Idaho Core Teacher Network Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: Perspectives in communication: emphasis on Social Media Created By: Barbara LeitzingerSubject: ELAGrade: 6thEstimated Length 9 weeks

Unit Overview (including context): This plan fits into the final nine weeks of the year, during the perspectives unit that most district curriculum contain. This plan is designed to teach during two back-to-back 45-minute periods that combine both reading and writing (total of 90 minutes per day with each student). Through informational and argumentative reading and writing, students will explore the evolution of digital technology and its impact on society. Special attention will be paid to the influence of social media on communication. Having a digital platform for students to communicate on and upload material to will benefit this unit immensely. With such a high-interest and timely topic, students will be eager (and expected) to research and upload appropriate timely articles to share with class. This will be added to the bank of classroom knowledge, and this lesson plan will not reflect the additional materials. One of the benefits of this unit is finding great databases of reliable resources. Students came across PEWresearch.org. I knew of it, but students thought they had uncovered the motherlode of sites. As 6th graders, they now have a working experience with PEW, New York Times, Huffington Post, Library of Congress and others. These will be go-to sites for students in years to come.

Please refer to the summative student-written essays in the supplementary packet. Here you will find examples of what can be expected as you and your students become researchers and analysts of social media.

The unit is comprised of four parts and a possible fifth if time and enthusiasm exists:

● Introduction to topic. Anticipatory activities and initial exposure and vocabulary foundation. Emphasis on navigating digital tools both for conceptual and procedural purposes. Culminating assessments: 1) Complete a digital media graphic organizer and summary from an article/video. 2) Create a safe, logical password from guidelines

● Historical investigation. Students will learn about the recent history of social media and other technological advances in communication (computers, social media sites, YouTube, etc.) Students will use this focused investigation as an avenue for higher-level questioning. Culminating assessments: 1) A student-generated questionnaire to query teens & adults about changes in digital communication in their lifetimes. 2) student-created “infographics” that reflecting findings in a reader-friendly format to be hung in class as a reference artifact for remainder of unit, and to be included in culminating writing assessment.

● Social media writing process (ethical digital literacy) & writing structure (how grammar, usage, etc., affect credibility depending on audience) Students will begin to post and blog on our own collaborative classroom “social media style” via Edmodo. Students will learn how to practice digital ethics when posting text, and hear about cases where digital ethics were not followed and how lives were affected.

Culminating assessments: 1) Generate several posts and upload pertinent articles/videos to Edmodo to share with class on unit topic. 2) On demand writing assignment, SBAC style. I used a Newsela article about emoji’s, but a teacher reading this should find an article/issue that reflects a recent change in your world.

● Analysis of Social Media’s influence over users. Pro and Con materials will be analyzed. Many articles spanning such topics as the effect and prevalence of social media addiction, the value of digital technology on education, the effects of the use of a smartphone while driving, to the instant megatrends that have resulted from social media power will be analyzed. Many articles and trends may not even be in existence yet, so flexibility must built into the lesson plans. An observant eye must be on the lookout, but I suspect students may be the first ones to bring in the latest information once their interests are sparked. Despite all the stimulating information, students will be guided to focus on an specific issue early on in, draw their own conclusions and support them appropriately. Culminating assessment: argumentative paper aligned with district rubric.

● Option #1 “How-To” presentation, which can become a “Life Hacks” segment. Since the unit wraps up at end of year, many 6th graders want a fun, easy, entertaining assignment to finish out the year. Many sixth graders have favorite YouTubers they follow, so students are excited to participate. Students can choose from a list of ideas or they can choose their own. Presentations can be videotaped ahead of time, or presented live.

● Option #2 Debate. Once papers are completed, graded and returned, students will participate in an organized debate. Teams of five students will learn of the stand they must defend moments before the debate between two teams begins. This final part of the unit will consist of 4-5 days with concentrated efforts to prepare students to be ready to support either side of the question: Does social media help or hinder communication? Culminating assessment: Debate. A speaking and listening rubric will be created by a collective effort from the class, under my guidance. One-third of student’s grade will be graded by peers using the rubric.

Corollary activities to reinforce ELA

standards

Interactive ➧notebooks: For ongoing grammar, usage, and mechanics practice, students

have interactive notebooks in which to write a response to daily bellringer questions. Sentence structure, including proper punctuation of clauses and phrases, are a part of daily work all year long. During this fourth-quarter unit, we’ll playfully work at combining sentences to create fluidity and to add voice into a piece of writing. These bellringer questions and subsequent sentence work will be drawn from recent discussions that will be fresh in our minds. I’ll pull out a sentence (or posted message) from the reading of day

before, and ask students to rewrite it using whatever structure we need to focus on at the moment. These “teaching moments” can last up 20 minutes, and will always be the first task of the day. This will meet all Language standards for 6th grade.

Reading/➧listening challenge: Based off the 40-book reading challenge by Donalyn Miller that is a yearlong reading challenge, this is modified to match the quarter, thus the reduction to 10 items. Additionally, since we learn through this unit that people now find information via

digital material, one can expand the challenge to include online magazine/newspaper articles, TED talks, Youtube videos, podcasts, etc. Because of the major change of emphasis from reading a traditional paper book, we renamed the challenge to the 10-piece learning challenge. Choose a day of the week that is reserved for students to do independent reading and writing. This protected time provides all students with multiple opportunities to engage with text of appropriate complexity for the

grade level. The weekly challenge time also provides extensions and/or more advanced text for students who read well about the grade level text band. I created five graphic organizers for students to complete as they read across the genres. Below is the two-sided one for digital media genre.

