Sample Lesson Plans Using Web 2.0 Tools

Lessons from Science:

A “closed” Facebook group for Honors Chemistry
Dr. Shannon Hardie

A closed Facebook group is an easy and fun way to connect with students through a Web 2.0 site they use everyday.  Although we have semi-interactive class webpages through our school’s on-line portal, I find that my students rarely log on to this website except to get assignments or class resources.  Even communicating with the students through the school’s email is sometimes difficult, since many of them only check their school mail every few days.  However, the vast majority of our high school students use Facebook for daily social interactions, which makes it an ideal way medium for communication and problem solving.

Setting up a closed group is easy:

1.     Go to your home page and click “Create Group” in the left hand column.

2.     A pop-up box will appear, where you will be able to add a group name, add members and select the privacy setting for your group, which should be “closed”. Click the “Create Group” button when you're finished. 

a.     Note: this is the only slightly tricky part.  You must select one “friend” in order to set up a group.  Since we are not permitted to “friend” students, you may need to select another teacher, school administrator, or someone else with whom you’re already friends in order to set up the group.  You may delete them once the group is established if you wish.

3.     Once the group is created, you will be taken to the group's page.  At the top right of the page, select the icon for “Edit Group”. From here you can add a group description, set a group email address, add a group picture and manage members.

a.     Under “membership approval”, select:  “Any member can add members, but an admin must approve them.”

b.     Under “posting permission”, select: “Only members can post in this group.”

4.    Since you have created the group, you will be the only administrator, which means only you have the power to delete posts, approve new members, etc..  If, for some reason, you’d like to give a student or another teacher these privileges as well, do the following:

a.     Click on the About tab.

b.     Find a member by scrolling through the page or entering a name in the search box.

c.     Click Make Admin under the name of the member you wish to add as an administrator.

5.     Give your students the exact name of the group (i.e. “Dr. Hardie – Chemistry Honors”).  There are a very large number of groups on Facebook, so you may need to make it quite specific.  Once they search for the group and find it, they may select “Ask to Join”.  Once you approve their request, they will have access to the group and posting privileges.

You may need to set some initial ground rules before giving your students access to a class group.  For example: the group may be used ONLY for discussing class topics, it may not be used to complain about the class, all interactions must be polite and respectful, etc.. 

If the students follow a few simple rules, the interactions can be fantastic.  I generally let the students ask and answer each other’s questions before jumping in, but if I see that a significant number of people are struggling with a concept, I become an active participant in the discussion.  Some examples of how students have used the group are shown on the following page.

A few examples of conversations on our group page:

 

The Physics of Angry Birds: 

An Alternative Assessment

8^th grade Physical Science

by Shari Hiltbrand

The Kinkaid School

Houston, TX

Objective:  To assess student understanding of force, motion, acceleration, and the application of Newton’s Laws of Motion.  

Tools used:  Laptop; Google docs; Chrome browser/Free version of Angry Birds; Tracker (Free Open Source Physics video analysis software http://www.cabrillo.edu/~dbrown/tracker/ ), www.screencast-o-matic Screen video recording software (free); www.blogspot.com to display work: class Twitter account for questions (www.twitter.com) or school email chat feature

Procedure: Students received questions on my blog (http://hiltbrandscience8.blogspot.com/p/ab-what-to-learnknow.html ) to guide them in their development of a blog about the Physics of Angry Birds.  Students were required to video segments of the game to help them explain the concepts/questions as well as provide commentary to clarify their understanding.  They used the videos in the Tracker software to analyze the motion of the birds to help them do some basic calculations that relate to force, motion, acceleration, and Newton’s Laws.  Students worked in pairs or threes and were required to divide the labor by indicating in the blog the segments of the project they completed.  One of the requirements of the process was to give a daily summary of what they learned or figured out as well as a progress report on the main post page of their blog.   Students created tabs for the project based on the categories of knowledge to demonstrate, including terminology in their own words.  Students shared their blog addresses (which they signed up for through our school email system) with me and I linked to them from my blog.   Grades/results were shared with students via the rubric Google docs/email. 

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

1)Set up and define TERMINOLOGY.  Terms have been shared via Google docs.

HW:  Complete terminology.  Be sure to share the link to your blog with Mrs. Hiltbrand.

Angry Birds Project Terminology

Terms to define/explain.  Use formulas in an explanation if a term has one.  Be sure to include units.  Definitions/explanations should be in your own words...not just a definition from the book.  If you use other sources besides your text or class video to help you explain the term, be sure to include the specific source (URL, etc.) in the definition/explanation.  Examples are always a good idea to explain.  You may insert diagrams and/or images as well that relate to the term.   

distance	force	inertia
displacement	net force	Isaac Newton
speed	balanced force	First Law of Motion
average speed	unbalanced force	Second Law of Motion
instantaneous speed	motion	Third Law of Motion
velocity	mass	friction
acceleration; include positive acceleration and negative acceleration	weight	gravity
acceleration due to gravity	law of gravitation	momentum
air resistance	free fall	projectile
energy	potential energy	kinetic energy

2) AB: What to learn/know/demonstrate in your blog

MASS AND WEIGHT

• Determine the relative mass of each bird.  Why does it matter?
• Does the mass of the bird affect the weight of the bird?  How?

FORCES

• Does gravity exist in "Angry Bird" land?  Show & explain how this is demonstrated in the game. 
• Is the gravity of AB land the same as Earth's gravity? (You will probably use Tracker to show this.)
• Does air resistance seem to exist in AB land?
• What does the way the different birds interact with the different materials the "pig fortress" is made of tell you about the density/type of material?

