Emerging Technology that Supports Content Learning

Egbert discusses declarative, structural and procedural knowledge. I was thinking about how I use technology in the classroom to support the students' learning of these three types of knowledge, and the first thing that comes to mind is persuasion. There is a huge emphasis on persuasion and persuasive writing in high school English across Georgia because the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) in Writing is always a persuasive topic. I spend a lot of time teacher persuasive writing, and this year, I have been able to utilize the Smart Board to assist with persuasion. The students' declarative knowledge concerning persuasion was dealt with through some definitions (not the most technologically savvy part of my lesson, but alas, they still have to write the occasional note no matter how much technology is available). To understand how those terms fit together, the students watched commercials on the Smart Board. We discussed how those commercials attempted to persuade the viewer, and we located the terms they had just learned to the commercials. Then, to exhibit their procedural knowledge, the students wrote, filmed (with the help of our co-teacher) and edited (using Movie Maker) their own commercial.