COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION LITERACY LESSON

Teacher’s name: Gloria Rodriguez

Library Media Specialist’s name: Eileen Bauerschlag

Title of Lesson: The Dust Bowl Wordle

Intended Grade Level(s): 6th grade

Number of Students Involved:167 total

Length of Lesson (Number of periods, days, minutes, etc.): Two 45 minute class
periods

AASL Standard(s) addressed (9 possible):

1.1.2 Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning.

1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media,
digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.

1.1.8 Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and pursuing inquiry.

1.2.3 Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats.

2.1.3 Use strategies to draw conclusions from information and apply knowledge to curricular
areas, real- world situations, and further investigations.

2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information.

2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products
that express new understandings.

3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and
understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.

4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning.

TEKS (optional):
§110.18. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 6
(7)  Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students understand,
make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns and features of
literary nonfiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.

Goals and Objectives of the Lesson:

Students will view a documentary and access an online database to activate
prior knowledge about The Dust Bowl time period and better understand the
setting of the novel Out of the Dust.

What Is the Problem to Be Solved?

Many students don’t know a lot about The Dust Bowl time period such as
the causes of it, where it was located, the hardships the people faced during it, and
the way people survived it. The students will have a hard time identifying with the
plot and characters of the 6th grade novel if they have no prior knowledge or visual
representation of what life was like during The Dust Bowl.

Proposed Learning Activities and Products:

The classroom teacher will show a video that will be checked out from the
library collection, Surviving the Dust Bowl. Students will answer questions about
The Dust Bowl. The questions will be basic informational, fact type questions so
that they can really just enjoy and learn from the video. Students will access World
Book Encyclopedia Online and search for “The Dust Bowl” to read about the time
period. Students will write down facts and anything that they find interesting
about The Dust Bowl. Students will create a Wordle on the internet putting all the
facts they learned into a visual presentation.

List of Materials and Technology Needed for Lesson:

VCR
“Surviving the Dust Bowl” video
LCD projector
30 computers with internet access
World Book Encyclopedia Online Database
Color printer
Responsibilities of Each Team Member (What will each of you do/teach in the
lesson?) Example: Day 1, Day 2, etc. or a similar format.
Day 1:
1. The classroom teacher will show Surviving the Dust Bowl. It is a PBS
documentary video about The Dust Bowl.
2. Students will have a set of questions to complete while the video is playing.
The questions address major facts about The Dust Bowl that are shared in
the video. The information will be used in the library along with the
Database to create a Wordle.
3. As the video is playing, the teacher will be giving reminders as to when an
answer to the question is coming up to make sure everyone hears it.

Day 2:
1. The students will immediately enter the library and log on to a computer
with their individual log-ins(they take some time to boot up). After all
students have returned to the tables the librarian will go over the activity.
2. The librarian (Mrs. Bauerschlag) will show examples of Wordles to the
class so that they can see what kind of product they will be creating. She
will go over some important “rules” for Wordle and how to keep a set of
words together with a tilde (~). For example, The ~Dust~Bowl and
New~Mexico. She will explain that the more times a word or set of
words are entered into Wordle, the larger it will appear and the fewer
times a word is entered, the smaller it will appear. She will again, show
examples for a visual reference.
3. She will remind students of the fact that they have used online databases
before in the library and explain that they will be accessing them again
today. She will explain that on the back of the questions from the video
they watched in the classroom, they will be writing down words or word
phrases that they learn about The Dust Bowl from the online database.
Emphasis will be placed on the fact that students will not be writing
entire sentences, just words. For example, “dust pneumonia”, “black
blizzard”, etc.
4. Students will sit at the computers. The librarian will give step by step
instructions as the classroom teacher walks around to help.
5. Students will access World Book Encyclopedia online and search for
“The Dust Bowl.” Once they are all on the article, they will read it for
about 6 minutes, look at the map of the region, and watch the 1 minute
video.
6. Students will write down words from the article on the piece of paper
they had answered the video questions on.
 7. With the librarians step by step instructions each student will open
Microsoft Word and type all the words and word phrases that they came
up with about The Dust Bowl. Many reminders about adding the tilde
(~) will be given.
8. With the librarians step by step instructions each student will access
www.wordle.net. They will click on “create.” They will copy their word
list off Microsoft Word and paste it into the Wordle text box and hit
“go.” A Wordle will be created. Students will hit “randomize” until they
find they font and color scheme they love.
9. When students are happy with their Wordle, they will print it.

Description of Information Literacy Skills Integrated into the Lesson:

Students accessed an Online Database to inquire about and learn accurate
and reliable information on a historical topic, The Dust Bowl. They used a Web
2.0 tool to compile the information that they learned into a creative expression of
personal learning. They used the Wordle technology to express new learning and
organize their thoughts and information that was acquired from the online database
and video.

