Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Misty Brown

Position Instructional Technology Specialist

School/District Huddleston Elementary/Fayette County

E-mail [email protected]

Phone

Grade Level(s) 2nd grade

Content Area Science/Language Arts/Technology

Time line One week (5 one-hour sessions)

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.

Content Standards:
Science and Language Arts

Students will gain knowledge of the causes and effects of earthquakes and how it can change the environment,
by reading and watching videos on the topic. They will use text features to locate key facts and information within
the text and determine meaning of vocabulary words relevant to earthquakes. Students will use their knowledge
to collaborate with a team to plan and carry out an investigation showing how they would create a building to
withstand the pushes and pulls during an earthquake simulation.

ISTE Standards:
Students will explore the real-world issue and problem of earthquakes and develop ideas and solutions on how to
build a structure that would, in theory and simulation, withstand an earthquake. They will use collaborative
technologies to work with peers to examine the problem of earthquakes from different perspectives. Students will
incorporate their knowledge about earthquakes to contribute constructively to their team to design, test, and refine
a structure that will stay upright on an earthquake simulation table. Students will reflect on the learning process
using a digital resource of their choice and uploading it to a website.

Specific Technologies students will use during the lesson plan

*Google Expeditions (ISTE 3a, 3d)
*Collaborative Website-Padlet (ISTE 3c, 4d, 6a, 7b)
*Google Doc (Hyperdoc with links to websites for learning) (ISTE 3a, 3c, 3d)
*Teleprompter Website (ISTE 1d)
*Screencastify or Tablet for recordings (ISTE 1a, 6a)
*Google Drawings (ISTE 4a, 4c, 6a)

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Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

The students in this class have studied about natural disasters in their reading series. The disaster that
students found the most interesting was earthquakes, so I planned a small unit on this topic. For the unit,
students will pretend to be engineers (Heroic Hound Agents) hired to create a structure that will stay standing
during an earthquake. Students must gain knowledge about earthquakes throughout the week, so that on the
last day of the unit they are able to work with a small group to create their earthquake-proof structure. The unit
will be guided with a Google Slideshow and will begin with a short video on earthquakes and a virtual field trip
using the Google Expeditions. Throughout the week, students will work on gaining knowledge individually using
a Task Sheet Hyperdoc on their instructional level. This Hyperdoc is a Google Doc that includes a table with
Students will also experience how tectonic plates move using Oreos as a snack one day during the unit. On the
final day of the unit, students will be given guidelines and materials for making their structure and work with
their team to design, then build the structure. When the structure is complete, teams will test it by placing it on a
shake table and timing, up to 30 seconds, how long it remains standing. After the test, teams will be allowed to
redesign and rebuild to make it better and test one more time. To conclude the unit, students will write a
reflection of their structure design process, record themselves reading their reflection and upload this to Padlet,
so other students can review them.

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 causes an earthquake?

How do scientists measure and record earthquakes?
How does pushing and pulling, like an earthquake, effect buildings?
How can I design a structure to withstand the pushes and pulls of an earthquake?
How does knowing more about earthquakes help in designing an earthquake-proof structure?
How do text features help me locate information on a website and in an online book?
How do I effectively collaborate with others in a group to work toward a common goal?
What is the design process?

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.

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 Summative:
Students will produce an earthquake-proof structure with a group of peers and record a reflection of this process
to upload to Padlet. The reflection must include information about earthquakes learned from the unit that they
incorporated into their structure design. To differentiate this product, students may choose to read their
reflection orally or video record themselves reading it from their paper or a teleprompter. A rubric will guide the
expectations of the students, and I will use it to grade the overall unit and reflection.
Formative:
Students will complete a Task Sheet that requires them to investigate earthquakes by completing activities on
various websites, including BrainPop, Jr., TrueFlix, and Wonderopolis. Once students visit these websites and
finish those activities, they will show their learning by typing in or pasting an image of their work in the
document. Some of the website activities include an assessment, such as taking the Brainpop, Jr. quiz, and
students will screenshot their score to paste on the Task Sheet. Other tasks have students reading about
earthquakes and typing in facts on the Task Sheet to show their learning. To assess students throughout the
week, I will take a look at the Task Sheet after each day to check for progress.

