Lesson Plan for Implementing NETS•S—Template I

(More Directed Learning Activities)

Template with guiding questions

Grade Level(s) 4th

Content Area Primarily ELA, integrated with Social Studies

Time-line 1.5 weeks

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks?)

 Students will be able to use Class Notebook for curating their own resources and notes, collaborating with
their peers, and communicating with their teacher.

 Students will be able to articulate the aspects of online sources that distinguish them as reliable or not.

 Students will be able to utilize the district’s list of curated resources (Newsela, BrainPop, DK Find Out,
EBSCO Host, Britannica Online, Discovery Education, etc.) to research any given topic.

 Students will be able to provide a substantive argument either for the Loyalists or the Patriots during the
American Revolution, informed by research, in the form of an opinion piece.

Georgia Standards of Excellence

ELAGSE4W1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

ELAGSE4W4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.

ELAGSE4W5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by
planning, revising, and editing.

ELAGSE4W6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce
and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of
keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

ELAGSE4W8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital
sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

SS4E1 Use the basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity cost, specialization, voluntary exchange,
productivity, and price incentives to illustrate historical events.

SS4H1 Explain the causes, events, and results of the American Revolution.

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National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S)

2c Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing
intellectual property.

3a Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their
intellectual or creative pursuits.

3b Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other
resources.

3c Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of
artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

1. Briefly describe the field experience. What did you learn about technology facilitation and
leadership from completing this field experience?

In this field experience, I collaborated with a 4th grade teacher in order to plan and implement a series of
lessons. After initially meeting with her to determine where in the scope and sequence of the quarter her
students were, and what her goals were for the remaining weeks, I helped her brainstorm ideas of
lessons and resources we could use to accomplish those goals.

In the beginning, we began with instruction for the students on how to use Class Notebook, because she
had set it up for the class but never really gotten them started using it.

Then, we did some lessons on reliable online sources for research and inquiry. Students were given
questions to answer about a fictional creature (Tree Octopus) and a link to a fictional website with fake
information about this creature so they could research and answer the questions. We then talked about
what makes online sources reliable or not, what red flags this particular website raised for them as they
were browsing it, and then watched a BrainPop video on choosing reliable online sources.

Next, we shared how to access all the county-vetted resources for researching and inquiry for those
students who did not know. We opened several of the vetted resources and discussed how they were
similar and different from the fake website they had used to research the Tree Octopus.

The next time I visited with the class, we used the resources we had explored previously to research a
topic they were learning about in Social Studies. Students used their student section of the Class
Notebook to take notes and clip sources. They are working toward writing an opinion piece on the topic,
but we are stressing the fact that even opinion writing should be based on an informed opinion.

This experience gave me wonderful opportunity to really hone my coaching skills. Because I knew I
would be using the lessons for this assignment, it was tempting for me to want to drive and steer a lot
more than I typically would in a coaching situation. I had to be very intentional to not just listen as she
described what she was hoping to accomplish, but really hear and understand what was needed to best
meet the students’ needs.

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Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or
generate interest about the topic? What questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic
and build on?)

Essential Questions:

How can I use Class Notebook to collect information from my online research?

How can I use Class Notebook to collaborate with my classmates and communicate with my teacher?

What does it mean for an online source to be considered “reliable”?

What resources do I already have available to me for research through Cobb Digital Library?

What arguments could be made, based on factual information, to support either a Loyalist or Patriot point of view
during the American Revolution?

Students will bring general knowledge of the American Revolution having just studied it last quarter for Social
Studies. They will build on this knowledge to really dig into the perspective of either the Loyalists or the Patriots
(their choice). Ultimately, they will argue the point of view of one side and be able to support their argument
based on research. They already have some experience with certain resources found in the district digital library,
but most experience has been in isolation and with a lot of guidance. This project will require them to be much
more independent in their researching process.

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to
generate new knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How
will you assess what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?)

In the end, students will have written an opinion piece based on their research of the Loyalists and Patriots of the
American Revolution in order to answer the essential question, “What arguments could be made, based on factual
information, to support either a Loyalist or Patriot point of view during the American Revolution?”. Their writing
and process will be scored by a rubric which is used across the grade-level and is provided by the district. It is a 7-
point rubric that measures both the specific writing skills within the assigned genre, as well as more of the
conventions and mechanics of language.

