In this lesson, the students use a GoogleDoc to decide on group roles, group norming procedures, and divide work equitably for an assignment. After establishing guidelines for their groupwork, the students create rubrics which will be used to grade effective leadership during a “time of crisis”. The students justify the categories of their rubric by referencing specific historic examples from World War II. These GoogleDocs are shared with the teacher and then viewed by the class. The students use ActivEngage, to select the “best” overall rubric, which will then be used by the class when completing the performance task for the unit.

TIPC Ratings

Varies
Research and Information fluency are not specifically emphasized during this lesson, however they do play a role in the lesson. In the lessons previous to this one, the students have “built” repositories of information regarding World War II, including discussion boards, Voicethreads, and spreadsheets containing ActivEngage responses. The students can use these “repositories” to complete the research necessary for the leadership rubric. However, students can go above and beyond these repositories as well. Students can use search techniques that were discussed in previous lessons, to find specific historical examples that justify the descriptors of their specific rubrics. The level to which this strand is achieved will vary from class to class, but could be anywhere from Entry level to Ideal.

Ideal/Target – 6
The students use the GoogleDoc Leadership Rubric to establish group norms, form teams, and organize roles before their collaborative work begins. Throughout the creation of the rubric, students use the Google Doc to reflect on their roles as communicators and describe what they are learning about working with others. Along with the GoogleDoc, the students are encouraged to use other digital tools to work on the assignment outside of school hours, which they will document along the way. The creation of the Leadership Rubric is an authentic task, as it helps the students to internalize the skills, characteristics, and qualities that are integral for effective leaders. This lesson will help students in their civic lives beyond school, as they vote for elected officials and take on leadership roles themselves.

Approaching – 5
In creating their Leadership Rubric, the students must justify their decision making by referencing specific historic examples from World War II. The students must explain why their chosen leadership characteristics are required for a leader during a time of crisis. The students must also generate and respond to purposeful questions in creating their rubric. The students must ask themselves, “what separates an exemplary leader from one that is just satisfactory” and “what is the difference between a satisfactory leader versus a leader that needs a tremendous amount of improvement?” The students will use their responses to these questions in order to create their final rubric.

Approaching – 5
The students are creating meaningful original work within the assignment parameters, but their work has lasting impact beyond the assignment. The students are analyzing their own thoughts and making decisions that will inspire new solutions to how they approach future leadership roles and the choices they will make when selecting a leader.

TIPC Ratings

Approaching – Although the students were writing their own bill of private designation strictly for Varina High School, they were highly suggested to find an outside source to support their claim. So if a student was arguing that seniors should leave for lunch, they should have found a source that supported that seniors leaving for lunch is advantageous. It was their responsibility to research to find supporting arguments for their claims.

Ideal/Target- The students used a 21st century tool, GoogleDocs, in order to collaborate on bills and communicate with one another about their thoughts on the bills that they were reading. Each student has his/her own GoogleDoc name, so they could get on and look at the bills from anywhere at anytime. Also, any instructor or administrator that had the folders shared with them, could monitor the GoogleDocs to ensure no one was abusing this tool. Students could reflect on the bill that they had written by reading what other students commented on and adjusting their bill so that it would get passed to the President.

Ideal/Target- Students were encouraged to not only find a matter that they wanted to improve about the school but defend it to others so that it would get passed. The technology of Google Docs allowed the students to comment and question certain elements of a bill and then respond with a solution that they believed would help. This process encouraged students to work towards a common goal of getting a bill passed, by reworking a bill to fit the needs of all.

Ideal/Target- The students had a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon their 4 years at Varina and pick something that they wanted to improve about their school. They used the prior knowledge that they had in order to clearly define the problem, create an effective solution, and support it with evidence so that administration would actually pass the bill that they created. It was the goal of the individual to encourage and inspire their peers to support their bill so that it would get passed.

TIPC Ratings

Students are provided with the central question and with the resources required to complete the lesson.

Students do not collaborate during the project. They are required to submit individual projects.

Students are given a fairly complex mathematical task and asked to create a budget, shopping list, and menu. They choose the appropriate digital tools in solving the problems and design their own solutions to calculating the budget. The task is not only real world, but is relevant to the novel and other seventh grade curricular areas such as math and social studies.

This project is cross-curricular in nature and asks students to pull background information from varied experiences. Students are able to choose the display medium. They must compare personal experiences to someone living in a different time period.

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Students selected the Ancient River Valley Civilization they wanted to research  for their presentation. The team of archaeologist  researched information  from the Internet and shared that information using Google Docs. The team has students responsible for uploading of researched  information and Fact checkers who were responsible for accessing different websites for confirm the veracity. The team was also responsible for citing the information on the Google Doc. The Google Doc is shared with students from Highland Springs High School who are responsible for reviewing and suggesting additional websites that would contribute information about Ancient River Valley Civilization.
Students used Google Docs to share  the focus of their presentation and the research gathered with the the team of archaeologists (students). Students were able to see the division of responsibility for research and what information is to be added to the presentation. The Google document was shared with students at Highland Springs High School to get their comments about the research and presentation techniques. Students also used the Google Docs to make suggestions for improvement of the presentation, which was also a collaborative effort. Each teammember added their information to the final presentation. Student were responsible for deciding which Ancient River Valley Civilization they wanted to research and what information should be including when making their presentation  to the selection committee. The students also had to select the digital tool  they were going to use for the final presentation.

