- Grade Focus
- Post Secondary, Professional Development
- Age Level
- 18-22, 22+
- Subject
- Business
- Technology Integration Activity
- Discovering the Internet, Webpage Creation
- Estimated Time of Completion
- Three 50 min class periods
Introduction
Undergraduate teacher education students will use a KWL chart to brainstorm things they know and want to know about becoming a teacher in the State of Texas. Student teams (2-3) will research questions using the Internet and other resources and write a creative and engaging article/resource to answer that question for other students. Students will put their answers on a class Wiki or web page. Students can make changes and suggestions for each others' articles.
As an adjunction for pre-service teachers in other states the following link to the University of Kentucky's (UK) database of all states' and Washington DC certification requirements in provided: http://www.uky.edu/Education/TEP/usacert.html The UK page also provides links to information on reciprocity.
Prerequisite Experience
Basic Word Processing and Internet Search skills
Teach them about Wikis and give them sites that will help them find the answers to their questions
Teacher Prep Time
1 hour
Project
The result of the project will be a page that helps students know the next steps in their journey toward teacher certification.Assessment/Grading
Rubric Scoring Accuracy of Information, Effective use of Technology, Creativity of Writing. A separate score for Spelling/GrammarTime Management Tips
Three 50 min classes
Class 1: Generate questions (20 mins), Review resource sites that students can use to answer their questions (10 mins), Assign questions/begin research (20 mins)
Class 2: Research and Writing (50 mins)
Class 3: Add info to class wiki, let students read and ask for clarification (50 mins)
Lesson Plan Details
Engage
Because this lesson is taught during the first course in the Teacher Education Professional Development sequence, students have a lot of questions about the process of Becoming a Teacher in the State of Texas and at my university. Engage students in the lesson by asking them what they already know about the process of becoming a teacher and what they want to know - this is a strategy called KWL and serves as both a discussion/assessment of prior knowledge as well as an interest-generator since students begin to realize that they will be researching to find answers to questions they really care about.
Explore
Student groups (2-3) are assigned to head up the research for a question or question set (2-3 related questions). Time permitting, instruction on appropriate search engines, Boolean search construction and safe-searching can be included here. General resource starters (a page of helpful links) can be given to help students jumpstart their research. For this topic, sites such as http://www.texes.ets.org/texes/ and http://www.sbec.state.tx.us/SBECOnline/default.asp are strongly suggested as starting points.Student teams will then use the class wiki to record the information that answers each question from the KWL chart. A note about the Class Wiki: I chose to use http://pbwiki.com as the resource for this lesson. It has a simple interface that is very easy for even novice students to understand (basically an online word processor). Also, this site allows the instructor to create a private site and to generate student accounts without the need for email addresses. Additionally, http://pbwiki.com is free.
Explain
Class discussion/debriefing focuses on filling in the L on the KWL chart. This is the section of the KWL where students indicate what they have learned/whether or not they were able to answer the questions generated at the beginning of the lesson.Elaborate
Students demonstrate their understanding of several key skills. Not only are they able to see the whole research process encapsulated, they also demonstrate the ability to search for new information, sharing using a new technology tool, as well as taking responsibility for group knowledge and learning.Evaluate
Students are evaluated using a rubric focused on accuracy of information gathered, citation of sources, effective use of technology, and teamwork. Optional evaluation categories can also include search skills, spelling and grammar, and creativity. Additional Nortel LearniT resource: Instructor will use the Internet Rubric from the Nortel LearniT Handouts, Worksheets, and Assessment Tools in evaluating each student group’s contribution to the class wiki.