Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Thomas Watson

Position Social Studies Teacher

School/District Douglas County Schools

E-mail Thomas.watson@dcssga.org

Phone 770-570-8866

Grade Level(s) 6th & 8th

Content Area Social Studies

Time line January 2020-May 2020

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? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.
SS6G1 Locate selected features of Latin America
Content Standards SS6H1 Explain conflict and change in Latin America.

NETS*S Standards: ISTE 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3c, 4a, 4d, 5a, 5b, 5c

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

Students are going to be exploring multiple physical and political features throughout Latin America. These
physical features are outlined in the Georgia Standards of Excellence. Physical Features include The Amazon
River, The Amazon Rainforest, The Andes Mountains, The Sierra Madre Mountains, The Atacama Desert, The
Panama Canal, The Caribbean Sea, The Gulf of Mexico, The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Students will also
need to know about political features such as Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Chile. All of these
features are included in a full unit that includes many different characteristics of Latin America. In this unit,
students will explore the geography as well as the history and culture of this region of the world. Students will
also become familiar with the economic and government systems of the region. In order to successfully learn
all of this information students must first master the geography that exists in the region. Students will explore
this geography through different technologies to gain a better understanding of what the region is like. Students
will begin by taking notes about the different geography of the region before moving on to the technology
portion of the lesson. Students will first answer the essential question Padlet using their devices. Students who
do not have access to a device will be offered an Ipad or Laptop. This will be a way of including all students
and not simply the students who are fortunate enough to have devices. Following padlet, students will be
placed in groups of four. Student will then move to conducting research through Google on different physical
and political features that they would like to explore in groups. Once students have analyzed the different
physical and political features they will choose one political feature and two political features that they would
like to explore. Students will be taken through a lesson on Google tours. Students will then be creating tours
and exploring the different areas that they have chosen to explore. The students will conclude this lesson by

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 creating a podcast in which all students in the group will talk about their experience journeying through Latin
America. This will be completed using Anchor. Students will conclude by revisiting the essential question and
creating new answers on Padlet. This will act as an additional assessment.

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? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

Essential Questions:
How do the physical features of Latin America affect the people living there?
What political features are significant in the Latin American region?

Guiding Questions:
How do mountain ranges effect nations located near them?
What are the disadvantages to being landlocked?
What is the advantage to having water near your nation?
What natural resources are located in Latin America?
Why do natural resources hold value?
What would happen if the Amazon Rainforest was destroyed?
Does deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest have an immediate effect on the people of Brazil?
Does being an island serve as a disadvantage to Cuba?
What Latin American nations seem to be the most severely impoverished?
How would you feel if you did not have access to the ocean?
How would you feel if your country lacked resources because of its location?
How would you feel if your home was destroyed (Deforestation)
What if you could not leave the country because it was too difficult to move through the mountains?

Background Knowledge:

Students will need to be able to identify the physical and political features outlined in the standards. Students will
also need to have awareness of environmental and political issues that occur in Latin American nations.

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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?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will be assessed both formally and informally. Students will be assessed through the different forms of
technology that are present in the assignment. The students will perform as pre-assessment by completing the initial
Padlet post. This will gauge students’ prior knowledge in an attempt to understand what students have gathered from
the initial notes. Answers will be assessed and then compared to posts later in the lesson. Students will then
complete the podcast as means of a formative assessment. This podcast will include details on all of the chosen
physical and political features as well as details on culture and history. While culture and history are not part of this
project they will act as a preview to those sections of the Latin American Unit. The podcast will be assessed through
a rubric that will be provided to students prior to the assignments. Finally students will be assessed through a post
assessment which will include a second Padlet with the same essential questions on it. Students will re-answer
these questions. The Padlet assessments will be used to show growth from the beginning to the end of the project.

Informal Pre-Assessment
Answer EQ in Padlet

Formative Assessment
Podcast

Informal Post Assessment

Answer EQ in Padlet

Additional Informal Assessments

Students will be assessed and guided while they are using Google Tour.

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?)