Unit Rationale (including Key Shift(s)): This plan addresses all shifts equally. Technology is changing the way we do everything including the way we communicate. These lesson plans will allow students to explore how social media has changed communication, how it affects their future, and how they can use it as an advantage to their intellectual development and not as a hinderance. This unit gets at the heart of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) definition of 21st century literacies. Among other technology skills, today’s learner must be able to “create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia text, and attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments.” While many of the texts used in this unit come from digital sources (online articles, blogs, infographics, etc.,) they are still literary in nature, satisfying Shift One. Since it is an research-based argumentative unit, evidence must be grounded in evidence across curriculum, satisfying Shift Two. The unit is about perspectives in communications via digital resources with emphasis on social media. Students will digital based platforms for both oral and written work satisfying Shift Three. Students will collaborate often for a variety of purposes will independent building literacy skills, satisfying Shift Four.

Targeted Standards:Focus Standards

● Idaho Core Grade-Level Standards:

RI.6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.W.6.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis.SL.6.4 Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

● Content standards (none)● Math standards (none)

Essential Question(s)/Enduring Understandings (Module 4):

Essential Questions:● How much technology is too much?● How are technology and

communication interrelated?

Enduring Understandings:● Communication is essential to

understand different perspectives.● Technology impacts the way we

communicate and view the world.● Technology creates both positive and

negative impacts.● Technology has changed how people

communicate, but the need to communicate and the effective components (claims & evidence) of communication remain the same.

● All communication has bias.

Measurable OutcomesLearning Goals (Desired Results):

SWBAT collaboratively write interview questions and create a questionnaire for parents, grandparents and/or other adults. The interview/questionnaire will ask for specifics about how technology has changed the way the adults communicates in work or for pleasure.The activity will provide anecdotal evidence, as well as help student decide which social media site to research as the unit develops.SWBAT use details from a text to determine the central message of a piece of non-fiction.SWBAT think about how various sections in a piece of non-fiction fit into the overall structure of a text and how that affects the development of ideas in the text.SWBAT participate in classroom-limited blog platforms and do so with ethical digital literacy.SWBAT help readers understand the content in his/her writing by using strategies such as defining terms, summarizing information, classifying data, and creating non-linguistic representations to reflect findings (charts, etc.)SWBAT present findings by arranging them in a logical order and by using appropriate facts, descriptions and details to illustrate main ideas. (Essay and in debate or classroom “how-to” demonstrations)

Summative Culminating Assessment● Summative Assessment Description: Students will have a two-part assessment, the first will be assigned the most points and will reflect the

writing standards, and the second will be worth less points and will reflect the speaking and listening standards. After weeks of processing informational texts (in various formats) and conducting research, students will be expected to apply the procedural knowledge of writing an argumentative essay to demonstrate the conceptual knowledge of social media’s impact on communication and society. Activities leading to this end include having students write interview questions to explore curiosity about social media and to narrow down an area of human experience to research and analyze. In addition, the teacher will provide several texts (audio, visual, & written) to help with research and to model the process of determining the central message of a text. Likewise through these texts, the teacher will model how to identify various sections in a text and how that affects the development of ideas in the text. Once research is finished, teacher will model how to write their own argumentative five-paragraph

essay before releasing them to do it on their own.Once the essay portion of the assessment is completed, graded, and returned, students will participate in either a “how to” presentation, or a team debate.

● Rubric or Assessment Guidelines: District rubric for argumentative essays with some wording to explicitly relate to SBAC task. Also, one additional category will be created by the class as a whole. (This helps in ownership of assessment goals) I have included an alternate rubric that is student-friendly.

● Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Explanation: The argumentative five-paragraph essay will is a mixture of DOK levels 2, 3 and 4. The debate will be the final activity following the returned and graded summative essay will take thinking into the DOK level 4. The essay assignment will require students to support ideas with details and examples, use voice appropriate to the purpose of audience, and to edit writing to produce a logical progression of ideas. Some students will show growth at DOK level 2 as demonstrated by connecting ideas using a simple organizational structure provided for them, with the expectation to construct compound sentences. The majority of students will be successful at DOK level 3. These students will go beyond the simple organizational structure provided them to include acknowledgement of the counter-argument, and to support facts from pinpointed multiple sources. The debate will extend into the DOK level 4 as it will require a synthesis and analysis of complex ideas on-the-fly. Students will need to listen to opposition in the debate with deep awareness in order to counter the claim with appropriate support. The “how to” segment will tap into the creative side of intelligence.

Central Text: A 90’s Kid Living in 2014: Then and Now This is a 1500-word blog post and was appropriate in 2016 as it helped generate a perspective about the technology explosion. There is no shortage of information about social media, so try to select a text that is no older than two years from the start of unit. Find a recent blog, online news article, or non-fiction piece that is similar in word count and complexity. Newsela.com is a good source for material.

Text Complexity Analysis:Text Description Recommended Complexity Band Level

A 1500-word Huffington Post blog post that is written as a personal narrative but includes an informational analysis of technological changes within the author’s lifetime. It included changes in music, movie rentals, telephones, internet, cartoons and games, as well as others.