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

This unit involves technology throughout the entire week and is guided by this Google Slideshow. On the first day,
students will begin by looking at images from a place before and after an earthquake and provide questions they
have about the images on a Padlet page. Next, students will watch a video clip from YouTube (embedded in the
slideshow) that introduces them to earthquakes. After discussing their final product task, students will take a virtual
field trip using the Google Expeditions, which are virtual reality goggles, to see where earthquakes occur and how
scientists measure their magnitude. After the virtual field trip, students will type what they learned from the trip into
their Task Sheet, which is a Google Doc with a table of three columns and several rows of tasks to complete. The
first column tells students where to find information, such as the virtual field trip and links to websites; the second
column is where students take notes or show their learning, such as typing in facts or pasting an image of their quiz
score from a website; the third column gives students hints and background information that will help them with each
task. I created three different versions of this doc for low, middle, and high groups. Some of the links require
students to get a QR code from me, and others are simply linked on the page itself. The websites I included for this
unit are Brainpop, Jr., TrueFlix, Wonderopolis, and EdPuzzle, and each site require students to watch, read, and
learn something new about earthquakes.. Once students complete their Task Sheet, they are ready to begin
applying their knowledge of earthquakes by drawing their earthquake-proof structure on traditional paper and pencil
or in Google Drawings. These drawings will be shared with the team before they design one structure that
incorporates all of their thoughts and ideas. The structure will be built and tested on a shake table, and I will video
each trial for students to review during their reflection assignment, as needed. After the trials, students will write a
reflection of their knowledge of earthquakes and how that learning helped them design their structure. Students will
choose their method of recording their reflection, either voice only or video record with the option of using a
teleprompter site, to upload to the Padlet site.
To complete these tasks, students need to know how to navigate a website, take screenshots, copy/paste into a
document, resize images, and how to create text in a table. Also, students have to know how to use the QR reader
app on their Chromebook and how to add a comment on Padlet.

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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?)

In speaking with the teacher before creating the unit, I found out about their interest in earthquakes. They had
read about it in their reading series and had tied it in with their science unit on pushes and pulls. I wanted to
have the students go deeper with their learning of earthquakes by relating it to a real-world problem that they
may see in their life. In order to provide the students with enough information to create their structure at the end
of the unit, I made sure to include several different places for them to research online. I have taught this class
some basic technology skills, so I already knew that they were capable of completing the technology-related
tasks necessary in this unit. The only difficulties I foresee with this unit is Wi-Fi issues or student access to
websites. I provided usernames and passwords in their Task Sheet, but some students may struggle with
entering those on their own.

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.

The unit will begin in the Computer Lab where the students will be in whole group as we complete the
introduction and the Google Expeditions field trip. As students work on their Task Sheets, they will complete
these individually in the classroom because they are leveled according to their Lexile levels. When students are
working to build and test their structures, the class will move to our multi-purpose room and work in small
groups. Our school is 1:1 with Chromebooks in grades 2-5, so each student has their own device to use
throughout the unit. Students will not be required to work on this unit at home, so there is no concern for
students who have Internet issues after school lets out. As students are working on their Task Sheets, our
teacher laptops are equipped with a program that allows us to see thumbnail images of each student’s device,
so I can monitor what they are working on.
In making the unit, I anticipated technical difficulties, such as having students type in website addresses, and
created QR codes for them. One tricky part that I came across was in creating the QR codes for the different
Task Sheets. I wanted each code to look similar, so students would not realize they were getting different
versions. To achieve this, I had to alter the font size slightly with each code, so that I would know the difference
between each card without the students seeing it. I also used a website called yellkey.com, which they are
familiar with, to get them to the site we are using for the QR reader. This address is easy for them to type in and
gets them to the site quickly. I am also not sure if the students will be able to view the video in EdPuzzle
because it is from YouTube, and our county blocks that site for students. I may have to have the students view it
as a whole group or in small groups if it fails to pull up on the student devices. As trouble arises, such as with the
QR codes not scanning or passwords not working, I will be available to help them type in the sites because I will
be a facilitator during the unit.