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 Students have multiple forms of technology that will aid them in successfully completing this assignment and
ultimately learning the content standards. By using Padlet students are presenting a clear image of prior knowledge
that otherwise would not be able to be measured. Students then move on to research and a developmental plan to
create their Google Tour. Students will be guided through the research portion by being prompted by the instructor
with guiding questions. Research will be done through Google as this is a reliable internet resource that students are
familiar with. This portion of the assignment will be completed using cell phones, laptops and ipads. Students will
inquire about maps, tourist destinations and life in different regions of Latin America. Troubleshooting will be
addressed throughout the assignment by the teacher being available as well as student resources in the form of
grouping. Once students have a clear understanding of what features interest them most, they will begin by creating
a Google Tour of different destinations of the three features that they have chosen. They will create a map of Google
Tour and act as if they are “exploring” these regions of Latin America. Google Tour allows students to explore areas
creating maps of different destinations through the same software that brings us Google Maps. This allows students
to see these areas as if they were actually there. It is the closest thing to Virtual Reality that the general education
classroom can offer. They will collaborate on the things they have seen and done. This then leads the students to
create a podcast talking about their trip and the features that they have chosen. This podcast will be completed
through Anchor where students will collaborate about their journey through Latin America.

Basic Resources
Cell phone
I-pad
Laptops

Educational Resources
Google Search
Google Tour

Collaborative Resources
Padlet
Anchor

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?)

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 Students will need the tools used in this lesson to be modeled to them prior to the assignments. If students do
not have a clear understanding of technologies such as Padlet, Anchor and Google Tour explained to them
then they will likely struggle with this project. Students will also need to have a basic understanding of where
Latin America is located on the map. Students will often mix up different continents when learning about
geography which leads to issues as the year progresses. Students will need a general understanding about
where the different physical and political features are located. This foundational knowledge will be assessed
through the pre-assessment padlet activity as well as the teacher engaging with students throughout the
lesson. It is apparent that many students’ difficulties will arise when they use Google Tour. It is important that
the teacher remain accessible to students during this time. Students can have issues at any point because of
issues with prior knowledge. The teacher will be prepared to handle these issues through constant monitoring
and accessibility.

Technology Prep
Fundamentals of Anchor
Fundamentals of Padlet
Fundamentals of Google Tour

Content Prep
Physical Features of Latin America
Political Features of Latin America
Political Issues of Latin America
Economic Issues of Latin America

Troubleshooting
Modeling Content
Teacher Accessibility

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
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

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 In my class I use a mock economy in order to cultivate student engagement and positive student behavior.
Students receive “gold” when they perform a positive action and this gold can be rewarded to them or
taken away depending on behavior. Students can also receive rewards for positive assignments. If
students perform well on an assignment, they are more likely to receive more gold. This gold is used as
positive reinforcement throughout the entirety of the school year. Initially when students enter the class
they keep track of their gold using little slips of paper with numerical value on it. As the year progresses
students begin keeping track of their gold on in google sheets where a student who is deemed the banker
is provided with access to the document and ensures that all gold is accounted for. The benefits of
positive interventions such as these are outlined in “Positive  behavioral  interventions and supports in
pictures: Using videos to support schoolwide implementation”, in which Ennis, Hirsch, MacSuga-Gage &
Kennedy (2018) outline a “a proactive and respectful approach for supporting all students in a school or
group”. In their works Ennis, MacSuga-Gage & Kennedy (2018) explain that “teachers and staff should
reinforce students who engage in targeted skills and expectations because reinforcement is also essential
to facilitating generalization and maintenance of skills.” This is how gold contributes to positive classroom
management. While gold can be taken away for misconduct, its sole intention is to provide students with
positive incentives.
In regard to equitable access students will be provided with access inside the classroom and will not
benefit from the ability to research at home which will level the equity for all students as this is a
classroom activity. Students will be provided equitable access to laptops, Ipads and students may use
personal devices if they choose. When completing this assignment the teacher will monitor students to
ensure that students’ needs are met. One way that equitable access will be attained is through the group
element of the assignment. Students will be working in small groups of four in which students will be
paired together homogenously. Homogenous grouping is when students are paired together based on
similar ability levels. For example, students who perform highly in social studies would be paired together
to support higher learning. Ortega & Rodríguez (2000) suggest that homogenous grouping can result in
students improving in content as well as benefiting from the social demands of the group. “This way of
improving writing proficiency based on corners and homogeneous groups could be used in the classroom
as a pedagogical tool to provide solutions to possible problems, not just in writing skills, but also in other
communicative skills because the students always look at options in which they can develop their
knowledge freely” (Ortega & Rodríguez, 2000).
In regard to technical issues that may arise, the teacher will model the different forms of technology prior
to the lesson. Modeling is the best way to provide students with up front issues that may occur when
working with new technology. This modeling will occur prior to conducting the lesson in an attempt to
mitigate any concerns the students may have. This being said, many students may suffer issues that are
unforeseen when working in their groups. This is why the teacher will be readily available to facilitate and
aid students when working in their groups. Students often have trouble remembering their logins and
passwords to school devices. This will be handled by the teacher having a list of passwords and
usernames on hand during the project. This is the basic troubleshooting that will be performed prior to and
throughout the lesson. However, this is not to say that students will not have issues outside of these. If
issues occur that are unforeseen the students issue will be handled by the teacher during that time.

