I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found, are well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: K-12 Technology Curriculum
Overview
The K-12 Technology Curriculum is Common Core and ISTE aligned, and outlines what should be taught when so students have the necessary scaffolding to use tech in the pursuit of grade level state standards and school curriculum.
Each book is between 212 and 252 pages and includes lesson plans, assessments, domain-specific vocabulary, problem-solving tips, Big Idea, Essential Question, options if primary tech tools not available, posters, reproducibles, samples, tips, enrichments, entry and exit tickets, and teacher preparation. Lessons build on each other kindergarten through 5th grade. Middle School and High School are designed for the grading period time frame typical of those grade levels with topics like programming, robotics, writing an ebook, and community service with tech.
Most (all?) grade levels include base topics of keyboarding, digital citizenship, problem solving, digital tools for the classroom, and coding.
Included are optional student workbooks (sold separately) that allow students to be self-paced, responsible for their own learning. They include required rubrics, exemplars, weekly lessons, full-color images, and more.
The curriculum is used worldwide by public and private schools and homeschoolers.
Who needs this
Tech teachers, tech coordinators, library media specialists, curriculum specialists
Classroom grade level teachers if your tech teacher doesn’t cover basic tech skills.
How do you use it
The lesson plans are optimized for a lab setting or a classroom. If you’re the tech teacher and have dedicated technology time each week, this takes you through that 30-45 minutes, unpacking what needs to be taught when. If you’re a classroom teacher, integrate the lesson pieces into your regular curriculum. For example, where a project requires a tech skill, pick one your students are familiar with that supports your inquiry.
Stuff that goes nicely with this
When you buy this curriculum, you get weekly free web training. So don’t buy that.
K-12 Student Workbooks (digital only) are a great addition. Each ebook is 148-203 pages, with 251-420 images. If you purchase the student workbooks, the teacher manual for that grade level is free (as well as the weekly videos) so don’t purchase them separately! You can either purchase a Room License if you teach in a lab or a School License if you’re a 1:1 school or use Google Classroom.
Where do you get it
Available in print and/or digital as a single or multi-user license
Pay via PayPal or school PO
Screenshots from the K-8 books:
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
