Roberto Martinez

Case Study #3

June 21, 2011

Mrs. Reed (Texas Heroes)

Appropriateness of Technology

I would like to recommend to Mrs. Reed the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software since students are going to present a summary of their hero’s life and accomplishments using visuals and sound. This software is appropriate to assist her Middle School students to create great visual presentations such as graphic organizers; upload timelines, Texas heroes’ pictures, and students use closed-caption options or record their own voices (this option will help the student with limited vision). The second recommendation is the interactive whiteboard (Smartboard) that is appropriate because this hardware will benefit the students since Mrs. Reed wants them to present their summary. Also, the Word Processing software such as Microsoft Word which assists students to create those research papers with vivid texts, to establish connections between what they read into writing and expressing their ideas about their Texas Heroes. Also, Microsoft Word has many tools that will help to create a perfect document or research paper such as; check spelling, text styles, incorporating pictures, and ensure sentences and paragraphs flow together in harmony using the purposes of writing.

Planning and evaluation

I will schedule a brief meeting with Mrs. Reed two weeks before the sends a note to the parents to talk about her Texas heroes, TEKS objectives she wants to cover, and goals for her students to master. Also, we will be discussing what are the advantages of using the three technologies that will help her students achieve those science objectives and goals. I will mention to her that technology will enhance, promote, and engage learning in her classroom. I will ask Mrs. Reed about her technology background or if she is familiar with PowerPoint, about the Smartboard system or with Microsoft Word. I will share the benefits about using the three technologies and the benefits to the students of using the educational tools for Texas history. Moreover, we will create a plan for her social studies project and websites that she can use with her students. If she needs help using the three technologies, I will offer tutorials during her conference or after school to allocate her needs in technology. During this initial meeting, she will create a flyer informing the parents the social studies class will work on a Texas Heroes project for the next two weeks. Finally, we will discuss and create an evaluation rubric to assess her students on the social studies objectives and goals that her students will master using technology.

Implementation

The following week I will schedule the second meeting with Mrs. Reed to verify her technology equipment is working and software is properly installed. Also, I will ask Mrs. Reed how comfortable is she using the technologies that I recommended to her. If she needs help and time permits, I will mentor and model a PowerPoint presentation using the Smartboard and so over the benefits of using Microsoft Word for research paper. If Mrs. Reed and time permits I will assist her during her class to work on the social studies project and tutor her students using the technologies. I will schedule a weekly meeting during her conference or after school to discuss about her classroom progress or if she has encountered any problems that she might stumble upon.

Integration support and guidance

I will meet with Mrs. Reed for a post-meeting about her Middle School Social Studies Texas heroes’ research paper and presentations. We will discuss how effective were the technologies that I recommended to her to use, if the technologies were effective to achieved her social studies objectives and goals with the students, and if the technologies had a positive outcome with students learning. Also, we will talk about if the rubric was an effective tool to assess her students using technology. We will share feedback about which technologies were more appropriate for her social studies project about the Texas heroes.

Adaptation

Middle School students might create a PowerPoint presentation about the great American writers from the 19^th century ELA TEKS. Students can create a virtual biography using PowerPoint to learn about the writers accomplishments and use Microsoft Word and create a poster about the great works using writer’s best quotes, pictures, book covers, and the writer’s picture or a brief timeline with their best work. This technology is appropriate because it will enhance learning by using visuals, and video from the Internet to engage students about the important American writer’s in the 19^th century and their accomplishments.