The final product (and the research/writing process leading up to it) will be differentiated in the following ways:
 Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively on the research process, sharing resources and
findings with their peers.
 This particular class did not have any students who needed this particular accommodation; however, the
Dictate feature of OneNote and Word would have been available for any student who needed support
getting their initial ideas typed out.
 For a few of the students who need support with the research process, there will be a list of curated
resources already shared out in the Content Library section of the Class Notebook. These will be a
collection of online sources with helpful information regarding the Patriots and Loyalists.
 Some of the curated resources will be from Newsela, which offers an adjustable reading level for most of
their published pieces. Students who need to access primary source material, in particular, can slide the
level of text to an accessible level for themselves.
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Prior to reaching this final product, however, there will be a lot of informal and formative assessment going on. In
the beginning of the unit, students will be answering the essential questions: “How can I use Class Notebook to
collect information from my online research?”, and “How can I use Class Notebook to collaborate with my
classmates and communicate with my teacher?”. To informally assess the students’ ability to answer those
questions as well as their ability to navigate and utilize Class Notebook relatively autonomously, students will be
responsible for writing and sharing a practice piece of Opinion Writing into the student section of their Class
Notebook.

We will be looking for evidence of the ability to navigate to the correct section of the notebook and insert a Word
Doc or PDF version of their writing. They can also experiment with other features we went over in the process,
such as highlighting, inserting images, etc. Because there are so many different ways to share information within
a Class Notebook (ranging from typing directly on the notebook page to inserting a pre-written Word document to
inserting a PDF), students will have the freedom to get to the end result however they prefer, as long as we are
able to go to the correct page in their student section and find their writing. Here are some samples of student
submissions for this informal piece. Student one Student two

Students will also be answering the essential questions, “What does it mean for an online source to be considered
“reliable”?” and “What resources do I already have available to me for research through Cobb Digital Library?”.
Assessment for these questions will also be informal and formative. We will be asking questions throughout
instruction to check for understanding, we will complete the BrainPop quiz at the end of the video and discussion
time, and students will share out at least 3 resources they know about in Cobb Digital Library through an activity
called “Shout it Out” from SMART Learning Suite (this allows students to submit responses to a question
digitally that are then displayed on the board at the front of the room for discussion).

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online
student tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help
elucidate or explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology
skills should students have to complete this project?)

Students will use and have access to several digital tools and resources throughout this unit, both individually as
well as collectively as a class.

Microsoft Class Notebook will be a primary digital tool the students will use, and will require some direct
instruction to ensure they know how to navigate the resource and use it appropriately. They will need to already
have some understanding of Office 365 in general, and a working knowledge of how to use their OneDrive will
be helpful unless they are going to type directly into their notebook pages. There is also the ability to research
using vetted online resources within Class Notebook. Students who will to do so will have that opportunity.

The website, https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ will be used as an object lesson on reliable sources.

BrainPop will be used collectively as a class for instruction on reliable sources, but will also be an available
resource through Cobb Digital Library for students to use during their research process.

Dozens of online sources will be available to the students through Cobb Digital Library for research, however
some of the main ones we will encourage the students to use will be:
 Newsela
 BrainPop
 Discovery Education
 DK Find Out!

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  EBSCO e-Book K-8 collection

Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How
can you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

Because this unit is really a writing unit that we are pulling in Social Studies content for, the students already have
prior knowledge and interest in the topic. From previous class discussions, many students already have their own
opinions of Loyalists and Patriots, they will simply be solidifying those opinions with research at this point. There
has been prior assessment done by the classroom teacher on the Social Studies content, so we feel confident they
are ready to use their knowledge to produce meaningful opinion writing.

Class Notebook is completely new for about two-thirds of the students. Some had Third-grade teachers who made
use of the resource, but most did not. We were able to find this out simply by asking students. Without stopping
and taking the time to teach that digital tool explicitly, it could be a roadblock for students if it is not intuitive for
them.

Conventions and mechanics of writing is integrated into all subjects, and also explicitly taught by the classroom
teacher. Those language usage skills will be required to be successful on the final product of an opinion piece.

Research skills will be necessary for success on the final product, and most students have not yet developed the
awareness and savvy to navigate online resources critically. Therefore we will be taking time to explicitly teach
on reliable online sources.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the
use of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (small groups, whole group,
individuals, classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet
while completing this lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and
explain how you will resolve or troubleshoot them?

The class is relatively small, 19 students. For the portions of the unit we are doing whole class, students will be on
a carpet at the SMART board. This will make it easy to ensure we have their full attention and give them easy
access to turn and talk to collaborate with a peer as appropriate. When they are exploring the Tree Octopus site,
trying the various features of Class Notebook, researching, and writing their Opinion piece, students will be at
tables using laptops.

The laptops will be from a class cart that is checked out of the Media Center for the day, each day we need it. We
will need to ensure we’ve signed up and reserved the cart, and will need to get it early in the morning to ensure
laptops were charged by the prior user. There are enough laptops in the cart for every student to have their own,
even if a few were to be dead or broken. If for some reason the cart falls through, there is also a computer lab we
can take the students to.

There are occasional issues with connectivity, both network as well as with Microsoft Office 365 itself. These are
rare, but we will need to be prepared for them. Some portions of the unit are simply not possible without
connectivity, however once students are writing, they can work within the software on the computer itself until
the internet or Microsoft resources become available again.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you
will use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role?

