Chapters 2 and 4 in Technology in its Place

Chapter 2: Curriculum Planning for Technology-Rich Instruction

According to LaBaron (2001) operational and strategic planning both contribute to an effective integration of technology. The strategic plan is the overall broad plan and the operational plan is more detailed. Both plans need to be revisted and revised frequently (2001). In order to integrate technology into a curriculum successfully their is a six stage process to follow: First an overal vision that supports the curriculum is put into place. Next, internal and external conditions are estabolished, then goals, activities, and outputs are estabolished. A plan is estabolished to effectively implement the key inputs. Staff members are assigned jobs and evaluations are conducted to assess the plan (LeBaron, 2001.)
Once a plan is estabolished schools need to decide what is in their budget. According to LeBaron (2001) it is crucial to first estabolish what is needed in the school and then if the budget is low then their is adjustments to the plans. So many times schools try to only pick what they can afford instead of what they need. I think this is very unbeneficial for the students.
There are a few important philosophies associated with planning a curriculum. First is essentialism which is the belief that the curriculum should only focus on essential learning skills and should not waste money on other skills (2001). Second is cultural transmission or perennialism, which is focusing on culture across the generations in order to preserve them (2001). Third is individual fulfillment which is focused on self-actualization and optimizing the lives of individuals (2001). Finally their is social transformation which is the belief that curriculum should be designed by societal criticism and political action (2001).
I think it is very important to plan appropriately in schools. I believe if this is done effectively then the teachers will be certain of their responsibilities and what is expected of them. Also, in order for this to be done successfully their needs to be a collaborative approach. In my school we are supposed to teach using a basal. The basal covers a lot of skills that are not on the SOLs. As a new teacher when you are told to use the basal that is what you use. When Benchmarks came around I felt that a lot of the skills tested were not covered due to lack of time. Then we were told at the end of the 9-weeks to only teach the SOL skills.

LeBaron, J. F. (2001). Technology in its place: curriculum planning for technology-rich instruction. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 4 Technology and Learning: Getting the Story Out
As teachers it is important to teach students how to learn on their own (Jarvela, 2001). Understanding information requires students to pose questions about information and form hypothesis to answer these questions (Jarvela, 2001). All through school I memorized what I needed for tests and then I forgot what I had learned. When I started college I actually started to understand what I learned. I made connections to past experiences and applied my knowledge. Unfortunely today often times I see my students learning and then forgeting. We do lots of activities but for some of them I think they are so pumped with information they need to learn (SOL) that they really are not learning. We as teachers are not giving our students enough time and resources to truley understand what they are learning. Technology helps students use higher level thinking skills (Jarvela, 2001). Computers are a motivation to learn for many students (Jarvela, 2001). This is the begining of learning. Students must want to learn. My students get very excited to use the computer. They can be using star fall which is a reading program and they don't care because they are on the computer. According to Jarvela (2001) is is important to design interdisciplinary themes. These are broad themes that are interesting to your students yet incorporate several skills that are required to be taught. I really like this idea however, I find it difficult to implement because we are required to do so many different things in the classroom like use the basal, time limits, and assemblies that interupt instruction time that it is difficult to incorporate it all into a big lesson. A research project conducted by Jarvela and Salovaara (1999) used CSILE to study racism. The students began by reading a novel about racism. The teacher then guided the students from the book to more topics on racism. Students then developed their own questions on racism and researched and found their own answers (1999). Students can also work with their teachers on a research project. Instead of the teacher leading the project he/she can work with her students and they learn together (Jarvela 2001).

Jarvela, S., and Salovaara, H. "Computer Supported Collaborative Learning in a Secondary Literacy Classroom--A Quality of Students' Motivational Processes." Unpublished manuscript, 1999.

Jarvela, S. (2001) Technology in its place: Teachnology and learning getting the story out. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.