Internet-Enriched Lesson
Overview:
In this lesson, students will build background knowledge about South Sudan in preparation for reading the novel "A Long Walk to Water" in 6th grade Language Arts. Students with interact with a variety of websites and four web 2.0 tools, including Padlet, Canva, Voicethread, and Thinglink.
Objectives:
Students will utilize the Internet to research South Sudan's geography, economy, society, and politics.
Students will collaborate effectively as demonstrated by the use of Padlet and Voicethread.
Students will share their learning as demonstrated by the creation of a Canva collage incorporated into a Thinglink project.
Students will collaborate effectively as demonstrated by the use of Padlet and Voicethread.
Students will share their learning as demonstrated by the creation of a Canva collage incorporated into a Thinglink project.
Standards:
- RI.6.1 - Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- RI.6.2 - Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
- RI.6.7 - Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g. visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
- W.6.2b - Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
- W.6.6 - Use technology, including the Internet to produce and publish wriitng as well as to interact and collaborate with others...
Learning Activites:
- The instructor asks table leaders to set up a Padlet wall for small group collaboration and explains that students will be working to research life in South Sudan. Each group utilizes a Padlet wall to record information, keep track of resources, and crowdsource information. (Students login to Padlet using their Google credentials.)
- The instructor briefly reviews the qualities of credible sources and guides a whole class discussion to review the concept of information credibility. Students review the following infographic from IFLA (https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174)
- Students work in small groups to use effective keywords to search for information about the geography, economy, society, and politics of South Sudan. Groups develop a color code system for stickies and drag/drop to organize their notes into categories.
- As students research South Sudan, they cite the URL for each piece of information posted to the Padlet wall. The instructor rotates and facilitates continuously, supporting students who struggle with keyword searches or require comprehension scaffolding. The instructor checks in with all students periodically to ensure that they are 1) making progress and 2) continuing to cite their sources. (Suggested time limit: 40-50 minutes.)
- When students have sufficiently populated their collaborative Padlet walls, the instructor will direct students to login to Canva in order to create image collages based on their research about South Sudan. The instructor asks students to visually represent all of the areas of research: geography, economy, society, and politics. (Students login to Canva using their Google credentials.)
- The instructor asks students to select the "collage" option from the Canva project menu. Students are told to utilize Google advanced search in order to locate fair use images. All image sources must be properly cited on the collage itself.
- After downloading their Canva collages in JPEG format, students login to ThingLink and select their collage as the background image for a new project. (Students login to ThingLink using thier Google credentials.)
- Students create an interactive ThingLink project to showcase their learning about South Sudanese geography, economics, politics, and society. As they create, students utilize their Padlet walls full of shared research and provide direct links to sources. Students also embed additional images that speak to what daily life is like in South Sudan.
- Students use the Chrome extension Screencastify to record a screencast of their ThingLink projects, then convert the webm file to MP4 using Cloud Converter. (Students are already familiar with these tools and, specifically, how to convert webm files.)
- Students post the screencasts to VoiceThread, where they are shared with the rest of the class. (Students login using the VoiceThread accounts set up for them by their teacher, as outlined in the terms of service.)
- Students view at least 5 screencasts from their peers and evaluate them according to the following rubric:
References:
California Department of Education. (2013). California common core state standards. Retrieved from
https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf
https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf