Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ashley Fivecoat
The project I am having my students work on gives them insight into all the ways social
media can affect them and society. The end goal of the project is for the students to create a
podcast with their group. The podcast will help them have discussions with their peers and have
them understand how not only they feel after doing the research for this project, but also how
their peers feel. The first day of the project I will introduce the inquiry-based lesson plan I have
created to get them started. As we continue through the 10-day project, students will use
technology to research information and be taught direct instruction. Most of their work will be
done in groups. During this project we will also be requesting major classroom technology we
My name is Ashley Fivecoat and I am a first-year 10th grade English teacher. I am a very
organized and caring person. I believe I have great instructional abilities, work ethic, and social
skills. These skills have helped me learn how to work with various personalities and individuals
I have worked in one 8th grade classroom and two high school classrooms. While
working in these classrooms I worked with students in small groups, one on one, and taught the
entire class. Teaching multiple facets has taught me multiple learning methods to reach kids that
I believe all students should be treated with fairness, dignity, and compassion. All
students should be able to have equal educational opportunities that fit their own learning
abilities. The opportunities given to students by the school and within their community should
instill in them skills and knowledge that helps them reach their personal goals even long after
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high school. The role of the student is to get enough sleep and be at school every day, ready to
learn. Students should come prepared with the materials and mentality to be successful for the
school day. The role of the parent is to talk to their child regarding how their day at school went
and if there is anything with which need help. They should ensure their child attends school each
day. Parents and students should check their ParentVue/StudentVue at least once a week. My
role as their teacher is to give students a safe learning environment where every student feels
they can be themselves and learn to the best of their ability. I will encourage students to feel
confident in themselves through different events and opportunities. I hope to be a role model for
students and inspire them to grow into important members of their communities. The students
should push themselves to do their absolute best. When they are striving to meet their goals, the
community should come together to help the students in various ways. Whether this is by doing
fundraisers, creating parent clubs, or doing potlucks for different clubs or groups in school. With
the community coming together as one, it can boost the morale of the school.
The classroom I have been placed in has great potential to be a space that students look at
as their second home. When I was in high school, one of my favorite teacher’s classroom was
that space for me. I want my classroom to have that same feel for my students. With most of my
classes containing about 30 students, my main goal for the classroom is to empower my students
to lead and make decisions. A classroom of 30 teenagers can be a lot. If I encourage the students
to own what they learn, it can lead to them being willing to make various decisions on how to
show they grasped the content. They will then be able to help their peers master the content. The
community around Trevor Browne high school is extremely transient and a lot of students enroll,
then drop, then re-enroll. The majority of the student population is Hispanic with over 350
The Phoenix Union high school district’s mission is “Preparing every student for success
in college, career, and life”. The goals are to “Increase student achievement” and “Use human
and fiscal resources effectively and responsibly”. The district and its schools offer multiple
different resources to their community. We offer food and clothes boxes to families in need,
provide individual and group services and emotional support, provide college representatives for
This project is needed within the Phoenix Union High School District because social
media takes up many teenagers’ time. Their whole life is on social media and they do not know
the side effects of what social media can do to their minds. A podcast is a positive way to use
technology to speak about all their findings on social media and release it for the entire district to
hear. Many students at Trevor Browne High School need to focus more on school rather than
their phones, and this project could help with that. Some of the learning activities students will
do is work in groups to fill out worksheets and talk about research and participate in Kahoot!.
They will then be placed in groups with mini lessons to watch videos on what they were
questioned on.
Student Impact
I suspect this project to start with impacting the number of students within my class,
which is about 32 students. Once the podcasts are uploaded onto the district website, I would like
to believe that it will continue to impact students throughout the whole district. The pupils will
be able to hear about the effects of social media and many will be intrigued to hear more topics.
Podcasts are a popular thing to listen to and if my project can turn into a club or elective for
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students at each high school, we can impact many more teens. We can create podcasts about
Teacher Impact
classroom. Podcasts are a new assignment that teachers are incorporating into their classrooms so
I am not sure how it will look. If the project becomes as big as I think it can, I can see myself
being in charge of a club for creating podcasts and instructing other teachers how to incorporate
this into their instruction. This project can help me understand my students more by listening to
their discussions between each other on important topics such as this one.
Community Impact
The podcasts being uploaded for the entire district and more to hear can impact the entire
community in a huge way. Other schools can get involved or community members could want to
guest star or contribute to the DonorsChoose for the project and club. The different schools
within the district could even guest star on different schools’ podcasts to collaborate on thinking
and create new friendships. The podcasts can also address issues, events, or activities happening
in the community.
Project Narrative
Each day throughout this project, my students will be working diligently to create their
podcast. The content found in the 10-day project calendar, ‘Table 2” that is found at the end of
this paper, contains the daily activities students will do, what technology they will use, and how
that relates to the standards and objectives for the day. The calendar also shows how I will be
testing their knowledge at the end of each class period. The first-class period of this project will
be dedicated to the inquiry-based plan, found in the “Appendix” at the end of this document.