SPEED, VELOCITY, ACCELERATION 

• What effect does the stretch of the slingshot have on the velocity of the birds (remember what velocity includes?  Does the stretch affect the acceleration? What about the force the bird hits with?
• Determine the vertical velocity of the red angry bird.  
• Determine the horizontal velocity of the red angry bird. 

NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION

• Explain how each of Newton's laws is shown in Angry Birds.  Show two examples of each law in the game with an explanation of how it shows the law.

Day-to-day process/tasks (About 5 days start to finish.)

DAY 1:  Introduce project; set up blog; assign terminology. Use Twitter or email chat to ask questions or discuss ideas with teammate or teacher.
HW:  Work on terminology.  Don't put this off or you'll be struggling during the project.
DAY 2:  Discuss video recording technology to be used during project. These will be used to answer questions (given in class) relating to the physics of the game.

HW:  Determine the portions of Angry Birds to be used to explain the questions.  Recordings should be saved to your Optimus account.
DAY 3-end of project : Continue work on AB project. don't forget day-to-day posts.
We'll learn how to use Tracker to analyze video as we get closer to the end of the project.

Lesson from Foreign Language:
Shari Harris

Capítulo 13 Proyecto: Glogster del medio ambiente

Son para el martes, 17 de abril!!

Enlace: http://edu.glogster.com/

Vas a crear un Glog sobre algún “problema” con el medio ambiente. Su Glog debe incluir:

·            fotos de la red que ilustran el problema

·            Vocabulario del capítulo 13 (páginas 442-444) “la naturaleza” (por lo menos 8 palabras)

·            Una frase que nos dice el problema con el medio ambiente que quieres resolver.

·            Una frase de emoción con el subjuntivo (13.1-p.452)

·            Una frase subjuntiva de duda, negación o negación (13.2- p. 456)

·            Una frase subjuntiva con una conjunción (13.2-p. 457)

·            Una solución con una frase impersonal (12.3- p.424) o con frase de volición (12.4- p. 426)

Your (quiz) grade will be based upon meeting the above requirements, creativity and effort. The Glogs will be shared with the class next week.

You may make your Glog serious or funny…it’s about creative use of your language skills!

The glogs are due on Tuesday, April 17th. (This will be a great review of subjunctive before Wednesday’s test) Make sure that you can still log into glogster…don’t wait until Tuesday!

NOTE: This is a Spanish 2 Earth Day project that the students did in which they made a “Glog” (digital poster) to illustrate environmental problem and to discuss what needed to be done to fix the problem using their Spanish vocabulary and structures. Students have accounts, usernames and passwords.

Lesson from Upper School English:
Christa Forster

Click here!


Lesson from Lower School Social Studies
Lisa Curry and Clifton Walker

Texas Technology Project Outline

Texas Revolution 1826 to 1836

Subject: Social Studies

Grade: 4

Brief Description: Each student will create a Voice Thread on their selected topic. The voice thread must include pictures, comments(voice and text), and transitions.

Student Must include the following  information in their presentation:

• Early life before they got to Texas
• Majority of report – impact on Texas
• Life after the Revolution (end of life)

Student Voice Thread presentation should include :

• 3 to 5 minute Voice Thread presentation
• At least 8 to 10 slides
• A picture on each slide
• Narration on each slide
• One imported video- no more than 1 minute long
• Text on each slide in complete sentences
• May upload movie and/or music; you can upload your own movie

Student Topics & Events:
Washington on the Brazos
Susanna Dickinson
Mirabeau Lamar
Ben Milam
William Travis
James Butler Bonham
Santa Anna
David Burnett
Juan Seguin
Deaf Smith
Moses Austin
Sam Houston
Stephen F, Austin
Davy Crockett
Jim Bowie
General Cos
James Fannin
General Urrea

Events
1st battle of Alamo - Bexar
Battle of Alamo
Battle of Gonzales
Battle at San Jacinto
Battle Goliad
Runaway Scrape
Washington on the Brazos (next year)

Class Work:
1.  Choose Topic
2.  Research with books/Note Taking
      Sequencing—timeline
Outline Form
        Script
        (Peer Tutoring)

Computer Lab:
1.  Lesson on Print Shop /1-2 classes (Create Title Slide)
2.  Lesson on Google image Search (Create folder, Save & Name Images in folder)
3.  Lessons on Voice Thread        

• Intro. & Explore
• How to import images
• How to add text comment/ How to add voice comment
• How to import video
• How to add About Author page – (Word)

Notes for Voicethread:

1.  Choose topic/make a folder for everything!!!!
2.  Find 8-10 pictures--be expansive---birth place, battle grounds, friends, family
3.   Write descriptions or script/on computer  Word or Pages---Open script and VT at the same time to record script--(3-4 sentences)
4.  Arrange pictures in order---can always rearrange
5.  Begin recording scripts---
6.  Class look at two or three unfinished recorded scripts--make suggestions
7.  Biggest problem----sound differential---has to be adjusted---some recorded several times.
8.  Music and Movies come AFTER everything else is finished--Mr. Pickett supervises this


Texas Technology Fair 2012 Dates & Times:
Lingenfelder-March 21 @8:15 to 9:00 a.m.
Curry-March--27 @ 8:15 to 9:00a.m.
Walker--March 26 @ 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Stanley--March 22 @2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.