Information Literacy Plan Danielle Walden Georgia Southern University Fall 2011 Dr.

Purcell

Presidential Pathfinder for Teachers URL: http://delicious.com/stacks/view/EcDDI4

Mr. President: This is a Day in Your Life

GRADE: 3rd TEACHER(S): Danielle Walden (SLMS), Michelle Fields (Teacher)

CONTENT TOPIC: Social Studies (Government) STANDARDS FOR THE 21 -CENTURY LEARNER GOALS Standard: 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. Skills Indicator(s): 3.1.5: Connect learning to community issues. Benchmark(s): Express personal connections to the topic or question. Identify how the topic or question relates to a real-world need. Connect ideas and information to situations and people in the larger community. Dispositions Indicator(s): 3.2.2: Show social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by contributing questions and ideas during group discussions. Responsibilities Indicator(s): 3.3.1: Solicit and respect diverse perspectives while searching for information, collaborating with others, and participating as a member of the community. 3.3.2: Respect the differing interests and experiences of others, and seek a variety of viewpoints. 3.3.3: Use knowledge and information skills and dispositions to engage in public conversation and debate around issues of common concern. 3.3.4: Create products that apply to authentic, real-world contexts. 3.3.6: Use information and knowledge in the service of democratic values 3.3.7: Respect the principles of intellectual freedom. Self-Assessment Strategies Indicator(s): 3.4.2: Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product. CONNECTION TO LOCAL OR STATE STANDARDS SS3CG1 The student will explain the importance of the basic principles that provide the foundation of a republican form of government. o c. State an example of the responsibilities of each level and branch of government. OVERVIEW: Mrs. Fields and I have worked together before when I was in Methods II at Georgia Southern. During my time there (Fall 2009), I watched her teach a unit on Democracy. I knew that since she teaches this unit each year around November, it would be a good way for me to come into her class and add a little something extra to her unit, without completely changing how she conducts the unit. Mrs. Fields is really accommodating when it comes to teaching in her classroom and she is always up to doing something new and to using technology during her lessons. I have witnessed her many times showing YouTube videos of
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School House Rock to teach fractions and other concepts to students and these concepts have had a lasting effect on students compared to just teaching the material just from the book. During my undergraduate tenure at Georgia Southern, I have come across and used the website in my lesson to create a unit for my P-5 Social Studies class. I really like the website that is put together by PBS. I think that it is a fun way for students to learn about the President and when I found out about this Information Literacy assignment, I knew this would be what I would want to use to teach her students. This lesson will basically be an introduction to government for the students in her class, as she will not be starting this unit until later in November. Mrs. Fields stated during our communications with each other, that teaching this lesson will not interfere with when she teaches them this unit, it will only give them a greater foundation to build upon when they begin later this month. I also knew that with the local elections and the mention on television about the candidates for the Presidential election next year that this lesson would be current and relevant to the students. FINAL PRODUCT: Students will create a newspaper article that illustrates their first day in office as the President of the United States. This article will show the rundown of their day starting from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. Students will show what activities, meetings, charitable events that they participated in on their first day in office. LIBRARY LESSON(S): Students will meet in the schools technology lab. SLMS will conduct an interview with t he students in order to gauge students prior knowledge about the President of the United States. SLMS will also go over the concept of what it means when students see a sign or classified ad that says Help Wanted. SLMS will also go over how to fill out an application for the position of President of the United States of America. ASSESSMENT Product Students will create newspaper illustrating their first day in office as President. Students will also answer questions in the form of a Ticket out the Door to illustrate their knowledge of the duties of the President. Process SLMS will start the lesson by asking questions to assess the prior knowledge of students when it comes to the President. Students will complete the online activity President for a Day. Students will choose the options that they would like to do for each time period indicated by the online program. Students will start out early in the morning and continue

until bedtime, choosing what they want to do as President. SLMS and teacher will be available to answer any questions students have about the work they are required to do. Student self-questioning What do I already know about the President? What have I learned about the President? Did I listen carefully to the instructions given to me? Did I respect the answers that my peers gave during SLMS interview? INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN Resources students will use: Online subscription database(s)
X Web sites: The Democracy Project | PBS KIDS GO!

