Lesson Plan

Standards:

W.9-10.6 

Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

W.9-10.8

Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

Overview: 

Freshman students will explore the use of ISearch databases and the various resources available, through group and individual activities. The lesson will be team-taught with the Media Specialist and the classroom teacher. 

Materials Needed:

Projector and computer

Devices or computers

Mini Research handout

Instructional Plan:

1. The Media Specialist will demonstrate how to use ISearch.

2. Students will brainstorm a list of topics that are interesting to the class and all suggestions will be listed on the board.

3. Students will have ten minutes to explore resources that will help them learn about their topic using the ISearch resource.

4. The groups will use only Google to do the same search again.

5. The class will share with the class what they liked and did not like about searching with ISearch and Google.

Extension Activities:

For homework, students would work on a handout or digital assignment that would require them to research a specific topic like Dog training, or a previous First Lady.

Before it is collected the following day, I would allow students to partner up and make sure they were able to work through the assignment, making any corrections they felt were necessary. We would spend about 5-10 minutes discussing our conclusion and then I would collect the papers. 

During class, students would repeat the same activity that would require them to use INFOhio Point of View Reference Center. Given three topics, students would select a topic and point of view and complete the research. Students would have the remaining of the period to complete the research. The following day, students would pair with students with the opposite view and compare their findings. The final 15 minutes of class students, divided into groups based on their topic and point of view would have 5 minutes to persuade the class on their topic.

Differentiation: 

For students who struggle with reading, they may work with a partner. Students could also only complete the ISearch portion of the activity, leaving out the Google search. 

Students with language difficulty or reading issues can use the listen to option to the articles.

Assessment: 

The homework activity, the follow-up class activity, and the class discussion will be the assessment of this activity.