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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 Bloom’s 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?

I have been learning about the effectiveness of having students generate their own questions to build inquiry
skills, so I will start this unit by showing the students a picture of the same street before and after an earthquake.
Students will be asked to look at the picture, think of their own questions and then share their questions with a
partner. After discussing with a partner, the students will share their main question with the class by typing it on a
Padlet page. This activity will engage the learners as they begin to analyze the picture and evaluate what has
happened to the buildings.
After this introduction, I will set the unit up by explaining to students that their job for the week is to become
experts in earthquakes, so that they can try to solve a real-world problem of buildings collapsing during
earthquakes. Students will use the Task Sheet to learn on their own from various websites, while I act as a
facilitator throughout the week. I will observe students and monitor their progress on their Task Sheets to ensure
they are gaining the necessary information to help them build their structure at the end of the unit. Two of the
activities require the students to get a minimum score on the assessment, and they have the opportunity to take the
assessment more than once to achieve this score. It is their responsibility to learn the material enough to meet the
expectation of the minimum score. At the end of the unit, students will apply what they have learned about
earthquakes by designing a structure that will stay standing on the shake table. Students must be able to explain to
their teammates their rationale for their design and collaborate with them to create one earthquake-proof structure.
After students test their structure one time, they will analyze what went wrong the first time and rebuild their
structure to make it stronger before testing again. For the final activity, students will evaluate the design and testing
process and write a reflection on what they learned during the unit. Students will communicate this learning by
recording their reflection and posting it on the Padlet page for this unit, and they will be asked to respond to their
peers’ recordings.

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?)

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 The unit allows for multiple accommodations and differentiation for both the content and the process. In the
introduction, students will be creating their own questions, but I also provided some question words on the slide for
those who may need some guidance to get them started. Also, students have the opportunity to discuss their
questions with a partner before posting on the Padlet page for the class to see. I will strategically partner students
who may need help with creating a question with students who are better at this skill.
The middle part of this unit has students gaining information about earthquakes independently from a Task Sheet
that is on their level. I created three different sheets to accommodate learning abilities, and I reminded students of
the read aloud extension and features on each website on their Task Sheet in the Hints column. So, students have
the option of hearing all of the pages read aloud to them if they need or want it, and the students have different types
of tasks to put in the Notes section of their Task Sheet according to their learning level. Students have varying levels
of expectations on achieving assessment scores and have the opportunity to watch and read the material as often
as they need to meet the expectation for their Task Sheet. I also included a section on the Task Sheet with a
glossary of earthquake terms that they could use throughout the week. For students who finish early, I provided an
extra section and activity for them to extend their learning on earthquakes.
In the design process, students are able to design their own structure on paper or by using a digital resource before
working with a team to construct one structure. For the reflection, students will write their own ideas about the
learning and the design process. They will choose to record just their voice reading their reflection using
Screencastify, or they may choose to video themselves reading their reflection from their paper or using a
teleprompter website. I will also open up the opportunity for students to construct their own structure at home and
bring it in to test on the shake table. My final thought for the students at the conclusion of this unit was the last slide
on the slideshow. To further their application of earthquake knowledge, I showed the students an image of a railroad
track that was curved from an earthquake and asked the students to think and discuss how they would help railroad
companies prevent that from happening.

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?)

Students will reflect on their learning and will be asked to respond to their peers’ reflections, as well. To get
feedback on my unit, I will ask students and their teacher various questions throughout the week and listen to
students as they work together to gain more insight. After the unit, I plan to meet with some students and the
teacher to discuss their likes/dislikes and what should be changed for next year. I also think it would be good to
ask the teacher a few weeks after the unit if she has noticed any students referring back to this unit in
discussions or in their work.

