Lesson Plan for Implementing

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

Position 8th Grade Georgia Studies Teacher

School/District Holcomb Bridge Middle School/ Fulton County Schools

E-mail LisaFlicker@gmail.com

Phone Available upon request

Grade Level(s) 8th

Content Area Social Studies

Time line 3 Weeks

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.

For this learning activity, I wanted students to understand and to be able to evaluate the role Georgia played in the
modern era civil rights movement (SS8H11). This included understanding the role of individuals (Martin Luther
King, Jr. and John Lewis), groups (SNCC and SCLC) and events (Albany Movement and March on Washington)
played during this time period. I also wanted to include some of the ELA standards that would allow students to
create more relevant and higher order thinking products. Students would engage in a range of collaborative
activities that included following rules for cooperative discussions and decision-making, tracking progress towards
goals, and posing questions to speakers that may require elaboration and evidence to support products they were
creating. Furthermore, I wanted my students to use knowledge of language and conventions to create relevant
written and speaking products while completing their choice boards and iMovie documentaries.

Through the incorporation of technology, I would facilitate the positive, safe, legal, and ethical use of technology
while working on line, and whether individually or collaboratively (ISTE-S, 2b). Students needed to utilize effective
research strategies and be able to locate information to create their products that explored real-life situations and
through the utilization of various multi-media resources (ISTE-S, 3c and 3d). My students, through this
experience, would be creating original works to publish and share them to a class Padlet and their iTunes U
courses (ISTE-S, 6b and 6c). The opportunities and experiences within this lesson will allow students to contribute
constructively within their team, promote individual responsibilities, and be explained through research of multiple
viewpoints and community resources (ISTE-S, 7b & 7c).

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

This lesson included a Web Quest and the creation of a collaborative video surrounding our standard
SS8H11. This was a lesson I had actually created in an ITEC class I took last summer, and was very
excited to be able to use it again for this artifact. I wanted to provide an opportunity for students to tie
in what they were learning regarding this time period with real-life and authentic connections to our
community. We have wonderful resources on the Modern Civil Rights Movement here in Atlanta, and I
want to provide an opportunity for students to be able to access them and use them for their own
research and learning. For this lesson, we spent the first couple of days discussing and analyzing the
Modern Civil Rights Movement time period in Georgia history. I then turned over the learning to my
students, as they took ownership and created a direction for their own learning through activities within
the Civil Rights Movement Web Quest. The Web Quest allowed students to create an individualized
path by completing a Choice Board Productivity Card. Upon completion, they had a greater
understanding of the time period, as well as the people, events, and groups that helped to influence
the Modern Civil Rights Movement in Georgia.

By having chosen activities that are of interest to them, this learning opportunity allowed students to
show me what they have learned and connections they were able to make and in a format that worked
best for them. All products created by students were uploaded to our iTunes U course under the
SS8H11 Civil Rights Movement Path and Pace Card. This included screenshots, uploads, videos, and
attachments. All paths could be adjusted with their “voice”, they just needed to see me if they had a
new idea they wanted to try.

The second task required students to complete in small groups. Groups were decided upon by interest
of the specific groups, events, or people in this unit. The topics included will be Brown v. Board of
Education, MLK, Jr., John Lewis, SNCC, SCLC, Albany Movement, and the March on Washington. At
this point, they continued to research their specific topic more in depth, and by also utilizing
community resources, like the King Center, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, as well as the
Carter Center. Their research could even include a family member or friend who is willing to be
interviewed for this project, and who experienced, firsthand, this time period or was even a part of one
of these events. I also offered students the option of interviewing members of our community that
were a part of this time to period and whom I had arranged to come to our school on a particular day.
Using iMovie on their iPads, the groups edited and created a short documentary on the
event/person/topic they researched, including any possible interviews that they may have taken to
highlight this period of time and that would add to the richness and understanding of the documentary.
This documentary should be at least 4 minutes in length, and created using iMovie. The videos
needed to include movie, stills, and audio clips from the time period, as well as any other material
culture representations that they felt added to the richness and understanding of their documentaries.

