Melissa Rainey Multimedia: Audio or Video Lesson Idea

Lesson Idea Name: Introduction to 3 Branches of Government

Grade Level/Content Area: Grade 3/Social Studies
Content Standard Addressed:
SS3CG1 Describe the elements of representative democracy/republic in the United States.

a. Describe the three branches of national government: executive (president), legislative

(Congress), and judicial (Supreme Court of the United States).
b. Describe the three branches of state government: executive (governor), legislative (Georgia General
Assembly), and judicial (Supreme Court of Georgia).
c. State the main responsibility of each branch: executive (enforcing laws), legislative (making
laws), judicial (determining if laws are fair).
ISTE Technology Standard Addressed:  What would you like students to know and be
Teacher Standard: able to do by the end of this lesson:
2.3 Citizen: Educators inspire students to
positively contribute to and responsibly I can identify the 3 branches of government and
participate in the digital world. Educators: what their jobs are.

2.3.c Mentor students in safe, legal and ethical I can use Adobe Spark to create a video
practices with digital tools and the protection of presentation.
intellectual rights and privacy.
I can be a good digital citizen by using my own
Student Standard: images and videos to enhance my presentation.
1.6 Creative Communicator: Students
communicate clearly and express themselves
creatively for a variety of purposes using the
platforms, tools, styles, formats, and digital media
appropriate to their goals.

1.6b: Students create original works or

responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources
into new creations.
What is the student learning goal for this lesson idea
Students will learn how to use Adobe Spark as a tool to create video presentations. Students will learn
how to research their topic, plan their presentation including what images they want to use and the
text for each slide, create their script for the narration, and finally create their Adobe Spark video
about the 3 branches of the United States government.
Selected Instructional Software Tool: Adobe Spark

Description of Software: Adobe Spark is a video presentation tool that allows slides to be created
using video clips/images and text. Slides are able to be individually narrated and put together to have
a cohesive video.

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

https://creativecommons.org/
https://www.adobe.com/express/
https://unsplash.com/
https://express.adobe.com/sp/design/video/urn:aaid:sc:US:6b916896-5f7e-4664-ad76-b0e5d89459d1?
x-product=CCHome%2F1.0&guid=0a32ee4b-d5a9-4fe6-9e4d-94cb386c5d1c
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 Melissa Rainey Multimedia: Audio or Video Lesson Idea
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):
☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒
Creating
How do you plan to implement this lesson and integrate the technology? Check all that apply:
☐ Teacher-led: There is no student voice and choice in the activities. Students are guided by the
teacher's direction and expectations. Learning activities are assigned to the student and mostly
practice based.

☒ Student-Led: Students are given voice and choice in the activities. They may select the topic of
learning and/or determine the tool they will use to meet the learning goal. The teacher facilitates
the learning as the students direct their own learning processes.

☒ Problem-based and/or Publishable: Students are solving problems and completing projects to
demonstrate their learning. Additionally, the projects can be shared outside of the classroom.
(Note: This objective could be reached by displaying the project on the school’s morning
newscast, posting the project to the classroom blog, presenting it to another class, or publishing it
via an outside source.)
Lesson idea implementation:

I will show my students the artifact I made about the 3 branches of government, while I do this I will
show them how to use Adobe Spark by walking them through the features. I will allow them to ask
me questions about what they see to make sure they feel comfortable with the technology. I will
assign them to groups of 3-4 students. Below are the steps on how I want the students to progress
through this lesson. I will also remind them of how we work within digital copyright laws by creating
a resource page for any image we use from Creative Commons or Unsplash, but also remind them that
if they use their own images, it’s even better! As the teacher, I will be circulating around to the groups
to make sure everyone is staying on task and doing what is needed. I will also provide different jobs
for each member of the group (writer, artist, researcher, etc). At each step as the teacher I will look at
the group’s work and make suggestions or give them a pass to move to the next step. Once all
submissions are made, we will have a day or two where we look at all the videos and give peer
feedback. I will then give the groups a grade based on a rubric/checklist I create.

1. Students will receive a graphic organizer where they will first write down information about
the 3 branches of government that they will find in physical books I will have available in the
classroom.
2. They can show me their information and then they will also get a storyboard sheet where they
can create each slide on paper before they use Adobe Spark. Once they show me their
storyboard, I will give them access to Adobe Spark on the laptops on our cart in the classroom.
3. Students will also be given iPads from our classroom cart if they want to create short videos to
go with each slide.
4. They will have access to Creative Commons and Unsplash for images, the stock pictures in
Adobe Spark or they can draw their own images to use within the video.
5. Once they create the slides, they then need to write their script down and decide who in their
group will be in charge of narrating each slide.
6. At this point I need to see everything before I allow them to narrate on the slides.
7. Finally they will create their artifact and submit it to our class drop box or our class YouTube
page.
Managing student learning: 
Students will move from passive learning into active learning because they will be researching
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 Melissa Rainey Multimedia: Audio or Video Lesson Idea
information themselves, and working together to create slides that need to include images and
information as well as narration. They are not just watching me do something or watching another
video, they are creating a video. Within their groups, they will have jobs that each person is
responsible for, which will help them know which part of the project they need to be focusing on.
This will be over a week so they will have smaller chunks they will need to do each day, which will
all need to be shown to me before they move on. This makes sure they don’t get too far down the
wrong path. I will give verbal feedback to them if I see something they need to fix before moving on
or I will pass them to the next step. I may give them a “voting card” that shows each step, and they
need to have them stamped before they can move on. I believe in visual reminders so I will have a
timer on the board so students can manage their time wisely. Students will not have access to the
computers/iPads until I am convinced they have everything laid out so they don’t waste too much
time on the computer. I will also provide parameters like how many slides, how many images, how
many different colors, or something to limit them from just browsing at all the cool things on Adobe
Spark to enhance their video.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Reflection: Be sure to mention one specific UDL principle
you are focused on in this lesson – Multiple Means of Engagement, Multiple Means of
Representation, or Multiple Means of Action & Expression.

This is a tool that has something for every type of learner. Kinesthetic because they get to type into
the computer, visual because they get to add images, and auditory because there is narration. Students
who feel more comfortable talking than reading or writing are able to be the narrator, students who
are artistic can create images for the presentation, and students with dyslexia get to hear the
presentations instead of having to read a passage. Students learning is enhanced because they get to
create something, so they have to have extensive knowledge of their topic to be able to narrate and
create a presentation about it. Students are engaged at each step of the process,
research/storyboards/image creation or finding/script writing for narration, and physically creating the
video presentation.
Reflection:

I am really excited to have a lesson that gets students thinking about government, I would love for this
to be part of a way to get students involved in their local government or an issue we think should be
changed at school and figure out how that would move through different levels of government and
perhaps use other teachers or principals to be representatives from each level. I think this would get
students to think about our form of government and perhaps even spark an interest in local
government. There are so many things going on in our world and if I can spark an interest in being a
part of the solution, I would love that for my students. I look forward to my students having a voice
in their learning, I am excited to see what my students can create!

TFrazier, 2022