Submitted by: John Marshall
School: Glen Allen High School

Summary

Students will learn the similarities between the problems that face America today and those encountered by the Roman Empire just before its fall.  They research information on both current events and Roman History and develop a method to share these ideas with the rest of the world with the goal of making people award of these problems using History to preview what could happen to America.

After a review of the factors that contributed to Rome’s fall and of the current events readings assigned for homework, students will work in small groups to decide the best method to share information with the rest of the world. (examples: create a website, a viral video, a twitter feed, etc.).  They’ll then be asked to ‘pitch’ the idea to the instructor who will approve it and give them the assignment rubric and instructions, or be sent back for more project development.
The final product will show its audience the parallels between 3rd and 4th century Rome and 21st Century America with warnings about America’s situation.  It will be appropriately published to the outside world for all to see.

Submitted by: Karen Thomas
School: Brookland Middle School

Summary

Our world is an oasis filled with plants and animals of every species imaginable. Exotic plants, tropical fish, predatory birds, omnivorous mammals, and singing insects, all for us to discover and enjoy or are they? Is all this splendor friend or foe? In this lesson students will conduct research to learn about invasive species. They will collaborate as a class and in small groups using google and one search to locate information and create an America’s Most Wanted profile video detailing their research and making the public aware of this information by posting their products to the google site.

Submitted by: Caroline Wheeler
School: Varina High School

Summary

Urban legends fascinate, disturb, and ultimately entertain all of us—students and teachers alike. The Urban Legends lesson bridges the study of legends, one of the major tenets of world literature, and modern folklore. For many students, the stuff of literature and the stuff of real life seem worlds apart.  An extension from traditional legends and mythology units of study, this online research based lesson plan provides students with an opportunity to connect literature to everyday life and enables students to use technological skills and approaches to explore, understand, and evaluate the different types and purposes of modern, urban legends. Students will gain deeper insight into the similarities of literature of different cultures and eras and will develop more relevant understandings of the cultural and social functions of oral literature. The Urban Legends lesson is designed to foster and promote students’ approaching and ideal information fluency skills. In addition, this 21st Century lesson also promotes group communication and collaboration. Using understandings gained during from their research, students will create an innovative 21st Century product to showcase understandings and criticisms to less informed, more gullible peers.

The Urban Legends lesson, inspired creative thinking, by allowing them to discover that it is OK not to believe everything they hear and encourage creative risk taking. Students had to go outside of their comfort zones to create a 21st Century product to showcase their findings.

Submitted by: Dana Dabney
School: Varina High School

Summary

This lesson is based on the topic of masks and how they have affected our lives in the past and the present day. In a group, students chose some sort of mask that they are interested in and research the topic further. They share their found information via a Prezi presentation that is then shared on our class blog. After learning about many different aspects of masks and mask making by reading other class’ blog posts, student then create their own original clay mask in the classroom.

Submitted by: Diana Hundley
Collaborators: Kadie English-Student Teacher, Merle James- Art, Kathy Vick- Librarian, Jessica DelMonte-ITRT, Parent Volunteers
School: Echo Lake Elementary

Summary

The students will work collaboratively in 5 groups that they have chosen and will be in charge of one of Virginia’s 5 regions of Virginia. Directly prior to today’s culminating lesson, the students’ developed questions the would like to find out about each region as well as what they wanted to learn about the moon. The students each used a graphic organizer and chose from three web-sites to research information about all five regions in class. They also utilized the library in a lesson about searching the web. (Kids Link) They were able to add to their research with this information. The art teacher worked with the students to paint white t-shirts with the map of Virginia for us to wear as Jr. Virginia Trekkers. Today, I will video-conference with the students from the “moon” (to bring in our school-wide theme of “Echo Lake is Out of his World”) and to tell them they have got to visit the moon with me! I will let them know I am on my way back to pick them up so we can compare the physical characteristics of the regions of Virginia to that of the moon. However, we will need to each bring a few things with us about the regions.

