Michelle Martin

Thursday ASSURE

I. Analyze the Learners: I will be teaching about the Olympics to a 3rd grade class, 10

boys and 12 girls, 80% white, 15% African-American and 5% Latino. Two of the

students have IEPs for learning disabilities. The students have previously studied

geography of the United States and a few other countries. This unit will build on this

prior knowledge.

II. State Objectives: My third grade students will identify and describe Olympic athletes, as

well as compare and distinguish differences between Olympic sports, utilizing

WebQuests, Pinterest, Twitter and Secondlife, with 95% accuracy by the end of the day.

III. Select Methods, Media and Materials: To meet all of the different learning styles

within my class, I will implement the following methods, media, and materials:

a. WebQuest- Students will utilize two WebQuest that I made to explore these two

new concepts of the Olympics. The first WebQuest is about different games in the

Olympics. The students will learn about the rules and how to play a particular

game in the Olympics, through research utilizing the WebQuest. The second

WebQuest is about a select few Olympic athletes. Students will find out

interesting facts about well-known Olympians from around the world.

b. Pinterest- The students will use the board I have created on Pinterest to access

new websites about some other Olympic athletes. Students will pin any additional

information they find on athletes or sports to this board on Pinterest.

c. Podcast- The podcast will simply be used for a student who is absent and wants to

know a little summary of what we did for the day. This will be placed on our class

wiki.

d. Twitter- Twitter will also be used as a research tool. Many Olympic athletes have

twitter pages that people can follow. Students will access the class twitter account

and look at some of these athletes twitter pages to find out their interests,

additional photos, etc.

e. Secondlife- Students will create a Secondlife avatar that resembles one of the

athletes they chose from the activities conducted throughout. Then, they will

discuss with each other, using their avatars about their interesst, the sport or game

they play, the number of medals they won, and more from the perspective of the

athlete.

IV. Utilize Media and Materials: I will preview all materials and media before letting the

students use them. I will make sure the tweets from the chosen athletes are appropriate

and do not contain any information that should not be seen by my third grade students. I

will also preview all materials I post on Pinterest or use for WebQuest. I will also instruct

my students to only talk to avatars in Secondlife that are from our class, in order to

prevent inappropriate conversations. They will know who to talk to, because as the

students create his or her avatar, I will write the username up on the board. This will

allow the students to easily see who is in our class. I will prepare all materials

beforehand, such as the podcast and WebQuest, so that we do not waste time and ease of

accessing the materials. I will place the students in rows, with individual classroom

laptops on their desk, so they can complete these assignments independently.

V. Require Learner Participation: To introduce this lesson, I will remind the students

about what we have discussed thus far. First, we learned about the history of the

Olympics. Then we learned about symbols, mottos, and traditions of the Olympics.

Yesterday, we learned about the culture of the different host countries. Then I will ask,

“What are we missing from our Olympic journey? Thus far: we have a place, mottos,

and traditions, and know the difference between the Olympics now and in the past.”

Hopefully students will respond about something similar to the athletes and actual games.

If not, I will just tell them and get them ready to dive in. Then, I will instruct the students

that we are going to use a WebQuest, to learn about a particular game played in the

Olympics. After the students conduct the Word version WebQuest, they will meet me

back on the carpet. There we will look at a list of the Olympic games on the SmartBoard

and discuss ones we are familiar with and those we are not. During this discussion, I will

summarize some of the other sports and games in the Olympics, to provide students with

the knowledge, while saving time for the rest of the lesson.

Next, I will have the students perform the second WebQuest created on

Zunal.com. I will place the students in groups of three, in order to complete this second

WebQuest. This lesson is very extensive, so it might carry over to the next day. This is

okay, because time is allotted to do so. After the students perform both WebQuests, they

were to create two videos and a PowerPoint. They will do this, and at the end of the

lesson, they will get to watch each other’s videos. Before they create these videos though,

the students will have the opportunity to look at the additional websites I have posted on

Pinterest about Olympic athletes that they might be able to use in their project. Once they

finish this project, they will pin any additional information they find on their athlete.

For the students final project, they will utilize twitter to get to know the athlete

they chose better and on a more personal level. I will let them choose, as a team of three,

one of the athletes we had discussed that day to do their project on. Then, I will direct

them to their twitter page which I previously examined. Once they retrieve this

information, the teams will be asked to create a Secondlife avatar that resembles their

athlete. Then, they will use the usernames of other members of the class, to conduct class

discussion virtually and through the perspective of the athlete. They will discuss things

such as medal count, country of origin, sport they play, and more. At least 3 facts must be

given in every discussion amongst the Secondlife avatars. Then as an exit question, I will

have students name one athlete, three facts about them, and identify three games

describing one of them. The students will do this without looking at the materials, and I

will easily be able to assess student knowledge of the topic, by the end of the lesson.

VI. Evaluate and Revise: To assess student comprehension, throughout the lesson the

following will be done:

a. I will fuel class discussion throughout, pushing my students to dive deeper in their

thoughts. I will correct any incorrect ideas that are stated and guide students to

where I want them to be by the end of the lesson.

b. I will check both WebQuests to see if the students conducted every step of the

process.

c. I will walk around the room to make sure that every student participates.

d. I will look at the videos to make sure the given topic is portrayed effectively.

e. I will observe discussions on Secondlife to make sure students are sharing at least

three facts about their athlete, and they are following directions and only talking

to those in our class.

f. Finally, I will look at the exit tickets to see if the information created is accurate,

verifying they followed directions. By looking at this ticket, I will be able to see if

students met my set objective.