Social Networking and Community Building
For this language arts lesson, three social media tools will be used to promote collaboration and promote learning. Quite often, students will read the same passage or book and have a completely different understanding of the main idea. Students who participate in this lesson will work collaboratively in small groups, take notes, draft and publish a 140-character summary of a reading passage.
Tools
Padlet, a multimedia collaboration tool, allows users to share ideas, take notes, link video, personalize the layout, the background, and embed the wall onto a blog or website. This tool is interactive and simple to use. Please click on the image to view the Padlet page for my class.
Mixedink is a collaborative writing tool where groups of any size share information, creating a document with several students providing input. Once the document is created, students have the option to embed or link the final document to a blog or website. Please click on the image to view the Mixedink page for my class.
Twitter is a social networking tool in which users communicate using a maximum of 140-characters. Please click on the image to view the Twitter page used in my class. Yes, we Tweet Pope Francis at #ASCS4th and it was interesting to watch the reaction of the students when they found out he was Tweeting millions of people and not specifically the students in our class.
Lesson Title: Summarizing in 140-Characters or Less
Overview:
The big picture of being able to summarize is for students to be able to identify the main idea, focus on key details, use context clues, and be able to take concise notes. A summary is defined as a shortened version of something written or spoken, including only the main ideas. Too often when asked to summarize, students are unable to filter out unnecessary details and will retell the entire story. Being able to summarize using as few words as possible is a life-long skill that takes time and practice.
For this language arts lesson, three social media tools will be used to promote collaboration and promote learning. Quite often, students will read the same passage or book and have a completely different understanding of the main idea. Students who participate in this lesson will work collaboratively in small groups, take notes, draft and publish a 140-character summary of a reading passage.
Content Area and Grade or Age Level of Students:
Reading/Language Arts/4th Grade
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
· Identify and organize key details
· Summarize key supporting details and ideas
· Produce and publish writing to the Internet
Standards Addressed:
· RL.4.2 – Determine a theme of a story drama or poem from details into text; summarize the text.
· RL.4.3 – Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
· SL.4.4 – Report on a topic or text, tell a story or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly an understandable pace.
· W.4.6 – With some guidance and support from adults use technology including the Internet to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.
Lesson Idea:
1. Select a short passage or story and have the students read it independently.
2. After reading the passage or story, students will be divided into groups of three. They will then log into Padlet to input their thoughts and ideas about the passage. Students will identify main idea, characters, setting, and author’s purpose, summarizing the passage or story.
3. While referring to the Padlet notes, students will use Mixedink to write a concise 140-character summary of the passage.
4. After proofreading the summary, checking for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, students will publish the summary to Twitter using the classroom hashtag.
5. As students become more proficient at summarizing, longer reading passages and stories may be assigned. This lesson is easily scaffolded to meet the needs of a diverse set of learners. It is one that may be repeated throughout the course of the year with the level of difficulty progressing with the readers.
Overview:
The big picture of being able to summarize is for students to be able to identify the main idea, focus on key details, use context clues, and be able to take concise notes. A summary is defined as a shortened version of something written or spoken, including only the main ideas. Too often when asked to summarize, students are unable to filter out unnecessary details and will retell the entire story. Being able to summarize using as few words as possible is a life-long skill that takes time and practice.
For this language arts lesson, three social media tools will be used to promote collaboration and promote learning. Quite often, students will read the same passage or book and have a completely different understanding of the main idea. Students who participate in this lesson will work collaboratively in small groups, take notes, draft and publish a 140-character summary of a reading passage.
Content Area and Grade or Age Level of Students:
Reading/Language Arts/4th Grade
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
· Identify and organize key details
· Summarize key supporting details and ideas
· Produce and publish writing to the Internet
Standards Addressed:
· RL.4.2 – Determine a theme of a story drama or poem from details into text; summarize the text.
· RL.4.3 – Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
· SL.4.4 – Report on a topic or text, tell a story or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly an understandable pace.
· W.4.6 – With some guidance and support from adults use technology including the Internet to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.
Lesson Idea:
1. Select a short passage or story and have the students read it independently.
2. After reading the passage or story, students will be divided into groups of three. They will then log into Padlet to input their thoughts and ideas about the passage. Students will identify main idea, characters, setting, and author’s purpose, summarizing the passage or story.
3. While referring to the Padlet notes, students will use Mixedink to write a concise 140-character summary of the passage.
4. After proofreading the summary, checking for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, students will publish the summary to Twitter using the classroom hashtag.
5. As students become more proficient at summarizing, longer reading passages and stories may be assigned. This lesson is easily scaffolded to meet the needs of a diverse set of learners. It is one that may be repeated throughout the course of the year with the level of difficulty progressing with the readers.