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? 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?

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 There are three separate instructional strategies that are used when completing this project. The first of which
is collaboration. Collaboration is often times referred to as cooperative learning and can be used
interchangeably. Collaboration means that students are working together to create a product. In the case of
this project, the product Is a podcast on the students’ adventure throughout the Latin American features. A
study by Shin-Il & Hyesook (2020) state “the results of the study reveal the students’ meaningful development
in interpersonal competence (“agreeableness” and “extraversion”) through the cooperative learning activities of
PBL.” Essentially, this states that students find assignments more authentic and meaningful when they are
able to be performed in groups. This supports student learning and ultimately provides students with incentive
to perform the task at a high level.
The second instructional strategy is the homogenous model of grouping. Students are working with peers who
have the same skill level. This leads to no weak links in the groups themselves as all students have a similar
skill level. The challenge with this model is simply that not all students are incentivized by grades which is
where positive behavioral interventions play a key part in student success. This collaboration is used in
multiple different ways, the initial form of collaboration is through padlet as students are asked to respond to
the essential question. Students then move forward to collaborate in research and creativity. The end result
being a podcast in which all students in the group are participating in a podcast in which they are recording
their collaboration through anchor. This will be facilitated as the teacher will act as a guide for students while
they explain what they have encountered on their journey throughout the assignment.
The third instructional strategy that is introduced in the use of creativity. While this may sound simple, creativity
is implemented as it is the highest level of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. Through notes and research students
will accumulate a variety of different facts and ideas. This will then be used at the end of the project for
students to create a podcast. In this podcast students can be creative and introduce the content however they
choose. This most notably will be in the form of a radio show where students are telling the audience about
their exploration through the three features that they have chosen. Barber (2018) suggests “In my experience,
online simulations are an effective way to promote DOK and conceptual understanding, as computer
simulations can engage students in higher-level thinking and challenge them to struggle with new ideas.
“Lessons involving computer simulations should remain student-centered and inquiry-based to ensure that
learning is focused on meaningful understandings, not rote memorization” (Bell 2008, p. 27). Students were
able to test different objects, collect data, formulate their ideas, and develop an understanding of a concept
based on evidence, with the teacher facilitating their learning.” While this project is not a true simulation, it
provides student centered opportunities to focus on meaningful understandings, research, formulate ideas and
develop understandings of concepts outlined by the standard. Through this, it meets the requirements of a high
depth of knowledge and cultivates higher order thinking. This also leads to meaningful engagement with the
technology as students are performing real world tasks as if they are planning a trip to these features and then
exploring them through Google Tours.

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?)

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 Students will be differentiated for in multiple ways. This will begin through the homogeneous grouping where
students will be placed into groups with students of their own ability level. This will allow the teacher to be
more supportive to students and groups who need additional support. While students who need little support
will be provided with time to create assignments that are representative of their skill level. Schofield (2010)
explains that “International research on tiered systems clearly suggests that this form of ability grouping with
curriculum differentiation commonly benefits initially higher achieving students, a finding foreshadowed in
some U.S. research on tracking but not found with striking consistency.” This suggests that ability grouping
aids students of higher ability which is why supports are provided to students in the lower ability groups. These
supports will be found in the form of paraprofessional attention and teacher supervision. If a paraprofessional
is not available then students will receive additional teacher supports such a smaller group sizes and
additional attention. This provides enrichment opportunities for higher achieving students while additional
support can be given to lower performing students.
Students will also be differentiated for by allowing students a variety of choice in the assignment. This comes
in the form of allowing students to choose which features they would like to research. Choice is very important
as a study by “Differentiation Through Choice as an Approach to Enhance Inclusive Practice” points out. “This
study demonstrates that differentiation through choice can be effective to include all learners in a meaningful
way, without marking any one as different. While there are challenges to implementing any new approach, this
research shows that offering choice can engage and motivate learners in purposeful and inclusive learning
environments. Differentiation through choice is an important pedagogical approach that can be used in all
classrooms in many different ways.” This study conducted by Brennan (2019) expresses the benefits of
applying choice to lessons in the fact that it benefits all students and provides them with opportunities to
express themselves differently from their peers. This is one reason why the choice of physical and political
features is so important for student success in this project.

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? Also answer the following questions?

