DGunter's+DSL+Lesson+Plan

Digital Story Telling Lesson __Grade Level & Subject Area __ 6th Grade Social Studies (Ancient Civilizations) __Description of Lesson __ In this lesson, students will apply their overall knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia through the creation of a virtual tour. For several weeks, students will have learned how the Mesopotamians created a civilization, expanded it, and sustained it for a long period of time. In addition, students will have learned about the Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. As a result, they will need to work in groups and create a list of at least five important or historical places from this time period. From that list, students will locate and compile their pictures together in a slide show format. Finally, students will add audio that describes each place and its significance. __Oregon State Standards __ SS.08.HS.05.01 Understand the major characteristics and historical influence of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Indus River Valley, Egypt, the Americas, Greece (“Online Oregon Standards Newspaper,” 2001, p. 16A). __ISTE NETS-S Standards __ Communication and collaboration (ISTE, 2007) Technology operations and concepts (ISTE, 2007) Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making (ISTE, 2007) __Instructional Objectives __ Students will apply their understanding of ancient Mesopotamia by creating virtual tour. In groups, students will list at least five important or historical landmarks of ancient Mesopotamia. Student groups will collaborate for the purpose of writing a script that gives details about each location and explains its importance. __Lesson __ <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> The lesson will begin by placing students in heterogeneously assigned groups of three to four. Once students have been assigned a group, I will explain my overall expectations for their virtual tours. Prior to this lesson, with my help, students will have already generated a list of historical landmarks in ancient Mesopotamia that either still stand today, or no longer exist. The purpose of this list is to give students a starting point and allow them to focus their time and creativity on the audio and video portion of the assignment. After students have had time to look over the list, each group will need to select at least five places that their tour will highlight. I will give students thirty minutes of class time to complete this portion of the assignment. After this time if students are still unsure, or if they would like to change at any time during the assignment they must clear it with me first. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> The aforementioned part of this lesson will take one class period to complete; however, for the remainder of the assignment, groups will be given two weeks to finish. During this time, student groups will be working in the media center researching information and collecting pictures that can be used in their video/slide show. Our library technician will be a great resource for students along with myself. In fact, I will have already created and given a copy of the rubric to each student group along with quick tips on how to put together their virtual tours. Students may use a variety of tools to develop their digital stories such as: Power Point, video podcasts, You Tube, Flickr, video camera, Wax, Windows Movie Maker, and iMovie. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Once students have collected photos for their tours, they will need to add commentary for each one that describes the place and explains why it is historically noteworthy. Causing groups to explain the significance of each landmark is a critical thinking component of this lesson as it requires higher order thinking. In addition, it reinforces collaboration because each group must work together and collectively agree upon an explanation that all parties involved can feel good about. Once this is completed, students must edit their videos and make any final adjustments before they present their virtual tours to the class and submit the assignment. In final, with the consent of student groups, I would like to upload their virtual tours to the class blog in order to show staff members, parents, and incoming sixth graders. __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Accommodations __ <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">If more time is needed to complete this assignment I can lengthen the deadline. I realize that not all students will be familiar with the different tools and software programs necessary to complete this project; thus, flexibility is key. In addition, I have incorporated Power Point as one of the technology mediums that students can use. Many students are familiar with this program and creating a slideshow Power Point is less difficult. Also, if some groups struggle with the audio portion of this assignment, they can physically speak while the slide show is in motion. __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Assessment __ <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">As mentioned earlier, I will have already created a rubric that each group will have access to as they work. This will clarify my expectations and explain how I will grade their final products. In addition, each student will evaluate the work of each group member including themselves. These evaluations will be confidential and help me decide an overall grade for each student. Likewise, my observations throughout the process will carry some merit toward their overall grade.