Submitted by: Lisa Moore, Hilary Deegan, Cheryl Reed, Rachel Smith, Kim West
Collaborators: Ann Dedek, Librarian
School: Short Pump Elementary

Summary

Prior to this specific lesson, as part of a larger research unit on animals and their habitats, students chose an animal to research in the library using a variety of materials and websites. Students then used their research information to create several visuals in order to present their animals and habitats. This lesson focuses specifically on the use of VoiceThread to create each individual student’s “Wild Self,” where they shared information about their animal and its habitat using text, audio, or video. Then, students were able to gather and record information about other animals from their peers, as well as provide open-ended feedback about the product to their classmates. Students used VoiceThread as an effective communication tool to both share information and provide feedback to peers in an engaging format.

Submitted by: Claudia Ketcham, Second Grade
Collaborators: Whitney deBordenave, Elementary ITRT
School: Crestview Elementary School

Summary

Children love to talk about themselves.They also enjoy using technology. Combining these two interests seemed to be the perfect lesson. I introduced the class to the idea of personal narratives by telling life stories about myself. We discussed how they would accomplish this task, through writing, drawings, and using technology. I then posed the authentic task: “The Reading Rainbow is looking to air a segment on digital storytelling.” Students were encouraged to choose Pixie, ActvInspire, Keynote, or Comic Life. The end product was a personal narrative told through digital storytelling.

Submitted by: Kay Faries
School: Pemberton Elementary

Summary

Students begin with brainstorming their favorite animal and its habitat. Students then form collaborative groups (scientific teams) of 3 or 4 and are given a challenge to ‘create’ an animal and get their animal into the Classroom Zoo. ‘Scientific teams’ will design and build a three-dimensional model of an animal adapted to survive in the choice of one of the following environments; forest, desert, grassland, rainforest, marshland, swamp, pond, river, ocean or stream. The appropriate physical and behavioral adaptations have to be included in the design process. The animal must also meet a list of criteria; must stand on its own, have at least one moving part, and have no fewer than two adaptations. After the animal is constructed, the students have to create a scenic background to represent their chosen environment. Once the animals and model habitat are complete the ‘teams’ will prepare a presentation for the zoo board to lobby to have their animal included. Teams must be sure to define what type of habitat would need to be built for their animal to be successful as well as convince the zoo board of why their animal should be included. Students will make their ‘presentation’ to the board (students and key teachers), sharing their animal, its habitat, and its adaptations. Students will have their choice of multimedia tools to create their presentation.

Submitted by: Erin Chalifoux, Kindergarten
Collaborators: Whitney deBordenave, Elementary ITRT
School: Donahoe Elementary School

Summary

After learning about the fall and winter seasons, students were challenged to create a three-dimensional display to teach and show other people all over the world about what the fall and winter seasons are like in Henrico, Virginia. I had the students choose either fall or winter for their display. Next, they selected classmates, who chose the same season, and divided themselves into small groups. Each group spent time together collaborating, researching their season, using their background knowledge and exploring the materials available to them. Then students brainstormed and shared their ideas for their diorama using their written and oral communication skills. The groups worked together collaboratively to create a three-dimensional display that portrays a visual image of their season in Henrico, VA. The final products will be shared with students at Donahoe Elementary and showcased on the Museum Box website for people all around the world to see and comment on. The website address for our final product on Museum Box is: http://museumbox.e2bn.org/creator/viewer/show/ 205686

Submitted by: Diane Myers
School: Echo Lake Elementary

Summary

Using 21st Century skills and higher level questioning with Blooms, the students will complete an integrated unit focusing on the current state recognized Va. Tribes and letter writing skills. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical geography and native peoples of Virginia, past and present. The student will also utilize historical analysis skills, including cause/effect, compare/contrast and reading skills such as fact/opinion, comprehension, predicting, and characterization. Students will write a friendly letter asking for information on the current tribes and research the tribes of the past using nonfiction books, selected internet sites, and other resources in the media center. Finally, after a classroom visit from a citizen of the Chickahominy Tribe, students will create a product to share their knowledge.