Lesson Plan for Implementing

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

Position 3rd grade teacher

School/District World Language Academy

Grade Level(s) 3rd

Content Area Social Studies and writing

Time line 3 weeks

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.

Content Standards:
This project will cover content standards in social studies and writing. In social studies the main
standard is for students to describe element of a representative democracy and how the branch of
government work. By the end of this lesson students will be able to describe the responsibilities of each
branch and why the responsibilities are separated out. Students will also be able to explain how the
government effects them. Writing standards will also be covered during this project. In third grade
students should be able to conduct short research projects and recall information from their
experiences as well as print and digital sources.

NETS*S Standards:
This project will cover the technology standards empowered learner, innovative designer. Students will use
technology to provide and receive feedback from peers. Students will also use technology to plan and design
either a video or podcast. Students will use various types of digital tools throughout the lesson.

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

The purpose for this lesson will be for students to learn about the three branches of
government at the national and state level. Through the process students will acquire
knowledge on who is in charge of each branch and the responsibilities. Students will also be
able to describe the separation of powers and the importance behind this. Mike Miller, the
former mayor, will conduct a ZOOM call with students for them to interview and gain
firsthand knowledge. The project will lend many collaborative opportunities or chances to
provide feedback to peers. Students will conduct research independently the first day but
then have a chance to get with a partner on day two to share their findings and resources.
Page 1 of 7
 Once students have completed research they will then create an infographic to illustrate the
branches of government at the national and state level. Students will then choose a partner
to collaborate on either a video or a podcast production. In the production students will be
require to discuss the branches of government using the information from their research.
Students may choose their own creative pathway whether they choose to conduct more of a
skit or talk show type of production. Overall students will learn the importance of each
branch and how the decisions of those branches affect our lives.

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.

● What is the responsibility of each branch of government?

● Why are the responsibilities divided amongst the three branches?

● Why is it important for you to learn about the branches of government?

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 in a variety of ways. On way students will be assessed in with their
research notes. These research notes will be used as a formative assessment to check for
students understanding on conducting research as well as for their understanding of the
content. Another formative assessment will be exit tickets given at the end of each week to
check for understanding. I will use this information to guide my instruction for the next week.
For example, if students are struggling with identifying the responsibilities of each branch I will
make sure to tailor my direct instruction more towards this. Nearpod lessons will be used
during our direct teaching time. Throughout the Nearpod will also be quick formative
assessments.
Students will complete two products that I will use as summative assessments. The first
product will be the infographic. Students will follow the rubric to make sure they have included
all the needed information. The second summative assessment will be either the podcast or
video. Students will once again be given a rubric on the required information.

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?)

Page 2 of 7
 A variety of technology will be used to enhance the learning environment. Through the creation
of this lesson I focused on using the SAMR level and trying to address each stage. For example,
Google slides will substitute a paper and pencil version of taking notes. Another example is
using Canva and other types of media for students to create their own infographics and
multimedia productions. Students will use other programs like ZOOM, Nearpod and Canvas.
These are programs that students are very familiar with and should need minimal assistance.

However there are a few programs and features students will need assistance with. Students are
unfamiliar with creating a podcast and will need assistance on how to complete this. Throughout
the year we have listened to a variety of podcast and students are familiar with the
organizational part and how they should. Students will use WeVideo to record their podcast. This
is a new program for students and they will need help to access the app and on how to record
their podcast. Once they have recorded, the talking portion of the podcast students will also
need assistance with adding various features like sounds. The same goes for groups who
choose to create a video. They will have the option to create on Adobe Spark or WeVideo.
Students are well versed in Adobe Spark and should not need much guidance. They will need
assistance with creating videos and the editing process in we video.

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?)

Students have previously learned about citizenship and democracy. These topics will be brought
up again during this project. We will discuss how citizens elect the members of various branches
and how it’s importance to research the candidates before voting. Before beginning this project
students will play Blooket to refresh their memory on citizenship and democracy. This will also
allow me to see if I need to revisit any material. Students will love the opportunity to speak with
Mike Miller and be able to ask questions and learn from someone who has been a part of our
government. We have used Mike in past and it is always a huge hit among the kids. This is the
first year we will use ZOOM so I am eager to see how it will go. In previous assignments
students have enjoying using Web 2.0 programs and having the opportunity to show off their
creativity. An area of difficulty will be the use a WeVideo as this will be a new program they are
using.

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.

Page 3 of 7
 Students will use their assigned Chromebook to complete this project and the project will be
completed at school. This will ensure all students are given an equal opportunity to succeed.
The first week of this project will be designate for direct learning instruction as well as research.
The first day I will introduce each branch of government using a Nearpod lesson. Students will
then conduct research on their own. I have many websites and resources linked in a Canvas
assignment for them to use for research. This will limit students going to Google and access
websites they should not be on. The second day students will work in small groups to share the
information they found from the day before. During this time, I will be walking around making
sure groups are on task or need assistance. Day 3 will be for finishing any last minute research
and I will meet with small groups to check for understanding. Students will also ZOOM with Mike
Miller this week. In case of an outage during this week I have books as well has articles printed
out that students can use to complete research. Students can use the work offline version of
Google Slides to record their findings. We also have an additional date for the ZOOM meeting if
needed.

