Passion Based Learning by Melanie Moreno

AN ISTE MEMBER RESOURCE

ISTE Passion-Based Learning Contest Videos and Lesson Plans

June 2012

Welcome “Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.” - Peter Senge Welcome to this collection of lesson plans curated from ISTE’s Passion-Based Learning Contest. In the following chapters, you’ll find our favorite submissions, organized by grade level. A common thread among these plans is that teachers did not shy away from tackling challenging subjects with their students, whether helping kindergarteners build models for a greener lifestyle, guiding fifth graders to explore the political climate in Syria, or encouraging high schoolers to consider our society’s current surveillance state through the lens of George Orwell’s 1984. Another common thread among all of the submissions is the generosity of spirit in sharing these plans with the wider ISTE community. It takes effort and time (a commodity always in short supply) to prepare the videos, example materials, and guidance needed to share these plans. We hope you find them valuable, and that you’ll consider sharing your knowledge in a future contest or within one of ISTE’s learning communities. A final note about this iBook: it was designed for optimal viewing in the landscape orientation, though the portrait orientation will provide a streamlined view of the lesson plans. i

Chapter 1

PK-Grade 2

Our youngest learners are ready for technology in the classroom! Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning about the creatures that share our world, or how to care for the world itself, PK-2

students find their lessons are driven home through the use of technology.

Lesson 1

Green Gingerbread House

BY SILVIA MARTINEZ Length of Lesson: 6-10 lessons (30-45 minutes) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: • Understand the concept of perseverance, problem solving, and creativity as they plan, prepare, and build a “green” gingerbread house • Participate in cooperation, listening, and speaking skills • Define energy and its two types: potential and kinetic and understand the three R’s: reduce, re-use, recycle • Gain a better understanding of renewable vs nonrenewable energy sources, energy efficiency and conservation, sustainability and being environmentally friendly

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Digital Citizenship Technology Operations and Concepts

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Before beginning this lesson, it is important to establish three R’s:

summarize and retell the story in proper sequence. Read another version then compare and contrast stories. Read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. Discuss the appearance of the gingerbread house in the story.

reduce, re-use, and recycle early into classroom daily culture. Read “Our Classroom Is Going Green” by Oak Park Elementary

Introduce and explain worm-composting bin. Allow students time

kindergarten students. Ask: “How are we green in our

to explore contents and collect/use “liquid gold” on a daily basis.

classroom?” “At home?” (Common student examples include:

Encourage “I wonder” questions. Ask: How is composting being

recycle bin, not wasting lights, not wasting water, using heater/air

green?

conditioner wisely, using both sides of a paper, and adding stuff to our “invention area” instead of garbage can). BODY

Discuss energy. “What is energy?” Provide definition, “Energy is the ability to do work.” Ask: What makes our classroom lights work? What makes our classroom computers work? What makes cars work? What makes an apple grow? What makes our body

Days 1-7

work? Discuss potential and kinetic energy. Discuss renewable vs

Read/sing Home Is… poem, display the poem on an ActivBoard,

non-renewable energy sources. Introduce Shake-n-Shine

and have students interact with text (i.e. finding sight words,

flashlight to illustrate. Discuss and observe.

rhyming words, descriptive words).

Discuss solar energy. Ask: Have you ever seen solar cells?

Discuss some holiday traditions, allowing the students to share

Where? Share solar cell items: solar flashlight, solar fan, solar

their knowledge. Relate baking cookies, in particular gingerbread,

knex merry-go-round. Ask: What is making these items work?

and making a gingerbread house to an American holiday tradition.

How? Discuss and observe.

Ask the students “Can we build a “green” gingerbread house?” With each instruction day, remind students of previous lessons about different types of houses and “green” features.

Discuss insulation. Ask: What is insulation? Do we insulate our bodies? How? Write/draw about how we insulate our bodies. Do we insulate our homes? How? Can windows, sunlights, trees help

Read one version of the Gingerbread Man allowing the students

with insulation? Discuss roof top plants as building insulators.

to finish reading the rhyming sentences. Have the students

Show photos of SF Academy of Science Living Roof. Go on a 4

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Our Classroom Is “Going Green” by Oak Park Elementary kindergarten students Various versions of The Gingerbread Man including The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett Poem: “Home is…” ActivInspire flipchart with interactive information including green building and renewable energy photos, links to energy websites, “Home Is...” poem Google Earth access Shake-n-shine flashlight (types of energy) Solar flashlight, solar fan, and solar K’nex merry-go-round (for solar energy) Worm composting bin (composting bin). Tools to build a wind turbine: new pencil, 6” paper plate, push pin. Tools for each student for green materials store: 10 pennies, paper, markers, gingerbread man stickers. Tools for each student to build a house: milk cartons, 10” x 10” cardboard, various scrap building materials (i.e. paper tubes, pen caps, corks, lids, recycled paper pieces, dried flowers, small stones), tacky glue. To document learning: digital camera, iPad with voice recording feature, iMovie.

Discuss wind power. Obtain prior knowledge and briefly discuss history of windmills. Show photos of wind turbines and ask: How is this energy captured? Discuss. Are wind turbines noisy? Watch youtube video comparing wind turbines with other everyday sounds. Model how to make a miniature wind turbine (State that it will be added to their green gingerbread house). Discuss rain barrels. Ask: What do rain barrels do and why are these used? Would a rain barrel make a house green? How? Show photos of different rain barrels. Discuss.

Day 8 Students will use all of the knowledge they have collected from previous lessons about green materials and energy to create their green gingerbread house. Show students the various “green” building materials that will be purchased at our “Green Material Store.” Ask: Where did this green material come from? By re-using it, where are we preventing it from going? Explain that everyone will be able to spend 10 cents in purchasing the materials. Pass out lap chalk/ white boards and do interactive writing in making price tags. Involve the students in problem solving the prices. (For example, how many cylinder tubes (for possible trees) can we buy for one

virtual field trip to Academy of Science through Google Earth.

cent verses how many black rectangular pieces of cardboard (for

Zoom in to see the living roof!

possible solar cells) can we buy for one cent?) Model writing numbers and sounding out the words for the price tags. Call on 5

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

CONCLUSION

Day 10 (Construction day) Distribute milk cartons, cardboard and tacky glue. Point out the shape of the sides of the house: squares, rectangles, and pentagons. Model how to use the tacky glue to adhere building materials. Build green gingerbread houses. Encourage discussions of ideas, creativity, sustainability, and environmental friendly components. MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Allow the students to share and reflect during and after the construction of their green gingerbread houses. Ask questions such as “What was the hardest thing to do during the construction?” “Who lives in your house?” “Would you want to live in the house?” Why or why not. “ What makes your house green?” Record answers. students to write the price tags while others continue to work on their lapboard.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Day 9

Management Suggestions:

Students will plan for their green gingerbread house construction

Survey classroom and school parents, and community for additional support and information. Such as: solar or wind turbine engineer/expert, green building architect, master composter, etc.

by illustrating and writing about it. Encourage all “green” components into the planning. In small groups, students will spend 10 cents to purchase their green gingerbread house

Support for Learners with Special Needs:

supplies.

Students with special needs can be given additional time interacting with Promethean ActivInspire flipchart pages and links. 6

Lesson 2

Animating with Make a Movie on Kerpoof.com

BY MONICA ENCARNACION Length of Lesson: 4 lessons (45 minutes each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Learn how to program software by creating an animated movie.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

I began this lesson by showing my students a small clip of a popular animated movie. I asked if they had any idea how the animation for this movie had been created. 7

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Explore the Kerpoof.com website prior to teaching this lesson and work on your own movie as a model for students.

BODY

Students were already familiar with the www.kerpoof.com website as they each have their own account and had previously learned how to use it to create other types of artwork such as cards and story books.

Create checklists for students to follow and evaluate their own work and that of their peers.

Lesson 1:

Have one laptop and set of headphones for each student.

I introduced students to kerpoof.com's Make a Movie feature and together we watched a step-by-step tutorial on the website. Students were given time to explore the site and share what they

Students shared their responses and a couple of students suggested they had used computers. Then I asked if they had ever wondered what makes computers do what they do, like when they play a computer game, watch a cartoon or movie or work in software like Microsoft Powerpoint or Word. A few students shared their wonderings with the class. I then explained that computers, although very smart, can only do what humans tell them to do. I further explained that someone had to PROGRAM the computer, movie or game to do these things. I explained that to PROGRAM is to tell something what to do. I announced that today we would PROGRAM our own animated movie!

learned to do with each other. Lesson 2: Students were introduced to some of the basic steps to creating their own animated movie. I demonstrated each procedure and we created a short animated movie as a class. Students were given time to work on their own individual movies. Students were provided a checklist and used it to plan out their movies. CONCLUSION

Lesson 3: Students discussed the work they had done during the previous lesson and shared some of the ways in which they had 8

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Lesson 4: Students now shared their movie with partners and received both written and verbal feedback. Students were given time to work in pairs to support each other in editing and publishing their FINAL CUT movies. Once all lessons were complete students CELEBRATED their work with a special in-class screening of their movies for all to see! MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Students were measured on their performance through the following types of evaluation: 1. Through teacher observation 2. Through viewing of published student movies programed their chosen characters to move and perform certain actions. Students shared the steps for adding features such as a title or song.

3. Based on the submitted self-evaluation from students Based on the submitted partner evaluation forms and the feedback that was both given and received by each student

Students were introduced to the Final Cut checklist. They were instructed to view their movie and evaluate their work. Students were given time to review their work, evaluate it and determine what needed to be added before finalizing the project. Students went on to edit their work based on their evaluation.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: You may want to turn computers on prior to student use and allow website (www.kerpoof.com) to load prior to student arrival. Ensure that you have the latest version of Adobe FlashPlayer installed on each computer.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: • Students may want to use a mouse instead of the touchpad on a laptop. • Students may be given written instructions with matching pictures to follow the steps for completing each task. • Provide list of words students may need to know to spell so that they can add titles and speech to their movies. • Allow students to work as a group at the SMART Board instead of at the computer.

Lesson 3

Tour the Zoo with K03 (Animal Research)

BY JENNA GARBER Length of Lesson: 5 lessons (30 minutes each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Research animals using iPads and create a class book with information and pictures using the app Scribble Press â&#x20AC;˘ Compare and contrast different animals and differences in animals. They will research animal habits, diet, and life expectancy

Please note that the only material you will require for this lesson is a set of class iPads.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Students will be introduced to the Pocket Zoo app. Teacher will give tour of the app to demonstrate use of webcams, videos, and information finding. Teacher will also review the Doodle Buddy app, which students will use to illustrate and describe their

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Student will be assessed on their ability to accurately portray their animal in the picture. They will also be assessed on the sentence(s) they write about their animal. Teacher will know students have successfully met the objectives if their drawings and sentences properly reflect the animal's habitat, diet, etc.

chosen animal. BODY

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Students will pick one animal to research. They will be given time to research via webcams, videos, and information given in Pocket Zoo app. Students will illustrate chosen animal in Doodle Buddy. They will type at least one sentence stating information about chosen animal, such as habitat, diet, or life expectancy. Students will email finished product to teacher. They will then return to Pocket Zoo and take a screen shot photo of chosen animal and email a photo to teacher. CONCLUSION

Teacher will add all photos to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tour the Zoo with K03â&#x20AC;? book in Scribble Press and send final product to students. Students will open and read book via iBooks. Students will discuss information with a partner.

Chapter 2

Grades 3-5 As they gain competence and confidence, students in grades 3-5 relish exploring the environment around them. They can actively engage in dynamic lesson plans that

connect them with their government, their world, their roles as citizens, and the universe beyond.

Lesson 4

Adopt an Orca

BY AL DOSS Length of Lesson: 1.5 hours Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Learn how to complete academic research, develop an opinion, and create and design a wiki to display their information

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Communication and Collaboration Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Digital Citizenship Technology Operations and Concepts

This lesson was the first activity to begin a 4 month afterschool tutoring project for fifth grade students who were having difficulty reading and writing. The goal of this lesson was to provide these students with a high interest positive experience completing academic research.