• How will you know if the students found the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways do you think this lesson will be effective? Why do you think this?
• What problems do you anticipate and why?
• How would you design and/or teach this lesson differently if you had more time?)

There will be a closing activity following the student’s podcast assignment. This will be completed using
padlet where students will respond to the essential question on padlet for the second time in this lesson
segment. They will respond to the essential question and this is how growth will be measured. If students
respond and expand on their initial thoughts to the essential question this is a way that the teacher can see
that the project was meaningful and met the intended learning goals. I believe this lesson will show growth
and be effective because it provides an authentic experience to students in which they get to play a role of
someone going on an adventure and exploring three different features of Latin America. I believe that if you
can provide meaningful roles to students they will be more invested in the assignment as it appeals to their
imagination. I also believe that because of the successful nature of technology integration with students
that they will find it engaging and beneficial.
Unfortunately this assignment will not come without its difficulties as students are being exposed to three
different forms of technology in a short time frame. This can cause issues for students as overwhelming
them is likely with multiple forms of technology being introduced. Fortunately, a skilled teacher will model
these technologies for students throughout the year to have them be familiar with the technology. If more
time was allotted for this project I would like to provide the students an opportunity to explore virtual reality
opportunities following the google tour. This would allow students to see and truly explore the
environments that they are learning about rather than seeing images of them.

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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? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
This project was very beneficial to both my students and myself. It engaged my students by allowing them to
successfully explore the features of their choosing. I believe that it is very important to express to the students
that they are going on an adventure and exploring these places. The more that the teacher can appeal to the
students’ imaginations the better the lesson will be. I greatly enjoyed performing this lesson and providing my
students with the opportunity to use multiple forms of technology. I personally believe that this lesson gave my
students a better perspective on Latin American geography. However, this lesson could be improved by
implementing virtual reality as students could explore areas in a real and meaningful way that goes beyond
Google Tours. If this were possible, students would receive an authentic learning experience that would provide
a clear context of the terrain and culture that exists in the Latin American cultural region.

References

Barber, J. (2018). Depth of knowledge and conceptual understanding. Science Scope, 41(9), 76–81.

Brennan, A. (2019). Differentiation through Choice as an Approach to Enhance Inclusive

Practice. Reach, 32(1), 11–20.

Ennis, R. P., Hirsch, S. E., MacSuga-Gage, A. S., & Kennedy, M. J. (2018). Positive behavioral interventions
and supports in pictures: Using videos to support schoolwide implementation. Preventing School
Failure, 62(1), 1–12.

Ortega Sarmiento Luis Ernesto, & Rodríguez Nieto Víctor Adrián. (2000). Improvement of Writing Proficiency
through Creation of Homogeneous Groups in the Classroom. Profile Issues in Teachers’ Professional
Development, 1(1)

Schofield, J. W. (2010). International evidence on ability grouping with curriculum differentiation and the
achievement gap in secondary schools. Teachers College Record, 112(5), 1492–1528.

Shin-Il Han, & Hyesook Son. (2020). Cooperative Learning and Interpersonal Competence in Classroom
Environments. International Online Journal of Education & Teaching, 7(1), 17–28.

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 Criteria Advanced Intermediate Needs
Improvement
(4-5 Points) (2-3 Points) (0-1 Points)
Content-Three Content is 100% Content is mostly Content is not
features are accurate and accurate with little accurate.
includes additional or no additional
described with
facts that provide facts.
examples and enrichment for
facts. listeners.
Students have an Students attempt to No effort is provided
enthusiastic display enthusiasm to hook listeners at
opening segment about the topic they the beginning of
Enthusiasm
that hooks listeners are speaking about. podcast.
and Attention and demonstrates
Seeking clear effort.

Audio is extremely Audio is well Audio is not well

well rehearsed with rehearsed with rehearsed with
smooth delivery and mostly smooth students struggling to
Delivery clear enunciation of delivery and clear form clear sentences
words and proper enunciation of with poor grammar.
grammar. words and mostly
proper grammar.
All students All students All student DO NOT
participate in audio participate in audio participate in audio.
of the assignment of the assignment
Participation
and talk extensively but do NOT talk
on content. extensively on
content

Podcast is 8-10 Podcast is 5-8 Podcast is less than 5

Time Stamp minutes in length minutes in length minutes.

Podcast Rubric

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 Padlet Checklist

___________ Student creates an initial Padlet post

___________ Initial post answers both Essential Questions

___________ Student’s initial Padlet post includes content from previous notes

___________ Student creates a second Padlet post

___________ Second Padlet post answers essential questions

___________ Second Padlet post expands on initial post

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