
As part of my graduate program, I was recently asked to write a lesson using the TPACK Lesson Plan Template and then review my student success as well as my experience through the process of using the TPACK tools to develop materials and experiences for my students. While I wholeheartedly endorse TPACK instruction as well as all 21st century instruction and hope that all educators are finding ways to innovate in their classrooms, and while I saw strong educational gains during this instructional unit with my students, I did not like using the TPACK Lesson Plan Template, would not endorse it as a product, and do not plan to use it again in the future. I have enjoyed all other areas of this adventure, but the template itself is a tool, which is still not asking the most important questions: what do the students want to learn, and how do we help them do it? I know some students need more guidance to select topics of learning, which will help them sustain a living, but most of them have a much better idea of how to make money as adults than we give them credit for. Many of those students are leaving schools to pursue those interests because we won’t let them pursue their goals inside our schools (Warner, 2016). As we move forward in education, we certainly need to continue to innovate, and TPACK is an essential part of that move, but the most important part of the change needs to our students. We have to make dynamic changes in the next few years of education, which match our changing world outside of schools, where nothing has changed as slowly as it has in our last archaic institution: American Education.
How the Lesson Went
This cycle of instruction, in spite of the end-of-year exhaustion so many students expressed, went very well. Building the unit around injustice motivated students, ensuring a higher level of engagement. I embedded clips from the Netflix series, Making a Murderer as well as segments from Ken Burns’ documentary The Central Park 5, a story of five teens, who spent a decade in prison for a rape they did not commit. This last week of revisions was students’ last opportunity to document mastery of their learning goals before they showed their final work in class and received their final grade on their proficiency scale from me. Their engagement was high, and behavior problems were nonexistent, which is rare on the last week of instruction in sophomore English classes. The only activities, which did not go well, were the students’ focus questions. They had no motivation to come into class this last week of school and write focus questions “one more time.” To accommodate their lack of motivation, we played a critical thinking game, instead, called Crack the Case, which requires students to solve crimes using deductive reasoning. This game did NOT engage students in their learning objectives, but it did get them thinking, and it kept them from inciting a riot during the last week of instruction before final exams, as well. In future years, I would plan for this change intentionally and use the critical thinking on purpose as a change of pace and a reward at the end to increase motivation and as a creative innovation at the end of the year, which students do not anticipate (Burgess, 2012).
Interacting with Technology
Interacting with technology, regardless of how we plan, is vital because it prepares students for any future career. As a teacher, I use technology every day. I stayed at home one year when my last child was born. I used even more technology then to communicate, write, learn, grow, and even entertain myself. My son-in-law is a mechanic and part-time competitive gamer. He cannot move from one room to another without three devices. He can’t even get into his car without two. He can’t adequately assess a car without four (Kalles, 2010). My two sons both have Youtube channels which they weekly use to publish product reviews of their video games and “rants” of what’s going on politically in our world each week. They have multiple video game systems each, which are all in the den so they can game together. They have laptops for school and handhelds everywhere they go. So do I. So do most of my students, and I love it. I hope the textbook companies go truly digital and start supplying schools with handhelds in the near future so they become to solution to our digital needs (Ross, 2015). If they’re smart, they’ll see the benefits now, and start competing with some of the really unintelligent tech companies using these products poorly to put out smart options now. I would definitely use this lesson again because it used technology well to engage students, and it got results.
Student Data Analysis
My students responded immediately to the injustice unit. They found the documentaries personally motivating and wanted to find instances of injustice, which they could investigate and find solutions to, regardless of whether or not they could “literally” solve them this school year. I did actually have two students contact the mother of Kelsey Schelling, though, and their investigation led the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to take over the case. New evidence has been found, and there may LITERALLY be a solution to her case as a result of their involvement. I cannot comment further into their involvement in her case, and I cannot include any information about their involvement, including their names or any part of their project because their project led to an ongoing police investigation. I can, however, say that I have never been prouder of a pair of students in my entire career, and if nothing else came from this unit, then I their work made the entire outcome worth it, regardless of any other data source. Regarding student achievement, my students had already met their proficiency goals for argumentation, and we were hoping to hit “mastery” level this week on the proficiency scale. On almost every goal, we did. Figure 1 shows students’ growth on each of their learning goals from their second draft to their final draft (two weeks’ of time to revise between the two drafts with the holiday weekend and district interim testing):
My only surprise in students’ engagement was their decision to develop and publish their own websites to share their documentaries when they saw how capable they were of doing so. I did not anticipate how many groups would be willing to do extra work at the end of year to practice new digital skills just to have to extra skills heading into advanced courses next year and feel more comfortable with those skills before their higher level courses. Again, I was very proud of the students’ willingness to go to that level in this late weeks.
For the Future
For the future, I want to do more research into the area of grant-writing to address the increasing gap of funds we have in education to provide advanced technology to our students to they can continue to move forward with innovation instead of barely getting by with minimal technology standards a few hours a day. One of my students told me he participates in 21st century learning opportunities one hour a day--in my room. One of my divers told me he only sees this type of instruction in my room when he’s visiting my room to pick of his dive lists. One of my students confessed she’d never experienced this type of learning outside of her bedroom until she took my class and was going to leave our school until she transferred into my class at Christmas. She told me she’s only coming back to our school in the fall because of me and that she considers me her academic advisor now. These stories should NOT be true. And they go directly back to the big problem in education--we need to be asking our students what they want to learn and finding out how we’re going to get their goals achieved for them.