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Generate several high interest issues for students to explore Develop and create an introductory video Set-up and design a wiki for students to record thoughts

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view ! student work.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

The video is the hook for an ongoing after school reading and writing remediation project for fifth grade students. The "Adopt an Orca" activity was an introduction and also an ice breaker as this was shared on the first day of the program. The group of students was gathered from seven different classrooms and the activity was the first to have them working together. This hook begins the discussion on what whale adoption means. The video is slightly longer than the 1- 2 minutes called for in the contest rules, but it is exactly the way the students saw the video

BODY

on that first day. It is both silly and factual, but the goal was to

The students began by watching the hook. After the video the

create interest in a subject that students are not familiar with, and

students discussed what adopting a whale might mean. The

have them do something that they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do well; read and write

instructor then directed the students to research whale

about it. In this goal, the video was successful. The students

populations, endangered status for wildlife, and what various

became involved in the activity on the first day and were excited

adopt a whale programs reportedly do. The students then

to be a part of what they did not know was a remedial reading

communicated their thoughts on the idea of whale adoption on a

and writing project.

wikispace (http://bit.ly/Whale_adopt ) in support of, or against, 15

adopting a whale. The instructor then shared all responses and a

learning activities. 5.2 The student will use effective nonverbal

further discussion developed to clarify adopting whales and other

communication skills. 5.4 The student will read fiction and

important concepts.

nonfiction with fluency and accuracy. 5.6 The student will read

CONCLUSION

and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction. 5.7 The student will demonstrate comprehension of information from a variety of

All arguments were shared with only positive feedback to

print resources. 5.8 The student will write for a variety of

promote more participation in the future with similar activities. The

purposes: to describe, to inform, to entertain, and to explain. 5.9

idea was to promote mutual respect of all points of view and

The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization,

instill each student with the idea that their opinion has value. The

spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure.

final activity had each student writing in their private journal about what they learned, their thoughts and feelings about the activity

As the start of a longer term project, this writing activity served as

and anything else they wanted to include. This journal is only

the baseline comparison with other writing projects to determine

shared with the instructor who continued to offer positive

growth over the span of the entire project. The project is not

feedback in written form.

complete as of this writing, but writing comparisons have shown growth since the program began in January.

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

As the beginning of a longer term project with whales as the focus, the long term objectives for the activity were to create interest and promote participation. We wanted the students to want to keep coming back and be excited about being a part of this program. Interest has remained high and the students are enthusiastic about participating in this after school project. Our short term objectives were to improve studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; abilities to read and write with the specific Virginia State Standards of Learning addressed being; 5.1 The student will listen, draw conclusions, and share responses in subject-related group 16

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: Students worked in whole groups and were often split up into pods for smaller group instruction and discussions. The content was fast paced and focused on higher level thinking skills so scaffolding was needed to help the students be successful.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: Students who struggled with the research were given scaffolds including individual support with an instructor, and high school student volunteers. Additional direction was provided in narrowing search terms, pin pointing age appropriate material to read, and discussion of issues before writing their persuasive argument.

Lesson 5

Creating our own P.S.A. Music Videos

BY ALLISON FRIEDMAN Length of Lesson: About fifteen to twenty 40 minute class sessions. The original project was conducted over 6 months with the class meeting once or twice a week. The lesson could be condensed to a eight to twelve week unit. Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: • Be exposed to different web 2.0 resources and audio/ video technologies, as well as learn how to compose their own pop song Specific lesson objectives included: • Learn how to conduct research (via surveys and approved websites) • How to use web 2.0 tools to share and save our information • How to write a pop song (song form, lyric writing, melody writing) • How to arrange and record our songs (using audio recording methods and tools) • How to plan and storyboard a music video • How to record and edit our music videos (using Flip Cameras and video editing software.) • How to share our projects by creating our own websites (using Google sites.)

There is a great deal of preparation involved in this unit. Before beginning, the teacher needs to know: • The web tools they want to know • A list of acceptable sites for the students to use for research. • A Google Doc account setup for students to use • Worksheets created to help guide the students through the brainstorming and planning process • Tutorials prepared of how to use the web 2.0 tools are necessary if the students have never used them before • Samples of what a final project should look like (if this is not possible, a detailed rubric or guideline will suffice) In order to help prepare the students for the project, I created some SMARTBoard lessons about what makes a good pop song and about how to write a song in the "pop" form. I also invited a local songwriter/ composer to come and do a songwriting workshop with the students. He shared some of his compositions, the steps to create a new song, and then worked with each group on their individual songs.

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Worksheets to guide the process of the project (brainstorming, planning, etc.) Video samples of what the final project could look like (from YouTube) Computer Lab Google Docs account Wallwisher account (with boards for each group to use) A classroom website with tutorials and info A list of acceptable sources of research Class set of iPods to administer surveys and to aid in songwriting (apps used: Device Magic & Garageband) Audio Recording Equipment (I used 2 Samson C01 condenser mics, an M-Audio interface, Logic Pro X, Macbook Pro) Flip Cameras for recording our videos Video Editing Software (iMovie & MacBook Pro and Mac Mini) Google Sites account and individual sites created for each group to share their projects.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

The students are excited to research a problem that is special to them (or that affects them personally) and then write a song and create a music video. Students love being able to create and when the topic is something that can be related to their real lives, it becomes even more meaningful. The use of technology can also act as a hook. Another hook would be if there are any 19

contests that their project can be entered into (for instance, my students were able to enter their projects in the 2012 ThinkQuest

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

competition.) BODY

1. The students brainstorm a list of issues that affect them and their peers (i.e.. bullying, healthy eating, global warming, going green, etc.) 2. The students are put into groups of 4-6 members and choose one of the issues. 3. The students will research their issues using pre-approved websites and save their research in their Google Docs folder. Students will also share information and communicate with each other using their Wallwisher boards. 4. The students will create surveys (written in Google Docs) and print to distribute to other classes in the school. They will also administer their surveys using the school iPod touches and an app called Device Magic to their peers. The data gets automatically sent to a Google Form in their Google Docs account. 5. The students will have a lesson about what makes a good pop song and how to write a pop song. This lesson will involve the topics of lyric writing, creating melodies, song form, and rhyme

scheme. If possible, inviting a local songwriter to do a workshop is always helpful and well received. 6. Using their research and survey results, the students will write their lyrics. Their song lyrics will share information about their issue as well as information of how to solve any problems. 7. Once their lyrics are complete, the students will create a melody for their song. Once this step is complete, they will work with the teacher to create their accompaniment. The 20

teacher will act as a producer, offering choices to the students,

the process. It would also be nice for students to share what they

but full creative control should be in the students' hands. The

liked and learned from the projects created by their peers.

students will also have to decide on the song form and style. 8. The students will record their songs in a music recording studio type of setting. They will be exposed to different recording

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

The students will be assessed throughout the entire process by ensuring that they are actively participating with their groups.

techniques. If time allows, they should be part of the editing process to have say over level mixing and effects.

The final project will demonstrate if the objectives of the unit have been met. Use these below guiding questions to determine if the

9. The students will plan their music videos (this process can

objectives were achieved:

occur while the song is being written and recorded.) They should create their ideas using a storyboard. Once they have their video planned, they will record scenes using the school's Flip video cameras.

• Did the students conduct research that resulted in useful information? • Did the students follow the guidelines to compose a song about their issue?

10.The students will review the video footage that they took (scenes they recorded as well as footage of them recording the songs) and put it together with their recorded song in a completed music video. 11.The students should share their music video, song lyrics, and research on a website (created using Google Sites.)

• Does the song share information about the topic? Does it follow an appropriate song form? • Did they create an appropriate music video for their song and topic? • Did all the students in the group work together to complete this project?

CONCLUSION

This lesson is wrapped up with a presentation of the music videos. Ideally, presenting to a large audience would be nice. All students should complete rubrics reflecting on their involvement in the process and sharing what they learned from 21

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: Student groupings are a big part of the success or possible failure of this project. Students need to be able to work together with their peers. It is important that all members of the group are involved and have special tasks or jobs. The teacher needs to make sure that each group member is contributing. The other management issue is to make sure that the groups are staying on task while they are working. This project is student driven and will require them to work on their own at their own pace. The teacher will need to monitor and ensure that the groups are progressing and staying on task.

Support for learners with different needs: Accommodations that can be made are pairing students with special needs with students who can assist them. Another accommodation is any assistive technology that might benefit the student. Since the project is very creative based, there is a lot of room for students with different abilities and disabilities to succeed.

Lesson 6

Celebrating Freedom

BY AMY PRUITT Length of Lesson: 45 minutes daily for 4 weeks Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Be able to link history, the arts, and community service together through a study of America in times of conflict. They will achieve this through working with grade level peers, community volunteers, and high school partners

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Research and Information Fluency Communication and Collaboration Technology Operations and Concepts

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Students began this study with a visit to the military museum where they took digital photos, spoke with veterans, and perused war artifacts from World War I to the present day war in Afghanistan.

sharing and some even donated items to the local military MATERIALS AND PREPARATION:

museum.

These will vary depending on the curriculum focus and local resources available. Below are the resources required when teaching the lesson.!

The unit was all about constructing meaning for the students

Online and local resources (digital primary documents, family artifacts, and a local military museum) Letter to parents explaining the project, encouraging the sharing of family and friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experiences and artifacts Planning a field trip to the museum Contacting a neighboring high school history class to serve as partners.

through the use of primary resources and original artworks. As we ended our study with the War on Terrorism, students viewed bystander video clips of September 11, 2001 and painted watercolor responses to what they had seen entitled "Windows to War". Our high school partners wrote narratives (based on interviews they conducted) to describe what had happened on Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

BODY

Upon returning to the classroom, students began gathering information on each conflict and developed a variety of products from a menu of choices. Students created newspapers, slideshows, posters, and movies centered around each time in history. They also took advantage of enrichment activities where they studied world events, entertainment trends, and technology of each era. Students became very interested in learning more about each time period and began to question family members about their past experiences. Families brought in their own artifacts for

9-11 in response to the watercolor paintings. To further build understanding, the high schoolers then took digital reaction

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

photos of what witnesses would have seen out of their windows

Management Suggestions:

in New York City.

Students worked in whole groups and were often split up into pods for smaller group instruction and discussions. The content was fast paced and focused on higher level thinking skills so scaffolding was needed to help the students be successful.

The elementary and high school students met one another via webcam to complete the study on conflict. CONCLUSION

As a culmination of the unit, teachers, parents, and students organized a fundraising event for the military museum. Students prepared a choral piece "American Tears" to perform for the event

while our local high school partner offered their Jazz Ensemble to participate in the event as well. Parents and local businesses donated refreshments for the evening and $1,416.00 in donations were collected as a result. MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Student learning was measured through the products they created based on rubrics provided for the technology based products (newsletters, posters, slideshows, and movies). Informal assessment was ongoing through observation of class discussions, interest in wartime artifacts, and parent feedback.

Lesson 7 BY CHARLOTTE CHAUVIN & JAN WEST

Did You Know? Branches of Government

Length of Lesson: 4 weeks, 1 class period twice a week Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Become aware of the principles and forms of government. Students will be able to differentiate between the powers and functions of local, state, and national governments, and identify and interpret principles in the Constitution

Lesson Instructions HOOK

We started by asking the question "Who are the people that make decisions in our local, state, and national government?" The students were asked to find information about the three branches of government that 26

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Research materials (websites, a video about the branches of the government and citizens rights, and the textbook "Our Nation" by Macmillan and Mcgraw-Hill). Smart Notebook lessons regarding the 3 branches of government. The software program "Inspiration" to organize student information "Pixie 2" by Tech 4 Learning used to create a green screen technique so students appeared to be standing in Washington DC to report on their findings. Used the website "www.blabberize.com" to import their image and make it appear to talk.

and explained how to make themselves into a stamp and place themselves as if they were reporting from Washington DC. She also explained how to upload their jpeg and use the program blabberize. CONCLUSION

Using the facts stated by the students we created a movie to show everyone what they had learned.

