Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)

Lesson Idea Name: American Medlies

Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 1st
Content Standard Addressed:
 SS1CG2: Explore the concept of patriotism throught he words in the songs America (My Country ‘Tis
of Thee) and America the Beautiful.

Technology Standard Addressed:

 1, Empowering Learners
 3, Knowledge Constructor
 6, Creative Communications

Selected Technology Tool: PowerPoint

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☒ Level 4: Integration

☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): PowerPoint can support all learners by offering a variety of creative
options. From fonts to colors, students have a plethora of visual aids at their fingertips. For students who
prefer to orate their presentation, there are recording options. They can add photos or models to their
PowerPoint and narrate their points rather than having to type them out. This feature, along with the movie
creation feature, can be especially useful for students who are multi-lingual, as they may not be caught up in
subjects involving spelling or grammar by the time they enter my classroom. Additionally, the movie creation
tool allows those students, as well as those with difficulties in areas such as focus or hearing, to repeat the
presentation until they are comfortable with the information.

Lesson idea implementation: Prior to class, the teacher will make a PowerPoint for America the Beautiful.
During class, students will listen to a recording of the song, and they will discuss some of the themes
throughout the first verse (America’s landscape, the importance of the environment, the idea of brotherhood,
etc.). They will then listen to some other American folk songs like My Country ‘Tis of Thee, The Star Spangled
Banner, and Grand Old Flag. The class will discuss some of the themes that are similar in each of those songs
and determine what sorts of ideals are important to Americans.

The teacher will then present the project idea: creating a PowerPoint book for an American folksong – being
sure to include what they think are important ideas in the song. The teacher will show their PowerPoint as an
example, pointing out how they included ideas between each verse and how they included relevant photos
on each slide. Students will be put into small groups and they will be given time to listen to the American song
of their choice (from those listened to in class) and come up with ideas for/work on their PowerPoint.

Spring 2018_SJB
 Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)

Reflective Practice: Were the lesson to be extended to a higher LoTi level, the teacher may choose to export
the PowerPoints as movies and publish them on the classroom blog, or may print and laminate their
PowerPoints to create books for the class library which may be checked out and shown to parents.

Spring 2018_SJB