Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Lesson #1

I. RATIONALE:

I based this lesson off of several Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards. This lessons covers standards from the subjects of Social Studies, Science, Math, and Technology. These standards are listed below.


II. OVERVIEW

 Grade Level: 4th grade

 Subject(s): Social Studies, Science, Math, and Technology

 Topic of Study: Mount Everest

 Time Allotment: 30 minutes

 Standards:
  • Social Studies:
    • Strand 4: Geography – PO 5 – Describe characteristics of human and physical features: a) physical (i.e. river, lake, mountain, range, coast, sea, desert, gulf, bay, straight, plain, valley, volcanoes, isthmus, canyon, plateau, mesa, oasis, dunes); b) human (i.e. equator, four hemispheres, city, state, country, harbor, dams, territory, county)
  • Science:
    • Strand 3: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives – Concept 1: Changes in Environments – PO 2: Evaluate the consequences of environmental occurrences that happen either rapidly (e.g., fire, flood, tornado) or over a long period of time (e.g., drought, melting ice caps, the greenhouse effect, erosion)
    • Strand 4: Life Science – Concept 4: Diversity, Adaptation, and Behavior – PO 2: Give examples of adaptations that allow plants and animals to survive
      • Camouflage – horned lizards, coyotes
      • Mimicry – Monarch and Viceroy butterflies
      • Physical – Cactus spines
      • Mutualism – Species of acacia that harbor ants, which repel other harmful insects
  • Math:
    • Strand 4: Number and Operations in Base Ten – Concept 4: Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic – 4.NBT.B.4: Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm
  • Technology:
    • Strand 1: Creativity and Innovation – Concept 1: Knowledge and Ideas – PO 1: Evaluate information to generate ideas and processes
    • Strand 1: Creativity and Innovation – Concept 2: Models and Simulations – PO 2: Explore and experiment with system variables using models or simulations.
Objectives:
  • The students will be able to navigate the Mount Everest Panorama website in order to create an online scavenger hunt that their peers will complete at a later time.
  • The students will be able to locate specific peaks on the panorama website and use addition and/or subtraction to find the difference in heights.
  • The students will be able to think critically in order to describe characteristics of the Mount Everest area, discuss what may happen to this area if environmental changes occur, and discuss what adaptations people and animals may need to undergo in order to live in this area.

Reflection: Assessing Prior Knowledge and Planning Instruction

 Before this lesson, the students need to know how to add and subtract. This is needed in order for them find the difference in the various peak heights. They will also need to know the basics of working a computer. Lastly, they will need to know how to create documents using Google Forms, which will be covered in a lesson prior to this one. However, as a class we will go over how to work the Mount Everest Panorama website. Before starting the lesson, we will have a class discussion to figure out what the children already know about Mount Everest. I will ask questions such as “Who has heard of Mount Everest?”, “Who knows what Mount Everest is?”, “Who knows where Mount Everest is located?”, and “What other things do you know about Mount Everest?”. I will use this information to help guide my entire lesson. I will have a PowerPoint ready to briefly go over these questions if they do not know much about them. After this PowerPoint, we will then go and explore the website. The content of this lesson is great for this grade level, because it meets several of the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards for this grade and covers several different subject areas. My objectives are based directly on these standards. This lesson could be taught anytime after the first month or so of the school year. I would like to spend the first month or so assessing the students on what they already know about using technology. During this time, I could also teach them some of the basics (working the internet, Microsoft Office/Excel/PowerPoint, etc.), if they do not know it.






III. IMPLEMENTATION

 Procedure:
  • Pre-assess the students by having a class discussion. Ask them questions such as “Who has heard of Mount Everest?”, “Who knows what Mount Everest is?”, “Who knows where Mount Everest is located?”, and “What other things do you know about Mount Everest?”
  • Briefly review how to find the difference of two numbers. This should just be a refresher for the students, because they should have learned this in a previous grade. By reviewing it, they will make the connection to finding the difference between the various peak heights. Give them numbers and ask them to find the difference between them (7425 and 5301; 2467 and 5460).
  • Show the students a Powerpoint that goes over basic Mount Everest facts (where it is located, how tall the highest peak is, who the first person to climb it was, etc.).
  • Explain what the children are going to be doing throughout this lesson (exploring the Mount Everest panorama webpage and creating a scavenger hunt for their peers to complete at a later time).
  • Have the students log on to Google Forms, so they can create their scavenger hunt as they explore.
  • Pass out the rubric to each student, so they know what is expected of them and what they will be graded on.
  • Have the children log on to the Mount Everest panorama webpage and start exploring what they can do with this website. Then have them start working on their scavenger hunt.
  • Walk around and help students as needed.
  • Keep informing the students about how much time they have left to work on it this project.
  • Depending on how far the students have gotten by the end of the class, you can make the decision on whether you will continue this lesson on another day or have them finish it on their own time (at home, at the public library, etc.).
Technology Integration:
  • This lesson is filled with technology. The students will be exploring the Mount Everest panorama website. They will also create a scavenger hunt, using Google Forms, for their peers to complete at a later time.
  • I will be creating a PowerPoint that includes some basic facts about Mount Everest. I will also check out the Mount Everest panorama website before the lesson to make sure that the site is safe and healthy for the students to use.
Differentiated Instruction:
  • Cognitive delay – For students with cognitive delay, I will provide small group instruction if needed. I can pull these students to a table in the classroom and go in more detail with the pre-assessment. We can then do this project together using a Smartboard or projector. I can have them create a scavenger hunt as a group. I would provide assistance as needed.
  • Gifted – For gifted students, I can have them do the same activity. However, when they are done, I would ask them to continue exploring the panorama webpage. I would encourage them to find at least three facts about Mount Everest that they found to be extremely interesting or surprising. They could type these facts and give them to me or they could present them to the class (orally, presentation, etc.).
  • ELL – For ELL students, I could once again use the small group method that I mentioned using with students with cognitive delays. I could also provide the materials and scavenger hunt in the child's native language. I would explore the Mount Everest webpage to see if there is a way to change the language to the student's native language as well. This will make it so I know if the student understands the material being taught, because it removes the language barrier that could become problematic.

