Backward Design Template

What content based problem do you see in your students that you would you like to address?

Identify Problem and Desired Transformation

What is the transformation in understanding that you would like to see in your students?

Students dont have a very good understanding of what liberty is and how the desire to be liberated/free led to so many different reform movements in American history.

In relating liberty to current events and students points of view, I hope to be able to reach students more so they better understand the meaning of liberty and how that impetus led to different movements throughout history the American Revolution, education reform, prison reform, slavery/abolitionist movement.

What skills or understandings do you want What questions will be used to frame this your students to have as a result of the area of content (unit questions or big ideas)? technology integration you propose? -the ability to analyze different motives of reform movements -what does it mean to be liberated? -deeper understanding of what liberty is and how it -why does a person or group decide to create a has affected the impetus for reform reform movement? -explain the effectiveness of methods different groups have used throughout history -analysis of the effect/outcome (long term) of different reform movements

Determine Acceptable Evidence

What technology seems best suited for your problem? What this is the best as opposed to other options?

I think video clips will be the best way for students to see, analyze, and critique different reform movements. I envision showing students clips of the Tea Party movement and the Arab Spring and having discussions and activities around their reactions to these two clips. By having students discuss and analyze the techniques, arguments, etc. that each of the groups are making, we can begin a conversation about how liberty ties in to the desire to change and to fight for that change. Video offers a really powerful medium by allowing students to see the level of investment by the players of this particular movement. They can also hear the different perspectives and peoples reactions to them. Simply reading about how someone felt isnt always enough to really convey the way people feel about a topic.

What pedagogies do you think will work best given your choice of content and technologies? Why this choice over others?

I think the key thing to getting students interested in this topic is to relate it to them, first. Even though I think I will end up spending a lot of time focusing on students (and not necessarily the content at first), laying that groundwork will be vastly important in making sure students truly understand on a personal level that desire to make things better or fairer. If I spend time letting students explore something that personally means a lot to them, they will better be able to make those connections in more abstract and distant ideas, like the American Revolution. Certainly allowing student discussion about different topics that they deem important and would like to change is an example of how I would begin teaching liberty. This discussion might include making a list of things they would like to change, identifying patterns, creating rationales for their complaints, coming up with alternatives or new solutions, problem-solving how they could act on that change, and then, maybe, implementing the plan. By having students go through this process, they will be better able to understand the same process on a larger scale when we are discussing the lead up to the American Revolution or the Civil War.
How will you measure the impact of your technology integration on student learning (Surveys, interviews, observations, assessments, etc.)

Certainly a lot of informal assessment will occur; observations of student work. It might be interesting to have students create a blog or a wiki where they could combine ideas and work out an action plan. The final assessment might be their wiki with their rationale and justification rooted in historical evidence and context. Ormaybe a compare and contrast essay. Possible topics: How did the colonists and the Tea Party movement use the idea of liberty to justify their revolutions/rebellions? How is the Tea Party movement similar to the reformers in the 18th century? What ideas liberty are present in both movements?