Chapters 3,4,and 5

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of Teaching for Understanding with Technology all have to deal with planning and execution.

Before you beginning planning, you want to make sure what you are going to teach is worth teaching for understanding. As I read through the chapter, teaching for understanding requires A LOT of time for planning. It is important that the topic and the lesson allows for students to make self to text connections as well as self to world connections.

“In each case, the topic was significant because it related to several important ideas in the subject matter was easily connected to students; experience and interests and could be approached in multiple ways through a range of curriculum materials and entry points” (p.27). Each topic also opened doors to explore other ideas and questions. Planning for understanding seems to really support planning across the subject areas.

I love the following sentence. It really seems it all up for me. “Students are more likely to become engaged in studying a topic if they are able to approach the material in a variety of ways that particularly pique their interests and suit their preferred ways of learning” (p.28). That is my educational philosophy in one sentence.

My question is—it would be nice it all lessons followed this design; however, it is necessary for all lessons to do that? I know my ultimate goal should resemble something about a day filled with teaching for understanding, but wouldn’t the students get tired of it after awhile? It’s also harder and harder for me to distinguish between inquiry based learning and project based learning. I also LOVE the iearn website! It has some great ideas that I can’t wait to try. I’m glad that I do not have to completely reinvent the wheel when it comes to my instruction. The site is http://www.iearn.org. Also, in the questions for reflection at the end of the chapter, I think that within the fourth grade curriculum there are four big topics that are important for students to understand, but hard for them to understand. These topics are physics (force), democracy, cause and effect, and manipulation of numbers such as multiplying digit numbers by three digit numbers.

Chapter 4 focuses on understanding goals and objectives. “Teachers may incorporate technology into lessons in ways that provide some catchy entertainment with little or no contribution to learning” (p.42). I admit, I’m guilty of doing that. Some days you just have to give into the entertainment value of things just to make it to the end of the day. There have been a few times that I have stuck a video in that has no connection to what the students are learning in class or allowed them to play a game. Sometimes we all just need those mental breaks. I also agree with the authors’ statement of “teachers rarely are encouraged to articulate these underlying goals, to link them directly with more specific learning objectives, or to share them publicly with students, parents, and administrators” (p.42). When I was student teaching, I was required to have weekly goals, but I was never required to reflect or apply them throughout the week. I also LOVE the website for web quests. It really helped me to understand how to focus the use of the internet for meaningful learning in the classroom. The url is: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/.

The one key point in chapter 5 that I found the most useful was understanding the key features of performances of understanding. There is a text box at the top of page 64 with three points related to understanding the key features of performances or projects. These are:
“They develop and demonstrate understanding of target goals”
“They required students to stretch their minds—to think beyond what they have been told, confront their usual ideas and attitudes with a more critical perspective and combine or contrast ideas in ways they have not done before.
“They build up understanding through a sequence of activities that gradually transfer autonomy and responsibility of learners.”

By the time I was done reading chapter 5, I was and still am completely overwhelmed! How does the teacher in the example manage to do it all, and do it successfully every time?! I’m sure it gets easier over time, but it is very daunting. I need a break before I start to wrap my mind around NCLB and it relates.


Wiske, Martha Stone, et. al. (2005). Technolongy for Understanding. Jossey-Bass. California: San Fransciso. (pp.27-82).