Unit Plan Template

Unit Author

First and Last Name

Adam Shaw

School District

Marion School District

School Name

Marion Junior and Senior High

School City, State

Marion, SD 57043

Unit Overview

Unit Title

Technology Incorporation into our Curriculum

Unit Summary

During this unit students will focus on the changing environment of technology in the school culture. Students will be examining the new South Dakota Content Standards, how to incorporate blogs into their classroom instruction, the importance of Thomas Friedman’s book the world is flat, and how to bring the outside world into the classroom through the use of a virtual environment. All of these activities will work to move the classroom teachers into a technology environment that is in a challenged state.

Subject Area

This unit will be taught too many different subject areas. I will be offering this unit as professional development for my staff members.

Grade Level

The targeted grade levels for my instruction will be teachers in grades 6-12

Approximate Time Needed

This unit will be taught over the course of the first semester during our monthly early out times. The teachers will have 1 ½ hours per month for professional development.

Unit Foundation

Targeted Content Standards and Benchmarks

South Dakota State Technology Standards

Student Objectives/Learning Outcomes

Lesson 1:

In lesson 1 the students will be using Publisher to create a quarterly classroom newsletter. Students will learn how to create a three folded brochure. The teachers will be sending out a newsletter to the parents to update parents on the progress during each quarter.

Lesson 2:

In lesson 2 the students will be introduced to the concept of weblogs. The teachers will create a weblog that is specific for their class. Each teacher will be required to teach one unit and incorporate the blog into the unit.

Lesson 3:

In lesson 3 the students will be introduced to Scrapbook Flair. This is a free website where students can develop on-line scrapbooks for a classroom setting. The students will be required to incorporate Scrapbooking into on of their classroom lessons.

Lesson 4:

In lesson 4 the students will be introduced to the new Promethean Boards the school district ordered. Each student will become acclimated to the Promethean Board and will be required to teach a lesson each semester using the Promethean Board.

Lesson 5:

In lesson 5 the students will be introduced to on-line quizzes. The students will learn how to develop quizzes in an on-line format. Each student is required to develop one quiz for each quarter to give to their students.

Lesson 6 and 7:

In lesson six and seven the teachers will be developing two classroom lessons that will be taught through their webpage. Each teacher needs to pick a topic that is taught within their curriculum. Teachers need to develop an activity, group project and an assessment for their two lessons.

Lesson 8:

In lesson eight the staff will be introduced to the e-metric website. The staff will be looking at testing data from the previous year Dakota Step test. We will spend time breaking down data and examining which students were proficient and advanced and which ones were borderline basic. Using the data we will focus on how to incorporate technology for the students who are on the bubble.

Lesson 9:

In lesson nine the staff will be working on the incorporation of the achievement series into their curriculum. Staff members will examine and develop tests that were published on the website. Each staff member will be required to develop one test for each of their core classes. The test must be a minimum of 10 questions.

Lesson 10:

In lesson 10 the staff will learn how to incorporate a voki into their curriculum. The staff will go out to the website and develop a voki that represents them. Following that the staff will spend time learning how to record their voice and link it to the voki.

Curriculum-Framing Questions

Essential Question

How is Technology Impacting Your Students?

Unit Questions

How does professional development in technology transfer into classroom instruction.

Content Questions

How is Microsoft Publisher used as a technology tool?
What are the benefits of a weblog?
How is scrapbooking educational?
Incorporating Promethean Boards into your current curriculum
How do on-line quizzes change the classroom dynamic?

Assessment Plan

Assessment Timeline


Before project work begins		Students work on projects and complete tasks		After project work is completed


Before we begin the professional development we will be discussing the teachers current level of classroom integration of technology. Each teacher will develop a rubric that fits their style of teaching. The teachers will be doing self assessment after each technology lesson.	Before we begin I will give them a pre-test over their current level of knowledge on each topic they will be learning about. I will also examine the teachers attitude about each new technology tool. I would like to see if they feel that they can incorporate the technology into their classroom.	As the teachers are developing their lessons I will be giving them guidance on ways to incorporate technology on a regular basis. I will also be working on developing a blog for the teachers to post their questions or concerns to.	The use of the blog will give me a chance to model the importance of blogs as a communication tool.	As the principal in the building I will have the luxury of moving in and out of classrooms. I can see if the technology integration is seamless and also if they are integrating multiple technology tools.	Being able to move in and out of the classroom will give me the opportunity to coach the teachers the same day of the technology lesson.

