Information Literacy Lesson Plan

Learning to Seek, Use and Contribute Information

Lindsey La Barge

ITEC 7136Mrs. Sears

Dr. RepmanFall 2008

1

Lesson Summary

This lesson is designed to teach information literacy to ninth grade government

students. The students will excerpts from History Speaks: Legislative Branch of the

Government by Julia Hargrove. This is a non-fiction book with basic facts about the

legislative branch of the United States government. Their classroom teacher expects them

to have a basic knowledge of the legislative branch and be able to discuss the process of

bill making within the classroom. Their teacher also wants them to be able to write a bill

that they believe in and want to be passed. It is to be written as if it was actually to be

passed through the legislative branch.

Learning Goals

▪ The students should know the legislative process of the United States government.

▪ The students should know how to write a bill in the proper format.

▪ The students should be able to work within a group to produce a piece of legislation.

▪ The students should be able to present their bill in the classroom.

Standards Used

Information Literacy Standards

Standard #3: The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.

Indicator #2: Integrates new information into one’s own knowledge.

Standard # 6: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

2

Indicator #2: Devises strategies for revising, improving, and updating self-generated knowledge.

Standard #9: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

Indicator #2: Respects others’ ideas and backgrounds and acknowledges their contributions.

GPS Standards

SSCG10: The student will describe the legislative process, including the roles played by committees and leadership.

a. Explain the steps in the legislative process.

b. Explain the function of various leadership positions within the legislature.

3

Information Literacy Lesson Plan

Materials and Equipment

▪ smart board▪ computer with internet connection▪ plain white paper▪ printer▪ copies of excerpts from History Speaks: Legislative Branch of the

Government by Julia Hargrove▪ copies of the template for a bill▪ podium from which to propose the bill in the classroom▪ a rubric for teacher evaluation▪ the peer evaluation form that each student will fill out at the end of the project

Time

This is a week long lesson. Each day will have 90 minutes devoted to the lesson.

▪ Monday: The students are introduced to the Legislative Branch and the bill writing process. They are assigned readings from History Speaks: Legislative Branch of the Government by Julia Hargrove to read at home.

▪ Tuesday: The students are split into groups as diverse as possible. Try to include different races, genders and economic backgrounds within each group. They will be asked to discuss the assigned readings. They will also have to come up with the topic for their bill that they plan to propose to the class.

▪ Wednesday: The students will have the entire class time to write a bill from the template and the research that they have done to prepare for the bill writing process.

▪ Thursday: The students will have the day to present their bills, in the proper format to the class. They will explain the process that they used in order to choose the topic of their bill and who did what in order to complete the bill.

▪ Friday: The students will have a class discussion about the process of bill writing and what types of bills were proposed. They will give each other the chance to explain their stance of different proposals. They will also be asked their favorite part of the process. The last thing they will be asked to do is evaluate each other in response to the standards.

4

Procedures

Introduction

Step #1: The media specialist will let the classroom teacher introduce the project and the legislative branch to the students. Then the media specialist will tell the students what types of research they can help with in the media center. The media specialist will bring some reference materials that could help with understanding the legislative branch and the bill writing process. The students be told that since they cannot take the reference materials out of the media center, it will be open until 6:00 in the evening both Tuesday and Thursday and the media specialist will be there to help with whatever questions they have.

Step #2: Using the smart board, the media specialist and the teacher can show the students how to find the wiki written for them with examples of bills and a bill template. They will also be able to see the diagram of the path that a bill take in order to get passed and the key players in the process.

The class will have a discussion about the bill writing process and the Legislative Branch. Every student will be expected to participate.

Step #3: The media specialist will ask the students to predict where they will find the best information about writing bills whether they choose to do their research on the internet or in print sources. The students will be required to find at least one online source and one print source for the bill. They will also have to cite their sources.

Step #4: The students will be given a lesson on finding appropriate a relevant material on the internet. They will be given a handout that has a few examples of appropriate and factually correct sites that they can use for their bill.

Step #5: The class will be divided into groups. Each group should be as representative as possible of each ethnic and social group within the school. Each group should also have at least one male student and one female student. The students will learn to work together and listen to the suggestions from all of the members of their group. They will be made aware that at the end of the project, on Friday, they will be required to evaluate the participation of each of the members of their group.

Step #6: The students will discuss among their group and decide on a topic for their bill. They will have access to sample bills and appropriate topics for their bill. They will be encouraged to choose something that they would actually like see become a law at the Federal level. They will also be required to assume the roles of actual legislators, such as senators and representatives. They should also know about the roles of lobbyists.

5

Step #7: The students will present their proposed bill to the class and explain their process. The student in charge of the group will present their bill to the entire class as if they were presenting a bill in Congress. They will allow questions from students and answer them to the best of their ability. They will also discuss their process and how they decided what topic to cover in their bill.

