Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)

Lesson Idea Name: 19th Century Newsletter

Content Area: Social Studies

Grade Level(s): 5th

Content Standard Addressed: SS5H1 Describe how life changed in America at the turn of the century. b.
Describe the impact on American life of the Wright brothers (flight), George Washington Carver (science),
Alexander Graham Bell (communication), and Thomas Edison (electricity).

Technology Standard Addressed: 3. Knowledge Constructor

Selected Technology Tool: Microsoft Word

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xjPiYmhJqg

https://www.paulding.k12.ga.us/cms/lib010/GA01903603/Centricity/Domain/2275/How%20Life
%20Changed%20in%20the%20US%20at%20the%20Turn%20of%20the%20Century%20PPT%20PDF.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDJ3lDrfyY

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ✓Understanding ☐ Applying ✓Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ✓Creating

Levels of Technology Integration:

☐ Infusion Level: Students may work at a higher Bloom’s Level, but they do not have any “Voice or
Choice” during the activity and most of the decisions are made by the teacher.

✓ Integration Level: We would like to see ALL lessons/activities reach this level. The project is student-driven.
Students have “Voice and Choice” in the activities, selecting the topic of study and determining the
technology tool to demonstrate mastery of the standard. The teacher becomes more of a facilitator.
☐ Expansion Level: The projects created are shared outside of the classroom, publishing student work and
promoting authorship. This could be reached by showcasing the project on the school’s morning newscast,
posting the project to the classroom blog, or publishing via an outside source.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

To support and enhance the learning experience for all the students in the classroom, I will provide each of
them with a lesson goal. Students will be presented with a graphic organizer and a rubric to help guide them
throughout their project. Students will not be graded according to the rubric since it is there to just give them
direction and help them if they need it. To incorporate the UDL principles of action and expression, students
will be in charge of their own presentation since they decide how it will look, what facts they will include, and
be as creative as they want.

SBooker, 2020
 Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)
Lesson idea implementation:

To introduce this lesson, I will ask students to take a minute to imagine how life was like before we had
technology, transportation, telephones, and electricity. I will then ask students to share their thoughts with
the rest of the class and build on the discussion. After taking a few minutes to discuss this, I will show students
this video on important events that took place during the 19th century. After watching the video I will ask
students to turn to a partner and explain why they believe George Washington Carver, the Wright Brothers,
Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell were important figures in the 19th century and how they changed
America to be where it is today. After students are finished sharing, I will call on a few of them to share their
responses with the rest of the class.

I will then explain to the class that they will be creating their own newsletter from the 19th century explaining
the important events and figures that took place! I will explain that they must include all four of the important
figures listed in the standard into their final project. I will then hand out a copy of a rubric to each student so
that they can self-assess and check off each box as they are completing the project. Students will use this
website to find out more information on each of the significant figures. Students will be given a graphic
organizer to write out their facts and research before transferring it to their newsletter on Microsoft Word.
This lesson will take about 2 days to complete during social studies class. To extend student learning, I will
have each student come up and present their newsletter to the rest of the class so that their peers can learn
something they may not have found during their research. To provide feedback for each student, I will print
out their newsletter and attach a few notes explaining my thoughts and anything they did well or needed to
improve on. To conclude the lesson, I will show students this video explaining the Inventions that led to
America’s growth.

Reflective Practice:

After designing the lesson idea, I believe the activities I created can make the learning fun for my students
because it allows them to be creative and take charge of their own learning. Students are researching and
creating their own newsletter in the way that they like. Students are learning about important figures from the
past while using a Basic Productivity Tool (BPT) to help them organize their thoughts, and facts. To further
enhance this lesson, students can print out their lesson and present it to another class as if they were living in
that era. This will teach students in other classes as well as help my students get a feel of living in the 19th
century. They can also receive feedback from other teachers and peers on their presentations. Some other
technology tools that could be used are Adobe Spark, and PowerPoint.

SBooker, 2020