Why do you think it is important to tie the technology to the objective?
It's important to tie technology to lesson objectives when appropriate for several reasons. Technology can grab students' attention, engage students in active learning and it allows students to stretch beyond the classroom to learn. Technology is an integral part of our world today and classrooms should mirror that world. When we can be more efficient, interactive and creative using tech tools, why wouldn't we?
Why should we hold students accountable for the stations/centers?
As with all learning, the accountability piece is a crucial part of the puzzle. Having some sort of accountability ensures that the students will be on task and have a concrete way to demonstrate their understanding.
Visit 2 of the applicable links to interactive websites for your content/grade level. Which sites did you like. How could you use them as stations? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations?
Although I don't have my own classroom, I can certainly see classroom benefits to using interactive websites as stations. MangaHigh works well in math classrooms, PhET is a great resource for science teachers and Thinkfinity has something for just about everyone. Record keeping sheets and/or summary sheets describing the learning can work well for the accountability at stations.
List two to three apps you found for the iPod Touch/iPad that you can use in your classroom. What do you see that station looking like? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations?
Slideshark and LiveBinders are 2 great iPad APPS that could be used at stations. Slideshark works like PowerPoint where students can create/view/edit slide shows. LiveBinder allows students to create electronic binders to hold all kinds of information. The products students create can serve as the accountability piece for stations that involve these two APPS.
What about other ways to use the iPod Touch/iPad? Share another way you can see your students using the device as a station.
Another way to use an iPad as a station is to use it as a research tool or video maker.With the evolution of APPS the sky's the limit really!
It is so interesting to read these questions and answers as I feel that I have moved my thinking somewhat on this idea. If we truly have engaging and rigorous projects/lessons, then we probably don't need to worry about the accountability piece so much. Students would be working on something meaningful. However, I guess this tools speaks to the place where many of use are right now - moving from whole group teacher directed lessons to small group workstations where the teacher would be working with a small group. I guess we have to start somewhere.
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