Description of How Student Learning Will Be Assessed:

The actual Wordle will be assessed using a very simple grading rubric. The
number of words or word phrases on the Wordle will determine the grade and
whether or not the student mastered the material for the assignment. 15 words or
more will be the expectation. 15 or more words is 100%, 13-15 words is 90%, 9-
12 words is 80%, 9 or fewer words is 70%.

Description of How the Collaborative Planning Process Was Beneficial:

The collaboration was beneficial because the classroom teacher often has a
difficult task of bringing a novel to life and getting the class interested in what they
are about to read. The librarian can provide some ideas about how to extend the
classroom activity. The classroom teacher and I agree that students need to access
technology as much as possible to keep them interested. We discussed that we
wanted the students to learn background knowledge about The Dust Bowl so that
the novel was not just a “boring” history book, but that the students would know
just enough before reading the book to get them hooked. We also wanted them to
create a product, but not one that would take several days. We had both used
Wordle and both agreed it would provide an opportunity for student creativity, but
with not too many choices, and therefore wouldn’t take too long. It was enjoyable
to share ideas and discuss the needs of the students from both the classroom and
library points of view.
Description of the Biggest Challenges to Collaborative Planning:
Finding the time to collaborate and sit down and meet to share ideas is the
biggest challenge. I believe there is so much in the curriculum that teachers may
want help and ideas with, but often times when the classroom teacher is on his or
her off period, the librarian is working with a class in the library. So, collaboration
often gets kicked to the morning or afterschool and some people can’t do that with
all the other time commitments being shoved on teachers. It is important to listen
to what the classroom teacher needs and find a way to work library skills into the
pre-formulated curriculum. If the classroom teacher just feels like you are trying
to teach something only “library” related the teacher may be more hesitant to
collaborate because the classroom teacher’s time is so limited with the amount of
information they are expected to teach to the students. But, when the teacher sees
how much the students can learn that directly correlates with the curriculum, she
will be begging to come to the library and collaborate.

How Will You Evaluate the Success of the Collaborative Planning Process?
I will have a brief informal conversation with the teacher about how it went.
At the end of any long day, when you are sitting down for five minutes before
moving on to the next activity and planning for the next day, I will just ask, “how
do you think our lesson went?” We will informally share went well and what we
can improve next year if we do the lesson again. I will also look at the Wordle
documents that the students created to see if they were getting valuable
information from the Database. I will know in this instance and in all cases of
collaboration that it was a success if the teacher keeps coming back to me to
collaborate, which I believe they will.
 Self-Reflection Essay

The classes I taught the library lesson to totaled 168 students. The six separate classes all
averaged around 30 students, with the exception of 6th period which was closer to 23. 81 of the
students were economically disadvantaged, 22 of them were Special Education students, 79
students were girls and 89 were boys. Most classes have about 2/3 Hispanic students and 1/3
Anglo and a few African Americans in some classes, not all.

All things considered, the entire lesson worked well. I would have liked to have had
more time for the lesson, like another class period for each class. There was a problem with four
or five computers not having the correct Java program installed on the computer and therefore
when the students clicked on “go” to create their Wordle, the Wordle would not appear. It was
upsetting to the students. The CIT tried to call the district office to get it installed or updated
right away, but they wouldn’t do it until after school. So, in each class those four or five students
will have to go to the library before or after school or during advisory to re-log in and create the
Wordle again. But, all students saved their list of words to Microsoft Word, so they won’t have
to do the “hard” part again. I would say I would test all computers to see if the correct Java was
installed, but I would have assumed they all had the same program and updates on each
computer. I will have to remember this problem occurred if I do a similar lesson in the future
and try to find the time to check all 30 computers.

The impact on student learning was great! They were going on and on about how much
they loved making a Wordle. They also really got into The Dust Bowl information. It is hard for
any person to believe The Dust Bowl happened and especially hard for kids to believe who have
food to eat every day, a clean bed to sleep in, and everything they could ask for. So, reading the
database about The Dust Bowl and watching the documentary video truly prepared the students
to read Out of the Dust and already have an intimate connection to the setting of the novel. Their
sprit of inquiry was encouraged and developed. I knew they were interested because they would
say, “Mrs. Bauerschlag, did you know the bad storms were called black blizzards?” and “Woah,
they lived in the dust for 10 years!” They were truly engaged in their own learning and loved it.
They loved making the Wordle, it was like they were playing a game. They truly enjoyed
changing the designs and colors to their own choices. They love any kind of freedom! I had
countless students ask me if they could use Wordle at home. They were thrilled to know that
they could and were already telling me how they were going to go home and make more
Wordles. I was so happy! This may sound cheesy, but I felt so “cool” teaching the students
something about technology and Web 2.0 that they didn’t already know.

The collaboration itself went very well. I enjoyed knowing what was being taught in a
classroom, it made me feel connected and “useful.” It was a rewarding feeling to know I was
helping a teacher teach her class; helping her meet her curriculum needs at the same time as
meeting my library standards. I will continue to collaborate with classroom teachers when I am
a full time librarian. I see many benefits to the process.