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.

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 After implementing this lesson, I see that many things went well, but there are some improvements that should be
made before teaching this unit again. Planning the unit took more time than I had thought because of the many
technology components, but that ended up being the reason this unit was successful. I understand why teachers
hesitate to plan such intricate units with this much planning because it did take more time than other units I have
planned with less technology. However, I loved how the students took ownership of their learning with the hyperdoc
Task Sheet, and the teacher said they are not usually this engaged with their work. In fact, the following week, she had
created her own hyperdoc for reading and asked me to come in to facilitate the students while they worked on it! I feel
like that component itself is something I should expose to all of our teachers, as we transition to using our technology
more in the classrooms. I had found so many quality digital resources on earthquakes that I wanted to use, but I would
not have had time to use them all unless I linked them in a hyperdoc. The students said they enjoyed the freedom they
had in working through the document in any order, and the small details of pasting a screenshot of their quiz scores
was fun. The best part, though, was in how much information they gained on earthquakes and were able to apply how
the pushes and pulls of the earth made the buildings fall down. As they discussed their ideas about the earthquake-
proof structures in their groups, the reasoning behind their suggestions was based on the learning from the week.
Several students referred back to the Brainpop, Jr. video clip and some even remembered details from the introduction
video we watched and tied those in to why they wanted to add certain features to their structure. It was exciting to
watch the groups encounter problems and work together to fix them. One group had their structure complete, but it kept
falling over on its own. They ended up taking it all apart and rebuilding it a different way before the first test on the
shake table. The students were truly applying their learning to authentic, real-world issues, and I believe this is why
there were so engaged in the unit.
While I felt the overall unit was a success, there were several small things that I observed that will need to be adjusted
in the future and some things that surprised me. The first thing I noted is that one week for this unit is not long enough
because the students always seemed rushed to complete the activities, and some students were not finished with all of
the Task Sheet at the end of the week. I did not allow for enough time for the design process because I had no idea
that the students would want to put so much thought into their structure. I was thinking that they would sketch
something out quickly, so that they could get to the building part, but that was not the case for this class. We had to cut
them short on their drawing and just had them explain their ideas to the group instead. Having assigned roles for the
group would have been helpful because some groups took up time establishing these before building. I also had to
adjust my expectations of how high the structure needs to be with the marshmallows and toothpicks because as they
were building, it was clear that it would never get that tall. I had expected their structures to fall on the first test trial, but
they all stayed standing! After watching the videos of the shake table later, I realized that they did not fall because we
had put a piece of paper underneath the structures, and they were sliding around the table. I believe we would have
had some falls without that paper, so students would have had the chance to experience the excitement of rebuilding
and trying again.
The reflection part of my plan was not as good as I expected because the students wrote very little about the learning.
I know they learned a lot, but they were just not very motivated to write it all down. It may work better if a teacher asked
them guided questions, like an interview, but this would take up a lot of time. Some students tried using Screencastify,
but no one actually completed their whole reflection. They kept messing up on what they were saying and felt that they
needed to start over. I wanted to try having students use Screencastify to just read through their Task Sheets to reflect
on their learning, but we ran out of time. Next time, students will need to be more familiar with using screencasts and
practice what they will say before beginning the recording.
In speaking with the students during and after the unit, I learned that they enjoyed how the unit was set up and loved
finding out information on their own. Their favorite part was building the structure and testing it on the shake table.
When I asked them how they applied their learning of earthquakes to the structure, they were not sure what I meant at
first. After probing them more, they began to realize how what they learned on the websites connected to how they built
their structure. It was an “ah-ha” moment for many of the students, and maybe it was because they are young, but I
was surprised a little that they missed why they were researching earthquakes all week long. Next time, I will need to
make that aspect clearer to them and ask more questions during the week of how they will use that knowledge to build
their structure. Hopefully, they will make the connection during the unit instead of after it was completed! Or, maybe by
then, the students will have had more experience with units like this that they will automatically make the connections to
what they are learning and how they will apply that knowledge.

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