Instructional Software

Lesson Idea Name: Immersing Ourselves into the Life of a Slave through MissonUS
Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 8thh

Content Standard Addressed: SS8H5 Analyze the impact of the Civil War on Georgia.
a. Explain the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War; include slavery,
states’ rights, nullification, Compromise of 1850 and the Georgia Platform, the Dred Scott
case, Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, and the debate over secession in Georgia.

Technology Standard Addressed:

Selected Technology Tool: Flight to Freedom- MissionUS

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): https://www.mission-us.org/games/flight-to-freedom/

Type of Instructional Software:

☐ Drill and Practice ☐ Tutorial ☒ Simulation ☐ Instructional Game ☐ e-books/e-references

Features of this software (check all that apply):

☐ Assessment Monitoring/Reporting
☒ Allows teacher to create customized lessons for students
☒ Multi-user or collaborative functions with others in the class
☐ Multi-user or collaborative with others outside the class
☒ Accessible to students beyond the school day
☒ Accessible via mobile devices (iPads, tablets, laptops, NOT equipped for phones)
☐ Multiple languages
☒ Safety, security and/or privacy features

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):

This technology is student centered and engaging. Students lead the mission and make choices based off of
what they are learning and their prior knowledge from our unit. This makes the activity meaningful. The
modules are spaced out for opportunities to review, and for students to work at their own pace if they need to.
It has a number of supplementary features to help students learn including a preview of vocabulary that will
be used in the mission. The mission provides captions as well for accessibility and can be accessed from any
computer or device (other than a cell phone). Students can work in cooperative and collaborative learning
groups for this activity and can track their progress through the earning of “badges”.

Lesson idea implementation:

Spring 2018_SJB
 Instructional Software
I will be having my students complete Part 1 of the Flight to Freedom mission as we work to learn more about
slavery and the events that led to the Civil War. I will first review our important vocabulary from our unit with
the class to help connect to the activity we will be completing and what we have already learned about the
Civil War and slavery. Then, we will discuss the instructions for the activity. I will have the instructions posted
on the smartboard as well as say them out loud. Before we start the mission, I will have a list of essential
questions and vocabulary terms that the students must have finished by the end of the entire mission. There
are three parts of the mission; the students will have three assignments in total spanning over three class
periods. Each assignment will get progressively a little more challenging for students as we work through the
mission. For students who may be needing more time, I will provide them an extra class day, while other
students will review for our unit test. The students can complete the mission independently or in pairs, but
everyone will have to turn in individual assignments. For students who may have trouble reading such as ELLS
I will simplify the wording of the assignments. Each student will get a checklist of their goals for each class
period and I will walk around and make sure they are staying on task.

At the end of the lesson students will turn in their essential questions. I will then ask them to complete a
survey about how they liked or disliked the technology use and why. Once I have visually seen that all
students have turned in their assignment and completed the survey, I will hand back the essential questions,
ungraded, and we will go over them as a class. As long as they completed the questions, they will get a 100%
competition grade. I would like to use this lesson more as a review and formative assessment then for a
summative assessment.
Reflective Practice:
I think this lesson would allow students to feel more connected to the topic of slavery and the Civil War. By
being placed in a simulation where they are a runaway slave, they have to use the knowledge they have
learned in class and within the mission to make smart safe choices that will help their character become
freed. It gives them a perspective that they would never otherwise have the opportunity to have. I created
this lesson as a middle of the unit activity. I thought it would do a good job building on the topic of slavery,
and its effects on states’ rights, the fugitive slave act, and the Compromise of 1850. I could further this lesson
by having students make a graphic organizer of causes and effects of this mission. Students would pull things
that happened in the mission and write what effect they had on causing the Civil War. This would be a good
review of what they learned and it matches the goal of the standard. They could then use this tool to help
them student for our unit assessment. I think that TedED and Khan Academy are both excellent technological
resources that could also be used within this lesson. TedED has engaging video lectures that could give more
perspective and information on the causes of the Civil War, while Khan Academy provides short video lessons
on specific topics embodies within the standard, as well as offer vocabulary practice to reenforce
comprehension.

Spring 2018_SJB