Week+6

= __Week 6: Lesson Plan Presentations__ =

Agenda:
1) Group 1-6 Presentations 2) Ontario Educational Resouce Bank 3) Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee 4) Creative Commons 5) Web Filtering

Group Lesson Plan Presentations
This week, groups 1-6 will be presenting their student centered lessons to the class.

Course: Grade 10 Academic History By: Jenny & Amanda
 * Presentation 1: Canadian Figures Who Have Contributed to Canadian Identity **

Central Lesson Questions: Why do we look at Canadians? Why/are they important and why/are their contributions important?

Students Will: 1) From a created class wiki page, students will choose a Canadian individual and research this person. Students will investigate what the individual did, how they contributed to Canadian identity. 2) Students will then create a wikipage for this individual detailing their biographical information. The wikipage must have 2 properly referenced images and the wiki will also be graded on appearance so make sure the page has a consistent theme. 3) Students will then create a podcast where one student plays interviewer and the other plays the interviewee. In the second part of this podcast students will explain why their individual is important.

Comments: Giving students a run through on how to attain legal images and what good research sources are was a quality exercise as it clears up any misconceptions as to how to carry out reasearch in a positive way. This lesson incorporates multiple technological applications and I believe I would use this within my own classroom. I especially liked the bibliography creator web page ([|www.bibme.org]) that was shown to the class. This site is great considering it recognizes the texts being input through the ISDN barcode. This website can be accessed by clicking **here**

**Presentation 2: Instructional Poetry** Course: Grade 9 English By: Graham & Shannon

Central Questions: Poems should be fun and enjoyable, how can we analyze these poems so we continue to enjoy these texts and understand their message?

Students Will: 1) Listen to the poem "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot 2) As a class discuss the meaning of each stanza 3) Using the prefabricated table, students will find images that represent what each stanza means to them 4) Students then fill in the the explanation of this stanza and describe why they chose the photo they did.

Comments: This seems to be a great lesson. Students are able to be creative and choose photos that represent their own interpretations of the stanzas. By commenting on the issues surrounding legal images, students will understand what steps must be taken in order to procure legal images. I think it is effective for students to share their images and share their reasons for selecting these images. Class discussion could then develop over common images or themes. Upon reflection, I believe that this lesson could be completed by drawing the images by hand if there are computer problems. I plan on trying to use this lesson during my practicum, as it allows students to function in the digital world they are comfortable in.

**Presentation 3: Aboriginal Spirituality****​** Course: Grade 9 Religion By: Luca and Lily

Central Question: What are the unique characteristics of Native spirituality?

Students Will: 1) Investigate Prezi presentation software 2) Watch Prezi Tutorial 3) Research a Canadian Aboriginal Tribe 4) Using Prezi, create a presentation that demonstrates and understanding of their tribes spirituality

Comments: The goal of this lesson plan seemed to be in the right place, however I found that more technological applications could have been incorportated to spark student learning. More time could have been spent on the lesson activity and less time could have been spent on demonstrating the new software.

** Presentation 4: Optics ** Course: Grade 10 Science - Physics By: Jesse & Alison

Central Question: What are the properties of reflection and refraction?

Students Will: 1) Use Gizmos from [|www.explorelearning.com] 2) Carry out the online activities to answer quiz questions

Comments: Though I am not from a science background I feel this is a great interactive method in which students can gain a better understanding of theoretical concepts. The animated process allows students to understand the different stages of reflection and refraction. Students are able to see the changes that occur to the overall process when the input factors are manipulated. I would not hesitate to use Gizmos in my lessons.

Presentation 5: Earth and Space **Course: Grade 9 Academic Science

Central Question: How does planetary alignment change over time?

Students Will: 1) Use Celestia to explore planet earth and the solar system 2) Watch the YouTube video "The Known Universe" by The American Museum of Natural History 3) Enter information into a Google Form

Comments: This program is very interesting and it seems as though you can do many things with it. My only hesitation on using it is the complicated nature in which the program runs. I think this would be a great tool to use when demonstrating concepts to students, but may become in effective if students are tasked with using the program themselves. However, this program could be easily remedied if the teacher were to create a step by step tutorial page. Though this would solve some issues, it would also subtract from students developing their own understanding of the program. The YouTube video is great, and I believe it could be used for other purposes as well, including showing how small humans and the human population really are. Overall, a very interesting lesson presentation idea.

**Presentation 6: Contemporary Re-Enactment of a Gospel Story**

Course: Grade 9 Religion

Central Question: How are the Gospel Values present in our daily lives and why do we live out these values?

Students Will: 1) Choose a story from the Gospel 2) Using Movie Maker, they will design a contemporary version of the story 3) They will present their video along with an explanation to the class 4) Provide evidence for why they would act this way today

Comments: Good idea for a lesson, interesting combination of technology and religious studies. One concern I have is the length of time it may take for this lesson to be completed. This lesson may require multiple days to complete, which is fine as long as students are actively learning each day. The method in which students would provide evidence for the reasons they would follow the values was a bit unclear. How would you assess the product of this lesson? Having students carry out their re-enactment using the school environment as their context would also allow students to recognize problematic issues that are present in the school and these students could then develop solutions for these problems (ex. bullying).

Ontario Educational Resource Bank
This is a bilingual database consisting of educational tools and detailed lesson plans that have been created for teachers by teachers. I have used this site a number of times for both lesson plans as well as general lesson ideas. This site is very user friendly as it allows for teachers to browse by a keyword search as well browse by curriculum expectation or grade level. These tools can be downloaded to your computer where they can be incorporated into classroom presentations. Though this site requires a user name and password, it can be accessed by clicking here

Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee
This bilingual website has been designed to inform teachers about software programs that are efffective teaching or lesson design tools. This website highlights the availability of these programs as well as whether the licences have been purchased by the Ministry of Education. This site also provides news to update users on new programs that have been developed that will aide in developing lessons. This site can be accessed by clicking here

[[image:creativecommonscanada.jpg width="285" height="65"]]
This is a newly founded (2003) project that allows an individuals work to be loosely copyrighted, so that they are not exploited but allows other users to use the created work. I believe that this is a very strong tool as it allows for people to benefit from the "tried and tested" accomplishments of others. By having a CC tag, this allows the individual to recieve recognition for their work. In terms of the educational system, I believe this is key as it allows for greater collaboration between individuals where the goal is not personal betterment but rather the betterment of the lives of the students we are teaching. Below is the link to the Canadian Creative Commons website which provides a great deal of information and resources. To access this website click the web address below.

@http://creativecommons.ca

Web Filtering
Today's reading focused on the arguments for an against web filtering. This article provided good reasoning for both sides of the argument. Advocates who feel filtering should exist state that the information found on the internet can be dangerous and therefore we should keep students away from this information. Advocates who suggest that no filtering should exist state that instead of hiding the information from students we should teach them ways in which they can critically and ethically understand the information. I personally side with the latter, with the understanding that by hiding information from students we are developing their ignorance. Instead we should teach them that the skills needed to effectively interpret the information and assess the relevance of it within their lives.

For a copy of the article, open the PDF link below.