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

was not stated in their textbooks and they thought was important to know. BODY

At first, we discussed what was in the textbook and what facts that were stated. Ms West found a few smart notebook lessons that assisted her on their findings and demonstrated them. Do you think these are the only facts about the government that are important to know? Using the list of websites, provided by Ms Chauvin the students explored other facts that they believed were interesting and others should know. They used a graphic organizer to write down and compare the facts they found. Ms Chauvin took pictures of the students with a green background 27

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Students were assessed by what they found, presented and know. The students were able to use the knowledge learned for other projects. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: We have at our disposal a laptop cart filled with 16 laptops that we were able to use. We needed to make sure the laptops were charged (nightly) and the wireless network working.

Support for learners with different needs: We have students who need one-one assistance due to language issues. We had translators available and there were a lot of peercoaching to help assist those students so that they could be able to complete the assignment.

ONLINE RESOURCES: Charlotte and Jan complied the below list of websites as resources for students to use to gather information about the US government.! 1. Information about the three branches of government: http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110221/ http://www.congressforkids.net/Constitution_threebranches.htm http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0774837.html http://www.congressforkids.net/! 2. Information about the US Presidents http://www.littleknownfactsshow.com/presidents.html http://www.mistergworld.com/12-002.htm! 3. Information about US Senators and Congress http://www.infoplease.com/spot/campaign2000senate2.html http://bishop.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view= article&id=218&Itemid=33! 4. Information about judges http://www.kidsvillenews.com/articles/200811/whats_it_like_to_ be_a/what_its_like_to_be_a_judge.aspx http://www.ehow.com/info_7856030_requirements-becoming-ju dge.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

Lesson 8

Our Current Events Journey

BY BEN CURRAN & STEVE GOLDBERG Length of Lesson: About six 1-hour sessions Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Learn about events in the country of Syria, and develop an understanding of why it's important to learn about worldwide current events

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Lesson Instructions HOOK

We hooked them with a Skype session with Steve Goldberg, founder of Triangle Learning Community in North Carolina, a school centered around learning through the exploration of current events. This proved to be a unique way to start a lesson (weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never had a Skype guest before!). 29

largest Arab American community is just a few miles from our MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Resources for learning about the country of Syria, including new stories, and reports about the events happening there Design research questions for students Tools to create a blog, screencasts and video podcasts

BODY

In a series of Skype sessions with Steve, students explored news coming out of Syria. We discussed why these events are happening and how they affect the rest of the world.

school. MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Students were assessed via their performance activities, including: • Blog writing • Screencasts • Videos Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view ! student work.

We also talked about why it's important for students to learn about these types of news events as well as some deeper questions such as "Should America get involved?" Along the way, we learned about similar instances in history in the countries of Bosnia and Rwanda. Students also had to write blog entries, create screencasts, and video podcasts to demonstrate their learning. CONCLUSION

It hasn't fully wrapped up yet, but we intend to close by visiting the National Arab American Museum in nearby Dearborn, Michigan. This will help give us a local perspective—the country's

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: Since we were Skyping with Steve, a current events teaching expert, we had to be prepared to Skype. I had to prepare and set up Skype expectations ahead of time so students understand how this would work.

Support for learners with different needs: None were needed in our case, but students were exploring current events in both text and video formats. The multimedia aspect of the problem would make the project more accessible to students who have trouble reading.

Lesson 9

A Journey Throughout our Solar System

BY LISA CARROLL Length of Lesson: About six 1-hour sessions Goals and Objectives: • After collecting information about the eight planets during “A Journey Throughout Our Solar System” webquest (www.oursolarsystemjourney.weebly.com), students will demonstrate their understanding of the Earth and celestial phenomena by creating a class presentation of their Prezi and Glogster, with 90% accuracy. NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Lesson Instructions HOOK

The teacher will have a Glogster shown on the desktop of each of the students’ computers as they come into the classroom to introduce the unit. 32

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Computers “A Journey Throughout Our Solar System” webquest “My Planet Report” worksheet Prezi Glogster

does your planet have? What are some interesting facts about your planet?) 5. Students will use the information from “My Planet Report” to create a Prezi. 6. Students will then create a Glogster, advertising their assigned planet. CONCLUSION

BODY

Students will present their finalized projects to the class.

1. Students will be assigned a group where they will be given a designated planet to research.

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

2. Students will choose which role they would want to fulfill throughout their journey. (Would you like to be the researcher, recorder, or organizer?) 3. Students will begin their research by visiting the Hotlist on the “Resources” page. 4. Students will fill out the “My Planet Report” worksheet while visiting each of the websites to keep track of all of their information. (What is the name of your planet? How far is it from the sun? It is considered an inner or an outer planet? How long does your planet take to orbit the sun? How was your planet named? What is the symbol for your planet? What is the temperature on your planet? How many moons

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: • For auditory learners, students will watch a brief video to introduce the Solar System. • For visual learners, students will use computers to research various websites to learn more about their assigned planet. • For kinesthetic learners, students will create mobiles of the Solar System.

Support for learners with different needs: • A student who has poor circulation in her hands will be provided with a buddy “note taker” when reviewing their planet using the "My Planet Report" worksheet. • A student who is easily distracted will be refocused by their teacher using non-verbal cues while creating their Prezi and Glogster, with the rest of the group. • A student who has difficulty with spelling, will be provided with a word bank relating to his groups assigned planet.

Lesson 10

Personal Narratives

BY ZAKLINA JONES Length of Lesson: 10 sessions (1 hour each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: • Reflect on the importance of storytelling and the structures and processes of effective storytelling • Understand the relationship of illustrations to presenting stories • Explore the role that technology can play in illustrating and directing the audience through the story experience • Create their own illustrated story through the focused use of technology • Use digital media to present a personal narrative

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION:

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

There are several materials required for this lesson. In addition to the below, teachers will also need computers (1 per 3 students) for this lesson: Google (webpages) Glogster: Storyboard Sample Project (see video) Digital Camera Voki Rubric iMovie software Printed storyboards Audacity audio software Blank DVD

Lesson Instructions HOOK

BODY

Share completed and published digital narratives from previous

This project is a ten day lesson plan that culminates into one

students. Then show hand-written samples. Ask students which

short (1-3 minute) video. Multiple methods are used to

medium is more engaging. Of course, the digital version will win!

accomplish this. Once these resources (voki, iMovie, etc) are

To see a voki introducing the unit, please go to http://

used freely, future narratives will be completed in half the time.

www.voki.com/php/viewmessage/?

Below is an outline of how Zaklina organized her lessons over a

chsm=5257f79796ddc74a87a70ea4ff4312f7&mId=717421

10 day period: 36

Day 1 Research and preparation: • Conduct a class discussion about storybooks. ! • Review aspects of a personal narrative. !How could storybooks and personal narratives be successfully combined. • Review file storage and practice photo taking.

Days 2-3 Pre-Writing: Outlines and organizers: • Digital story components • Samples of digital stories • Storyboard Development

Days 4-6

• Post project to web via youtube or TeacherTube

Day 10 Sharing work: • Students present their work to the class CONCLUSION

Students refer to their rubrics throughout the ten day study to be sure all components are included. Students present their digital narrative to their classmates. Digital Personal Narrative Rubric Digital Story Telling Rubric Levels/Criteria

Days 7-9

Excellent

Most pages contain wellplaced objects, with thoughtful text/image balance. Inconsistent text wrapping.

Objects on all pages are well placed and sized. Pages are not cluttered or empty. Imaginative and logical text wrapping.

Navigation

Many necessary buttons or tools are missing or difficult to use. Navigation from page to page is difficult or even impossible.

Not all necessary buttons are present. Navigation from page to page is confusing.

Navigation from page to page is typically easy.

Navigation from page to page is consistently easy and logical.

Mechanics

Text contains many spelling/grammar errors. Sentences seem disconnected, and there is carelessness throughout.

Text contains some spelling/grammar errors. Little logical structure or flow to sentences. Evidence of carelessness in writing.

Grammar and spelling are nearly flawless. Logical sequence apparent. Some wording is careless. Inconsistency in style.

Grammar and spelling are flawless and the flow provides a logical pathway of ideas. Consistent and engaging style throughout.

Graphics

Images do not connect to text and/or are not relevant.

Images are not always relevant. Text citations are not always present and do not connect to images.

Images are mostly Images are relevant, and relevant. Text citations are complement the text. Each usually present and image is cited in the text identify the images. and identified. The number of images is appropriate.

Planning

Storyboard is incomplete. Little or no details about graphics, content, formatting, or effects are provided.

Storyboard lacks some important details about graphics, content, formatting, and effects.

Storyboard is mostly complete. Includes many important details about graphics, content, formatting, and effects.

Content

Information is cursory or incorrect. Little understanding of content is evident from presentation.

Some solid information Information is clear and Information is well presented; however, some correct throughout most of presented, clear, and information is incorrect or presentation. correct throughout. cursory.

Effects

Effects are limited or not present.

One or more than one type of effect is used; however, some or all effects detract from

Creating the storybook: • Putting files in order

Developing

Some pages are either cluttered or empty. Inconsistent attention paid to sizing of graphics, placement of graphics and text, and text wrapping.

• Introduction to iMovie • Using storyboard to create digital personal narrative.

Beginning

Many pages are either cluttered or empty. There is no text/image balance. No attention paid to variation in design.

Writing and Illustrating the story:

• Importing files, editing photos, adding text to iMovie

Needs Improvement

Page Design

More than one type of effect is used. Effects enhance presentation.

Score/Level

Storyboard is complete. All necessary information about graphics, content, formatting, and effects is included.

Effects are varied, yet cohesive, and they significantly enrich the presentation.

• Adding audio • Citing resources 37

ISTE RESOURCES: Zaklina used the following ISTE resources for this project: â&#x20AC;˘ Frazel, Midge. (2010). Digital Storytelling Guide for Educators. International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). â&#x20AC;˘ Gura, M. (2008). Visual arts units for all levels. Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education. (ISTE).

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Support for Learners with Special Needs: Below Standard Students: These students will benefit from viewing various digital stories, storybooks, and tutorials. !In particular, they will benefit from working with a group (listening to suggestions, asking questions, and having access to readily available help). At Standard Students:

To learn more about the unit, please go to https:// sites.google.com/site/zaklinalangarts/ MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Learning objectives are measured objectively by using the digital personal narrative rubric (see rubric above). This rubric is given to

These students, like the rest, !will have the opportunity to work using a kinesthetic, visual, and audio modality. !Wherever their strengths lie, they can devote time to these areas within their project. Above Level Students: These students will serve as mentors, reinforcing tier knowledge. In addition they will have the opportunity to add additional details and personalize their project with advanced files, photos, images, and audio.

students on the first day and used as a check-off sheet for their final score. This way there are no surprises.

Lesson 11

Refuge Claymations

BY LINDY KINN Length of Lesson: 1 hour with the whole class, 2 hours working with one or two students at a time, and 30 minutes to make the movie. Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Summarize what they have learned and collaboratively plan a project, make a realistic clay figure, and participate in a collaborative project to animate their images.

These examples are part of a larger project that encourages students to extend their learning and participate in a public service project. Many students visit Creamerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Field Refuge on class field trips. Teachers and their students base their projects on a topic that they learned about at the refuge.

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Materials: Clay Wax paper Construction paper Photos of animals or plants for students to refer to when making their figures. For example, we watched the Tumblebook One Duck Stuck before we did the Vernal Pond movie. Hardware: A camera. We used an AVerVision document camera. A Computer with AVerVision software.

The last step of preplanning to make the background for your video. You can assign one or two students to do this or have everyone contribute to it. Some helpful tips for creating your background: • Make sure you use a board or paper larger than you want your background to appear in the images. • If you use paper, color it heavily with crayon. This coats the paper so that they clay will not leave oily smudges. HOOK

Students become very excited when they see an example of a claymation project. Having a public audience for their work is also A flyer with QR codes that link to the projects is available for visitors to pick up when they walk through the refuge. Visitors can scan the QR codes and view student projects about the areas that they stop at the refuge. This project provides students with a larger audience for their projects, which promotes teacher and student engagement.

Lesson Instructions

very engaging. Students who have already visited the refuge and seen other classes’ projects can’t wait to get started on their own project. BODY

1. Show students an example of a Claymation project. Discuss

PREPLANNING

the topic of their project. Show or provide pictures of the

Before you can start the project, you will need to have a planning

animals or plants that they will be animating. You could read

session with students to decide on a project topic and review

a book, project pictures, or handout pictures torn from a

what students know about the topic. Next, you can choose to

magazine or printed out.

write the script for the video at this point, or record the main points to come to later.