We had planned to share the documentaries with our 5th grade buddies over at Esther Jackson
Elementary School. We were going to skype with them to get feedback and answer any questions that
they may have about this time period and their documentaries. I knew our 5 th grade buddy classes
were working on a similar unit at the same time, but from the prospective of American history, so I
thought this would be a wonderful extension for them. However, due to field trips and other scheduled
events, this part of my original lesson plan did not come to fruition. Instead, I had a couple of my
classes share what they had learned with 7th grade social studies classes that we could coordinate
with due to differing schedules.

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Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

 Who were some of the influential individuals (Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis), groups (SNCC
and SCLC) and events (Albany Movement and March on Washington) that helped to facilitate the
Modern Era Civil Rights Movement in Georgia?
 What was Georgia’s response to the Brown v. Board of Education verdict?
 How would you explain the resistance to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and including the role that Lester
Maddox played within Georgia?

The essential questions above were utilized within this lesson to assist my students understanding the
important concepts, people, groups, and events that influenced this specific time period in Georgia history. Prior
knowledge was necessary on the events that led Georgia to react in the ways it did and to events that affected
this movement during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Students needed to bring to the collaborative phase of this lesson
the specific information they had gained and mastered from their completion of the productivity card.

Additionally, I expected my students to follow positive, safe, and ethical digital citizenship within this learning
opportunity. This was vital as they would be accessing information on the internet and communicating with
other people outside our school in order to complete their choice board (Path and Pace Card). This was also
the case as they worked collaboratively to create a video based on their specific person, event, or group.

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.

On-going assessments were included throughout this lesson plan and for the purpose of evaluating students
understanding of the process and the goals within it. If they were not, the assessments gave me the ability to
pinpoint the areas they were having difficulty or misconceptions they were having and to reteach or modify
based on students’ individual needs. All resources provided were offered in various formats so to be accessed
by all the different learning styles in my class.

The first assessment opportunity occurred when I introduced the new information through class discussions,
web resources, and PPT links within our iTunes U course. I was able to find any misconceptions they may have
from the start and through teacher observation, individual and small group sessions.

During the first section of the Web Quest, students had the opportunity to review newly gained information by
completing 2 of 3 activities. The first choice, the BrainPOP video, gave me feedback through small group
discussion. The Quizizz and Quizlet, I accessed to see how students were progressing and which concepts
they missed. Once students began Part II, the choice board, they were provided a rubric to use and
encouraged to look back on when working on choice board activities. Students had the opportunity to create
products based on their own interests and strengths. They needed to obtain 50 points to earn a 100%. The
rubric and grading section for this activity is mid-way through the lesson and provides opportunity to see that
students have a strong base before continuing on with the collaborative phase. Differentiation was promoted
through the choice board. Modification of points and activities were made for my ELL and LD students.

There was provided a rubric for the video documentary I wanted students to refer to and use while creating
their group project. Their score is based on 100% possible points. The rubrics are provided to view within the
body of the Web Quest and within the areas of the projects that students will be working on. The students were
assessed through the rubrics attached: Rubric for the SS8H11 Choice Board, and SS8H11 Civil War iMovie
Documentary Rubric

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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?)

Throughout this learning experience, technology is being used to support student learning through the
utilization of Web 2.0 tools and resources. First of all, the format for the Web Quest is accessed through a
Weebly. The Weebly gives me the opportunity to provide resources necessary for completing the Web Quest
as well as the background information needed for students to refer back on. Through this format, I am also able
to provide video tutorials on using iMovie, images to support the time period and articles that pertain to this
lesson and time period. I am also able to include resources that follow the Universal Design Principals. I
accomplished this by providing multiple means for accessing the information included within the Web Quest.
Students could access resources on line or through printed paper copies, depending on whether information
needed to be modified for either a learning disabled student or an ELL student. They could also use keyboards,
as needed, or listen to me explaining the activities through buttons provided throughout the Weebly.