As a future administrator, I know I’m weak on finding money, so need to do everything I can this next year to become strong on researching grants, developing writing teams, and submitting grants on time. I also need to network with more powerful people to develop a team of successful movers and shakers, who I can eventually call upon when my school needs help. If I can get to know them now, then I can get them to care later. I’m going to need people in the future, who have means. Leaders have to plan for contingencies, and I never thought about those kinds of people before. I never prepared for the people I loved before and thought about what I’d have to do to save their jobs. Some of those things don’t actually have anything to do with technology, which I’m very good at. I’m going to have to be good at people . . . so they’ll give me more technology for the people who need it and stop cutting those people’s jobs.
Finally, I’m going to have to find a way on a building level to motivate tired, underpaid, underappreciated people to come back every year and do what they love even though they don’t get thanked or paid for it and don’t even get the right resources to do it so those wonderful kids can keep learning how to innovate, create, and grow and actually change the future to make a difference that we as educators all want--and believe in--with no budget or resources of my own (Wagner, 2012). Many of those teachers will be just like the few students I mentioned. They’re going to have unique needs, and they’re going to need gifts of my time so they know I understand their dreams . . . or they won’t come back each year while we attend paltry institutions in hope of systemic change. TPACK, with the exception of the actual lesson plan template, is outstanding pedagogy, as is all 21st century instruction. It’s part of the solution. But our buildings and our daily schedules and almost everything else we do to kids have got to change. The entire product of American Education needs to be reviewed next because it’s underwhelming to say the least.
For the Future
For the future, I want to do more research into the area of grant-writing to address the increasing gap of funds we have in education to provide advanced technology to our students to they can continue to move forward with innovation instead of barely getting by with minimal technology standards a few hours a day. One of my students told me he participates in 21st century learning opportunities one hour a day--in my room. One of my divers told me he only sees this type of instruction in my room when he’s visiting my room to pick of his dive lists. One of my students confessed she’d never experienced this type of learning outside of her bedroom until she took my class and was going to leave our school until she transferred into my class at Christmas. She told me she’s only coming back to our school in the fall because of me and that she considers me her academic advisor now. These stories should NOT be true. And they go directly back to the big problem in education--we need to be asking our students what they want to learn and finding out how we’re going to get their goals achieved for them.
As a future administrator, I know I’m weak on finding money, so need to do everything I can this next year to become strong on researching grants, developing writing teams, and submitting grants on time. I also need to network with more powerful people to develop a team of successful movers and shakers, who I can eventually call upon when my school needs help. If I can get to know them now, then I can get them to care later. I’m going to need people in the future, who have means. Leaders have to plan for contingencies, and I never thought about those kinds of people before. I never prepared for the people I loved before and thought about what I’d have to do to save their jobs. Some of those things don’t actually have anything to do with technology, which I’m very good at. I’m going to have to be good at people . . . so they’ll give me more technology for the people who need it and stop cutting those people’s jobs.
Finally, I’m going to have to find a way on a building level to motivate tired, underpaid, underappreciated people to come back every year and do what they love even though they don’t get thanked or paid for it and don’t even get the right resources to do it so those wonderful kids can keep learning how to innovate, create, and grow and actually change the future to make a difference that we as educators all want--and believe in--with no budget or resources of my own (Wagner, 2012). Many of those teachers will be just like the few students I mentioned. They’re going to have unique needs, and they’re going to need gifts of my time so they know I understand their dreams . . . or they won’t come back each year while we attend paltry institutions in hope of systemic change. TPACK, with the exception of the actual lesson plan template, is outstanding pedagogy, as is all 21st century instruction. It’s part of the solution. But our buildings and our daily schedules and almost everything else we do to kids have got to change. The entire product of American Education needs to be reviewed next because it’s underwhelming to say the least.
Please feel free to use all lesson materials, including the student example, the directions, and lesson plan. They are provided below. Contact me with any questions.
american_injustice_project_directions__-_google_docs.pdf | |
File Size: | 102 kb |
File Type: |
unit_5_proficiency_scale.pdf | |
File Size: | 73 kb |
File Type: |
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References
Burgess, D. Teach like a pirate. (2012). San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.
Kalles, M. (2010, August 24). How car mechanics use technology. Retrieved June 1, 2017, from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Car-Mechanics-Use-Technology&id=4920029
Ross, T. (2015). The death of textbooks? (The Atlantic). Retrieved June 1, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/the-death-of-textbooks/387055/
Wagner, T. (2012). Creating innovators: The Making of young people who will change the world. New York, NY: Scribner.
Warner, J. (2016, January 13). When students say they’re “bored” (Inside higher ed). Retrieved June 1, 2017, from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/when-students-say-theyre-bored
Burgess, D. Teach like a pirate. (2012). San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.
Kalles, M. (2010, August 24). How car mechanics use technology. Retrieved June 1, 2017, from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Car-Mechanics-Use-Technology&id=4920029
Ross, T. (2015). The death of textbooks? (The Atlantic). Retrieved June 1, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/the-death-of-textbooks/387055/
Wagner, T. (2012). Creating innovators: The Making of young people who will change the world. New York, NY: Scribner.
Warner, J. (2016, January 13). When students say they’re “bored” (Inside higher ed). Retrieved June 1, 2017, from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/when-students-say-theyre-bored