2. Hand out clay. Make sure the amount of clay you give students matches the size of the figures you want them to make. Show students how to blend colors. Give them a wax 40

paper sheet the size that their figure should be. Remind

and down in the next or a duck’s feet forwards and back,

them not to stick their figures too hard to their wax paper.

help make the animation more realistic.

Give students time to make their figures. 3. Either set up or center or have an adult or older student

4. Keep the images in a folder on your desktop and number each shot as you go along, that will help you keep images in

helper capture the images. In our lesson we used a

order. Select all images and drag them into iMovie. Set the

document camera, but any stationary camera will work.

cropping of all images to None and set the timing to 0.3

Take three to ten images of each figure moving across the

seconds.

background. You can have students adjust body parts to show movement. For example, a bird’s wings up in one shot

5. Add titles, narration, and sound effects. CONCLUSION

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Showing students their final project is such an exciting conclusion. To learn more about the unit, please go to https:// sites.google.com/site/zaklinalangarts/ MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Presenting the objectives as “I can” statements at the beginning of the lesson and revisiting them at the end of the lesson, helps students assess their own work in this project. A simple checklist rubric for students to use to evaluate their part of the project is also helpful.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: Depending on the grade level, you will need an adult or older student volunteer to help capture images and make the movie. In these third grade examples, we worked with the whole class for one hour and then the volunteer worked with one or two students at a time.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: The recording volume for the narration may be adjusted for students who have quiet voices. Students who do not have hand strength, may need help blending the clay colors. More advanced students may do their own research on their topic, PebbleGo is a great website for learning about animals.

Lesson 12

Global Perspectives

BY CARMELA CURATOLA KNOWLES AND KATHLEEN KRUPA Length of Lesson: 1 lesson per month (45 minutes). Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Learn how to identify criteria used to define a region and evaluate characteristics of places and regions from a variety of view points, including culture

Geography is used to explain the past, interpret the present, and plan for the future. It is important to learn from and work collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work and community contexts. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to meet and work with students from other countries.

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: The only materials required for the lesson are the following: Kidspiration: Students are instructed on how to use the teacher created template in Kidspiration for their compare and contrast. Edmodo: Student accounts need to be set up in Edmodo either by the teacher or student. A domain was setup within Edmodo for our school district for access to Edmodo by both teachers and students. Scratch: Students are introduced to Scratch basic programming.

BODY

Students are guided through a series of experiences after the initial Google Earth and Kidspiration activities. First, they view 3 short video clips from Teachers Domain to see what life is like for children from three different countries. From this they discuss what they have seen and compare to what they know school to be like. Next inform students that they will have the opportunity to join a class from another part of the world. Before beginning communication it is important to remind students of the following guidelines: • Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood (from 7

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Introduce students to the idea of how maps display the world as it exists at a certain time. Complete other opening information exercises with students, such as using Powerpoint/Photostory to show one country over a time period or using google earth to view different places around the world (their town, other countries). Next, using a Kidspiration organizer, have students view what differences students notice in the topography, i.e., desert, forest, mountains. Finally, ask the question “How might these physical differences affect the lifestyles of the children there?”

Habits of Happy Kids) • Be Polite • Only use kind words, not pictures or videos • Not all parts of the world joke in the same way – be respectful of your partnering school classmates • Remember that you are ambassadors and representatives of your school—treat others just like you want to be treated— kindly. Then they log into Edmodo and join a class group established with the Classroom Teachers and a class from another part of the 44

world. The countries we communicated with were France, Hong Kong, India, Portugal, and Sweden. Students introduce

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

themselves (we call it a handshake) to their new country pals. Sample Greeting: • Hello! My name is [first name]. • I live in Hatboro/Horsham, Pennsylvania. We are on the eastern side of the United States. • Our weather is... • I was born in... • One of my favorite activities this time of year is... • Can’t wait to hear from you to learn about [your town/city.] ! Throughout the year, students write notes to the other country's students and share information (text, photos, videos) about favorite sports, activities, and their lives in order to gain a sense of one another's culture. Students then begin to develop a Powerpoint/Photostory/Scratch digital video or game that will have two purposes: • The complete presentation will be posted onto Edmodo for the other country's students to watch • The team selects one slide from their presentation to

a short paragraph for the video conference presentation about their slide. We call these two components "Welcome to America" presentations. CONCLUSION

become part of a school Powerpoint presentation for the

The video conference is the culminating activity. We take pictures

video conference. Students work in their classrooms to write

and students and teachers reflect on the experience as a class

and individually using a +/- Chart after the video conference has

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

taken place. MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

This is a phased, year -long unit where students are measured on: • Their Kidspiration compare and contrast activity • Contributions to Edmodo as a responsible digital citizen • Collaboration with fellow classmates to create their welcome to America presentation (measured with a rubric) • Contributions to the video conference outcome, which is a reflection activity completed by the students using a +/-

Management Suggestions: One unique issue is the time zone between the United States and the foreign country that you are collaborating with. Students will need to understand that there is a time lag between when they post, when the foreign country sees their posting and then finally when they are able to post a message back to them.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: 1. Prompts for Edmodo are written out for students with special needs. Students that are visually impaired receive instructions that are enlarged. 2. Kidspiration has the ability to have text read to students that have difficulty with reading.

Delta Chart for what worked well and what improvements should be made

Lesson 13

C3PO vs. The Bully

BY KEVIN WINDSOR Length of Lesson: 12 lessons (1 hour each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Become more aware of the social epidemic of school bullying and learn how to take pride and time in their work

This unit has two main objectives: to increase awareness to the social epidemic of school bullying and to combat the academic epidemic of settling for mediocrity. My primary objective as an educator is to make sure that Garnet Valley School District doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t become another statistic or reference to what could have been done differently. With the use of technology, my class, my family, has analyzed what does & does not work, and then determined what needed to be done. Simply put, evoking a profound emotion and 47

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION:

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Materials include a class set of laptops/desktops, 1 Mac, 5 Toshiba Thrive Pads, 1 iPad 2, microphones, Turning Point Student Response System, 1 SMART Board, 3 video cameras, 2 cameras, flash drives, & a green screen. For more information on web 2.0 tools used please see http://www.garnetvalleyschools.com/domain/228 Software includes Microsoft Office 2007, Notebook 11, Turning Point 2010, Audacity, Garageband, iMovie, iPhoto, Thrive/iPad Media Apps, Garnet Valley’s Schoolwires, Novell Groupwise, Google Apps & a slew of Web 2.0 Tools such as Prezi, Popplet, Codecademy, Toondoo, Voki, Spicy Nodes, Wordle, Cueprompter, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Big Huge Labs, Photo Peach, Pixton, Cool Text, Flaming Text, & Poll Anywhere.

As stated previously, emotion was the fuel for success in raising awareness. “The Hook” was a set of sincere and honest proclamations of prior bullying scenarios that I have experienced throughout my life. This was coupled with the exposure to reallife, elementary appropriate headlines & YouTube videos from around our nation. Also, an added honor was used to remind my class, my family, that delving into this cause was a true testament to their utter success & cohesiveness that they have demonstrated this school year. BODY

Data has been collected and interpreted by all district stakeholders over the past several years via surveys,

directing it to the true harms and long lasting effects that unwarranted bullying can have on a student of any age. The second objective has come from a state of monotony and exhaustion over the past 10 years. This generation is in absolute dire need for knowing what excellence truly looks like. A typical 10 year old often settles on a finished product and rarely reexamines a completed work to elevate it to the next level. I literally have taught my class, my family, how to fail! Fail and fail again only to stretch themselves beyond their perceived capabilities. “Success is getting knocked down 9 times, but getting up ten,” Author Unknown. The time for change is now and it starts with my class, my family.

observations, assemblies, & polls. The students’ prior knowledge is also credited to the adopted Olweus Anti-Bullying Program. A necessary framework, timeline, and set of expectations were created prior to the beginning of this effort. Chronologically, it includes: • A careful depiction of the “C3PO Method” • Evocation of a profound emotion to the students

Our vehicle, Garnet Valley’s C3PO Method: Children using a Problem, Project, & Passion-based method to Overcome.

• Determination of perceived failed awareness efforts made by other districts, programs, & organizations; posters,

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

calendars, role playing, videos, assemblies, speeches, etc • Accurately depict what mediocrity looks like and reminder to not settle for it. • Show examples of failure on a student & adult level. • Discussion of expectations. (No more “Bush League” products, this is the “Pros”) • Assembly of homogenous teams. Skills determined by an online multiple intelligence test given earlier in the school year and teacher observations of technological & creative skills. • Generate ideas to raise awareness to bullying at the district & national level. • Plan, Prioritize, & Create! September of the upcoming school year. We also caught the eye CONCLUSION

of many grade level faculty members interested in implementing

Limited time caused these efforts to cease within my classroom

the “C3PO Method” into their daily practice.

walls by the end of June. Throughout the week each group presented their ideas & creations to their parents, teachers, fellow classmates, our Principal, Sean Burns, Vice-Principal, Shelda

The “Company” also has aspirations to present to the Home & School Association and School Board.

Perry, & the district’s Olweus Anti-Bullying Committee. Due to our

Some solutions created by students to combat bullying included

success, we were invited to present the ideas to district faculty in

the following: 49

• Changing Google’s logo to support Anti-Bullying (10 drawings) • Wrote an article on Bullying for the Garnet Valley Press • Creating a Garnet Valley “Eye” logo to adopt as a district

“Celebrity React” video as well, specifically, Taylor Swift & Tim Tebow. • Teacher Interviews with one shocking question, “Why did you stop bullying?”

accompanied with the catchphrase “GVBF = Garnet Valley

• Create another word for a person that stands up for a victim,

Bully-Free. The “Eye” represents a person’s vision of what

the “Defender.” Ideas include “Titan” & “Up-Stander.” Focus

Bullying looks and/or the solution. A survey was created as

on these types of people and how to get people to want to

part of a contest for a larger “Eye” Mural in the building.

be this. Create a character or superhero from this idea.

• Logo contest in general to assemble into a book with no words. Our school’s vision of bullying. Every time you blink a new picture appears with zooming in & out. Use Sumo Paint (Web 2.0 tool) for an activity. • Have an Anti-Bullying drawing out on the recess yard. Actually drawing it in front of people without telling them what it is. Reveal the reason at an opportune time later. • Create a Chalk “Eye” on the recess ground during recess

• Create a logo for the P3 Method (now C3PO Method) we are all using. • Create a website using Schoolwires with links, helpful ideas, slogans, pictures, videos, etc. Then it was suggested to use the GV site. Site is created is a work in progress. • Design an Anti-Bullying App for phone or pad. To complete this task students gave their App a name (“WOB” (Wipe Out Bullying), used the SMART Board software, created pages

without telling anyone the reason. This is done for shock

that entailed pictures of bullies and we wanted kids to blog

value (The logo and/or eye could be applied to a variety of

in solutions, and attempt to learn the code language using

merchandise).

(Codecademy).

• Create videos called “Parents React.” Inspired from the site

• Use Web 2.0 Pixton & Comic Generator to create a comic

“Kids React.” Short video clips asking parents to share

strip. There was an idea of making it a part of a Newspaper

stories about their own experiences with bullying. “The

or Magazine but soon realized there wasn’t time.

good, the bad, and the ugly.” Contact a celebrity for a 50

• Create Avatar Victim & Avatar Bully using “Voki” to post on

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

the website. • Write lyrics for an Anti-Bullying song. Completed and given to Valantis & Madison to add music to it using Toshiba Thrive Piano & Guitar Apps • Create a radio podcast conversation discussing bullying. • Viral YouTube Video (Both Extended & Abbreviated Versions). The theme behind the video included students at recess stopping everything and standing right behind the victim being bullied. Students planned out scenes using a

Management Suggestions: The class atmosphere must inspire & motivate children to create. Specific areas of the class were designated to groups and the technology was readily available around the room.The only issue that arose was determining how to balance the 4th grade curriculum & special happenings during school hours.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: The “C3PO Method” lends itself to creating leadership roles in all varieties of students. Through constant monitoring and consistent doses of motivation during this effort, each student has overcome any self-perceived shortcomings and has completed the unit with a unique set of social & academic skills.

movie mapping graphic organizer, casted actors, scouted the location, and wrote the skit.

