Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: To Tell a Tale

Content Area: ELA
Grade Level(s): 8th grade
Content Standard Addressed: ELAGSE8RL2 : Determine a theme and/or central idea of a text and analyze
its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot;
provide an objective summary of the text.
Technology Standard Addressed: Standard 3: Digital Learning Environments Candidates demonstrate the
knowledge, skills, and dispositions to create, support, and manage effective digital learning environments.

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: KidPub

URL(s) to support the lesson: Books, Stories, Writing Contests and Publishing for Kids | KidPub Press
Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in
your classroom: This lesson is going to utilize Kid Pub as our online resource and the media we are
going to be using for our product. The lesson will begin by reading Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell Tale
Heart. While reading, students are encouraged to take notes on symbolism, interesting vocabulary
usage, or anything that may stick out to them. Once students have completed the short story, they will
write their own literacy analysis of it. They are to follow the prompt of “How does the author use
figures of speech to convey the main idea to the reader?” Students will publish their analysis on Kid
Pub. Once they have posted their own passage, they are to go and read their peers’ pieces. Students
will pick one other analysis to review, they will note differences in how they read the same story, as
well as note things they didn’t think about or disagree with.
What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
Students will be using computers for this assignment. If they have their own, they are encouraged to use it, if
not, laptops or desktops will be provided for them.

Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not
be addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: Students will be producing a literacy analysis that is accessible to students around the globe.
They will also be reviewing another analysis that was published by someone not in their school.
Students are encouraged to find posts outside the state as well.
b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing
original products as a result of engaging in a project): Students will produce their own written work
for this assignment. Their analysis will be published using the online program.
c. Higher-order thinking: Students achieve higher order thinking through this assignment by providing
examples and literary support for their analysis. Students also must analyze other work and that is going
to make them look at their own work with a new perspective. They will then take feedback they were
given and review their writing.
d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: Students
are publishing their work to other students. These other students are also covering the same type of
literature, so the audience they are posting to is very receptive to their work.

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

Spring 2018_SJB
 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): The technology I chose for this lesson plan is very interesting,
because it allows students to take on a new role. They get to view themselves as published authors, and this
creates a new sense of motivation among the lessons. This lesson plan uses the technology in a way that is
going to support student learning, not only with how they produce a product, but how they receive feedback.
It’s a very important lesson in which students learn how to give and receive proper feedback, one that can be
quite difficult at times, so introducing it to them through fun and interactive technology is a good start. KidPub
is going to keep students engaged, both by what they are adding to it, and by allowing them to look at so many
other students' work to gain information and confidence.
Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies: Like all technology used in classrooms, it’s
important to gain parent consent before use. You must also provide both students and parents with instructions
and safety procedures for using technology. Specific protocol is going to depend on districts and counties, so
always be up to date on how students should proceed. For a county I'm familiar with, students would be okay to
use KidPub if they do not attach personal information to it. So no using real names or information.

Reflective Practice: I think the lesson plan idea I’ve created is a very fun and engaging lesson one may use in a
middle grade's classroom. I’m not sure what I would change with it, as of now, however if I were to teach the
lesson, I'm sure problem areas would arise and would need to be altered. I think you could expand this lesson
by adding some group work on the front end of it, by starting with group reviews of some previous post so
students can see what they should be aiming for.

Spring 2018_SJB