Rachel Folstrom
Indiana University Wright School of Education
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
-Nelson Mandela
GALLERY
Project | 01
Project | 01 Inquiry Lesson Plan
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Inquiry Lessons are great lessons to use in a classroom. Inquiry Lessons allow students to create their own solution to a driving question that is presented. Through looking at the Indiana Academic Standards, teachers can find a topic in which students are interested in learning more about and create an open ended question that allows students to dig into research and create an answer that they think best answers the question. Using Inquiry Lessons are important in a classroom because it allows students to problem solve on their own and use their brains to develop and answer that is more than just a yes or no and more than just a Google Search away. Inquiry Lessons allow students to go beyond the surface, and eventually allow students to create their own driving question that they are passionate about. Inquiry Lessons will be extremely beneficial in my future classroom. I created a sample Inquiry Lesson Plan with two of my peers, which is linked to the image on the left.
Project | 02
Project | 02 Digital Citizenship Lesson Plan
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Digital Citizenship Lessons are important issues to inform students on. As social media and earlier use of technology are on the rise, it is necessary to inform students about the ways to protect themselves on the Internet. Teachers have the responsibility to teach students about the importance of Internet Safety if students are going to incorporate technology into the classroom, as parents may not be teaching their children at home. There are a lot of aspects to digital citizenship similar to how there are a lot of aspects to being a good citizen in the community. Digital Citizenship can be taught through multiple lessons and can align to many Indiana Standards through the use of technology. Digital Citizenship is critical material for students to learn so that they can have the knowledge of privacy, security, and what to do in the case of cyberbullying throughout the rest of their lives. Since technology is ever growing, knowing Digital Citizenship is a vital tool for the rest of time, and teaching students about it should be on the forefront of every teacher's mind. To see an example of a Digital Citizenship Lesson Plan created by two peers and myself, click the image on the left!
Project | 03
Project | 03 Computational Thinking Lesson Plan
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Computational Thinking Lessons are integral aspects for teaching students how to critically think and problem solve. Through the use of Computational Thinking, students are taught how to think through a problem and take the necessary steps to problem solve. Students are taught about algorithms which are used every single day to complete a range of tasks from basic to complex. Computational Thinking can be taught through the use of programming robots, such as BeeBots which was used in the lesson plan on the left, and through the use of online applications such as Scratch. Teachers can integrate Computational Thinking into their lesson plans that align with the Indiana Standards by creating games that require students to solve problems about the material they are learning in class with the use of programming a robot to arrive at the correct answer on the board. There are many ways to use Computational Thinking in the classroom and it is very important to use, as problem solving and critical thinking are two skills that will be carried into the student's professional life after school. To see an example of a Computational Thinking Lesson Plan prepared by two peers and myself, click the image on the left!
Project | 04
Project | 04 Concept Map
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Concept Maps are a great tool to have students use when wanting to combine technology with creating relationships. Students will be able to see the relationships of different academic concepts such as the relationships between characters in a book, how photosynthesis works, and how Pilgrims migrated to the United States. With concept maps, students will build the entire thing on their own using the application Popplet and will be able to add in critical thinking skills. I will use concept maps in my future classroom to help students visualize content in lessons and reenforce their knowledge of the lesson. To see an example of a concept map that I have made that will be similar to what I will have my students make, click on the image to the left!
Project | 05
Project | 05 Hour of Code
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The Hour of Code is a challenge in which you spend an hour on the computer coding a game and receive a certificate to show proof of completion. Not only do you get to learn how to code and apply algorithms to the games that you play, you get to build the game and really start to understand what is happening when you are playing. I think this is a very important tool for my future classroom, as it requires patience and problem solving to complete. There is not one correct way to program a game to make it run, there are many different ways to get to the same solution. On top of teaching patience and problem solving while trying to figure out a way to make the program run correctly, students are taught that most things in life are not black and white, and that there can be many different answers to one problem. I will have my students complete the Hour of Code so that they can learn some valuable tools for the classroom and for their life. To see an example of what I learned during my Hour of Code, click on the image to the left!