Assessment Summary

The teachers will be assessed in an on-going basis. I will be monitoring them on a regular basis. Each teacher will be required to submit a lesson plan on each technology integration lesson they complete. Also the teachers will have to do a post evaluation of themselves that they will turn into me for my knowledge. I am hoping to be able to watch each lesson the teacher instructs. From that lesson I will do some coaching and mentoring of each instructor. I will also ask the instructors to make me a user in the weblogs so that I can monitor them and also the students.

Unit Details

Prerequisite Skills

The teachers must be able to use the Internet and navigate around websites. Also the teachers need to be able to work process.

Instructional Procedures

Lesson 1: The procedure for lesson 1 is to introduce the Publisher software. After introduction we will discuss the uses of Microsoft Publisher. As a class we will work on a brochure that the teachers will send out to their students before the start of the school year. The teachers will be required to develop a brochure for their students at the end of each quarter during the school year. I am hoping this opens the lines of communication between the school and the students’ homes.

Lesson 2: The procedure for lesson 2 is to develop a weblog that can be incorporated into the teachers curriculum. At the beginning of the lesson we will discuss how a weblog allows students to interact with each other and also the outside world. Each participant will be required to develop a weblog that they will use during one unit they teach each semester.

Lesson 3: The procedure for lesson 3 is the introduction of Scrapbook Flair. The teachers will learn about a free scrapbook site they can use for the development of school projects or classroom activities. The teachers will learn how to import and edit photos in the scrapbook. During the lesson the participants will register on-line and learn how their students can share their scrapbooks with each other through the website. The teachers will be required to incorporate one scrapbook project into their curriculum throughout the school year.

Lesson 4: The procedure for lesson 4 is the introduction and development of lessons using the school districts new Promethean Boards. All the teachers in the school district will be trained on how to incorporate the Promethean Boards into their curriculum. Each teacher will be required to teach 2 lessons a quarter using the software. During this lesson the teachers will receive guidance on their lesson development for the first quarter. The teachers will have hands-on training about the boards.

Lesson 5: The procedure for lesson 5 is to introduce the teachers to the variety of on-line quiz maker sites on the Internet. The first free site we will visit will be www.hyprtec.org At this site we will be utilizing the quiz star to develop a quiz for the teachers curriculum. Each teacher is required to develop a quiz for each unit they teach during the first semester. We will examine a variety of on-line websites that allow teachers develop on-line quizzes.

Lesson 6 and 7: The procedure for these lessons will be a continuation from a professional development we started last school year. Teachers had training on Microsoft Frontpage and how to incorporate their webpage into their classrooms. At this point we will be developing two lessons that they will use to teach their students. These lessons will contain an activity, group project and an assessment over the material. The lessons need to be student driven activities and the teacher needs to be the developer only.

Lesson 8:

In lesson eight the staff will be spending time examining the e-metric website. They will be looking at the test data from the previous school year. Teachers will take this information and develop lessons around the testing data. As a staff we will be examining the students who are on the bubble of proficient and those that were basic and almost proficient. We will try to incorporate more technology and focus more of our attention to these students.

Lesson 9:

In lesson nine the staff will be exposed to the achievement series website. This site is a free resource to teachers for classroom use. The website is comprised of test questions that were developed by other teachers around the state. These questions are content based questions that are set up like the Dakota Step. Each staff member is required to develop one test for each of their content areas. Each test has to be a minimum of 10 questions.

Lesson 10:

In lesson ten the staff members will be exposed to the voki website. The voki is an animated character that you can attach audio to. Each staff member will develop their own voki for their classroom. Next we will spend time recording their voice messages. After collecting their voice data we will attach it to their voki. Following this we will send e-mails to each other with their voki attached to it. Staff members will be required to record a voki message to their students and e-mail it to them. The use of the voki should decrease the amount of grading they have to do. They should be able to record their message and then send it to their students

Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction

Resource Student

This is not applicable for staff development purposes.

Non-Native English Speaker

This is not applicable for staff development purposes.

Gifted Student

This is not applicable for staff development purposes.

Materials and Resources Required For Unit

Printed Materials	The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson Sixteen Trends; Their Profound Impact on Our Future by: Gary Marx Good to Great by Jim Collins Boys and Girls Learn Differently by Michael Gurian
Supplies	N/A
Internet Resources	www.hyprtec.org www.blogger.com www.43Things.com www.prometheanworld.com www.scrapbookflair.com www.voki.com www.edperformace.com https://soultuions1.emetric.net/sdstep www.achievementseries.com
Other Resources	N/A

Unit Plan Template

Technology – Hardware (Click boxes of all equipment needed)