I taught a 7th Grade lesson at Forest Grove a few weeks ago. It was a history lesson about Ancient Greece and the Peloponnesian War. The lesson had the students working in groups to take the place of the Athenian government and prepare for a war against Sparta. The class had already learned about Athens and Sparta fighting in the Persian war. This lesson was going was going to give them a preview of the Peloponnesian war and the fall of the Athenian Empire.
(https://www.shorthistory.org/)
The problem I faced in my lesson was that there were multiple instructions that the students were following. To start the lesson, the students had to write down two strengths and weaknesses of the Athenian Empire. Once the class finished their bell work, I read the instructions on what is expected for the group work. I explained verbally the process of completing the plan of action. For providing instruction, integrating technology would have helped the students to complete the assignment.
Forest Grove does have chrome book carts that each team shares. If I integrated the chrome books into the lesson I could have put the instructions online. Either in google classroom and have a model of a filled out graphic organizer or screen cast the step by step instructions and go more in depth. Also, this would have had all students working together simultaneously on a google doc. The problem I ran into was that students did not get the directions and would constantly ask for clarification.
Also, if there was a smart board or ELMO in the classroom, I could have put the instructions or a schedule of the class. To keep the students on task and moving through the different parts of the activity. Some groups would get caught up on the defense plan (part one) and not give themselves enough time for the other parts. If I put a timer on the board to show how long they should have for each part. I was constantly circulating the classroom and reminding students to move on to the food plan and emergency plan.
Technology would have aided in my lesson through time management aspects and also instructionally. The students would have benefitted from the technology which would have allowed them to either get an answer about instructions right away or provide them with awareness of how much class time was left.
https://www.tomshardware.co.uk
The technology would have been engaging because it would have allowed all students to be constantly participating by either researching ideas for their plan, drafting the final version of the plan of action or reviewing their work. Technology would have enhanced the lesson because it would have allowed students to move through the plan quicker and allowed them more time to research ideas for a proper plan of action. Since the assignment was on their google drive/classroom, the students could continue their work at home. The lesson would have worked better if it was over a two day period and on the second day the students could write their final draft after reviewing what they added at home.
Cullen's Classroom 