FINAL TECHNOLOGY LESSON PLAN

Essential Technology at ABC Community School

College of Southern Nevada

July 24, 2022

Pete A. Penksa
Dear Clark County School Board,

I am writing this urgent request for you to overrule the recent decision you made to oust

all our invaluable technology at ABC. The students have been in an uproar since finding out they

no longer are allowed access to their online portals at school anymore, and some students are

refusing to study for the newly implemented multiple-choice tests until teaching and learning

with technology is brought back into the classroom. Not only do the students feel this way. The

staff, including myself, feel there is an embarrassment of technological riches being wasted.

If our students do not know how to operate a computer, they will not succeed in college,

or any well-paying jobs. “In today’s standards-based educational landscape, educational

technology and technology literacy have become foundational elements” (Lever-Duffy, 2017, p.

4). Everything we do here at ABC is driven by technology in one way or another. From grading

papers to rewarding students by letting them play educational video games. I fear the students

may go backward in their evolution if we continue down this road of stuffing empty classrooms

with unused computers. Technology is everywhere in today’s workforce, and we believe it is

essential for everyone at ABC to develop technology literacy.

On behalf of the entire educational staff at ABC, we are certain we are doing the students

a learning disservice if we continue to disallow technology in class. My only question for the

school board is why. Why would we take away teaching and learning with technology, when

learning improves in every single area when we utilize it (Gray, 2021)? Please help our students

and staff remain proactive in learning about the technology-based world they are entering.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter,

Pete Penksa

Principal of ABC Community School

 The Nevada Performance Indicators for technology directly coincide with the

developmental levels proposed by educational psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive

development. Piaget’s theory shows that as students progress in age, so does their ability to

assess information in new ways. According to Piaget, around age seven to eleven, children “can

form concepts, see relationships, and solve problems—but only as long as they involve objects

and situations that are familiar” (Slavin, 2022, p. 28). When you compare that to the Nevada

Performance Indicators for technology, you will see students in the 2nd and 5th grades are only

being asked to use technology for things like researching information and creating projects. It is

not until 8th or 12th grade that students are using technology to come up with original solutions to

problems they have yet to experience. The Nevada Performance Indicators seem to directly

reflect Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. With the data and technology-driven world our

students are entering, it is our duty to prepare them for what lies ahead of their post-secondary

lives, while at the same time respecting Piaget’s work.

The National Education Technology Standards (NETS) also show a hierarchy of learning,

although it is not listed with age recommendations. After reading the first two sections you

realize these should be the first things taught to anyone before they log onto a computer for the

first time. Such as “developing strategies to ethically use technology as a safe learning tool.” As

you get farther in the NETS standards for students, you notice that the purposes for which

technology is being used get more and more advanced for students. Up to the point where it ends

with students publishing customized digital content and even going as far as communicating

globally. If we implement the NETS in our district, there is no reason why students should not be

able to use technology to enhance learning. We will meet NETS standard 1.5.b in the following

lesson plan to incorporate technology to assist in the high school physical education setting.
 References

Slavin, Robert E. Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. 13th ed., Pearson, 2022.

Gray, Lucinda. “Use of Educational Technology for Instruction in Public Schools: 2019–20.”

Https://Nces.ed.gov/pubs2021/2021017Summary.Pdf, Nov. 2021,

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2021/2021017Summary.pdf.

Lever-Duffy, Judy, and Jean B. McDonald. Teaching and Learning with Technology. 6th ed.,

Pearson, 2017.
Name of Lesson:

 Learning Layups: Bringing Tech to Physical Education

Grade Level Appropriateness:

 High School (grades 9-12)

NETS-S Standard 1.5.b -

 Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and

represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.

Nevada Academic Content Standards – Physical Education:

 4.8.1 - Develop a physical activity plan that includes training and conditioning principles

to improve fitness.

 2.8.3 - Implement safe practices for self and others while participating in physical

activities.

Objectives:

 Students will be able to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for recording data and

tracking progress on how many basketball shots they make or miss from different areas

on the court.

 Students will be able to demonstrate safety techniques and good etiquette in a group

environment by keeping proper scores without anyone getting hurt.

 Students will be able to analyze personal improvement by tracking their progress over

time.

Materials Needed to Facilitate the Lesson:

 Basketballs

 Tablets with protective casings

  Microsoft Excel

 Basketball court

 Proper PE attire (sneakers, shirt, shorts)

 Whistle

Suggested group size:

 Seven students, with one squad leader per group.

Procedures:

Students learned how to create their personal spreadsheets in the computer lab during the

first week of school. Spreadsheets are available on the tablets that are locked away in the

coaches’ office. They update their statistics when we play basketball on Fridays. The students

will know how to access their files; They are under the first folder in ‘Documents’ labeled

“Learning Layups.” Files are further organized by class period.

The students will already know that Friday is basketball, and they should be excited. Give

the students the first 15 minutes of class to get dressed out. Bring out the basketballs and the

tablets and take the students to the gymnasium. Check the locker room before leaving to make

sure everyone is out. Once in the gym, students go to their predetermined spots on the floor and

line up in alphabetical order. Take accurate attendance, marking whether they decided to dress

out for the day. Hopefully, by this time our ‘squad leaders’ have already introduced themselves.

They will lead the students in the daily stretching routines. Stretching should take approximately

10 minutes. Make sure the students do not try to make stretches last 30-seconds, as they know

the importance of stretching by now. After leading the stretching exercise, the team leaders

should be administered the tablets to keep score.

 Students line up in two lines facing the hoop. Both lines should start somewhere near the

‘elbow’(↓see diagram below↓) of the painted area. Students take ten layup attempts each, with

the squad leader recording whether it was a make or a miss (squad leaders go last while someone

else records their data). After ten shot attempts, they switch sides and record the results dribbling

in from the other side of the basket. After they take their shot attempts and log the results (which

should take approximately 15 minutes), the rest of the time may be spent playing basketball in

groups or walking/jogging around the gym. Students ARE NOT permitted to go behind the

bleachers. Students must be exercising for the remainder of class, NOT sitting.

Take the students back into the locker room eight minutes before the end of class. This is

plenty of time for the students to get dressed back into regular clothes.

Assessment:

 Students are given a pass/fail grade for daily participation points. If students do not fully

dress out, they are given no points for the day and are not permitted to play basketball.

Fully dressed out includes shoes (not sandals), PE shorts, and a PE shirt. At the end of the
year, students who have not shown measurable progress in their layup attempts are not to

be docked points. Instead, there should be a brief discussion as to why they never

improved, and whether they could put forth more effort during the next year.