Lesson 14

Find Your Passion: Make a Difference

BY MALI BICKLEY Length of Lesson: 3 weeks, daily Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Investigate global issues, particularly the deforestation in Borneo. Students will use these issues as a starting point to find organizations and causes to support and hopefully take action to make a difference

Lesson Instructions HOOK

The "hook" was the video conference. Having the opportunity to learn from the experts and ask questions

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: We joined the Deforestaction project, available through Taking it Global. We needed to insure that we had access to Video Conferencing Equipment for the initial video conference with the Eco Warriors in Borneo.!

As our school theme is "Making a Difference", they wanted to learn more about how they could take action and help stop the deforestation in the rainforest. BODY

The students prepared for the Video Conference: viewing videos on Deforestaction site, reading mentor texts, developing

Students were introduced to the concept of deforestation though book "The Lorax" and "The Great Kapok Tree" ! Viewing videos on Deforestation site with information about the project and inspirational videos from the Eco Warriors! Arranging a guest speaker! Social Media teacher accounts for Twitter and Edublogs! Student accounts for Edmodo.

questions for the video conference. During VC, students tweeted to report events of the VC After the VC, we brainstormed a list of issues and actions we could take to help the rainforest. Students form "action groups" who will work together on campaign Students created a "pre learning"activity and collected snack wrappers. They sorted products that include palm oil and ones

of the "Eco Warriors" who are in Borneo was invaluable in the process of finding passion and creating an action plan. We read the "Great Kapok Tree" as a Readers Theatre, with the students taking the roles of the animals. The book led to a discussion on what was happening in the rainforest and how deforestation was affecting animals, the environment and humans.

that were palm oil free. These were displayed on a bulletin board with information about palm oil production and how it effects the rainforest. Students decide on how they are going to share their passion of helping the rainforest and which medium/tool they are going to access to spread their message to global classes and peers. Media to include message of issue and invitation to take action to make others aware of the issue.

Students create media together. Most of the media is posted on our class blog: http://dreamteam5.edublogs.org

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Students also engaged in social media campaign to reach out to their peers. Used Edmodo space to share their media with other project partners. Promoted blog on Twitter (@dreamteam51) and through traditional communication. We were honored to have a guess speaker visit our class. Emily Hunter, one of the Eco Warriors who was in Borneo, and daughter of Greenpeace Founder Bob Hunter came to our class to speak about her experience in Borneo and to talk to the students how they could create action plans and awareness campaigns about issues for which they are passionate. We used this opportunity to broadcast out to 20 classes throughout North America using Adobe Connect. CONCLUSION

Our lessons were wrapped up when all media was shared on our blog. One of the students post learning activities was to collect snack wrappers and compare the number of products with and without palm oil. To date, we have made significant progress in reducing the number of palm oil products consumed in class.

However, this is an organic project and has sparked much discussion and need for further investigation/sharing. They have taken the "Making a Difference" school theme and created action based initiatives based on their new passion. MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

This was a very integrated lesson series. Science, social studies, math and language curriculum was all addressed over the time period. 54

The learning goal and assessment criteria were established for several areas. As a group, we formed the learning goal and

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

success criteria for their media:

Management Suggestions:

Learning Goal: We are learning to create media to spread a

Managing the Video Conferencing equipment, doing test sessions with VC provider (Centre for Global Education)

message about the causes and effects of deforestation in Borneo. Success criteria (students participated in peer and self assessment): 1- Our passion is clearly stated. 2- We explained the problem/issue. 3- Accurate facts are stated in our media. 4- We include a point of view from a member of the rainforest. 5- We invited our audience to take action to help the rainforest.

Insuring there was enough technology available for the students after they chose their mode of communication (e.g.: Premiere Elements, Garage Band programs) Managing and moderating students posts on Edmodo and Twitter (blog posts are done as shared experiences in class)

Support for Learners with Special Needs: I have MANY students in my class on IEP's and modifications in their programs. These, as all, students have input into how they want to share their learning. Students with auditory strengths created podcasts, a particularly artistic ASD student worked on the plasticene characters for the claymation. None have any technology provided through the district, however, we have several personal mobile devices available for them to record their learning.

6- Media was recorded and shared on class blog. Finally, when "assessing" passion based learning objectives, I hope to witness that the students have assimilated some of the big ideas in their lives: connecting meaningfully with others using social media, addressing specific audience in media, critically thinking about consumer purchases and seeing themselves as agents of change as a global citizen!

Chapter 3

Grades 6-8

Middle school is a time of rapid change and growth, as students take an even more active role in their educational experiences. The lessons in this chapter are centered

around the idea of empowering young learners with choice and creativity.

Lesson 15

Creative Tools for and by Kids

BY JACKIE GERSTEIN Length of Lesson: This was a year long project Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Use emerging technologies for engaging, thinking, learning, collaborating, creating, and innovating

Creative Web Tools For and By Kids is a project designed for students, ages 8 to 14, to use emerging technologies for engaging, thinking, learning, collaborating, creating, and innovating. The focus is on the use of free, open-source, or minimal cost tools, so the project can be replicated. An underlying goal is to demonstrate how advanced 57

technological applications for enhancing learning can be implemented with only a computer and Internet access. To learn more about the project please visit http://weewebwonders.pbworks.com/w/page/ 9067376/About%20This%20Project%3A%20For%20Teachers The rationale for this project is reinforced by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Street which targets the elementary level student. Their mission is to catalyze research, innovation and investment in

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: A wiki (either PBWorks or Wikispaces) ! Set up wiki accounts for all students! Comprehension of how to moderate and supervise a wiki, and how to use/embed Web 2.0 widgets.

digital media technologies to advance children's learning. • To invent, create, and design — alone and with others.

begin creating web-based projects to creatively demonstrate their

• To participate in collaborative learning communities.

learning experiences. Students are encouraged to work on that

• To gain broader understanding of global literacy. • To use digital tools effectively and safely. • To find wholeness in a “remix” world.

page with one or more other students from their own classroom and from other classrooms who join the project. Additional Wiki Pages are added to reflect these learning topics.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

For example, if a group of students want to learn about and create a demonstration project about Global Warning, a Wiki page entitled, Global Warming, will be added.

The hook for this project was having each student (either alone or with a few partners) identify a topic of interest, a topic of passion.

Once a page is created, the educator adds the following template

A wIki page was created for that topic.

to the page. It acts as the format and structure for student work:

BODY

1. About the Author(s): Students should not utilize any information

A Wiki using PBWorks is the workstation for exploring, interacting with, learning from, and creating with emerging technologies. Students identify a topic of interest. A Wiki page is created for that topic. This page is used to identify specific learning goals, to

that can specifically identify them (no pictures of themselves, their family or friends, no phone numbers, no personal email addresses, etc.). Some tools or sites for students to create an identity:

locate and post links to sites that support those interests, and to 58

!"#$%&"'()*"+&%,-&./'!

• • • •

Doppel Me - Your Avatar: http://www.doppelme.com Create a Slide Show of Your Interests Animoto - animoto.com Create a Timeline of Your Life - Class Tools Timeline: www.classtools.net/main_area/timeline.htm

2. Project Name (What is the name of your project?) 3. Overview

!"#$%&&

this topic. Provide the link and a brief description. Some search tools to use: • Sweet Search • Kids Click • Ithaki for Kids

''''''''''''''''''''&()*++,%&&''''''''''''''''''''&

& Gallery 3.1 Website Investigator Tool -."/$%&& ''''''''''''''''''''&/"0$%&& &

(

''''''''''''''''''''&

1$2(30$%&''''''''''''''''''''''''''''& (

(0$12341(50$'

' >7?&(0/@'(&8'(A7#B'?(C8+(#'D/#'(&8'(C/22'*?(/2($2($*&(+*(?D/'2D'(D+2&'?&-(1+7($*'(+2'(+)(&8'( A7#B'?()+*(&8/?(E'F(?/&'4(")&'*(*'$#/2B('$D8(G7'?&/+2-(D/*D0'(&8'()$D'(&8$&(F'?&(#'?D*/F'?( 8+C(1+7(C+70#(*$&'(&8/?(E'F(?/&'4(6',',F'*-(&8'*'($*'(2+(*/B8&(+*(C*+2B($2?C'*?4(H/*?&-( &*1(&8'('I$,%0'(F'0+C4( ( (

6789:;6'

4. Objectives (Be specific what you want to learn) 5. Links—Search: List all of the links that will help you learn about

!"#$%&'#()*+,("#$%&'!()*+,--(.$*/012(34("*2+2'(5(67&8(94(:,$00-(;<<<=( ( (

( J/#(&8/?(C'F?/&'(D+2&$/2(&8/2B?(&8$&(1+7($*'(/2&'*'?&'#(/2K(

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

6. Evaluate the website using the Website Investigator Tool. 7. Decide What Tool You Will Use To Demonstrate What You Learned: • • • • • • • • •

Animoto - Stylized Videos Wordle - Word Clouds Tikatok - Online Book Publishing Imagechef - Creative Images Glogsters - online posters VoiceThread - Slide Shows with Comments Podcasts - Audio Recordings Google Maps and Tools - Lots of Tools Voki - Talking Avatars

• Letterpop - Online Newsletters • Doink - Collaborative Animation • Dipidty - Interactive Times CONCLUSION

As there was no official ending to the project, there was no wrapup. Throughout the academic year, we would project student wiki pages onto the screen and have students discuss their content. 59

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view ! student work.

STUDENT EXAMPLES: Forensics: http://weewebwonders.pbworks.com/w/page/9067395/Forensic% 20Science Cooking: http://weewebwonders.pbworks.com/w/page/9067374/About%20 Cooking%20Project Extreme Animals: http://weewebwonders.pbworks.com/w/page/9067392/Extreme% 20Animal%20Project A call was put out for other schools to join the project. A middle school from Illinois and an elementary school from Turkey joined the project. To see their examples go to: http://weewebwonders.pbworks.com/w/page/9067375/About%20 the%20Participating%20Schools

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

The assessment of the students' project was informal. The use of comments and Clustermaps (the number of visitors to their pages) provided students with feedback on the efficacy and engagement level of their wiki pages. In other words, assessment came from the interaction with their peers and an authentic audience.

Lesson 16

Video Game Design Challenge

BY KIM WILKENS Length of Lesson: 8 sessions of 1-2 hours each Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Learn what a game is, and how to build their own game using programming software

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Digital Citizenship

Recently, playing video games has been shown to have some positive side effects by providing players the opportunity to collaborate, overcome failure, practice social skills and pursue creative solutions. Creating video games empowers students and gives them an even more amazing array of experiences from problem solving, systems thinking, iterative design and digital media literacy. It also introduces students to computer science concepts, helping demystify technology and negating negative stereotypes of the field. Finally, video games can be created around specific subject areas helping integrate technology learning into the curriculum.

ONLINE MATERIALS: National STEM Video Game Design Challenge http://stemchallenge.org/ This is an annual contest that usually wraps up mid-March. It provides an added incentive for students to complete their games plus lots of resources for educators. Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/ A game design platform created by MIT. It is a free download for PC or Mac and provides a drag-and-drop interface to program sprites and backgrounds. Gamestar Mechanic http://gamestarmechanic.com/ A game design platform available online. Students play games to learn how to create games. Provides preprogrammed sprites and the ability to layout a game design.

BODY

Session 1 1. Explain the Video Game Challenge Rules: original content, original design, individual or team (up to 4), target audience identified, game design document, playable game 2. What's your favorite video game? Why do you love playing it? What is the primary genre of the game: Action, Adventure, Role-playing, Simulation, Social, Strategy or Puzzle. Share your favorite video game at wallwisher.com. 3. There are many game design platforms available for free: We are going to use Scratch & Gamestar Mechanic. Spend some time this week trying out these platforms using Scratch cards and Quest for Gamestar Mechanic.