Newsela.com also has fabulous articles about trending technology. Each article includes the same content... but is written for varying grade levels. Students can read an article at their reading level and still be able to participate in discussions with students who read the content written for a different reading level.

What is your final recommendation based on quantitative, qualitative, and reader-task considerations? Why?I believe this would engage 6th graders because it focuses on technology branded items found in their lives TODAY, as well as items they can remember --or at least their parents can remember. It has simple sentence structure and is short (1,400+ words). Although Flesch-Kincaid ranks it as a 9th grade text, its content will be easily recognizable by Boise, Id 6th graders. It will be used as an anticipatory set, and to help build background knowledge and a vocabulary foundation. It will also provide a basis from which to start research on the history of communication in regards to technology.

Mark all that apply:Grade Level Band: K-5 6-8 X 9-12 PD ☐ ☐ ☐

Content Area: English/Language Arts (ELA) X Foreign Language (FL) ☐General (G) Health/Physical Education (HPE) ☐ ☐

History/Social Studies (HSS) Humanities (H) Math (M) ☐ ☐ ☐Professional Development (PD) Professional/Technical Education (PTE) ☐ ☐Science (S) ☐

Quantitative MeasureQuantitative Measure of the Text:Flesch-Kincaid grade level-9(Coh-Metrix Easability tool)

Range:955-1155

Associated Grade Band Level:

Qualitative MeasuresText Structure (story structure or form of piece):Slightly complex. Organization is clear, and chronological.-Automated Analysis:This text is high in narrativity which indicates that it is more story-like. More story-like texts are usually easier to comprehend. It is average in syntactic simplicity. It has average word concreteness. It has an average amount of referential cohesion. It is high in deep cohesion suggesting more explicit causal relationships as needed by the text. Because of this, it may be easier to comprehend on unfamiliar topics.

Language Clarity and Conventions (including vocabulary load):Moderately complex. Conventionality-largely explicit and easy to understand with some occasions for more complex meaning. Vocabulary-mostly contemporary, and familiar. Sentence Structure-primarily simple and compound sentences, with some complex constructions,

Levels of Meaning/Purpose:Moderately complex. Multiple levels of meaning clearly distinguished from each other. Theme is clear, but may be conveyed with some subtlety.

Knowledge Demands: (life, content, cultural/literary)Life Experiences--moderately complex. Explores several themes; experiences portrayed are common to many readers. Intertextuality and cultural knowledge--Exceedingly complex. Many references or allusions to other cultural elements.

Reader Task:Potential Challenges this Text Poses:Some students might not recognize some of the brands that are mentioned, but so many brands and technology types are mentioned that all students will recognize over half of them.

Differentiation/Supports for Students:Text will be read aloud and students will be instructed to annotate the passage. Text is short enough (1,400 words) that it will be referred to often.

Other materials/resources (including images and videos):

“Accuracy checklist for evaluating social media” http://guides.library.jhu.edu/c.php?g=202581&p=1335031 Vital resource for subsequent assignments.5000-word transcript from an NPR 3-part “screen time” series. Part 1)“How our real lives can be ruined by our digital ones.” Part 2) “Why build a virtual world.” Part 3) “How do our screens distort our sense of time?” http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=440286008 VERY Provocative and engaging for students. Can be fodder for short response writing and socratic seminars

Supporting Informational Texts: (including printed, digital based hard copies for students to have and annotate)

Use NEWSELA articles that are recent. You can create a free account and copy and paste articles with associated short comprehension quizzes and writing prompts. The beauty of the database is that each article can be adjusted to lexile levels.

One that I used was Face value: Emojis spell out emotions in texts, emailshttps://newsela.com/articles/emojis-communication/id/14927/

Below are possible resources but continue to look for more timely articles. They are everywhere.

The Digital Revolution and the Adolescent Brain Evolution” Journal of Adolescent Health http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(12)00221-2/pdf“Has society become controlled by technology?” A blog example with many appropriate posts to an article that takes a positive approach to SM use. http://www.thinkersjam.com/stuff/other-writings/has-society-become-controlled-by-technology/“Main Findings: Teens, technology and human potential in 2020. Extensive research findings broken into approximately 1000-word sections http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/02/29/main-findings-teens-technology-and-human-potential-in-2020/“Brain Interrupted” 1000-word NYT article about “continual ‘toggling’ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/a-focus-on-distraction.html

Extensive list and short summary of pro and con arguments for social networking. http://socialnetworking.procon.org/

Digital Platform for classroom use:Edmodo--Approved by the West Ada school district. https://www.edmodo.com/home#/ A safe, educational 24/7 learning “social media”

site. Students are connected so they can safely collaborate, get and stay organized, and access assignments, grades, and school messages.