Reflection: Designing Instruction (InTask Standards 7 and 8):

 I am using these instructional methods, because it allows the students to explore and do their own learning. They are given the opportunity to discover the knowledge about Mount Everest on their own. By having them create a scavenger hunt that their peers will complete at a later time makes the learning process more fun as well. One of the main methods that we have learned about in my education classes is to provide hands on activities that make the learning fun and entertaining. By doing this, the students will more likely want to learn the material being taught. I feel like this lesson greatly fits this method. This is a new website that the students get to explore and it has many fun and interesting facts on it. I believe that the students will really enjoy this lesson and gain a lot of knowledge, because they are able to explore on their own instead of being told the information by their teacher. By creating a scavenger hunt based on the information they find, they are using creative and higher order thinking. They will have to look at the rubric, figure out what they need to include in their scavenger hunt, find the information on the panorama website, form questions for the scavenger hunt, and provide the answers to their questions on the answer key. This gets them to start thinking like the teacher and the student.




 IV. ASSESSMENT
  • The students will be creating a scavenger hunt based on some interesting facts they learn from the Mount Everest panorama webpage. With this, they will also need to submit an answer key to show that they understand the materials on their scavenger hunt. They will also be assessed on their participation and the amount of time that they are on task during this lesson. They will be graded using the checklist included in the “Instruments” section. They will be given this checklist before they start their project, so that they know what is required of them.


Instruments:
  • The students will be graded based on the following checklist:
Question
Circle Answer
Points Awarded
Did the student participate in the pre-assessment discussion at least two times?
YES NO
/2
Was the student on task for least 20 minutes during the exploration and scavenger hunt part of the lesson?
YES NO
/2
The student included at least two questions on their scavenger hunt that requires their peers to find the difference between two peaks’ heights.
YES NO
/2
The student included at least two questions on their scavenger hunt that requires their peers to critically think about what would happen if an environmental change were to occur in this area.


YES NO


/2
The student included at least two questions on their scavenger hunt that requires their peers to critically think about the adaptations people and animals in this area would have to undergo in order to live there.


YES NO


/2
The student included at least two questions on their scavenger hunt that requires their peers to describe characteristics of the Mount Everest area.
YES NO
/2
The student created a scavenger hunt using the Mount Everest panorama webpage and Google Forms.
YES NO
/2
The student provided an answer key for the scavenger hunt they created.
YES NO
/1




Reflection: Planning Assessment (InTask Standard #6):

 I based my assessment checklist on the standards and objectives that were created. In some parts, I took the objectives word for word and put them in the checklist to make sure that they are covered. The assessment makes sure that the students understood the content on the website. They are then required to process this information in order to create scavenger hunt questions. By answering the questions on the answer sheet, it shows that they understand the content. By having the students create their own scavenger hunt, it engages the students' higher order thinking. The assessment lists the criteria of the scavenger hunt and the types of questions that the students need to create. The assessment demonstrates individual student needs, because it lists all of the criteria very specifically. This makes it easier for students that have difficulty focusing (like students with ADD or ADHD) to make sure that they met the criteria. The students can easily look at the checklist to make sure that they have covered all required aspects.






V. MATERIALS AND RESOURCES



 Reflection: How does your lesson meet each of the ISTE NETs Standards?
This lesson facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity, because they are able to create their own scavenger hunt with the knowledge they have gained from exploring the Mount Everest panorama website. They can be as creative as they want with the questions they make. This lesson provides digital-age learning experiences and assessments, because the students are able to take an online “field-trip” to Mount Everest, where they can discover and learn interesting facts about the area. Also, by using Google Forms to create the scavenger hunt, they are creating a digital-age assessment. The students model digital-age work and learning by creating the scavenger hunt for their peers. When their peers complete the scavenger hunt, they are seeing what that student learned during his/her exploration of the website. When completing this project, the students are expected to be safe, legal, and ethical. They are given the opportunity to explore on their own, but the teacher will also be walking around, so they will know if a student is not using the website or Google Forms in a safe, legal, or ethical way. Using technology in lessons really helps in addressing the diverse needs of students and providing equitable access for all. Computers have the capability to be altered (contrast, magnification, color, etc.) so that all students can easily use them, no matter if they have a disability or not. Like mentioned in the safe, legal, and ethical section, the teacher will be walking around and can help promote responsible social interactions. The students can discuss ideas with their peers, but the teacher will be monitoring to make sure that the social interactions are positive, responsible, and project oriented. This lesson is great for developing cultural understanding and global awareness. The students are learning about another part of the world (a part where they have probably never traveled to before). One of the sections of the checklist requires the students to critically think about what adaptations people and animals would have to go through in order to live in the Mount Everest area and I feel like this could also apply to cultural understanding and global awareness.
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