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Technology
This project includes having to use technology to get the finished project. During this
unit, the students use some type of technology almost every day. The students will need access
the technology to support their learning by using apps to collaborate with classmates, present
knowledge to each other, and support their research and learning. At Trevor Browne High
School, each teacher in the core subjects has their own laptop cart. Therefore, all my students
have access to a computer. The district cares deeply about giving students the best opportunities
to learn and try their best to provide us with the technology needed. The students have their own
cell phones, which means the only other technology I need to find for my students are
microphones and recorders. Classes and clubs such as AV clubs, journalism, etc. could have
these tools and like to share them with us for this project. The library could also have these tools
on hand to rent out. If all else fails, a phone or computer does voice memos.
After this project is posted for the entire district to hear, I think it could become a popular
activity that students would want to participate in. I could continue the project by creating a
podcast club where any student could join. Students would be able to speak on how they feel
with other students and share it with everyone. The podcasts would be on important or relatable
subjects. People from the community, other schools, or even kids not in the club could make
Innovation
This project includes a lot of innovation throughout the process to get to the final product.
Many assignments are usually based on facts about a topic such as this one, but the podcast lets
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students speak about their own opinion and stories, while also bringing in facts to back them up.
With the podcast, they are allowed to collaborate with their group members while conversating
and build on top of each other’s ideas. This lets students think about different aspects of the topic
and you can also see their ideas and thoughts change as their peers give their own outlook. The
students get to the driving question by using facts, but by also hearing how everyone else feels
about social media and how it affects each person differently. This project will transform student
learning by letting them learn from their peers. It will transform my teaching by being able to see
the thoughts in the student’s minds go back and forth and change into a concept they hadn’t
thought of before.
Budget Narrative
For the class project, my students will need access to a few different items that exceed the
planned school budget at Trevor Browne High School. Since the Phoenix Union High School
District has distributed class laptop carts to each educator that teaches a core subject, I do not
need to worry about obtaining the most expensive technology needed for the project.
The one thing students will need to be able to record their podcast is a headset with
microphone. On Amazon, there is a pack of 16 Logitech headsets with microphones for $549.
These headsets are perfect for people who are just beginning to podcast and should last quite a
while if taken care of properly. The headsets can be plugged straight into the laptop where
students can then began recording, listening, and editing their audio. To fund this item, I will use
DonorsChoose to let the school, parents, and community know what we are doing and how much
it would mean to the students to be able to get their hands on this item.
The other items I need for this project are mainly consumables. Students will need
journals to write in throughout the 10 days to keep track of their project and at times, journal
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down thoughts, exit tickets, and answers to questions. They will also need index cards to write
down their scripts and main points for the podcast. Students will also use index cards for exit
tickets they need to turn in. I will fund the journals through Adopt A Classroom and buy the
The headsets with microphones can be used after this project is over. This project can
lead into creating a podcasting club or even an elective. If enough students want to join, we can
create podcasts about anything school appropriate that we might think the students in the district
References
Phoenix Union High School District. (2020). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.pxu.org/
Support a classroom. Build a future. (2020). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.donorschoose.org/
Support Teachers and Schools. (2020, November 24). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.adoptaclassroom.org/?
gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4O35opOz7QIVRQnnCh0iOAUZEAAYASAAEgIeufD_BwE
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H77SCQZ/ref=twister_B08LYBHRBF?
_encoding=UTF8
https://www.edutopia.org/topic/collaborative-learning
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Table 1
Purchase
Logitech H390 Pack of 16 @ Amazon https://www.donorschoose.org/
with Microphone
Notecards 5 sets of 100ct @ Target PTO Fundraising
$0.49 ea
Journals 9 packs of 4 @ Staples https://www.adoptaclassroom.org/
$10.79 ea
Table 2
public?
Objective(s) Cooperative
SWBAT Evaluate Learning will be
their classmates’ used while students
podcasts and give are in groups giving
meaningful feedback to other
feedback. groups.
Essential Question
for Student
direction:
How will you give
meaningful
feedback to your
peers?
Appendix
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The Driving Question: How does social media affect people daily?
Explore
Curate a collection of resources (articles, videos, infographics, text
excerpts, etc.) for students to explore the topic.
The Goal: Students may be gathering data, sharing ideas, looking for
patterns, making conjectures, and developing further questions and
problem solving considerations with the use of the information/activity
provided
Explain
Use this section to allow students to explain their thinking and move
towards demonstrating mastery of the lesson’s objective.
The Goal: Provide opportunity for students to compare ideas, construct
explanations, justify in terms of observations and/or data collected in a
collaborative large group environment.
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Apply/Elaborate
Use this section for students to apply information from the previous
sections to new circumstances or elaborate on a particular aspect at a
deeper level usually coming in the form of “What if” questions.
The Goal: Allowing students the opportunity to discuss how their
thinking has changed or been solidified.
Assess your own social media by using the Social Media Assessment
Worksheet. After you assess yourself, go on to assess a friend and a
celebrity.
When done, answer the questions on the same worksheet.
Reflect/Evaluate
Include an opportunity for face-to-face or digital reflection to guide
students along their learning progression, evaluating progress and
setting new goals for continued exploration.
The Goal: Refine initial answer to the “driving question” and reflect on
ideas, goals and beliefs concerning their progress.
Reflect on how learning this information has made you look at social
media. Did it change your initial thinking?
After the assessment, what do you think of your own social media?