Other materials/resources:PowerPoint assignment for “then and now” http://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/powerpoint/then-and-now.php4-minute video of typical family in family room using preferred medium of information gathering or entertainment http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/?s=future+of+reading5 3-4 minute videos of teenagers talking about their media usage. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/21/technology/20101121-brain-interactive.html?ref=technology“Playing and Staying Safe Online” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ5zJvA0NYYManage Your Digital Footprint lesson plan http://www.ikeepsafe.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Class-2_Manage-your-digital-reputation_FINAL.pdf“Techie teens shaping communications” http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/news/cmr-2014“For the first time, women elected to municipal councils in Saudi Arabia” 5-minute audio clip referencing Snapchat as a way they spread the message and won elections. http://www.npr.org/2015/12/14/459637357/for-the-first-time-women-elected-to-municipal-councils-in-saudi-arabia

Vocabulary InstructionTargeted Academic Vocabulary (Tier II):

analyzeargumentcentral ideasummaryparaphrasecredible sourcesclausesphrases

Targeted Content Area Vocabulary (Tier III):

social mediacognitivedigitalvirtualplatformstimulationimmediate gratificationaddictionURLspamtrolling

Connect Word wall. Words will be written on the whiteboard generated from my list along with what students suggest. Students will look up the word in Visuwords and other online dictionary resources, along with using the physical dictionaries in the

classroom to get a wide cross-section of definitions. Some words have unrelated definitions, like “platform”, and most physical dictionaries won’t have the digital-related definition. Other words are so new that they won’t be found in older dictionaries. This adds to the understanding that digital technology has changed our world dramatically during the lives of these 6th graders.

Organize Concept map. Students will pair up to create their own concept map with words from the wall. Maps will be posted throughout the room. Students will be encouraged to add words to their concept map as an occasional daily closure activity. Preview articles ahead of time and pull out 2-3 words for students to define and add to a concept map or a foldable.

Deep Process Metaphors and similes. I particularly like and use the 7-question technique. Students answer the following questions about a word. It’s a great activity for concrete or abstract words. I’ve had fabulous student-generated definitions for immigration words like famine, etc.

What is the word?What is the category?What does it do?What does it look like?What parts does it have?What does it feel like?Where can I find it?

Then put answers into only two-three sentences.example: A digital platform is something that lives in cyberspace on the internet in the world wide web that allows people to interact online, and it looks like invisible spiderwebs surrounding us all. It has binary parts that can feel good when it is used for productive and uplifting purposes, and it can feel horrible when we are humiliated because things get personal. It can be found anywhere as long as one has a power source or a smartphone.

Exercise The word wall will build to 25 words over the unit. Analyze and infer have been on the wall for weeks now. The 7-? technique has been used in my classroom all year long, but I’ll add the concept mapping idea once the unit begins..

Continual formative mini- Assessment

As an on-going formative assessment, I will use a bellringer question something like: Using three words from the word wall, write a seven sentence paragraph. Challenge yourself to use the four sentence structures of simple, compound, complex and compound-complex within your paragraph

Bellringer questions are written in student’s own interactive notebooks that don’t leave the classroom. I will call on

volunteers to share their responses, and I’ll later read the responses of those who don’t share. This formative assessment will help me determine if more than 70% of students use the vocabulary words correctly.

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE

Part 1: Introduction

Activity Texts andResources

SequencingAndScaffolding

Assessment ConceptualGoals

ProceduralGoals

InstructionalNotes

Anticipatory set:

DOK level

Bellringer 2 daysBegins unitProvides exposure to tier 2 & 3 vocabulary associated with unit

Access background knowledge and foster curiosity about the topic of perspectives in communication. Why do we communicate?How do we gain information? Through reading? Through listening and speaking?

Background knowledge, activation, vocabulary work.

Bellringer: “How has life changed for a 12-year-old kid today vs 100 years ago? Pick one aspect of daily life and describe two differences between then and now.”

Discuss: Teacher to add examples:

Old New

workshops and apprenticeships

Pinterest

and Youtube

ESP

1-2SL 6.1.

DBI1. Google images of corded phones, the first computer, etc., enlarged & posted around room. (Throw in a photo of an iron lung. It has nothing to do with communication but it generates discussion.)

Notices & Wonder notecatcher

While students are writing their bellringers, I taped images to hallway walls.

attend sporting

events or

wait

for box scores and written reports

solitaire,

marbles, monopoly

Coaching

N 24/7

Minecraft/Call of

Duty/FIFA

Videotaping of

performance w/

analysis

and practice

With notecatcher and pencil, students quietly take gallery stroll recording thoughts about images of older electronic devices. Classroom discussion comes afterward. Create

your own notecatcher with boxes for

the number of images you have. Each box should ask: What was this used for? Benefits? Drawbacks? What technology has taken its place?

Close read Huffington Post 1500-word blogpost “A 90’s

Close read “A 90’s Kid living in the 2014” Highlighting words we don’t know. Independently read a section, share with partner, and repeat with entire article.

Kid living in 2014”

Pre-test pre-test questions https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/digital-life-102

1 day formative: for me to guage understanding of current social media environment

understand today’s media usage

Take the 10-question quiz independently. Trade with a partner to score. Discuss what surprised you the most and which answers were the closest to or farthest from your own experiences.

NOT That good. It’s a good concept but try to find a better one.

Edmodo sign

in and

exploration

DOK level 1-2RI.6.7

https://www.edmodo.com/home#/

1 day

.

Create appropriate user name, password, & profile.

Learn Edmodo platform language

Classes will receive a class code to use as student sign in. Each period will have a different code.

Students practice skills from ikeepsafe.org packet in creating their own accounts.

