By: Nicki PopeIDT 7064/8064 M50

June 15, 2009

"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." --Thomas Jefferson to W. Jarvis, 1820. (Gill, 1997)

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“The deficiency in digital literacy has created a need for companies to evolve in the understanding that literacy in technology has become equally as important as literacy in the English language; our workforce must be technologically fluent to compete in a global economy. “(Stolz, 2008)

1) Hollywood and History is a lesson to examine how and why history is changed in movies.

2) If a Tree Falls in China, Is it Still News? is designed to allow students to discovery how culture can change the reporting of news.

3) Is it Valid? uses a WebQuest to teach students to determine the validity of internet information.

Subject: Pocahontas-

Students will create a Slidecast to demonstrate how Disney’s version of Pocahontas and historical records are different . The Slidecast should include three theories that could explain why the story was changed.

Students will work through a WebQuest to discover the true story of Pocahontas. The class will then view Disney's Pocahontas. After watching the movie, students will work in teams and use their WebQuest to develop the Slidecast.

Inspiration Site

A Lesson for 7th Grade World History

Subject: Current Events

Students will participate in a class blog and present the one factor they feel most impacted the reporting of news in a country.

Students examine online newspapers from around the world and analyze the content of each site. By examining news from around the world students should develop a global perspective and explain what factors affected each newspapers’ view.

Helpful Sites: Online Newspaper, New York Times

Subject: Internet Validity

Students will complete a WebQuest that develops skills to determine the validity of information

Students are asked what caused the Mississippi to flow backwards. Before students can move forward in the WebQuest, they must train to validate information. Students will complete several exercises in validating a source. After they complete training, they are ready assume the role of Geographer. The WebQuest should have several sites that must be validated in order to complete the WebQuest. The sites should range from informative to inaccurate.

Brown, A. C., & Mahoney, K. M. (2009, April 3). Daily lesson plan. In New York Times learning network. Retrieved June 15, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20090403friday.html.

  Gill, P. (1997). Jefferson on education. In The libertarian unschooling page. Retrieved June

15, 2009, from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6529/notebook/jefferson_quotes.html.   Middle school lesson plan: Validity on the internet. Retrieved June 15, 2009, from

http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~agorman/educ6804/validity/lesson2.htm.   Onlinenewspapers.com. (2009). Retrieved June 15, 2009, from

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/.   Pocahontas: Analyzing myths and stereotypes. Retrieved June 14, 2009, from

http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/m_sullivan/Analyzing_Pocahontas.html.   Stolz, J. (2008, July 21). Digital literacy imperative for workforce development. In The

business ledger. Retrieved June 15, 2009, from http://www.thebusinessledger.com/Home/Archives/InTheNews/tabid/85/mid/393/newsid393/421/Default.aspx.