Students were provided access to BrainPOP videos, iMovie tutorials, rubrics, Quizizz and Quizlet links. When
completing their choice board, students had the opportunity to create products with any Web 2.0 tool they
wanted to use or try out. Examples of tools that were used were Piktochart, Keynote, PPT, Prezi, Kahoot,
Sway, and iTunes U. During the iMovie creation phase, students were asked to use Popplet to organize their
information and Padlet to post their products while also including a brief group reflection.

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 order to assess what my students’ individual foundational needs, interests, and prior learning was for this
lesson, I reviewed IEP and 504 notes, as well as the performance check-points for my ELL students. In order to
assist my students with being successful, I made sure to consider Universal Design Principles when creating
the Web Quest Weebly and allowed for modifications within the choice board.

Through class discussions at the beginning of this unit, warm-ups, and Tickets Out the Door, I was able to gage
where my students were and to redirect any misunderstandings of the concepts within this unit. Once we began
the Web Quest, the first section involved students using Quizizz and Quizlet, to which I could easily see how
they were progressing and grasping the concepts with the unit vocabulary. The BrainPOP had an activity for
students to complete that was another opportunity for me to informally assess.

Students in my class were familiar with completing choice boards, as they have had opportunity to use this
format for learning before. The format empowered my students to use their own voice to create choice products
that were based upon their own particular interests. Furthermore, most of my students have created iMovies
whether in my class or in previous classes. I had made sure that there was at least one student in each
documentary group that was proficient in using iMovie. I did not want the uncertainty of how to use this Web 2.0
tool to be a deterrence for completing this section of the project. In case students were working at home and
having difficulty with this tool, I uploaded a tutorial for creating iMovies on to my Web Quest.

Link to my Web Quest Weebly is provided here, SS8H11 Modern Civil Rights Era in Georgia Web Quest

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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 classroom management strategies I used to manage my students and their use of digital tools and
resources were to integrate, in an on-going process, ISTE-T standards 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d. This included my
modeling safe, ethical, and legal use of the internet. I discussed the importance of copyright rules and
regulations and gave examples on how I wish them to document their resources.

Students completed most of their work on this lesson within my classroom. My classes range from 18-31
students. My largest class has an assistant as required by IEP’s for several of my special needs students. As
students were working on the first task, I rotated around the room and accessed the reports from Quizizz.
During the choice board section of this Web Quest, I pulled small groups to assess understanding and to clarify
any misconceptions. These groups were pulled from products already turned in to our iTunes U course and
through teacher observation. I was able to rotate around groups as students were creating their iMovie
documentaries. For this section, I also asked our Personalized Learning Coach to come assist in some of my
classes as students were putting their iMovies together and incorporating the various resources they had. She
also helped students to locate resources that would be useful for their products.

The first task for this lesson was primarily completed independently. I allowed some of my ELL students to work
in pairs with a buddy to facilitate increased comprehension. The second task, which included the completion of
a choice board, was primarily independent as well. However, students were given the opportunity to create their
own choices that would involve working with a peer or in a small group. Students were allowed to use their own
interests and voices to create products which helped to promote more engagement within my class and during
the completion of this specific task.

In regard to troubleshooting, we are a 1:1 school with iPads issued to each student. However, some students
may forget their iPads at home or not have them charged. When this occurs, students typically have access to
a grade level iPad issued out by the grade level chair. The downside to this is that they are not able to access
their iTunes U accounts from these borrowed devices. Therefore, any resources they wish to access through
iTunes U or any uploads that they would like to complete with their products will have to wait until they have
been given their issued device. Therefore, I made sure to load as many resources as they needed for this
lesson on to the Weebly Web Quest.