Safety activities:

Password creation activitySimulate small communities

“Playing and staying safe Online” 2-minute videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ5zJvA0NYYManage Your Digital Footprintactivity packethttp://www.ikeepsafe.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Class-2_Manage-your-

2 days Thinking log entry and participation

participation

identify ethical online practices, and recognize unsafe practices

create safe usernames and passwords

Watch videos & discuss

Guidelines for creating strong passwords.

Paired activity identifying weak & strong passwords.

Online citizenship guidelines.

Small groups simulate small communities and discuss community rules. What would happen if each rule was broken. Do rules apply to“online” communities as well?(See supplementary materials)

Guidelines and Actions to take with online bullies

to discuss rules

DOK level 1-2RI.6.7SL.6.1

digital-reputation_FINAL.pdf

Street Smart role-playing. Cut strips from scenarios, “What would you Do?”. Groups of 4-5 students role-play problem-solution responses

Post Activity reflection: Students didn’t enjoy completing packets from the IKEEPSAFE site, that I had printed out. However, the password formation info is vital to teach unless you want to continually look up student passwords and usernames because they’ve forgotten. Also, if you use Edmodo or another similar platform, and I suggest you do, be very explicit and purposeful about what will and will not be tolerated on the site. I made students chose an avatar from the bank of avatars within the site until individual students could prove to me that producing meaningful CONTENT was more important than playing around with the technology.

Summarizing mini-lesson

Powerpoint and slides, along with brief assignment can be found in supplementary materials

Summarizing and paraphrasing are concepts to be learned and practiced through a series of mini-lessons throughout the year.

Formative, as students read and discuss their own written summaries before seeing an exemplary one.

Identify what information should and shouldn’t be included in a summary of a written piece. Summaries can provide evidence for a claim if not prejudiced.

Write a one-two sentence summary from a paragraph of words and facts.

Bellringer: Write a one-to-two sentence summary of today’s video announcements.

Show first three slides of powerpoint presentation discussing each slide as you go.Give each student a half sheet of computer paper to write their summary of the paragraph you will show them in the next slideGive 3-5 minutes for students to write individual summaries.Share and ask for volunteers to shareReveal slides with incorrect responses and the correct one.Discuss and ask class if they agree with correct response and why.

Jigsaw

“Expert” groups engage to disseminate the most amount of information in

4- minute video of family in living room on any evening. Kids on devices, mom in book, dad with newspaper. Then the family discusses their reading and studying habits.http://learning.blogs.nyt

2 daysDay 1

Day 2Continuation from day 1. Expert group report out.

GRADED(20 pts)Completion and with quality work (I.e., legible, complete.Summary notecatcher to guide students toward prioritizing info and putting it in their own

Close reading info individually then as a small group to cover all aspects of text. Students then share info with others who don’t know material.RI & SL standards

Continued bkgd knowledge while working on chunking longer text into pieces to help with summarizing

FOCUS ON THE SKILL OF SUMMARIZING. TAKE AS

Bellringer: What does the average evening look like at your house?

Step 1) After reading first page as a class, I’ll break the rest of the article into sections and have students discover information in a jigsaw.

Step 2) Experts will report their piece of article to other groups.

Step 3) Students will add new information to their notecatcher as experts share.

Step 4) As a final reinforcement of what was learned, expert groups will report t group--will be projected on overhead. Expert group will

a short time.

DOK level 2-3RL.6.1.RL.6.7W.61SL 6.1.

imes.com/?s=future+of+readiNYT article from the Future of Reading unit, “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?_r=0“Summary” notecatcher

words.

(see supporting materials)

LONG AS YOU NEED. DON’T RUSH THIS PROCESS.

report out together)

AGAIN find a timely article about the most recent events. Currently the “fake news” attention after the Trump presidential win would be a good Google search phrase to help find appropriate material. Whatever is used, be sure to ratchet up the difficulty from the introductory article. The video associated with the article is excellent. It is a stand-alone piece and gets kids thinking and talking. Teach students how to write a summary. Revisit the key points of what a summary is. Students often attempt to pull in background knowledge, which is good for understanding context, but teaching students to rely on textual evidence will help them when writing the essay.

Part 2: Historical Perspective

Question Formulation Technique

9-min video about Question Formulation Technique QFThttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfXEf0nG51I

Show this video to

students. You will

have better

behavior and

success if they see

what the process is

to look like. Pause

it between steps.

3 days

2 days together followed by 1 “reporting of findings day”, 4 days later.Begin investigation on social media usage in our circle

of influence.

Day 1: complete first three steps.Day 2: finish steps and create final questionnaire

Classwide-FORMATIVEHow are students working through questioning techniques and responding to questions? Does class need more time? Are they catching on and creating good questionnaires?

Summative: In order to get a historical perspective, I required that respondents must

What data will help us answer the ultimate question how has technology changed the way the adults communicate in work or for pleasure?

How to pose questions to best collect appropriate data

Groups of 4 with desks together and large poster paper.Variation on I do, you do.Watch video of 8th grade students working through process. Stop video after they complete 1st step. My students do the same but with their own questions. Watch video for next step, etc.

How do we formulate good questions for research? What data will be useful and what data might not? Imagine you’ve spent time collecting data for your project, how will you know it will apply? You don’t want to waste time, so hone in on good questions early.

