3-1 Collaboration Scenarios

Scenario One: Upon walking into the classroom of a new eighth grade English language arts (ELA) teacher, the teacher informs you that she will be teaching a lesson on fate versus free will the following week. She plans on using excerpts from Oedipus Rex and Dante’s Inferno. She has not put the lesson plan together yet but intends to have the students present examples from the readings to support their case through a persuasive essay.

I have no idea what these books are about, but would suggest several sites to help kids plan out their essays:

• https://bubbl.us/ - Allows kids to map out their ideas, add support, and see a visual of their arguments. 
• Thinglink - Allows users to create interactive images to reinforce content using links, music, video, or voice. Students are able to find pictures to summarize content, use text/links to reinforce learning. Might be a building block to a persuasive essay because it allows kids to personalize the situation by making connections visually. 
• iMovie - Students could create a "movie trailer" as a hook for their essay. A great way to make their ideas concise and add music and/or pictures for effect. Again, all scaffolding for their written essays.

Scenario Two: A high school science teacher is presenting a unit on astronomy, specifically on how Polaris is no longer the central point of the northern sky. The teacher is confident that he can teach it out of a book but is anxious to give the students a better experience from the lesson. He is hoping that the technology integration specialist will be able to help make a more authentic study for the students.

• StarSafari - An app on the iPad that allows the viewer to travel through the Milky way.  You can make any celestial body the center of the screen and see specific facts about it.
• StarTracker - An app on the iPad that allows the viewer to see what is above them in the sky at any point from any location.
• NASA.gov - A great resource for current information - except for right now because of the government shutdown.
• Sky & Telescope website - Provides awesome images and articles regarding Polaris.
• http://www.cosmotions.com/

Scenario Three: In a fourth grade social studies class, the class is discussing the role of landscape and surroundings on early natives—what type of food they ate, the type of dwellings they built, and of course defensive systems or escape routes. Many of the students have never traveled out of their own state and are not familiar with alternate surroundings. The social studies teacher has requested that the technology integrator help her create a new lesson.

• Google Earth - Allows kids to pick any location and zoom into street level views or just hover from the air.
• ePals - Connect with kids of the same age and have the kids interview each other to compare and contrast their surroundings.  Shows kids how different people live know so they can hopefully open their minds to the historical component of the lesson.
• Native American Facts for Kids - Contains tons of information, through which a teacher would have to browse in order to pick and choose appropriate grade level material.
• American Indian Children's Books and Literature - A list of resources about and/or by Native Americans.
• Abbe Museum - Museum about the Wabanaki Nation - has some great brochures discussing their online exhibits and education programs.

Scenario Four: According to the math teacher, math is everywhere. The teacher is concentrating on a geometry unit discussing area and volume. The teacher is hoping to have the students design a home consisting of 1500 square feet of living space with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a family room, and a kitchen. A playroom or dining room are nice to have but are not needed. In the past, the teacher has asked the students to draw it out with paper and pencil; however, this proved to be a poor choice for reasons he has not given. The teacher is currently thinking of using craft sticks and glue to have the students build models, but this does not fall within the budget. The teacher is turning to the technology integrator for help. 

• SketchUp - A free program that allows users to create 3D structures.  In doing so, they calculate measurements, can add wallpaper, paint, carpeting, and furniture, as well as choose the building material (brick, clapboard, siding, etc.).  Kids can create not only buildings, but detailed drawings of any object they'd like.  The detail is incredible.