Summary
What do third graders and the Olympics have in common? Third graders find heroes from Olympic super stars. Using prior knowledge from studying Ancient Greece and using the 3rd grade reading textbook story, The Olympic Games; Where Heroes are Made, students will select an Olympian of their choice to research, collaborate on using Google Docs, and produce a Comic Life project. These Comic Life posters will be combined into a shared digital magazine and shared with family, friends and other school employees who will provide feedback to the students about their projects. The returned comments will motivate students to continue to be lifelong readers and heroes.
TIPC Ratings
This lesson provides the source for students to use for research. Within that source students were given choice as they were able to choose which Olympic event they wanted to learn more about through their reading. Students had to analyze and synthesize the information about the specific Olympian they were researching and provide at least two main ideas on the collaborative Google Doc.
This lesson provides a mode of collaboration and communication through the use of Google Docs. Students are able to plan and work with each other as they each contribute to their group’s Google Doc. Furthermore, the digital magazine featuring the students’ work will be shared with a variety of people who will provide feedback through digital communication.
This lesson does not score in this area since it doesn’t emphasize critical thinking or problem solving.
Students have to synthesize existing and self-generated knowledge to compose their main ideas about their Olympian. Also, they have to apply their knowledge when constructing their informative poster. Innovation and creativity are needed when students search for images that represented their factual information and present it in a readable fashion by choosing different fonts, colors, frames and speech bubbles. Furthermore, students reflected on the entire lesson process and set goals for future growth when they filled out the open ended Google Reflection Form.