Session 2 1. What is a game? Rules + A Goal = A Game

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Did you know that video-game players recently solved a molecular puzzle that stumped scientists for years and that there are games being created to solve real-world problems? The National Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Video Game Challenge is all about taking your interest in playing

2. What makes a game engaging? FLOW 3. It's time to play some games. Pick a game from the Game Alley in Gamestar Mechanic and another game from the Scratch website and complete an evaluation for each (https://docs.google.com/a/kimxtom.com/document/d/ 1J3yE4Te6Vymx9pebp8DA2SIzi2G3dDyZgrF0IsDGVjY/edit).!

video games and empowering you to create them. 62

Session 3 1. What's your game plan?

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

2. Plan: complete a planner (https://docs.google.com/a/ kimxtom.com/document/d/1WLd-hpF4etT24ghZKWQanE9v-xIcnCRWBJBeFu4E2M/edit) 3. Design: create storyboard for game, identify/create images & sound (https://docs.google.com/a/kimxtom.com/ document/d/1h7mr9cVeKfgfkLjW6tKbpBwiL4OpOZLLZfxvZIPxiU/edit) 4. Program: work in Scratch or Gamestar Mechanic to create game 5. Test: functional - test the game and fix any bugs you find; usability - have friends try out game and get feedback about ease of use and playability 6. Evaluate: complete evaluation checklist (https:// docs.google.com/a/kimxtom.com/document/d/ 1J3yE4Te6Vymx9pebp8DA2SIzi2G3dDyZgrF0IsDGVjY/edit)

Sessions 5 - 8

Session 4

1. Work on game, updating plan and design as needed.

Now that you've gotten familiar with Scratch and Gamestar

2. Encourage students to play each others games throughout

Mechanic, consider what the pros and cons of using each

the sessions to provide feedback and programming insights.

platform might be for you as a game designer. Share a pro and con for each platform at wallwisher.com.!

3. Encourage students to provide constructive feedback online to games they play. 63

CONCLUSION

Upload game and design document to National STEM Video Game Challenge. Schedule an open house and invite friends and family to help celebrate the newly minted game designers and play their games. Link to their games on a website to share with friends, family and community (http://techkimgames.blogspot.com). Students now shared their movie with partners and received both written and verbal feedback. Students were given time to work in pairs to support each other in editing and publishing their Final Cut movies. Once all lessons were complete students CELEBRATED their work with a special in-class screening of their movies for all to see! MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

I created a rubric that evaluates level of mastery for research, project plan, programming and the process (https:// docs.google.com/a/kimxtom.com/document/d/ 15lcBCZ5BvBMMeRB0gcR8sunNtwCI6R3g7GFMDp4aB8I/edit).

Lesson 17

Introduction to Poetry

BY SCOTT MACDONALD Length of Lesson: 3 classes (84 minutes each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: • Consider peers’ interpretations of oral, print and other media texts, referring to the texts for supporting or contradicting evidence • Discuss how techniques, such as irony, symbolism, perspective and proportion, communicate meaning and enhance effect in oral, print and other media texts • Analyze creative uses of language and visuals in popular culture, such as advertisements, electronic magazines and the Internet; recognize how imagery and figurative language, such as metaphor, create a dominant impression, mood and tone • Integrate appropriate visual, print and/or other media to reinforce overall impression or point of view and engage the audience • Identify and experiment with some principles of design that enhance the presentation of texts. Students experiment with the size, font and shape of lettering; spacing; layout; sequence; and the use of color and visual symbols

Lesson Instructions HOOK

I began the lesson by playing a modern song with the lyrics on the SMART Board and showing the students how it meets the criteria for poetry. The song played for this lesson was

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Skillet's Monster. I showed the class how literary terms were evident within the song and I highlighted them within the lyrics on the SMART Board. I also showed the class what the Wordle word

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: A computer is necessary and teacher/students will need an understanding of the following:! NoteShare - pick up the assignment Pages - word processor Internet - find picture/s to include in/with your poem Wordle - copy/paste poem into wordle.net to create a word cloud GarageBand - record your poem as a podcast - include images ePEARL - store the finished copies in a digital portfolio.

cloud looked like when I copied and pasted the lyrics into www.wordle.net. This was a good way to give them a visual image of the words in the song. Students were asked to create a 12-24 verse poem broken into BODY

two or more stanzas using at least 5 of the 9 teacher words that

This was the first class for poetry and I wanted to get the

align with 3 or more of the poetic terms listed below. (Sounds like

students excited for it. At the same time I wanted them to be

a Math equation.)

engaged with the technology. I integrated a lot of programs to start off because I knew these programs would be ones the students could go back to throughout the unit. The students were given a digital copy of the lesson so they follow along with it and could refer back to it (see a pdf version of the lesson plan on the next page).

(Teacher Words) Words that MUST be Present in the Poem: Shadow! Gentle! Soothe!

Glisten!

Dark Flower

Delicate! Possible! Invisible

Poetic Terms imagery! metaphor ! symbolism! anthropomorphism!!

alliteration !

Introduction to Poetry Gallery 3.2 Lesson Plan PDF and Student Work Daily Objective: Students will create a poem using words selected by the teacher that align with specific poetic terms. i. word processed poems will include images ii. poems will be made into word clouds using Wordle iii.GarageBand will be used to design a coffee house type reading

simile personification

onomatopoeia! !

Poems will be presented to grade 10 students and prizes will be awarded. There is a chance some poems will make the district LCD monitors.

rhyme scheme

Materials: A computer is necessary and students will need an understanding of the following: a. NoteShare - pick up the assignment b. Pages - word processor c. Internet - find picture/s to include in/with your poem d. Wordle - copy/paste poem into wordle.net to create a word cloud e. GarageBand - record your poem as a podcast - include images f. ePEARL - store the finished copies in a digital portfolio

The specific guidelines provided to students are as follows:

Lesson Ice Breaker - 10 minutes Have Skilletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Monster lyrics on SMART Board - Play at the start of class. (Blog) Blog URL - http://myweb.lcsd150.ab.ca/groups/poetry/blog/

1. The poem has to be 12-24 lines long.

Introduction to Technology - 20 minutes Get assignment from NoteShare. (portal.lcsd150.ab.ca) Pages - Font basics and inserting images (Graphic Inspector and Alpha) Introduce Wordle - show example Record in GarageBand and add images to Podcast Track Add artifacts to ePEARL. Curricular Assignment - 60+ minutes Read the activity - Any questions? Students will create a poem in Pages which will include well chosen images. Students will use Wordle to create a word cloud of their poem. The word cloud will be pasted under the actual poem in Pages. (Command-Shift-4 to grab image) Upload your Pages document into ePEARL. Create an oral reading podcast of your poem in GarageBand and include images. Share to iTunes or your desktop and upload this to GarageBand. Upload the podcast to ePEARL.

2. There has to be at least two sections to the poem. (Think paragraph in poetry.) 3. The poem must have at least five of the words from the teacher list. 4. The completed student poem must align with at least 3 of the

This gallery displays a sample of the lesson plan provided to students, as well as examples of student work.

poetic terms. a. This means that the poem must display aspects of 3 of the listed words. b. For example: there might be a simile in the poem, alliteration might be present and there could be a rhyme scheme. 5. When your poem is word processed, copy and paste it into www.wordle.net. a. Choose the style you like best.

b. Think to yourself, does the meaning of the poem seem " to change when you look at your word cloud? Why or " " why not? 6. Image capture your word cloud (command-shift-4) and put it under your poem. 7. Upload your Pages document to ePEARL. 67

8. Open GarageBand and design a podcast by recording your poem and adding images. Share it to your desktop or iTunes.

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

9. Upload your podcast to ePEARL. CONCLUSION

The students presented their finished poems to the class. The class blogged about the poems as they were being presented. The poetry podcasts were also shared with the students' former Language Arts teacher from their former school and she shared them with her class. This was done to add authenticity to the lesson in order to take the experience beyond the classroom. Mrs. Greig took it a step farther and I videoed her making comments about the poems to the students. I then showed the class her video where she was addressing the students and making comments about their poems. The students loved hearing from their former teacher with each one eagerly waiting for her to talk about their poem. After the poems were completed they were also submitted to the District Communications Officer and put on all of the LCD monitors in the the district to showcase their work. I'm a big believer in making assignments authentic so showing them to a former teacher in another school and showcasing them throughout the district was a way to add to the students' engagement in this activity.

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

When the students presented, Chris Sumner (class teacher) and I took notes and offered feedback. This was the Assessment For Learning (AFL) aspect although we did give constant feedback throughout the entire process too. The students were given an opportunity to improve upon their poem based on the feedback. We also had a rubric for the presentations that the students had access to when they were creating their podcast. 68

PODCAST POEM PRESENTATION RUBRIC

Life

Teacher Words are Included (5 Marks)

___________

Unsecured and unreliable

___________

no one can be blamed

Word Cloud Represents Poem (2 Marks)

___________

Total (10 Marks)

___________

Poetic Terms are Included (3 Marks)

the only one accountable is yourself you can’t depend on anyone else invisible help is all you have working hard eight days a week

On the following pages are several examples of student work that

that’s the way to be successful

were written by Scott’s students.

that is the way for it to be possible

A New Season The delicate, gentle breeze makes the flowers dance They sway back and forth, side to side The shadow of winter on the brink of disappearing The soothe of the bittersweetness in the first rain storm As it touches our skin, as we dance in it, Before we know it, the season takes form The dark nights full of summer heat will arrive. Change is hope, It comes with the wind It comes with the rain

put your life into something put your soul into it just for it to be thrown away just so you can have that one second of fame no matter how delicate it is it will always end up breaking what will you leave as a mark when you’re gone will your life be considered to be a gentle flower or a crater on society not every one will remember how you changed the world

The sun will shine down, brighter than ever You have to lose things, to find new things to gain

The Storm

Summer is coming, springs almost here

lightning flashes and lights up the sky

A new season, new dreams, a new moment is near

shadows are cast among the walls 69

darkness surrounds us again

The sunset was as bright as a supernova

the rain has a steady beat like a drummer

At the end of this perfect summer day.

the invisible thunder rumbles through the night morning arrives and with it the sun the dew glistens in the light delicate flower peddles float in the puddles raindrops lay captured by the leaves sounds from a nearby stream how can it be possible for something so amazing to come after a spring storm A Perfect Summer Day The bright beautiful flowers glisten in the sunlight The sky was clear, blue and bright There was no sight of dark fearful fright

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: The teacher needs to be prepared in case the programs do not work the way they were intended to. There needs to be a base knowledge so the teacher can trouble shoot any issues that may arise. There will need to be a plan in case the wireless Internet does not work.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: Students have access to Speech to Text on the computer as well as Read & Write Gold. The students are familiar with both. Students are able to complete this activity at grade level because the finished product is one that is oral in GarageBand or iMovie. The typed poem is not mandatory. Students were also given the opportunity to stay after school to work on the computer if they didn't have access at home. No one needed the extra time for this class. There was also a Student Assistant in this class.

All animals gathered on this wonderful day Soothing sounds from the river brought gentle music to my ears The fish jumping upstream arched as big as a rainbow They made delicate waves flying in and out out of the water Bear cubs try to catch them, but they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how The green underbrush of the forest provided much shade The sun looked like it was going to fade 70

Lesson 18

Storyboarding Video Projects

BY TERRY SIPPEL Length of Lesson: 2 classes (1 hour each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: • Be able to create detailed storyboards to use when creating video projects and learn how to predict possible issues in the filming process and correct as needed

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Show class a few short videos available on the Internet where teenagers have acted out scenes for a school project. Discuss the different “jobs/assignments” that went into the project and what planning had to be done ahead of time.

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Schedule computer access of labs or mobile carts Choose and review software programs that allow students to manipulate graphics and text boxes.

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

BODY

1st hour: 1. Discuss TV episodes where you have noticed a characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hair or shirt button change as the character has a conversation with another character. This is usually because the filming wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t continuous and the people expected to notice those things missed it. 2. Brainstorm ideas and create a list of all of the items you would have to be prepared to address when filming a scene. Make sure to include: characters, movement, dialogue, sequencing of actions, props, costumes, make-up, camera angles, backgrounds, audio/video extras. 3. Introduce the idea of a storyboard. Find a sample of a storyboard online from a feature film or comic book. An X-Men example can be found at: www.storyboards-east.com/ sb_xmen.htm.