Step #8: The class will discuss the proposed bills. The class will be required to discuss each of the groups’ bills and which one they think was the most successful and why. They will give each other the chance to amend and edit their bills and discuss their changes. Then they will pass the bill to the “president”. If the bill is acceptable and reflects the stances of the class as a whole, then the teacher (president) will sign the bill. If it not acceptable then the teacher will veto the bill. The bill will then go back to class who will have the chance to pass the bill without the teacher’s signature. The teacher will also demonstrate the line-veto option and how powerful that can be when the President is not a member of the majority party represented in the Legislative Branch. They will also be taught that President Clinton held the line-item veto power only for a short time and then the Supreme Court took away that power because it was deemed unconstitutional.

Step #9: The students will evaluate their fellow group mates. The will evaluate their group on participation and quality of ideas and work. They will not evaluate their group on whether or not they agreed with them. They will have a chance to write a short paragraph about whether or not they agree with their proposed bill.

Step #10: The students will write a short essay about what they learned about research and contributing their gained knowledge to their group and the class as a whole. They will be assigned this essay for homework over the weekend. They will be asked to turn this essay in on Monday of the following week.

Conclusion

This lesson was designed to teach the students about the Legislative process that

our government goes through in order pass the bill. They have also learned a little bit

about the checks and balances system. They learned about how the President has the

power of veto and the President had the power of line-item veto for a short time, but that

it was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The students have also had a

chance to express themselves in a bill that they wrote in a group. The students have also

had the chance to evaluate their group by the standards used for this project and the rubric

6

provided at the beginning of the week and on the project wiki. The students have also

had the chance to communicate their research and information literacy through in class

discussion led by the classroom teacher. The students have also learned how to sort

through online and reference information. They have learned where to find appropriate

information on the internet that can be used for research and writing. They have also

learned how to cite sources within a paper. Through this lesson, the students have learned

the process of research and the legislative process.

Accommodations

Since a majority of the students at this high school do not have internet or

computer access at their home, the media center will be open two extra hours two days

this week. The students will be invited to come to an after school research and help

session with the media specialist. They will have access to all of the reference materials

and the internet in order to do their project.

Lesson Wiki

The students will have access to this wiki: This wiki has links that has

examples of bills and a bill template. There are also appropriate topics that they can use

to write their bill about. There will also be a diagram of the path that a bill takes in order

to be passed successfully.

Assessments

▪ Students will be assessed on their ability to find relevant information about the Legislative process and use it accurately and creatively.

▪ Students will be assessed on their ability to work together in a group.

▪ Students will be assessed by each other.

7

Individual Rubric

Teacher Evaluation

Participation2

I did not participate in

my group or in class

discussion.

4I participated only

in my group, or only in my class

discussion.

5I participated in

both my group and my class

discussion.

Research

2I have only one

source.

3I have two sources,

but they are not relevant to my group’s bill.

4I have two sources,

one from a book and one from the

internet, which are relevant to my group’s bill.

Presentation2

I stood in front of the room and

said nothing.

3I said what one of

the other group members told me to

say.

4I showed that I understood the assignment and worked with the

group to complete the project.

Group Cooperation

2My group did not get along.

We argued about what our bill would be.

3My group got

along, but did not work well enough

together to complete the assignment properly.

4My group worked great together. We

listened to each other’s suggestions and then came to a decision about our

assignment.

Proof of Information

Literacy

2I read the assigned

reading, but did not try find any outside sources to help with the

project.

4I understood the assigned reading,

but I did not understand how to

find relevant outside sources.

6I understood the assigned reading and understood

how to find relevant outside sources.

A= 45-50 pointsB= 40-44 pointsC= 35-39 pointsD= 30-34 pointsF= 29 points and under

8

Individual Rubric

Student Peer Evaluation

Research1

You sat and did not participate in the group

research.

2You participated

in the group research, but did

not contribute anything relevant.

3You participated in the group research and found relevant

and creative information.

Participation

1You did not participate in

the group work or the class discussion.

2You did

participate in either the group

or class discussions.

3You participated relevantly in both

the group and class discussions.

Group Cooperation

1You did not say anything unless it was to disrupt the group from

working efficiently.

2You did not try to

work well with the rest of the group. You

worked, but you also tried to take

over.

4You showed leadership by listening to

everyone and also getting others to

listen to you.

Presentation1

You did not say anything when

the group presented its

bill.

2You read what someone else wrote for you

during the group presentation.

3You spoke about the bill and your research showing

the rest of the class that you did your part of the work

and you understood the assignment.

A= 23-25 pointsB= 20-22 pointsC= 17-19 pointsD= 15-16 pointsF= 14 points and under

9