LoTi Framework

The use of technology at my school, Jenkins Elementary in Lawrenceville, is something that our school prides itself on.  One reason is that our former principal who just retired made a big push for it as she wrote her dissertation for her doctorate on integrating technology in the classroom.  We are fortunate enough to have access to a lot of tech tools in our classrooms as she provided each class with:  1 student desktop computer, 8 student laptops, 6 kindles, and 4 tablets in most rooms.  Teachers were given the tools, and they’re expected to have students use them daily.

But just because I have so much access to technology doesn’t mean that what I’m teaching falls in the higher LoTi levels.  I noticed looking at the LoTi levels that most of the units I teach fall in between the LoTi Levels 2-4.  The three components that were consistently missing that didn’t allow the units to fall in the 5 or 6 range included:

• Real world relevance
• Opportunity for students to apply their learning to a real world situation
• Students involved in defining the task, process and solution

I team teach with another gifted teacher who became STEM certified this summer, and our goal this year was to amp up the rigor in our units.  One unit we are trying to accomplish this with our 5^th grade gifted class.  I briefly touched on this unit in my previous blog and it’s for Inherited Traits and Genetic Disorders.  It was written at the county level as an example PBL lesson and there was a lot of time and effort put into it by people who live and breathe PBL.  Using the LoTi framework, I think this lesson does fall under level 6 (I’m taking credit for the awesome unit J). 

I think it’s a level 6 because it does contain the hard to attain real world relevance component that was missing from the previous units I’ve taught.  The real world relevance comes into play as students will be raising awareness for the genetic disorder they research by fundraising or using social media to raise awareness.  This is honestly the first level 6 unit that I’ve taught, and I see that there is a lot more work for the teacher upfront.  Believe me, I can’t just step into class and “wing” this one J.

Since my co-teacher and I have just started this unit, it’s still a work in progress.  One activity that we want to include that will have the unit be a LoTi Level 6 is to Skype with a medical professional on genetic disorders.  This will help the students gain some feedback and knowledge from an expert in the field.  My sister-in-law is a doctor, so this is someone we could easily use for this aspect of the project.  Another aspect of the project that could be a challenge for my co-teacher and myself is the raising awareness component.  Since the students will either be raising awareness to the genetic disorder they study by fundraising or on social media, we have to really support the students in this area.