1st step-formation of 15 questions2ndstep-changing closed ?’s to open ones3rd step-narrowing to best 3 ?’sLast step-3 favorites of groups added together

DOK level 2-3RI.6.7W.6.4.SL.6.1.

Day 3: Four days later.Report findings, compile data into one useful anchor chart for in class reference. (See below)

be 17+ years of age. Once I compiled the final questionnaire from the favorites of all three classes, I handed out printed copies with 15 questions. STudents required to interview and complete three questionnaires.

Produce graphic representation of findings.

Discussion: Where in your first list were your final 3 questions? Why is it valuable to spend time formulating questions early on in research?

BE explicit about your expectations for a successful completion of questionnaire assignment. I required students to interview three people aged 17+, and student needed to scribe the responses. If students just hand the questionnaire to someone without the interviewing portion, you’ll end up with answers that don't contribute to the unit.

DAY 3: What graph types will reflect data from questionnaire best? Bar charts? Pie charts? Based on what? Age of interviewee? Job types? (narrow to 8 career clusters), income? Hobbies?

Internet webquest, PowerPoint creation & presentation

DOK level 1-2W.6.9SL.6.4

History of the Internet webquesthttps://sites.google.com/site/historyoftheinternetwebquest/home

Powerpoint example & assignment checklisthttp://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/powerpoint/then-and-now.php

1.5 days

This will occur when questionnaire surveys are being completed outside school hours.

GRADED:(20 points) completion of checklist, and posts to Edmodo

further historical perspective

History of the Internet webquest, along with simple Powerpoint practice with google images. and basic, simple research

I had a substitute that day, and we found ourselves with extra computer time, so the assignment was expanded to include the internet webquest.

Since I had a substitute that day, I left digital instructions:

Then and Now - How is Life Different Today?Students create a PowerPoint to compare communications objects they use now to objects their parents or grandparents used in the past to do the same things.

Students search for clipart in PowerPoint to show two objects.

Students describe what each object is and what it is used for (listening to music, making a phone call, etc.).

Students search for clipart in PowerPoint to show two objects they use now in daily life for the same purposes.

Students describe what each object is and what it is used for. Students upload powerpoint to Edmodo for all classmates to see. Assign students to view and write a post about two powerpoints.

TEDtalk

PLEASE ONLY

LISTEN TO THE

AUDIO. DON’T

SHOW THE

VIDEO!! IT

HAS

INAPPROPRIA

TE TWEETS IN

THE

BACKGROUND

Guided

“How can our real lives can be ruined by our digital ones.” The Justine Scacco story (find link above or google it:)

1 day I allow this notecatcher to be fulfill one graphic organizer piece of the 10-piece learning challenge.

Students will review key ideas expressed and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and summarizing. SL.6.1.

Review and reiterate what summarizing is. Students will not have as much background knowledge about this highly intriguing topic, so it will be easier to help them to refer to the text (audio in this case). This also helps student learn to take notes from listening rather than from reading or viewing.

Bellringer: How could your life be ruined by your digital image?

The excerpt is a video but listen only to the audio. Despite the inappropriate video aspects to it, listening to the audio demands the student to concentrate harder. Being able to take notes while listening is an important skill to learn. The advantage is this lesson is that we can play back the audio in case we missed something.

Below are the two sides of the graphic organizer I used for the challenge. The class and I took these notes. I scribed these words under the document camera...based on student input... and students filled in their own as we went along.

You will need to play back parts of the audio portion to ensure you have correct info.

notetaking

I

Scrolling

through social

I used a Facebook post that popped up on my feed just that

1 flex day. Students were ISAT testing in math these days, so I wanted a light,

SWBAT recognize and rank the reliability

I thought the photo was a hoax. I asked kids to research it. They found many sites that were not reliable, but many that were. This opened up lots of discussion that led into the reliability and accuracy checklist in future days. Yes...there are bodies under those heads!

media morning. It was about the bodies under the heads on Easter Island. Again...find something very current.

engaging activity. This helps remind students that sources do matter in accuracy and reliability.

amongst a group of websites

Accuracy and

reliability

guidelines

“Accuracy checklist for evaluating social media” http://guides.library.jhu.edu/c.php?g=202581&p=1335031

1-2 days This has four case studies for students to access. The site has all the instructional info you will need.

Generating

subtopics to

focus on for

argumentative

piece

Bellringer: List some hindrances of social media

½ day. Followed by independent research

Brainstorming and list possibilities independently, then collectively to increase list. Helps to narrow focus for further research.

Create

infographicfro

m

questionnaire

results

Google images of social media infographics.https://www.canva.com/create/infographics/

2 days. One day to compile the data, another to create the infographic

Graded: Completion STudents couldn’t participate in infographic work if they didn’t turn in THREE completed questionnaires.Uploaded infographic was another completion grade

Further refining a subtopic to research.

How to use graphics to present info

The coordination of questionnaires took some time. Once students have turned in all three questionnaires (so approx 25x3=75), I lined up

questionnaires in the hall. I paired students and had them write down on a 3x5 card, what two questions they found most intriguing. They handed them in, and I quickly tried to give pairs at least one of their favorite questions while making sure that all 15 questions were being covered. Then I sent pairs out to

the hall. They were only to collect data on the two questions they were assigned. Once they collected data, they return to room and a laptop. At that point I have them separate to create their own infographic on one of the questions they had data about. This way, each student created an infographic on one question.Photos of student created infographics

Then I printed out each of the infographics and glued them on large poster paper aligning with the questionnaire number. So I had 15 large poster papers taped around room with infographics. Each question had its own paper. Students referred to this data when writing their own papers.