4. Think about possible materials to use to create a storyboard. These might include paper drawings/sketches, multiple sticky notes that can be moved around or various computer software. 5. Explain the project idea(s) that they will be working on to students and break class into project teams. Teams must decide on what they will use to storyboard their project.

2nd hour: 1. Create the storyboard using what was decided during the previous hour. 2. Remember that the teacher must approve all storyboards

Was the storyboard: • detailed enough to eliminate confusion • clear enough to someone not in the group • realistic enough to actually use to create a video

before any filming starts. CONCLUSION

Do a “Museum Walk” activity allowing groups of students to see what other groups created. Rotate every 5 minutes. Leave

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions:

group’s work.

Group students for project so they can collaborate on the storyboard. Student ability, behavior and creativity are factors to consider when grouping.

As a class, discuss some of the things you saw that your group

Support for Learners with Special Needs:

‘positive’ comments on sticky notes before going to see next

missed and some of the things that you would do differently next time.

The storyboard can be as basic as a drawing on paper or as elaborate as the students want to get using software available on the school computers.

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Use a checklist with each group to evaluate their storyboard. Did the storyboard include or address:" • • • • • • • • •

characters movement/action dialogue sequencing of actions props costumes and make-up camera angles backgrounds audio/video extras and other considerations 73

Chapter 4

Grades 9-12

For many high school students, the educatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenge is to reintroduce the sense of play and discovery they experienced with their earliest memories of school.

Technology provides one method of doing just that. Introducing new tech tools into the classroom keeps the sense of adventure fresh.

Lesson 19

Project Justice

BY KIM WILKENS Length of Lesson: 10 sessions of 1.5 to 2 hours each Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: • Learn about social justice, including what it is, how it is different than charity, and how it affects them • Learn how to investigate social justice issues and identify an issue that they feel passionate about • Plan a project that will help educate about and/or advocate for a specific social justice issue

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

21st century learning encompasses so much more than reading, writing and arithmetic. It requires critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration. Digitally connected students need to explore the world to understand and address global issues. Project Justice is a way to integrate 21st century interdisciplinary themes of global

awareness, economic, civic, health, environmental and digital literacy, while tapping into a student's innate desire to share their voice with others.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Your mission should you choose to accept it: Change the World! Do you have what it takes to be an agent of justice? Can you think critically, solve problems, communicate creatively & collaborate locally and globally? Are you ready to share your voice with the world? Take the first step and find out!

• You will learn about what social justice means to others as you begin to define what it means to you. • You will seek out opportunities to interact with people working on local social justice issues. • You will share your thoughts about your experiences of and thoughts about justice by blogging about your experiences during Project Justice. • You will collaborate on creating a project that will educate about or advocate for a specific justice issue. • Your collaboration will include a detailed project plan. • You will present your project to your class and possibly your school. • You will share your project online.

BODY

Are there problems in your neighborhood, school, community,

CONCLUSION

nation or world that make you angry? Is there anything in the

Each group presents their project, whether it’s a video, artwork,

world you would like to see changed for the better? It is important

fundraiser, etc. to their classmates as well as posting the project

to add your voice to the conversation about what we all want for

details on the blog. They can also look for ways to share their

ourselves, our world and our future. The purpose of Project

projects at a school-wide level and beyond.

Justice is to unleash your voice into the global conversation. You will work with others on your team to learn about social justice, what it means and how it affects your lives. Then you will create a project to educate about or advocate for a specific justice issue that you care about. These are the tasks you will complete during this Project Justice:

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Students can be assessed on the following outcomes: blog entries, interview questions, research, project plan and final project. A rubric is provided at: https://sites.google.com/a/ kimxtom.com/projectjustice/evaluation.

BLOGGING:

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Having students share their thoughts and experiences during Project Justice is critical not only for the students to process and organize their thoughts, but also as a vehicle to share their voice with others. If you have never setup a classroom blog, I've included some links to help you get started at https://sites.google.com/a/kimxtom.com/projectjustice. ! If you are not comfortable having students post directly to a blog or they have never done it before, you can collect their writing and summarize it on the blog. ! FIELD TRIPS: I have provided a list of national resources at https://sites.google.com/a/kimxtom.com/projectjustice for students to use to locate and contact individuals and organizations that help those in need. You should probably supplement this list with local organizations. If you are time constrained, you could take on the task of coordinating guest speakers and field trips without impacting the overall goals of Project Justice. You may also need to provide more ideas and resources for producing a project. The ideal is to let the students have enough time to work through this step themselves, but your input is also welcome. Try to keep in mind that the students really need to work on something they are passionate about, not your favorite cause.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions If this group of students has never worked together before, you should definitely spend some time up front with team building exercises. It is great to have an uninterrupted week to work with, but this project can be broken down over a period of time or even done with less time. You may get push-back from some parents about the idea of their children being exposed to â&#x20AC;&#x153;social justiceâ&#x20AC;? as in some circles it is almost a taboo subject. Thorough parent communication and administration support will be key to alleviate this issue.

Lesson 20

Coppell Nature to Go!

BY SUNNY RICHARDSON Length of Lesson: 14 days Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: â&#x20AC;˘ Learn how about plants, complete their own research, and give back to the community

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Lesson Instructions HOOK

My engagement part of the lesson included introducing the Coppell Nature Park and showing the students the paper tree guide for the park that is currently used. I gave them time to look over the guide and then asked them, the digital generation, how this guide could be improved

and allow for visitors of the nature park to have information instantly when they are actually looking at the trees. Many ideas were shared from QR codes on signs to creating an Appâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which is where I directed them to go. We then discussed what would make this App "really cool." I told them that they were the experts on what makes an App great and handed every student a notecard to brainstorm their ideas on what should be included. They had some fabulous ideas. Some, hopefully, will come in our 2nd phase of this project with next year's group. BODY

Once the App was decided upon, students were assigned trees to research with a list of information to gather which included: other common names used, the scientific name and family classification, whether the species was indigenous or invasive, location in the Blackland Prairie, Cross Timbers or both, and any other interesting, medicinal and/or historical facts.The had several days to collect data ant then were given a specific format in which to display the information so that all information was streamlined and would look uniform in the App. On the day of the field trip, students were grouped according to supplies (cameras), expertise in equipment (GPS), etc. and given their packets. We took the whole day to collect data in the form of pictures of each tree (leaf, bark, whole organism and seeds, flowers, etc.) if possible. Upon returning to school students converted pictures in

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: For this lesson, I had to gain funds for the travel to the nature park. As a result, I wrote a grant for the Target Field Trip Grants. Once the grant was secure, I was able to plan accordingly. Preplanning included discussing my idea of creating an App for the Coppell Nature Park with my curriculum director and the executive director of the Coppell Nature Park. With their support, I created a rubric with the help of our PBL specialists in district. For our field trips to the park, we had community Master Naturalist volunteers on site for help with identification and locating the trees.

Classroom Materials: Computers Google Docs for collaboration and the internet

Field Trip Materials: Envelopes for group packets that included the tree assignment and instructions Notepads & pencils Map of the Area First Aid Kits & OFF Spray Snacks & water GPS Hand Held Case Walkie Talkies for communication Chaperones Students were introduced to the concept of deforestation though book "The Lorax" and "The Great Kapok Tree" !

JPEG format, shared them via Google Docs and email attachments with specific labeling, shared the GPS coordinates 79

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Nature to Go!" Upon completion, we will submit the App for approval from Apple. The students are very excited about their building of new content in this service learning project and cannot wait until it is an official App. In addition, the "friends" of Coppell Nature Park and community members are eagerly awaiting the App as well. This has been a very exciting project. The students really responded to taking a little info and a numbered tree on paper to creating very interesting information that will be in the palm of the observersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hand in the nature park as they are observing the trees! MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Throughout the project, students were assessed formatively and through lab work. In addition, students have been very eager to share their knowledge with others and we have had some great class discussions and celebrations. Finally, students will be tested through final exams and lab practicals their knowledge. and the audio from each tree describing the area. While conducting the project plant parts in general were discussed as well as labs conducted for understanding of plant processes. CONCLUSION

We celebrated our accomplishments and the field trip. Currently, the meticulous work on adding each separate research data, pictures, GPS, etc is being done to complete the App, "Coppell 80

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions: The main hurdle was assigning the group research work and then the field work. My classes are at different times in the day, so the research assigned trees were different from the field work assigned trees. This confused students somewhat, but it worked out. With any group work, you must make sure all members are being responsible and completing work.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: Grouping heterogeneously with stronger students. I did not have any severe differences in abilities with this year's group.

Lesson 21

HS Science Picture Book Project

BY ARLEN KIMMELMAN Length of Lesson: 9 classes (42 minutes each) Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: 1. Plan, write, illustrate, and publish a science-oriented childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s picture book 2. Synthesize and modify scientific information 3. Understand and apply literature reading levels 4. Participate in a review of a story written by a peer 5. Use literary devices in an original work of fiction

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration

Lesson Instructions HOOK

We let them know that this is an authentic, i.e., real, activity, not just an exercise. The products they create are intended for use by the local elementary schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s students and teachers. All books can be archived electronically for permanent inclusion in our high school 82

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Computers with Internet access (such as for http://www.storybird.com), as well as student email addresses for StoryBird account creation. Contact and collaboration with elementary science teachers who will participate in the joint project Rubrics for meeting science standards, N.E.T.S.-S. standards, and picture book creation criteria Online bibliographic citation tool Access to age and reading level appropriate nonfiction children’s books, identified and listed via electronic library catalog Book-making materials for differentiated or accommodation learning Google Docs for collaboration and the internet

library’s electronic catalog, as well. A brief ‘field trip’ to the high school library’s shelves, where we keep a collection of children’s books for our day care classes, provides a chance for students to reflect on what they liked about books when they were little, too. BODY

1. Provide students with specific instructions on the topic, such as the below: “The purpose of this project is to construct a picture book for various grade levels for the elementary school science

teachers. I have been in contact with those teachers, and they have given me various science topics to choose from. Please pick groups of up to 3 individuals to complete this project. Your goal: is to write and illustrate a picture book on a sciencerelated topic for our audience. Your picture book should highlight your creative writing skills and accuracy of the science topic. These books will be given to the grade level teacher so that they may use your book for instruction or as an added resource for the student.” Examples of topics to be provided to students include the following:

Kindergarten • How do seeds grow into plants and produce food we eat (seed to table)? • Monarch Butterflies & migration • Butterflies, flowers and plants • Animals • How do we learn? • What is weather? • What is Matter? • What is water and the water cycle? • Energy (the sun and shadows) • What is motion?

1st grade • • • •

What is the difference between solids, liquids and gases? What is weather and it’s connection to living things? How can I predict the weather? Pebbles, sand and silt 83

COMPUTER GENERATED ILLUSTRATIONS: Below is a set of instructions provided by the school librarian for students who chose to make their illustrations with a computer generated program." ! Follow an example and modeling of StoryBird creation by the librarian. Be careful not to omit or change factual information when adjusting its audience level. If you use online art instead of using StoryBird or creating your own original art, use copyright-free or Creative Commons attributions. Use sites such as http://www.morguefile.com or http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en at “Usage rights: Find images you are free to use yourself.” Use the list of sample reading levels and interest levels created from the library’s electronic catalog to match the book you create with an age-appropriate style. Use the library’s print material and subscription databases to locate, comprehend, synthesize and modify the scientific information you’ll use for your book. Maintain a source citation list created by combining the library electronic catalog’s citation information and database articles’ bibliographic information.

3rd grade • • • • • •

Heat, light and sound Magnetism Magnetism and electricity Primarily earth (Earth science) The sun, earth and the moon Land and water!

2. Write a rough draft of your picture book story, including a source citation list. Make sure you have the following: A. Complete story, including: • • • • •

Introduction with setting and characters Problem/conflict Rising action/climax Falling action Solution/resolution!

B. Format: at least 30 pages, consisting of 14-16 two-page spreads. A spread is the two pages of an open book C. Mechanics of writing-spelling, punctuation and grammar D. Accuracy and facts of science information E. Writing is targeted towards K-3 audience

2nd grade • What is balance and motion • What are changes in states of matter • Plant growth and development

F. Use of Literary Devices G. Neatness H. Source citations 84

3. Next, students should organize their story and illustrations. Illustrations can be created with a computer-generated program (eBook, Storyboard) or by hand. Illustrations should be created for the front cover and throughout the book.

