Artifact 8

Context:
This lesson plan was created as a part of my Social Studies in the Elementary School class during my Block experience at ASU. We were told to use the topic in which we did our literature circle units on to create a lesson plan that went along with the unit. My topic was The Dust Bowl. For this lesson, I found a wonderful website and used it as a way for students to research this topic using the Internet.

Impact:
As a teacher, I would use this lesson with fifth grade students to introduce the era of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I would teach this lesson at the same time I was conducting the literature circle unit that I created. This activity would be a great way for students to begin to learn what took place during this period in time through a lot of different mediums and while working in a cooperative pair or group. This lesson included television, Internet, and creative written mediums, working together to promote a better understanding of the upcoming unit of study.

Alignment:
I used a clip from the videotape entitled “Surviving the Dust Bowl” as a part of this lesson. In order to locate this video, I searched the Internet and was able to find it as a part of a PBS series. I ended up using the website as a part of the lesson. I also included in the lesson which curriculum standards this lesson specifically meets. In this way, I have linked television resources to a particular part of the curriculum (Tech. Comp. 10.2). Students will use the Internet in order to research the topics they are assigned. This method of research allows students to have some independence but also to be guided by the teacher’s questions. The teacher can be readily available to all students while they are conducting their research in the computer lab (Tech. Comp. 11.4). The specific video clip that will be used during this lesson is not readily available for viewing. The teacher must first find the specific introductory clip that will be shown. He/she can do this by fast-forwarding and rewinding the videotape with an available VCR remote (Tech. Comp. 12.6). While creating this lesson plan, I had to broaden my knowledge of the given topic. This is an important period in history and in order to get across all that I wanted to teach, I had to do some research. I referred to many books and websites (which are listed in my Literature Circles Unit) to expand my knowledge on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. In the lesson I have created, students must do their own research by using the website and questions provided by me. Once this research is completed and they are experts on their given part of the large topic, they must figure out a way to present their knowledge to the class. This gives students a meaningful opportunity to share their knowledge with their teacher and peers (INTASC #1). This lesson is intended to be used with fifth grade students. I have studied the fifth grade curriculum and decided that this lesson fits right in with many of their social studies goals. These goals are listed in the lesson plan. This research shows me knowledge of the curriculum for the given grade and my effort to incorporate my ideas into the curriculum. I have learned that students like to be given responsibility and also like to share what they have learned with their peers. This lesson puts students into pairs or small groups so that their jobs are not so overwhelming and so they can share their ideas and opinions with each other. The students are to create visuals to present their information because this can be a helpful way for students to learn about periods of history (INTASC #7).