On demand, written assessment

SBAC rubrichttp://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/

2 daysOnly one article was used (instead of two in SBAC examples),

GRADED:(30 points)

Production of thoughtful writing on topic. Also to delve deeper into

continuing practice in argumentative writing

Students read article and answer multiple-choice comprehension questions at the end. Writing prompt is included:“Why do you think Emoji’s are so popular? Support your claim with at least two pieces of textual evidence. Add ample reasoning and weave in just the parts of the text that supports your claim.” Student work was

DOK level 3-4RI.6.1SL.6.3W.6.1

2013/09/PerformanceTaskWritingRubric_Argumentative.pdf

NEWSELA.com

article,

Should that

frown be

upside down?

Emoji’s make

the meaning

clear.

but the rubric works. issue asking “how do we define hinders and helps communication?” This is to lead us into further analysis of topic.

(students will have done this type of practice many times before during first 3 quarters)

typed and uploaded to Edmodo.

Part 3: Social Media Writing Process

Activity Texts andResources

SequencingAndScaffolding

Assessment ConceptualGoals

ProceduralGoals

InstructionalNotes

Close read followed by Fishbowl activity

Students set blogging guidelines for our class

“Why your kids love snapchat and why you should let them” http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/why-your-kids-love-snapchat-and-why-you-should-let-them/?_r=0

Use the notecatcher graphic organizer that reflects your way of teaching. See photo above

1 day exposure to debate via a blogging platform

explicit focus on appropriateness of posts. Set guidelines for our Edmodo posts.

Step 1) Students independently close read, and annotate the 1000-word article and posted replies.Step 2) Students independently record thoughts on notecatcher.Step 3) Groups of three form, to share reflections.Step 4) Groups form fishbowl configuration to discuss (students have prior fishbowl experience so they understand one-voice at a time, and participation expectations.)

I had actually chosen a different article, but a low ability student had uploaded this onto Edmodo and the class was excited about it, so we went with this one about Snapchat.

Students will bring/post articles that are meaningful to them. Use them--

blogs.

DOK level 2-3W.6.9SL.6.1

for my document. the articles will most likely be interesting to the rest of the class too.

1st informational Blog post

DOK level 2-3RI.6.7SL.6.1W.6.1

New York Times blog included in supplementary materials

Facebook’s False Faces Undermine Its Credibility

2 days GRADED

30 points

Completion of task

Consider the ramifications of posing as someone you’re not on social media.

Consider the ethics of the platform.

Post a short, succinct written opinion piece on our classroom platform.

Students read 3-page article about Fake Facebook accounts and follow instructions at the end.

Part 4: Analysis of social media’s influence over users. (first of two part culminating assessment)

Activity Texts andResources

SequencingAnd

Assessment ConceptualGoals

ProceduralGoals

InstructionalNotes

Scaffolding

Close read

Think-pair- share

followed by fishbowl activity

DOK level 2-3RI.6.7W.6.9SL.6.1

TEDtalk “Connected but Alone”

https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together?language=en

1 day

To touch on another subtopic for unit. The addiction piece of social media.

GRADED(30 points)

annotated transcripts and fishbowl participation

Additional aspects of the effects of social media on society and on the individual.

identify and annotate evidence for argumentatve essay

Step 1) Students listen to part 2 of audio portion.

Step 2) Students quietly and independently annotate transcript

Step 3) repeat steps 1 & 2

Step 4) students form groups of three, move desks so that one desk (of the group of three) is facing into the circle.Step 4) fishbowl activity begins following rules practiced in previous fishbowl activities.

Guiding question: Based on what you’ve learned in the readings of this past week, does social media hinder or help communication?

Additional resources for argument

DOK level 2-3RI.6.7W.6.9SL.6.1

Extensive list and short summary of pro and con arguments for social networking. http://socialnetworking.procon.org/

3x5 note cards

2-days Formative: teacher will circulate observing if class as a whole needs additional guidance, or if individuals need extra scaffolding in terms of notecatchers, etc.

additional research within pro/con article.

paraphrasing vs summarizing

Students will pick a pro argument from list and a con argument, and read summary.

Students will pair up according to pro/con topic

Pairs will extrapolate evidence from argument and write it on 3x5 notecards.

Attention will be paid to paraphrasing and summarizing information, along with citing source.

Begin

argumentative

paper outline

DOK level 2-3RI.6.7W.6.9W.6.1

Assignment instructions with rubric and 5-paragraph essay template

1 day GRADED

10 points

Completion of template and posted to Edmodo for class feedback.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

Scaffolding essay by starting with an outline

Part 1) Choose a subtopic of social media, and build a thesis arguing whether it hinders or helps communication.

Part 2) Decide if your subtopic fits the “communication” issue or the “quality of life” issue.

Below is a snippet of assignment document in supplementary materials.

Below is a snippet of complete outline in supplementary materials.

Individual and

classwide

evaluation of

teacher-written

essay

Teacher-written essay under the pseudonym Octavia Cavanaugh

1 day Completion grade To evaluate an example of essay written by teacher. What is in line with the rubric and what could be improved?

