Teachers' instructional planning is observed as part of their yearly evaluations of standards of competency (FLDOE, n.d.). Teacher pre-service and in-service training instruct teachers in lesson-planning, but the changing makeup of students and legislative amendments leave teachers poorly equipped to design relevant literacy instruction, as…

Efficient lesson planning with universal design for learning (UDL) enables teachers to more effectively meet students' individual needs. In this study, a comparison of lesson plans by teacher candidates in a teacher preparation program before and after UDL training is presented. After training, teachers (n = 45) incorporated more differentiated…

Any school interested in preparing students for learning and working in 21st century academic and job settings needs this resource to explain to teachers the new skills students need and provide teachers with tools to teach and reinforce these skills. Based on the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, this action tool defines what…

Regardless of your stage at implementing the design tools and using the improved template for Understanding by Design[R] (UbD), this companion to "The UbD Guide to Creating High-Quality Units" is essential for taking your work to a higher plane. This volume features a set of hands-on modules containing worksheets, models, and self-assessments that…

How does teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) inform their instructional planning? How can this knowledge be enhanced? In an interpretivist study of experienced secondary social studies teachers' planning, we sought to discover clues to the nature and development of these teachers' TPACK-in-action as it was expressed in…

This paper traces the evolution of the design framework for the use of technology in a teacher education program in a Singaporean university. This course focuses on developing student teachers' capacity for the use of ICT in teaching and learning. We report our two-level reflection: one that focuses on the trajectory of the course design, and one…

The technology teaching lab program at Ohio State University at Mansfield is a series of 2-hour labs that runs concurrently with preservice methods blocks. The purpose of the lab is to give the students the experience necessary to integrate technology into their classroom. The lab provides the students with instruction, opportunities, and…

Reports on needs identified by three teachers during an investigation into their first experiences of implementing technology in primary classrooms. Presents two models for conceptualizing and planning units of work in technology. The models form frameworks that may help structure thinking for authentic classroom planning and sequencing of lessons…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose an electronic support tool that can be used by teacher educators and novice teachers to foster habits of reflective, systematic instructional planning. Design/methodology/approach: The authors provide a rationale for their work, present a theoretical framework, propose a unique instructional design…

This study compared the use of two developmental alternatives: a Web Editor (WE) in combination with a customized template/shell (Teaching Not Teaching, T-N-T) and a WE only, for development of a Web-based lesson by pre-service teachers. Six hypotheses were tested to find whether the WE and T-N-T alternative was more efficient, effective, and…

This book about using the Big6 information problem solving process model in elementary schools is organized into two parts. Providing an overview of the Big6 approach, Part 1 includes the following chapters: "Introduction: The Need," including the information problem, the Big6 and other process models, and teaching/learning the Big6;…

Suggests that one way to simplify computer integration in schools would be to provide examples of computer activities that are combined with other classroom activities for teachers to use in the same way as the activity books that teachers are comfortable with using. Presents two examples where objectives required by the school district are listed…

This paper describes a computer integration project implemented with two sixth-grade social studies classes. First it outlines and discusses the following goals: (1) integrate technology meaningfully into the classroom setting; (2) supplement the existing social studies curriculum; (3) enable students to learn to use computers responsibly; and (4)…

In order to facilitate the professional development of its student teachers, North Carolina has initiated a grant program that offers a number of grant opportunities. This paper describes how one of these grants was used in a special education classroom. The classroom consisted of 14 students with a wide range of handicapping conditions. The…

Aimed at secondary school library media specialists who are undertaking the transition to block scheduling, this book examines the essential components of the library media program in a block-scheduled school and provides useful handouts, lesson plans, and the experiences of four practitioners through their case studies. The following chapters are…