I was concerned with my students’ ability to reach out and arrange meetings with people who had agreed to be
interviewed. Therefore, I made sure that the people I was providing for this assignment could all come to my
class on the specific days that we would be needing them. One of our interviewees ended up being a parent of
a student in my homeroom class. We did need to double up a bit, and I allowed groups to come to my class
during lunch, Hawk 30, and connections to complete their interviews. Connections teachers were very
accommodating. I also arranged for students to be able to use the media center and a colleague’s room next
door when she was not having class.

Another issue we had, that was difficult to maneuver around, was that there would be one student from each
group who had the iMovie presentation loaded on to their account. Until this was completed and loaded in to
the Padlet, students within the group would not have access to it. I wish there was some kind of collaborative
feature loaded in to iMovie. We did have several issues with students who had their team’s iMovie on their iPad
and were absent on vital collaborative days at school. This would hinder the work the group was trying to
accomplish. However, once the documentary was completed and loaded in to Padlet, it did not matter if the
student who initially had it was at school as any member of the group could access it to share their
presentation.

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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?

The research based instructional strategies I utilized for this lesson involved incorporating authentic and
collaborative learning opportunities for my students. I played more the role of a facilitator and allowed students
to direct their own learning. According to the article by Holcomb & Beal (2010), with the utilization of Web 2.0
tools, social studies can now be taught in more hands-on, interactive and problem-based formats. These tools
can also foster student-centered projects, constructivist teaching and collaborative efforts (2010). According to
the article by Downes & Bishop (2012), middle school students are fascinated with Web 2.0 and more than any
other age group. They spend 230% more time using technology than 8-10 year olds. It is suggested that
technology be applied in four different manners in order to engage this very technologically savvy group. This
includes intermeshing technology as a means for utilizing inquiry, communication, construction and expression
(2012).

My role during this lesson was initially as an instructor as I presented students with the standard and resources
for mastering the new concepts and vocabulary. After that, and as my students moved in to the Web Quest
phase, my role transformed to that of a facilitator. Students were asked to create products based on their own
interests and strengths and to conduct research and collaborate using a wide range of web-based tools. Grant
(2003) states that teacher-facilitators must be prepared for the controlled chaos and increased noise from peer
collaboration, implementing soft skills like time management and group negotiations, and planning ahead to
have appropriate resources available for their students. All of these I feel are vital and what I tried to include
and within my lesson.

Higher order thinking processes was promoted through implementation of choice board activities. These
activities enabled students to reflect on what they were learning and to use new knowledge and technology
applications to create products. Voice and choice was, therefore, helping students to demonstrate mastery of
the standard we were covering. During the documentary phase, students were asked to research and analyze
the various resources pertaining to their topic to create an iMovie. Students needed to work collaboratively,
follow a rubric, and determine which pieces of information were instrumental in accomplishing their task. They
needed to reach out to members of the community and access local resources within our city that could provide
the information they needed. Furthermore, they needed to prepare topic questions for an interview and be able
to incorporate all of these different resources in to one documentary.

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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?)

Within my web quest, I took in to consideration the Universal Design Principals by providing multiple means for
access to the Web Quest and the information and resources included. Students could access the Web Quest
from the web link provided within our iTunes U course or through QR codes strategically placed around the
classroom. I also provided a paper copy so that I would be able to use specific reading strategies to chunk and
modify the various parts. Furthermore, students were able to listen to the different sections through a link, and
had available to them different options for the productivity card. These options also included modifying the
points for some of my diverse learning groups as I tried to promote success within this group of students. I took
in to consideration the various modalities of learners within my class as I provided a review for of the concepts
and vocabulary for this unit. Students were able to choose any 2 of the three choices to hone in on the
particular strands of this unit. Keyboards were provided for students who work better or need this
accommodation. I also had students use google translate as an assistance tool for my ELL learners.

Furthermore, students were allowed to present their products in formats that could best exemplify their mastery
of the standards we were covering. There was no one size fits all in regard to this aspect of the web quest, and
students always had the option of modifying or adding in other options if they wanted to do something else that
could help them to best show mastery. Student voice and choice was promoted throughout this lesson and
specifically through the choice board and documentary sections.