Reference Nonprint Periodicals/newspapers

Books Other (list):

Instruction/Activities: Direct instruction: SLMS will ask students to answer questions about the President: o What was significant about yesterday? (Im teaching on Wednesday, November 9, so elections were yesterday) o Have you seen/heard on TV what will happen this time next year? o How long can a President be in office? For how many terms? Can President Obama be President again next year, or has he served all of his terms? o How old do you have to be to be President? Where do you have to be born? o What are some of the duties that you think the President performs? o How much money do you think a President makes? Modeling and guided practice: o SLMS will then ask students what it means when they see a sign that says Help Wanted. SLMS will guide students to open up the Acad Launcher folder, click on 3rd grade, Presidents, The Democracy Project. o SLMS will read the Help Wanted Posted and make sure students now understand the answers to the questions she previously asked. o SLMS will ask students to click next and model how to fill out the Presidential Application. o SLMS will ask students to raise hands when they are finished filling out their application, and to NOT click NEXT until they are instructed to do so.

o SLMS will go over the procedure for when students finish their assignment, as well as, the Ticket Out the Door. Independent practice: o Students will complete the President for A Day online activity and print out their newspapers. o Students will also complete their Ticket Out the Door Sharing and reflecting: o This is a short time period that the teacher has allotted for me to do this activity, so if time permits, I will ask students to share what they have written on their Ticket Out the Door which is answering the question what they have learned about being President and if they would want to be President. Reflection on Lesson and Collaboration: Ive known Mrs. Fields since serving in her classroom during my Methods II semester. I have kept in periodic contact with her since that time. I decided that since she was a third grade teacher and that since I would be teaching this lesson around November when she does a government unit, this would be the perfect lesson to come in her classroom and do. I knew that I would not have a great length of time to teach this lesson. I am a full time care taker for my elderly mother-in-law and would have to have my husband take off in order for me to teach. I knew that I would need to find something educational for the students that would also only take about 40 minutes or so to accomplish. Thats why I chose the President for a Day website through PBS. Mrs. Fields and I kept in contact through email. This level of communication worked out for us. Mrs. Fields has seen me work in the classroom, so I knew she would trust me to carry out the lesson in a way that would work for her and her classroom. I gave Mrs. Fields the exact web page that I would need to use to carry out my lesson. She gave the link to the schools Tech Liaison, who then put it into the 3rd grade folder in Acad Launcher for the students to quickly find on the day I would teach. On the day I arrived, Mrs. Fields took me to the computer lab, logged me on and allowed me to set up while her students were at recess with her student teacher. The students were then instructed to go into the lab and I was introduced. I proceeded with my lesson and everything went well. I have not taught in a classroom since my student teaching semester a year and a half ago. This caused me to be a little nervous, thinking I would be rusty at the act of teaching. I was really excited to see that the children

were responding to me. It was a pleasant surprise to see how much I had missed teaching and enjoy working with students. The students did a really good job of answering my preliminary questions and following directions. They were a little antsy. I contribute that to it being the end of the day and also seeing a new face teaching them. I got them started on the activity and Mrs. Fields, her student teacher, and I walked the lab answering questions, as needed. The only glitch in my lesson came at the end. I had asked before the students arrived if the printer worked. I was told it did and failed to check it myself. The students were required to print out their newspaper article that generated at the end of the lesson. When it came time to print, I discovered that not only was the printer out of paper, it was also out of ink. We were nearing the end of the school day, and I was afraid that the students would not be able to print out their paper. The tech liaison was called and she brought the supplies and got us up and running again. The students did a wonderful job on completing their assignment. My evaluation was through a ticket out the door. The students were supposed to tell me if they would or would not like to be the President. They were also required to give me four reasons based on what they learned. All of the students completed the ticket out the door, giving me complete sentences and using the knowledge they acquired from this lesson to answer their questions. I really enjoyed completing this Information Literacy lesson with the students. I know that in the future, I should double check the supplies before I begin. I think that with more practice, I can only learn more about how to do these types of lessons with the students.