Assignment #3

Create and post a planning document on your blog before the class activity. Include the following information:

Link to the activity or web site: Click here.

Specific NETS for Student standard(s) this activity will fulfill:
7. "Select and use the appropriate tools and digital resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and to solve problems." 6a. "Understand and use technology systems."

Activity plan including a description of the activity, how you will prepare for the activity, how class will participate in the activity and how learning will be assessed:
To prepare, I, as the teacher, will become familiar with the SMARTboard presentation which I am using. (If it was a real classroom, I would likely find vocabulary appropriate for a specific book we were studying.) The class will participate by interacting with the SMARTboard verbally and physically. Assessment will be based on participation.

This activity is for language arts and is based on learning to use a thesaurus. For a 7th grade class, they likely already know the basics of how to use a thesaurus. However, this is good, interactive review. And it gives the opportunity to use an internet thesaurus.

My role, as the teacher, is to simply start by asking the class if they know what a thesaurus is used for. I will then drag the link in the first slide to find the answer. I will explain that a thesaurus can be found in book form but also online, following the link on the first slide. I will ask the class to give me a word that I can type into the thesaurus website, demonstrating how to use the tool.

Moving to the next slide, I will instruct three members of the class to look up one word each: angry, careful, and middle. They will use the aforementioned thesaurus site to do this and will then write one of the synonyms on the SMARTboard. I then might show the answers the slide itself gives.

For the next slide, I will ask one student to come forward and match the words on the left to their respective definitions. I will then allow the student to click "check" for accuracy.

On the next slide, I will underline several words and ask students to shout out synonyms for those words. We will then "click for the answer."

If you have made changes to the SB Lesson Activity please talk about the changes and how they will improve the lesson for your students:
I decided not to make changes. The way in which this activity is set-up does not allow for duplication or deletion of page elements. My only option was to create totally new pages. I did not because it was not necessary for this activity. However, if I was using this to teach a specific lesson in a classroom, I would need to change the words to fit / be more applicable.