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What are the students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis,
evaluation, or creativity levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching?
What authentic, relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How
will they build knowledge and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and
collaborate with each other and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Students will be given the opportunity to learn first-hand the importance of online sources, and how easily they
can be fooled into trusting less than reliable sources. Rather than simply telling students they need to be careful,
we are giving them a chance to feel what it feels like to be fooled through the website on the Tree Octopus. They
will then have an opportunity to look at the same website again after talking about red flags to watch out for from
the BrainPop video we watch and discuss as a class. This process will take students beyond simply classifying a
pre-determined and generic list of characteristics of online sources to analyzing an actual website in order that
they might be able to explain the reasons it would not be considered reliable. It will also put the student in a
position of active learning, rather than passively receiving information from the teacher.

Often, opinion writing is taught and limited to the students simply attempting to persuade their audience to agree
with them on trivial issues. The fact that students will be taking information they’ve learned in a previous Social
Studies unit and continuing to further research the historical context in order to support an opinion they have on a
real event in history makes it relevant and meaningful to students. They are taking information that is historical
fact, and applying it to defend and illustrate their opinion.

Almost all of this process will provide opportunity for collaboration with peers, as they are able to discuss what
they are finding and thinking along the way with peers. Only the actual process of writing their final piece will be
done independently.

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions
and opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

 Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively on the research process, sharing resources and
findings with their peers.
 This particular class did not have any students who needed this particular accommodation; however, the
Dictate feature of OneNote and Word would have been available for any student who needed support
getting their initial ideas typed out.
 For a few of the students who need support with the research process, there will be a list of curated
resources already shared out in the Content Library section of the Class Notebook. These will be a
collection of online sources with helpful information regarding the Patriots and Loyalists.
 Some of the curated resources will be from Newsela, which offers an adjustable reading level for most of
their published pieces. Students who need to access primary source material, in particular, can slide the
level of text to an accessible level for themselves.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students
be asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the
following questions?
• Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways was this lesson effective?
• What went well and why?
• What did not go well and why?
• How would you teach this lesson differently?)

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There will be a lot of class discussion throughout this entire unit. Asking students their thoughts about possible
uses for Class Notebook beyond the given assignment, discussing the aspects of online sources which make them
credible or not, reviewing as a class some of the content from the American Revolution unit, and an opportunity
to share out prior experiences with potentially faulty online sources will take place throughout the entire unit.

Student reflection is informal, but constant. Because of the size of the class, we can have ongoing discussions and
conversations about what is going well, and what is not.

Because this is not my own class, there are some differences in the way I would conduct the writing process with
students. If I had the opportunity, and they were my own students, I would also be conducting writing conferences
during the writing process. Checking in with students one-on-one and asking what they feel like is going well,
what questions they have, what they might be stuck on, etc. As it is, I’m encouraging that informally through peer
collaboration and frequently checking in as I walk around the room.

The final writing pieces will be scored within the Class Notebook by the teacher using the rubric mentioned
earlier. The completed rubric as well as feedback will then be given back to the student via Class Notebook as
well. The teacher is able to type written feedback, or even record their voice or even video right on the page to
give verbal feedback as well.

Overall, I felt this unit went very well, and accomplished everything we set out to accomplish.

The students were very excited about the fact they would be using Class Notebook, and so that whole process
went very well. They were engaged and eager to explore the tool.

The activity which led students to research the fictional Tree Octopus using a fake website went just as we hoped
it would. The students were convinced, to the point where several didn’t believe us at first when we revealed the
truth about the website. It led to a very meaningful conversation about things they had seen online in the past
which might have raised red flags, as well as things about the actual Tree Octopus site they probably should have
noticed and been concerned about.

Really, the only thing that didn’t go quite as planned was that one day there was a power outage. Even after power
returned, we had to wait a long time to have the wireless network access back. Fortunately, most students had
already navigated a lot of the website and had already opened the Class Notebook into the software (rather than
staying online in Office 365). Most were able to continue answering questions, and those that weren’t were able
to further explore the features of the Class Notebook software itself while they waited. In the end, it was an
inconvenience, but did not have a major impact on the process.

There really weren’t any issues with off-task students or classroom management. Students were engaged and on
task throughout the process.

As I mentioned above, the biggest thing I would do differently would be related to the writing instruction and
conferencing. I would have done a little more modeling of the actual writing process, and while students were
working through their opinion piece I would have been conducting writing conferences.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience
with implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson?

No, I don’t think so. I don’t often get to be a part of a teacher’s classroom for such an extended process, so I was
excited for the opportunity. Usually I come in to support one portion of a project or activity or unit. It was nice to
be in one particular classroom for most of the entire process.

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