Students were allowed to work with peers and in small groups during most of the lesson. This was encouraged
for certain learning groups, such as my ELL and learning disabled students. Enrichment opportunities were
promoted through students being allowed to go as far in-depth as they wish with choice board products and to
be able to create their own choices based on their particular strengths and interests. Remediation was
conducted through one-to-one help sessions and small group as determined by teacher observation,
questioning, and informal assessments such as the Quizizz and Quizlet.

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?)

There was a closing event for this learning experience and it was promoted through class Padlets I created for
each of my 5 classes. Within this Padlet, each documentary team loaded the iMovie they created for this lesson
and included a reflection statement. The reflection statement needed to include those factors that went well for
their group while creating this documentary and those that they may have struggled. Also included, were their
views on this lesson, as a whole, and if they would like to add any ideas for improving upon it. Other groups
were encouraged to refer to other groups when completing their responses. I was able to meet with teams to
go over their Padlet responses. This was especially important because it was my first time utilizing this lesson
and I felt that student feedback was necessary for me to improve upon it the next time and in areas that I may
not yet be aware of. In order for students to share their feedback in a more personalized and individualized
manner, I directed them to the feedback survey provided within the Weebly Web Quest.

Overall, the students did find this lesson very meaningful and especially liked the task that involved creating
their own documentary. As many were already familiar with iMovie and have had experience in my class with
choice boards, there was not much of a learning curve. I do feel I need to utilize some other choices along with
iMovie for video production. I need to find a Web 2.0 tool that may allow students to work collaboratively on
this.

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Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.

I very much enjoyed implementing this lesson and was a bit more in tune to specific aspects of it knowing that I
was going to use the lesson for this particular assignment. I adjusted some of the Web Quest as my students
were working on it to include the Padlet reflection section. This was not a part of the original lesson idea. My
original plan included a Web Quest survey that I also allowed students to complete on a voluntary basis.
However, the Padlet was something I very much wanted to utilize as it allowed their final product to be available
for others and gave students, as a group, the opportunity to create a collaborative reflection. The reflection
allowed students to brainstorm together in a more relaxed setting and not worry about having to put their
individual thoughts down.

I found it both exciting and a little nerve-wracking to utilize community resources within this lesson. Although
most of the people who were agreeing to be interviewed showed up and on time, we did have two that needed
to cancel at the last moment due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the people I did have available
agreed to also meet with other groups to assist as based on their own experiences.

My advice to others who may choose to utilize this lesson would be to make sure they have some back-up
people for students to interview. I also feel it is important that they know ahead of time the areas of this
standard the people being interviewed would also be willing to be interviewed on and have knowledge with in
case they encounter the same issue I had with people not being able to come. I would also remind educators
to check the resources and links within the Web Quest, one of mine was not working and I needed to fix it
during class time. I had not checked it ahead of time, assuming it was going to be a link that still worked. I
learned the hard way, and during one of my class times. That is something I will definitely not do again or be
prepared for!

Downes, J. j., & Bishop, P. p. (2012). Educators engage digital natives and learn from their experiences with
technology. Middle School Journal, 43(5), 6-15.

Grant, M. M. (2003). Finding your place in a student-centered classroom as a teacher-facilitator. The

Agricultural Education Magazine, 76(2), 18-19. Retrieved from https://login.proxy.kennesaw.edu/login?
url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/docview/225008229?accountid=11824

Holcomb, L. B., & Beal, C. M. (2010). Capitalizing on Web 2.0 in the Social Studies Context. Techtrends:
Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 54(1), 28-32. doi:10.1007/s11528-010-0417-0

ISTE. (2007). ISTE-S, Standards for Students. Retrieved April 12, 2018, from web.

ISTE. (2008). ISTE-T, Standards for Teachers. Retrieved April 12, 2018, from web.

Links to Rubrics and Assessments:

Rubric for the SS8H11 Choice Board

SS8H11 Civil War iMovie Documentary Rubric

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