(first name, grade, what you like about science, and future plans), and a small picture of the student. CONCLUSION

Remind students that illustrations are usually created after the

Students will be able to personally share completed books with

text is written, and serve as a partner to the text. They should

the age-appropriate students at the elementary school

be inviting to the audience, and show action. 4. Finally, students should create an “About the Authors” last page of book. This page will contain a biography of yourself

Students will be provided with a ‘debriefing’ activity to process parts of the assignment. For example: • What was easy/hard about modifying factual information? • Decide what you liked/didn’t like about making your book

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

electronically/by hand. • How does this assignment relate to what you’ve learned this year about chemistry or about responsible/effective research skills?! MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Students are assessed on product quality (aesthetics: book cover and picture choices), story quality, technical aspects (correct citations and format), evidence of ability to synthesize and modify scientific information, and feedback from reviewers (peers, elementary students, etc).

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Support for Learners with Special Needs: • Non-electronic book-making materials for differentiated or accommodating learning • Multiple topics from which students may choose to accommodate differences in interests • Options to work alone, in pairs or in small groups • Alternative book-creation software options

Lesson 22

1984 and Surveillance Society

BY J. MARK COLEMAN Length of Lesson: 4-5 class days of prep, planning, evaluation and analysis. Students execution may or may not take place during class time. Goals and Objectives: Through this lesson students will: 1. Create a video demonstrating the parallels between the ubiquitous surveillance of 1984 and how technology decreases our privacy today 2. Examine the ways governments use surveillance as a means of control 3. Compare the techniques of monitoring citizen behavior used the government of Oceania in 1984 and real governments around the world and throughout history

NETS FOR STUDENTS STANDARDS: Creativity and InnovationCreativity and Innovation Communication and Collaboration Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Digital Citizenship Technology Operations and Concepts

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: The following preparation and materials are required for this lesson: Students groups are assigned with an attempt to balance groups with regards to technical ability. All students need Google Docs accounts for Shared Time Sheets. Group participation surveys to allow student feedback regarding the contributions of their group members. Teacher should at least be familiar with several solutions for this project, including web based and free solutions. Examples: aviary.com, pixlr.com, Audacity, iMovie, MovieMaker, PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Vegas, Windows Media Encoder, etc.

BODY

Students are put in groups of three. Each group is to download the public domain audiobook of 1984 available at archive.org. Students will cut clips discussing surveillance technology from the audiobook (free solutions for this include Audacity and aviary.com and there are numerous commercial solutions). Student groups will prepare a 2-3 minute video using creative commons, public domain, cleared and self created video and images to compare the surveillance of 1984 and the current state Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

After finishing the reading of the novel 1984, with appropriate evaluation to determine students understand plot points and themes of the novel, class should begin with a discussion of this short article: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/george-orwell-big-brother-iswatching-your-house-7086271.html This article discusses the ubiquity of CCTV in the UK, including 32 cameras within 200 yards of Orwell's home. 88

of government surveillance. There are many commercial solutions

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

for creating the movie and free solutions such as MovieMaker and iMovie and students may even use Presentation software,

Management Suggestions:

coupled with screen capture solutions. Students will maintain a

While the group time sheet and end of project surveys help monitor student engagement, groups should meet with the instructor over the course of the project to ensure full engagement of all students.

work log as a shared Google Spreadsheet. Students will also evaluate the other members of their group via a Google Spreadsheet survey. Students will upload the final product to the appropriate location. CONCLUSION

Groups will present their videos to the class. Students are to take notes on each groups videos for a final discussion. Class discussion on the content of each video as well as the production

Some students may not have home access to technology. The instructor should make arrangements for use of school equipment and free software solutions.

Support for Learners with Special Needs: The nature of this assignment lends itself well to many IEP and 504 accommodations. The teacher should be aware of all accommodations and make appropriate choices in group placement and steer toward appropriate tasks within each group.

methods and techniques of the videos will finish out the project. MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

A rubric is used to score the success of the video in terms of addressing the topic of the video, the quality of the production, and participation of each group member based on time log and peer feedback.

Lesson 23

My Life: The Game

BY TODD BEARD Length of Lesson: 21 lessons (45 minutes each) Goals and Objectives: â&#x20AC;˘ Using technology, students will learn about real life banking, including taxes and withholdings, e-commerce, systems for budgeting money and keep track of income and expenses, and how to write a check.

Lesson Instructions HOOK

Students love games, competition, cooperation, and dreaming big. I engaged my students by giving them all four while learning about technology, math, language 90

arts, and the real world. The premise of this "game" starts with the question, “Who has played the game Monopoly? Life? The Sims?” Well, “My Life: The Game” is kind of like all of those only harder, more realistic, and totally customizable. BODY

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION: Hardware & Software: computers, Internet, spreadsheet software, printer, and projector (Optional, but highly recommended: classroom response system, digital whiteboard, network storage space, online classroom discussion board, wireless microphone, sound system, and DJ lighting).!

Each element of the game starts with me showing the end product of my Avatar or data sheet and fielding questions. Then, we go through the steps of how I got there together. Students that finish first, work with others to help them finish their daily missions, and receive Character Points for helping others. After the introduction of Level 3: My Life: The Game (I use the word Level instead of Unit or Chapter), the first activity is K.W.L. in the form of a digital Webquest. I have a framework of what is needed to complete the first mission (I use mission instead of activity or assignment) and I guide the discussion to make sure we get all the information we need to make decisions about our personal budget choices. When the class is finished recording our

Digital Handouts: A Webquest to research terms and research questions that we have formulated in a previous discussion. A discussion board or Blog for discussion of appropriate ways to communicate, gather information, and cite information after class discussion and presentation. Video presentations of each part of construction of the PBL datasheet for each day. Class designed rubric to describe the parts of the project, the class expectations, and how to evaluate each part. Presentation forms posing questions for each student to address in front of the class.! Physical Handouts: A Datasheet, checkbook, audit sheet and check register to play the game. Also, any of the digital handouts can be printed as physical handouts if needed.

discussion about what we Know and Want to know, we start the Webquest to answer our questions. Students download the form that we created and use previous taught knowledge from Level 2

session. Students record the discussion in their Webquests for

to cite the websites where they obtained their information. I set a

Character Points.

web timer to make sure we have 15 minutes to discuss our findings. We wrap up the mission by using a random number generator to pick students to lead each question and answer

Level 3, Mission 2, is Spreadsheet Creation. In this lesson, we look at vocabulary, formatting, formulas, and tools used to create a spreadsheet. Depending on the grade level, I have different templates made that we deconstruct and reconstruct together as 91

we customize certain fonts, vocabulary, and color options. This

review the process for inserting pictures, data, and updating our

sets the stage for what options the students may use to take

check registers.

ownership of their data sheets. We also reexamine what we learned from the previous Webquest and transfer our Character Points from our online discussion board to an area of our data sheet.

Level 3, Mission 5, is Ask an Expert. Find a bank our credit union that is willing to come in to speak with the students about opening an account and to talk about things in this PBL such as checking accounts, budgeting, interest, loans, and financing.

Level 3, Mission 3, is e-commerce. We use graphical

Also, encourage the students to ask questions that dive deeper

representations to organize the things we know about e-

into finance about savings accounts, retirement, investing, and

commerce in pros and cons each student may choose from

what it is like to be a banker or work for a bank.

graphics available. I randomly select students to give an example and reason to start the class off. Then, I write it on the chalkboard (old school style). Students with great graphical organizers are

Watch the video below to learn more about this project and view student work.

shown off to the class and receive Character Points as they explain what they put in their graphical organizer and why. The lesson ends with inserting elements of our housing into our datasheet after reflection on our Webquest about renting versus buying, amount to budget for home expenses, and our wants/ needs budget. Also, I teach them how to hyperlink a webpage to the spreadsheet document and how to save a webpage in our folder. Level 3, Mission 4, is Checkbook Register and Datasheet entry. We start the period by looking at mortgage calculators, making the interest formula to figure our car payment, and creating a generic formula to figure out the insurance on our vehicles. We

Level 3, Check Point 1, is a PowerPoint game that is framed like

after the players name in the shared network drive. Players meet

the TV show Jeopardy, there are many free templates on the web

with each other the last 10 minutes of class to discuss audits. If

or you can create your own. I use Check Points like a quiz to test

there are any disputes they write them up on the sheet and the

the students’ knowledge about what we are doing and why.

teacher decides the cost.

Jeopardy allows me to break the objectives into categories. I use class response systems to get individual results, teams to discuss the answer after everyone locks an answer in, and randomly selected players to play the game with me as the host. If players get the answer wrong groups have a chance to earn the points and go next. Winning groups get Character Points. Level 3, Missions 6-18, is to maintain the Checkbook register every period for however long you desire. This is a good activity for the first or last 5min. of class. Say, “You have this time to update your check registers.” Also, every other week or so there is an event such as car repair, doctors visit, birthday present, etc., in which the students have to think if it is a credit or debit. Teach the students how to write a check and record it by hand in a register. Also, this is the time when you address problems with objectives that you noticed when looking at classroom data from the Check Point data.

Level 3, Check Point 2 is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. This PowerPoint game is formatted just the same as Jeopardy was with classroom responders, teams, individual players for each question, and lots of lights and sounds to celebrate correct answers. This is the test that retests any problems with objectives from Check Point 1 and tests knowledge of objectives 6-19. My Life (Final lesson): The Game begins with an explanation that the classroom is a board game and each seat is a spot on the board. Everyone starts at their seat and moves in a pre described clockwise direction around the board (class). Students take their check book and register with them, and they leave their data sheet and an envelope taped to their desk. I make a PowerPoint with dice rolls and a few My Life Cards (events where depending on the choices players had made they have to add or subtract money from their accounts. Every time a player lands on another’s property they have to write a check for that month’s

Level 3, Mission 19, is the Audit. This is a peer review check

rent/mortgage and record it on their register that you printed out.

before we print out the data sheet to play the game. Every

Play till 10 minutes are left in the period or 5 rolls that lands them

mistake will cost the player a determined amount of money and

back on their seat, and then have the students go through their

that money will go to the student auditing the data sheet.

envelopes to add to their check registers. They staple all the

Auditors save a copy of the datasheet they check will there name

pieces together and turn in as they leave. 93

CONCLUSION

I distribute the paper work to a different class to evaluate, and we go through step by step to find out who the winners are. We

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Management Suggestions:

There are always multiple strategies that have the same things in

I use a workstation monitoring application to show student work to the group and keep students on track. Also, the web filtering software at your school may force you to reorganize how students search for houses, cars, wardrobes, and other devices. Lastly, when playing the game at the end of instruction, students must know the direction and order to go in (each chair in the classroom becomes like a spot on a Monopoly board for example).

common; Hard work + budgeting + planning = Success. Students

Support for Learners with Special Needs:

discuss mistakes that we find and look at the strategies a player used successfully. We create graphs and charts that look at how much we spent on each area of our lives. I return the projects to the owners after the peer review for them to analyze and treasure.

also win based on their Character Points, because I also want the students to know that; helping people + hard work + good character = Success.

I have templates that are already created for learners with special needs that can be altered to fit the accommodations that they need.

MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVES

The level of engagement and enthusiasm is always a good measure of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; knowledge retention, but that is hard to measure and quantify. The Webquest, Check Points, Audits, Final Data Sheet, and Check Register always provide documentable proof of learning objectives achieved. The class discussions and Blog posts also help to achieve and measure the objectives of this PBL. The ultimate proof that students learned the objectives is when they ask more in-depth questions about success and are still talking about My Life: The Game, months after we are done playing.

Acknowledgements Lessons from the Passion-Based Learning!Contest are available for ISTE members to adapt for use in their classrooms. Special thanks to the lesson plan authors and students who provided the rich materials and examples contained throughout this collection. Please note that the submissions were not edited, and the voices and views expressed are those of the educators who submitted them. All editorial artwork courtesy of iStockphotos.com or the specific web tools and sites referenced in the corresponding lesson plans. This collection is a benefit of ISTE membership. To learn more, visit iste.org/join

xcv