Students examined digital tools, the benefits and challenges, to determine which tool they felt would best present the information they research. Students decided on using Prezi because they were able to enter their information independently. Students had to select pictures they could use to introduce the research topic and how to best show their information. Please allow the Prezi a few minutes, it contains a video that is slow loading.

TIPC Ratings

Approaching: The teacher gives the students a general idea or starting point, in that all topics must be related to September 11th, but the students generate their own specific ideas, questions, and topics to pursue. The teacher directly instructs on information analysis but then facilitates as the students investigate, organize, and synthesize their findings. They use the information to address an authentic task.

Approaching: Students work in self-selected groups to assist each other in data collection and task definition. They determine their roles and use various forms of communication throughout the project. The creations are a collaborative effort.

Ideal/Target: Students are required to develop their own specific research topics based on larger concepts presented by the teacher. They then must generate useful research and find ways to organize the information. They also must present the information in a way that meets the goals of the class as a whole. Students are formatively evaluated at the “check-in” as to how well they are applying their research to their problem. They answer higher order thinking questions, are able to justify their decisions, and create a product that addresses an authentic task.

Approaching: Students are given suggestions on the types of products that would be appropriate for their project. Students are allowed to bring their own creativity to the project and select their own methods to present the information. The created Power Point presentations, movies, displays, poems, or podcasts with no limits imposed by the teacher. Each project was unique, meaningful, and original combining existing and self-generated knowledge.

TIPC Ratings

Students will be viewing videos, reading information from websites, and analyzing pictures and maps to answer questions on this topic.

Students are divided into 4 groups and will work together to complete this adventure. They must agree on which choice is correct before they move forward on their journey. Each group must also present what they learned on their adventure to the class.

Students will be required to answer questions about what they have learned/researched in order to move forward. The questions are on the higher end of the Bloom’s Taxonomy spectrum.

Using iPads and QR codes in this lesson makes it even more engaging to students. The inspiration for this activity was the old Oregon Trail game…this is a modern version using modern technology.

TIPC Ratings

This project asks students to conduct research to complete a cumulative project. Prior lessons have reinforced information literacy. Students must choose resources to obtain information. They are given some sites as a starting point. Students choose tools to display the information such as pictures and other digital media as an option.

As a project, this assignment requires individual contribution and completion. Group work was not involved in completing the assignment outside of class.

This lesson poses a very challenging task to students. Students must apply a variety of digital tools in order to complete the project. Students generate questions to guide research through the project. Students were not, however, coached through asking higher-level questions within the project or to reflect upon their roles as they set goals.

Students analyzed a wide variety of information from the Great Depression. They were asked to create original and creative work that meets the criteria.

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Students used the Internet to research and determine the reliability of websites about the Battle of  Cold Harbor. They found information about the battle which provided them background for their field trip. Students synthesized the information they gathered from the field trip for the creation of their blog.

Students used the information they gathered from their Internet search and the field trip to Cold Harbor Battlefield to create a blog. Student had an opportunity to share the information they gathered on the Internet to determine sites that provided reliable information about Geocaching and  Cold Harbor Battleground and sharing that information with readers of their blog.

Students used the information they collected from their Internet search and their trip to the battlefield to create the blog to share information which included information on Geocaching while they had an opportunity to exercise. Students had an opportunity to use real longitude, latitude information on the GPS to locate the virtual caches and to navigate around the park.

Students gathered information from the Internet, from taking a field trip to the Cold Harbor Battlefield  interpreting the information they researched, using their GPS to locate virtual caches, and walking the park, to create a blog to share this information and experiences of Geocaching.

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In this lesson, students developed five questions to drive their research about community issues they wanted to research  to draw attention to in order to  influence public policy. They selected sites that were reliable and valid and included the questions and answers on their Glogster. They use this information to create a Go animate movie that is embedded in a Glogster.

In this lesson, student grouped themselves into groups of three or four to select an issue. The groups researched information about their issue  and used that information to create a script for the creation of their Go Animate. The students have an opportunity to review each others Go Animate and comment on the site. The students use their researched to design the Glogster to present their findings.

In this lesson, students used the information from the question they developed and researched to  create a script that was used to creation a Go Animate production. They also used the answered the question they created in the Glogster.

In this lesson, students brainstormed and selected an issue that they felt was important to bring attention to lawmakers. They used the information to write  five  questions to research and included the answers in their Glogster. The students also used the researched information to write an original script that was used for the creation of the GoAnimate. The final product, the Glogster, contains all the information the students researched issue and their Go Animate movie.

TIPC Ratings

This lesson falls into the approaching category for research and information fluency. Students did their own research to find out about their region. The students took their found research information and assembled and organized the information to create an authentic website for other students to use.

This lesson is approaching for communication and collaboration. Students had to work together in a group to create a website. Also, by creating a website, they are communicating what they have learned with the outside community. Then, students are able to go back to their classmates’ sites and communicate through making comments. Students organized their own roles in their small groups for this project.

This lesson is approaching because students worked to solve an open-ended task by creating a website that could be used by others to learn information about Colonial regions. As a group, they demonstrated used good decision-making and problem-solving practices.

This lesson is approaching for the creativity and innovation category because students are creating a website (major 21st century tool) of their own that will reach an audience beyond the classroom.