Technology-enhanced Lesson

I had the opportunity to teach my third graders about commas. I specifically taught them about using commas for separating the day and the year in a date, separating cities and states, and also the use of commas when addressing a person. I was able to teach the whole class with the aid of the Promethean board. I made a small presentation which included the rules for the different uses of commas. For each rule I included some examples that so that the students could see exactly what I was talking about. For instance, when I showed them the rule about using commas to separate a city from a state, I included, "Seattle, Washington" or "Dallas, Texas." The Promethean board made it so that all of the students could see the new material at the same time, it also made it easier on me. I did not have to write out each rule on big posters or paper; all I had to do was type things and expose it on the Promethean board. After going through some examples, I decided to let the students show me what they learned. I wrote some sentences on the Promethean board with the special pen you use on it. The sentences included dates, cities and states, and examples of addressing people. None of these sentences included the commas which were needed. The students had the opportunity to go up and use the pen to fill in the missing commas on the Promethean board. This was so neat because I was able to see if the students really understood the concept. It was also neat because it included a lot of interaction and the students were so excited to use the Promethean board; I know that this kept their interest. Something that I know would be hard if I had simply explained the rules of commas.