Lesson Plan for
Implementing NETSS
Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name
Nadia Williams
Position
Teacher, 8th Grade Gifted/Advanced Content English Language Arts
School/District
East Cobb Middle School
E-mail
[email protected]
Phone
678-861-4348
Grade Level(s) 8th Grade
Content Area
English Language Arts
Time line
2 1/2 Months (10 week)-1 Semester (18 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.
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Content Standards ELACC8W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization,
and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
ELACC8W5: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new
approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for
conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 13 up to and including
grade 8.)
ELACC8W6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing &
present the relationships between info. and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and
collaborate with others.
ELACC8W7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related,
focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
ELACC8W8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using
search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or
paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a
standard format for citation.
ELACC8W10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection,
and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audience
ELACC8SL4: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused,
coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details;
use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
ELACC8SL5: Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify
information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.
ELACC8SL6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command
of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
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NETS*S Standards: 1. Creativity and innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative
products and processes using technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes
b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
2. Communication and collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively,
including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of
others.
b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of
media and formats
d. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
3. Research and information fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
a. Plan strategies to guide inquiry
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a
variety of sources and media
c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness
to specific tasks
d. Process data and report results
4. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
a. Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation
b. Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project
c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
d. Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions
5. Digital citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and
practice legal and ethical behavior.
a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration,
learning, and productivity
c. Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning
d. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship
6. Technology operations and concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and
operations.
a. Understand and use technology systems
b. Select and use applications effectively and productively
c. Troubleshoot systems and applications
d. Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies
Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)
The students will participate in Genius Hour which is a self-directed project on a topic of their own choosing.
The students will be provided with set guidelines and requirements that will ensure that their independent
exploration is still standards-based and provides some amount of accountability for all of the students. They will
use technology to help in the research process as well as in the creation of their final product and or/presentation
if their Genius Hour project necessitates the use of technology in that manner.
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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 subjects/topics interest me and how can I apply my knowledge of English Language Arts to showing what
I have learned to my fellow students?
How can self-guided research make the learning process more meaningful?
How well can I manage my time through intrinsic and external goal-setting?
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.
The students will be assessed through their time-management with regard to the in-class portions of this
assignment, their final project presentation, and the final product they created in order to show what they learned
throughout the process.
The students will also be periodically assessed on whether they have submitted their Genius Hour Project
Proposal, their Annotated Bibliographies, and at least one status update via KidBlog. The creation of these
posts will serve as their formative assessments which will guide them through to the final project presentation as
their summative assessment. Please see the attached packet of materials for further information.
Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resourcesonline student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etchelp elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)
The students will be in regular work with digital tools and resources for the purpose of research, product
creation, presentation creation, as well as in showing what they have completed or plan to complete through
their periodic blog posts via KidBlog. More specific details on which online or tech tools will be needed will vary
depending upon the student and his or her needs in the exploration of his or her chosen topic.
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?)
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The students must possess a functional and grade-level appropriate degree of mastery of the English Language,
both written and spoken. Furthermore, each student must possess the ability to use the Internet for research in
an effective and equitable manner. Some students might have facility in both of these realms but might need
additional assistance with regard to being an English Language Learner or in having limited personal access to
the Internet. To circumvent these challenges, I will avail myself to any struggling students with regard to editing
and providing language suggestions. Furthermore, all students will be provided with access to school-owned
technology either through the use of the school iPads or laptop carts on the in-class Genius Hour work days in
order to provide equitable access to technology. Students with limited or no access to the Internet or computers
that need further access beyond the in-class Genius Hour workdays will be permitted to use the classroom
desktop computers for their work.
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.
Since this project is an individual one (though students will be permitted to work together if their individual
projects can serve as companion pieces to those of their colleagues), each student will be presented with a
packet of detailed information (please see the attached) in order to guide them throughout the process. This
packet will include spaces for the students to make note of the various due dates as they arise so that they are
not tempted to wait to complete all of their work at the last minute.
The students will be provided with bi-weekly to weekly Genius Hour workdays during the class period in order to
consult with the teacher or peers as well. That said, these days will also serve as BYOD (Bring Your Own
Device) days where the schools student laptops or iPads will be acquired in order to provide equitable access to
the Internet for the purposes of completing this project. The students who do not have further access to the
Internet that need to use it beyond the in-class workdays will be permitted to use the classroom desktop
computers in order to explore their topic and complete their projects.
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 Blooms 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?
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**Throughout this lesson I will serve as the facilitator and research guide. This will present each student
with the freedom to safely explore his or her interests with minimal stress at whether they are doing it
right.
This assignment falls in line with much research supporting promoting student autonomy in their
educational process. More specifically, this is one expression of what is known as inquiry-based
learning. In fact, a study cited by Edutopia, the 1995 School Restructuring Study conducted by the
University of Wisconsin, students who were shown and provided opportunities to do inquiry-based
learning faired better in their studies overall than those who did not. More of this sort of support for
Genius Hour as inquiry-based learning can be found from the work of education blogger A.J. Juliani.
Throughout this process, the students will ascend through Blooms Taxonomy as well as the Depth of
Knowledge levels organically as they go from their initial topic selection, to the research and proposalwriting process, through to the product creation and presentation of that which they have learned. The
students will decide upon how to present what they learn in the process, though they will be encouraged
to use digital means to do so. Furthermore, the students will collaborate and comment upon one
anothers work through the online posting forum of KidBlog.org wherein I will create a closed blogging
environment where they will post their proposals, bibliographies, and status updates.
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?)
This project is built upon student interest and is therefore, self-differentiated. By being self-differentiated, the
students not only choose the topic of exploration, but they also choose the manner in which they wish to explore
and learn about that topic, how they wish to present that which they have learned, and what product they wish to
create to demonstrate how they have put what they have learned into practice.
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? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?
How would you teach this lesson differently?)
The students initial project packet will include a self-assessment rubric so that the students can evaluate how
well they worked on this assignment and how they parceled out their time. Furthermore, the students will be
asked to reflect on a variety of aspects of this project including whether or not they found it to be meaningful,
how this project has shaped how they approach learning, and whether or not they will continue this self-directed
exploration again. Beyond that, the students will also share their thoughts, reflections, and suggestions for
further iterations of Genius Hour via Padlet so that they can all have access to one anothers thoughts. This
serves as a different medium from the self-assessment and hand-written reflection that will be submitted along
with the final projects. In those, it will be anticipated that the students will have essentially a private dialogue
with the teacher.
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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.
This lesson was a fascinating exploration of the use of technology, but it also served as an opportunity for me to
better understand my students. They delved into interests that no beginning-of-the-year student interest
inventory could ever clearly illustrate and in doing so, provided me with the chance to see what interests we had
in common. As a result, I found myself looking for articles or research for some of my students whenever
possible or passing along meaningful articles that I knew aligned with the projects of any of my students. Thus,
we went on a journey together and grew from learning for the sake of learning.
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