To evaluate a piece of written work according to a rubric. The same rubric student will be graded against.

Reveal first paragraph of essay to class under document camera. Together evaluate first paragraph and measure it against the rubric.

Instruct individuals to evaluate next paragraph against rubric.

Pair up to discuss 2nd paragraph evaluation. Discuss as whole class. Repeat with third paragraph.

Edmodo-

based peer

feedback

DOK level 2-3SL.6.4

Assignment instructions with rubric and 5-paragraph essay template

1 day GRADED

15 points

To see how classmates are tackling essay. Students to metacognitively determine if they are on track for success.

By grading someone else’s paper, student can better refine his/her own piece.

Teacher will pair students. Using Edmodo, pairs will find each other’s outline that was posted yesterday. Using the template, both students will provide feedback to each other with suggestions to improve piece.

Body paragraph work and work-cited page

DOK level 3-4RI.6.7W.6.9W.6.1

Research tips and MLA formatting handout

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_ltvVb6mUMOZGJZMXJBN0ZrczA

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

Synthesizing information across multiple sources or texts.

Students continue to compose rough draft based upon the feedback from partner in Edmodo.

Teacher will circulate to help where needed.

This is the second research paper of the year. Students will be provided additional databases-Ebsco, etc., and handouts for MLA formatting for in-text citations and works cited pages.

Rough draft

and peer-

evaluation

DOK level 3-4RI.6.7

Assignment checklist and district rubric

2 days GRADED peer evaluations. (30 points) Evaluators are graded on their helpful feedback based on completeness of responses to checklist, and based on comments for grade as aligned to district rubric.

Additional glimpse into what a successful assignment should look like but from a more specific and comprehensive viewpoint.

By grading someone else’s paper, student can better refine his/her own piece.

Students will print out rough draft. IMPORTANT! Students will not include their name on rough draft. INSTEAD teacher will assign students a number. Teacher will need to keep track of numbers (I used 100-130 for my first period...500-530 for my second period, etc.) This is designed to protect egos and to enable more authentic feedback.

Each student was to evaluate 2-3 rough drafts depending on length.

Quiet, independent reading time and evaluating time.

Once evaluation document is complete and turned in, students can pair up to discuss.

Final draft

DOK level 3-4W.6.4

District argumentative rubric

1 day GRADED

80 points

While I am grading essays, students will work on fun writing activities not related to topic. These will be posted onto Edmodo and peers can respond. Class will go outside if weather is good. This will be a playful time to celebrate completion of essay, and to provide distance from topic so it is fresh when revisited later if using the debate option.

Part 5: Option 1: “HOW TO” DEMONSTRATION

Activity Texts andResources

SequencingAndScaffolding

Assessment ConceptualGoals

ProceduralGoals

InstructionalNotes

Prepare for “How To” demonstration

Various HOW-TO demonstrations on Youtube and the How-To demonstration assignment,

4 days GRADEDchecklist and rubric (in supplementary materials)

Engage effectively with an audience to sustain interest and teach something. .

Create and present a series of steps for an audience to follow to replicate your

Show students short How-To YouTube videos. “Life Hacks” is also a word search in YouTube.

Reveal a few idea for presentations, then brainstorm with class for more.

Go over procedure for all to follow. The outline provided will give

DOK level 2-3RI.6.8

outline and rubic in supplementary materials

desired outcome.

guidelines.

Require students to complete outline before rehearsing.

Set schedule for presentations.

ENJOY! You’ll learn lots!

Part 5: Option 2: DEBATE

Activity Texts andResources

SequencingAndScaffolding

Assessment ConceptualGoals

ProceduralGoals

InstructionalNotes

Prepare for debate

DOK level 3-4RI.6.8

“Holding debates in middle school classrooms” http://712educators.about.com/od/lessonplans/a/Debates-in-Middle-School.htm

4 days GRADEDnotecatchers and participation

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions while articulating a new voice or perspective.

Follow rules for collegial discussions,set specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.

Students will recieve graded essays to use as reference/evidence for debate.

Students will follow step-by-step guided notecatchers to provide framework for on-demand debate.

Student teams will be decided by teacher. Teams will have equal number of strong, articulate, well-prepared members, and lessor prepared students to make teams equal.

Students need to be ready to take either side of position. Sides will be determined moments before debate begins.

Create rubric

DOK level 3-4RI.6.5

iRubric.com 1 day Decide criteria for a successful debate

Apply understanding, provide argument or justification for application

Students will view multiple rubric examples as in group of three.

Determine top three most important concepts to use in evaluation

Share with class, refine and post.

Debate!

DOK level 3-4SL.6.1SL.6.3SL.6.4

class-created rubric

2 days GRADED40 pointsparticipation and teacher/student grades based on rubric.66% is teacher grade. 33% is peer grade.

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions while articulating a new voice or perspective.

Follow rules for collegial discussions,set specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.

Students will pull out slips stating what teams will go first, followed by coin toss, determining what side they’ll argue.

Debate will follow time limits for presentation and rebuttals.

Students not engaged at debate at the time, will be evaluating debate according to rubric. These will be turned in and applied as 33% of debate grade.

Additional debates will follow, until all students have completed assignment.