During the next two weeks, students will work on their infographics and videos. While the
infographic is completed individually, students will be given chances to provide feedback to their
peers on ways to improve. As students begin to record 3 groups will be sent to the media center
to record their video and will have assistance from the media specialist while the remaining
groups will stay in the classroom to record. This will allow more groups to get assistance as well
as spread the groups out while they record. If for whatever reason the internet goes down during
these weeks students will have the opportunity to record their videos or podcast using the iPads.
We will then allow students to upload the media to Wevideo or Adobe Spark when the internet
returns. As for the infographics I will have students design them on paper instead of Canva.

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?

Page 4 of 7
 When planning this lesson I wanted to focus on having students express creativity and also have
students provide feedback to each other about the products they create. Throughout the lesson I
have many chances for students to collaborate. For example, they will get a chance to provide
feedback and bounce ideas off peers while creating their infographics. This lesson also lends
itself to many creativity opportunities. Students will have the option to use a template for their
infographic or they can create their own. The same applies to their video and podcast. They can
choose to model off one of my examples or go a completely different route.

As the teacher role I will also provide feedback were I see fit. My feedback will be geared more
towards making sure the proper content is there while I will encourage the students to provide
feedback on how the overall look of the presentation comes across.

Students will post their final video or podcasts to a discussion board in Canvas. Students will
then be asked to view/listen to at least 2 peers. I want to encourage students to use the ABC
method when it comes to providing feedback. I have found this method helpful in the graduate
program and thinks that it provides a great structure for students. I will model how students will
use the ABC method when responding to a post.

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?)

My classroom consists of many students with IEPs and EIPs. Three days a week a co-teacher
comes into my class and assists with those students. This will allow those groups to get small
group support at all times throughout the project. I will also provide sentence frames and an
infographic template for this group along with the use of a dictation tool. During research, this
group will have the opportunity to use Read & Write to have the information on the websites
read to them.

To accommodate various learning types I have added various types of resources. For
example, I have many videos or infographics for my visual learners. Many of the websites also
provide a read aloud option or they can use Read & Write if they are an audio type learner.

Students will also be given choice when it comes to their final product. If they wish to not show,
their face they can chose the podcast option as opposed to the video option. Students can also
choose the work independently on their final product if they wish not to work with a partner or
group. In regards to content differentiation students with IEPs will be asked to focus on
identifying the three branches then I will have prewritten responsibilities that they will decide
which one goes with which branch.

Overall the final products allow for a lot of creativity so my higher archiving students have the
opportunity to really get into the editing and adding special effects and features to their video
or podcast.

Page 5 of 7
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?)

Self-assessment has been a major thing I have implemented more in my classroom this year.
Before beginning an activity I make sure to go over the rubric and how they can get all the
points. As students are working I am constantly having them refer to the rubric to make sure
they are including each requirement. Then at the end I have them grade their own work and I
grade it. Students then get the see how my grading compares to theirs. In the beginning
students rated themselves much higher but I have found that now many of them are giving
themselves the same score I am. For this project I will also have them reflect and grade their
own work. They will also have the opportunity to see the feedback from peers on the Canvas
class discussion board.

Since WeVideo is a new Web 2.0 tool we are using I would like to receive feedback on how
the students thought it went. I want them to discuss the challenges as well as the things they
liked. I will do this by having a class discussion and making notes on an anchor chart. These
are always helpful to have in the future when introducing digital tools to my other classes.

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.

Page 6 of 7
So far the implementation part of this lesson has gone well. Due to many changes in our schedule
due to testing and other last minute events going around the school, I have not been able to give
students enough time to finish their podcasts/videos. This has been a challenge because the
podcast and video take so much uninterrupted time to create. Another challenge was that during the
research process students were kind of all over the play and were just clicking on all the websites
and saying they could not find information. I had to add an extra day to go over how the look for
keywords and pull information from resources. I also gave them more guiding questions to help
guide them in a more specific direction. Overall I have been impressed with the engagement from
the students. Even during my direct instruction, the use of Nearpod has helped to keep them actively
participating.

If I were to give advice to someone, it would be to give time for students to “play around” with the
new programs before asking them to begin their assignment. For example, while we had used
Canva one other time for an activity students were still unaware of the various features. We took
some time to go over the features and I allowed students to create a free design. I encouraged them
to play around with all the features and how to add various designed and elements. I saw that once
we took that time they were able to find things more quickly and were moving much more efficiently.
Overall the project has been going well and I am eager to see how their videos and podcasts turn
out.

I think If I do this lesson again I will take out the infographic portion or make it an additional thing my
early finishers can complete. Once I got into the lesson I realize that the infographic and
video/podcast required the same information just in different formats.

Page 7 of 7