Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Common Nouns vs. Proper Nouns

Content Area/Grade Level(s): 3rd
Content Standard Addressed:
ELAGSE3L1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking
a. Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions
in particular sentences
Students should be able to detect in sentences which nouns are common and which are proper. Students
should also be able to write sentences in which they replace common nouns with proper nouns and
vice/versa.

Technology Standard Addressed:

Creativity and Innovation
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes
b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
Students will take the knowledge they already have on a subject in school, and will present it in ways
that are unique, creative and showcase their interests and talents.

Guiding Question(s):
What are proper nouns, and how can we use them to make our writing more interesting?
Selected Technology Tool:
I will used EdPuzzle to help me teach my kids the difference between common and proper nouns,
and after they have had practice with common and proper nouns, they will find their own story
video on the internet, and using EdPuzzle, they will choose a 2-3 minute segment from the story,
and each time they come across a noun in the story, they will make a note on EdPuzzle if whether
the noun was a common or proper noun and then they will change the noun in the story to the
other type of noun. For example- if a child was watching their story, they might find the word ‘park’-
they would need to identify that ‘park’ is a common noun and then they would need to come up
with a proper noun substitute for the noun ‘park’, such as ‘Countryside Park’. This will give the
students practice with adding more details to a story by replacing common nouns with proper
nouns.
URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):
https://edpuzzle.com/content - EdPuzzle
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=common+nouns+vs+proper+noun&&view=detail&mid=E8F2E48682DF09877D18E8F2E48682DF0
9877D18&&FORM=VRDGAR – Common vs Proper Nouns Video
Bloom’s 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.

TFrazier, 2021
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

☒ Integration Level: We would like to see ALL lessons/activities reach this level. The project is
student-driven and student-led. Students should 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.
Your student’s projects must be shared locally or globally to meet this level.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

The tool I have selected and the activity I have created work really well together. My goal for the
lesson is for students to be able to identify common and proper nouns, and to be able to replace
common nouns with proper nouns in order to make their writing more interesting. With EdPuzzle,
the students have full autonomy to choose a school-appropriate story video segment from YouTube
and add notes to the video in real-time to label the nouns used in the video and replace the common
nouns with proper nouns to make the story more interesting. This lesson is highly engaging due to
the interactive video lesson, and students tend to respond very well to lessons in which they have
more autonomy and creative control. They will get to represent their knowledge in any way that
they would like, and with any video they would like to use.
Lesson idea implementation:
As the teacher, I will begin the lesson with an introduction to the subject via the interactive video I
created in EdPuzzle. After some more practice as a class, I will turn the students loose and allow
them to create their own interactive video on EdPuzzle in which they take a 2-3 minute segment
from a story video on YouTube and each time they see a noun being used, they must make a note on
the video and label it as being either a common or proper noun, and then they must replace at least
10 common nouns in the video with proper nouns in order to make the story more interesting. Foe
example, instead of ‘going to the park’ they child could change it to ‘going to Countryside State Park’
by adding a note or a voiceover. The child could even create a multiple choice question in which they
come up with 2 or 3 park names and the other students would hypothetically vote on the name for
the park. I could extend this lesson by having the kids partner up and swap EdPuzzle videos, and
each child could go through their partner’s interactive video.
Reflective Practice:
I believe that the lesson I have devised will impact student learning in a positive way. Rather than
lecturing my students and then them doing a worksheet for practice, the entire lesson will be
interactive and my student’s will get to incorporate their own interests and creativity into the lesson
rather than just having all of my students who are at different levels completing the same cookie-
cutter worksheet. To further extend their learning, the students will be able to share their EdPuzzle
videos with one another which will promote further practice and collaboration for the students.

TFrazier, 2021
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

TFrazier, 2021