Note: This lesson plan is based on the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Lesson

regarding plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Julie C. D. Meyer-Houston ~ EDUC 720 ~ Digital Citizenship Lesson

Plan
Title: Do you want anyone to steal your work?
Connection to Standards: Common Core State Standards Grade 4: RL.10, RI.1, RI.3,

RI.4, RI.7, RI.10, RF.4a, W.2d, W.4, W.6, W.7, W.9b, W.10, SL.1a, SL.1b, SL.1c, SL.1d, SL.2,
SL.4, SL.5, L.3a, L.6

Class Name: Mrs. Meyer-Houstons Homeroom Students

Grade Level: 4th
Amount of Time: 60 minutes
Topic: Being our BEST by Respecting other peoples work and giving them credit
Links to Resources from Common Sense Media:

Whose Is It Anyway? https://d2e111jq13me73.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/3-5-unit1whoseisitanyway.pdf

Copyright and Fair Use Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suMza6Q8J08

Materials/Tool List: Whiteboards (Class & Students), Teacher Laptop, Projector, and Screen
Purpose Statement: Too often students copy and paste text, photographs, and graphics

from the Internet without citing where they retrieved that pre-existing information came from.
Although they have been taught previously by me how to cite text from a book for other
research projects and create a bibliography, this lesson will teach students to also cite their
sources from the Internet and add them to their resource page/presentation.

Objectives: Students will be able to ...

define plagiarism and describe its consequences.

explain how giving credit is a sign of respect for peoples work.
state when it is acceptable to use peoples work, and how to write a citation.
Anticipatory Set: Write on the whiteboard the following question -- How would you feel if
someone stole your work and let everyone feel like it was his/her own work?

Lesson:
Part 1: (15 minutes)

a. Teacher will read aloud the question on the whiteboard.

b. Students will chorally read aloud the question on the whiteboard with the teacher.
c. Using close reading annotation, the teacher will mark the question with a different
colored pen to note students response to the T-Question: What are the important words
in this question?
d. Teacher will check-in with students who have limited English proficiency (LEP) to
determine which words they may need help to better understand and will address their
needs. Student peers and teacher will explain/define any words that are challenging for
the LEP students.

e. Teacher will provide students one-minute so they can first think about their own answer
to the newly-annotated question; and, invite them to give a thumbs up when they have
an answer.
f. Teacher will provide students an additional one-minute to write his/her answer on a
personal whiteboard to help with recalling/seeing their answer.
g. Teacher will provide students two-minutes (one-minute each) so students can then turn
to their designated elbow partner to share their thoughts, starting with the person on the
left-side of their pairing; and, invite them to give a thumbs up when they have an answer.
If any student pair finishes before the two minutes are over, then they will be encouraged
to get up and share their answers with other students they are not paired with.
h. Teacher will check-in with students to determine if they need more time to discuss their
responses at the end of two minutes. If 80% of students are ready, then students will
share their responses in a class whip-around (each student shares his/her answer, with
the understanding there will be no repeated responses--they will be engaged in a valueadded discussion).
i. Students who showed they needed more time will be asked if they had a chance to
share their response. If they did not share their answers, this would be the time for them
to share their thoughts with the class.

Part 2: (15 minutes)

a. Teacher will uncover the word plagiarism written on the whiteboard and ask students to
give a hand signal to demonstrate their knowledge of its meaning, using a fist=Never
heard of this word; 1 finger=I heard this word, but dont know what it means; 2 fingers=I
heard this word and know what it means; or 3 fingers=I use this word regularly.
b. Students showing a 2 or 3 will be invited to share their definition of the word. If their
understanding is accurate, they will be acknowledged for knowing.
c. Teacher will project the word and its definition from Common Sense Media onto the
screen.
d. Teacher will also project and read the District policy about plagiarism from the
Student/Parent Handbook.
Plagiarism is copying and pasting text, images, video, or anything that someone else created
without giving credit. Plagiarism is cheating, and its against school rules.
If a teacher asks you to write a report or complete a project, the teacher expects you not to
copy others work, whether its from a webpage or from your best friend. Even if you copy
something into your own handwriting or retype it yourself, its still plagiarism.
Note: Copyright laws protect the ownership of authors written works, photos, drawings, videos,
and other graphics by requiring that people who make copies do so only with the permission of
the owner. However certain use of such works for schoolwork are considered fair use and do
not require copyright permission, only that credit or a citation be given.
e. Teacher will ask students, Why is it important to not plagiarize anyones work?
f. Students will respond to each other first in pairs before sharing their responses with the
class.
g. Teacher will remind students about the BEST school-wide expectation of being
respectful, then tell students, It is important to respect someone elses work by not
plagiarizing it. You show respect by citing the author, creator, and/or website where you
researched and got the information.

Part 3: (10 minutes)

a. Teacher will show Copyright and Fair Use Animation video from Common Sense Media
on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suMza6Q8J08
b. Teacher will demonstrate how to open a url about California Missions and read a portion
of it. Teacher will quickly demonstrate how to copy and paste a part of the text into a
Google Doc, then ask the students whether I should have done what I did.

c. Students will discuss their responses in partners then share out their thoughts with the
class.
d. If at least 80% of the students realize it is important to also cite where the information
was retrieved, then they will have passed this informal assessment.

Part 4: (10 minutes)

If less than 80% of the students do not realize the information should be cited and added to the
Resource page, then page 5/the following handout will be used: Okay or No Way! Whose Is It,
Anyway? https://d2e111jq13me73.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/3-5-unit1whoseisitanyway.pdf for additional practice and discussion with a partner.

Assessment: (10 minutes)

a. Common Sense Media Assessment: Whose Is It, Anyway?

https://d2e111jq13me73.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/3-5-unit1-whoseisitanyway.pdf,
page 6
b. Teacher will require an Exit Ticket from each student, that is, to write a reflective
response to one of these questions:
i.
What is plagiarism?
ii.
Why is it important to cite your sources for research and/or projects?
iii.
When it is okay to use someone elses words, pictures, or ideas?

Extension:

Students will demonstrate their understanding of this lesson by creating and presenting a
product of their choice including, but not limited to a poster, slide presentation, poem, etc. that
shows citations of the work (text, graphics, photographs) they used from other sources. The
citations will be placed on a separate sheet/slide with the title, Resources.