Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Teacher(s)
Name Larrece Groover
Position Gifted Teacher
School/District Hall County
Grade Level(s) 4th – 5th Grade Resource
Content Area ELA; Math, Science, Social Studies
Time line 2 – 3 weeks – Tuesdays only

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? )

Communication - I can use a variety of strategies to communicate and collaborate with

others, such as verbal, nonverbal, and technological, to reach a common goal or create a
product to be shared with real audiences.
Creative Thinking & CPS Skills - I can develop and practice creative thinking and creative
problem solving skills
Gifted Strands: Critical Thinking & Logical PS Skills - I can develop and practice critical thinking and
logical problem-solving skills.
Research Skills & Methods - I can develop research skills and methods through in-depth
learning within the area of study.

ELAGSE5RL1 – Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly
and when drawing inferences from the text.
ELAGSE5RL2 – Determine a theme a story, drama, or poem from details in the text,
including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a
poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
ELAGSE5RL4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
ELA Standards: ELAGSE5L5 – Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances in word meanings.
ELAGSE5L6 – Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and
domain-specific vocabulary, including words and phrases that signal contrast, addition, and
other logical relationships.
ELAGSE5W5 – With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen
writing as needed by planning, revising and editing.
ELAGSE5W6 – 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.
ELAGSE5RI7 – Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating
the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
ELAGSE5SL4 – Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically
and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or
themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

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 Knowledge Constructor – Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital
tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning
experiences for themselves and others.
3a - Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other
resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
3b - Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information,
media, data or other resources.
3c - Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods
to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
NETS*S 3d - Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems,
Standards: developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.
Creative Communicator - Students communicate clearly and express themselves
creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital
media appropriate to their goals.
6a - Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives
of their creation or communication.
6b - Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into
new creations.
6c - Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a
variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.
6d - Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their
intended audiences.
Global Collaborator - Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich
their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and
globally
7a - Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and
cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.
7b - Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts
or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

This lesson is a culminating task for the unit, My Side of the Mountain. The students will work on a tic-tac-toe
choice board to demonstrate their understanding of many different concepts and components of the units.
Students will choose from the following options on the choice board: Thinglink presentation highlighting the top
10 events of the story, chart including items needed to survive in the wilderness (not exceeding 20 pounds),
book jacket for the novel including a summary of the story and a new eye-catching cover, model of Sam’s bed
and tree (using craft supplies, string, toothpicks), book trailer using Adobe Spark, quiz of student created
questions using Kahoot, digital poster advertising your “Survival Camp” using Google Slides, travel brochure
featuring figurative language using Google Docs, and/or a smartphone template activity (paper/pencil activity).
Students will be expected to complete 3 activities from the board with at least 2 of the activities technology
driven. Each activity has a checklist or rubric for the students to follow so students understand the
expectations. The students will present their choices at the unit celebration for the class and include the digital
choices in their Google Drives as well as include the class learning management system. Parents will be able
to view students completed projects through the Google Drive and learning management system. Students will
have the opportunity to showcase their digital components at the annual district technology fair. Each student
completed choice board items will be submitted as a possible school representation. After completing their
choice board activities, the students explained their thoughts on what the main character learned through
Flipgrid.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? What questions can you ask students to help them focus on important aspects of the
topic? What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic and build on?)

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 How does the author use the resources of language to impact the audience?
What does a person have to know and what does it take to survive in the wilderness?
How does Sam change and what influences this change?

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?)

Students will create three different products to illustrate their learning. The students will review the Tic-tac-toe
menu and decide how they want to demonstrate their learning. Every student will be responsible for an Adobe
Spark book trailer however the other options will provide the students with the opportunity to make choices
based on their strengths. The menu incorporated many different learning styles and provides students with
technology products as well as hands on products. Several of the products give students the opportunity to be
creative while other projects have students be critical thinkers. Each of the products allow the students to
illustrate their learning and understanding of the text. Each of the products will be assessed with a teacher
created rubric. The students received the rubrics prior to starting the project and each rubric was reviewed so
students can ask any questions before beginning. The differentiation is embedded in the choice board
because I was able to create products aligned to specific academic goals. I incorporated several of the multiple
intelligences for my gifted learners while also integrating technology choices. Students will produce three of the
following options on the choice board: Thinglink presentation highlighting the top 10 events of the story, chart
including items needed to survive in the wilderness (not exceeding 20 pounds), book jacket for the novel
including a summary of the story and a new eye-catching cover, model of Sam’s bed and tree (using craft
supplies, string, toothpicks), book trailer using Adobe Spark, quiz of student created questions using Kahoot,
digital poster advertising your “Survival Camp” using Google Slides, travel brochure featuring figurative
language using Google Docs, and/or a smartphone template activity (paper/pencil activity). Students generate
new knowledge as they are exposed to using the different tools for the projects. Students developed an
understanding of how to use Thinglink, Adobe Spark, and Kahoot while gaining additional knowledge of Google
Docs and Canvas. The students also gained an understanding of how to use Flipgrid while explaining their
thoughts on what the main character learned through Flipgrid.

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

One of our goals is for our students to be producers and not just consumers of technology. We want our
students to use technology to create authentic and meaningful products. The products on the choice board
provide the opportunity to enhance their technology skills and add to their technology toolbox. Each of the
technology tools provide the students an opportunity to create an authentic and meaningful product as they
demonstrate their understanding of the story, characters, conflicts, and solutions presented within the text. All
the students will learn how to use Adobe Spark to create a presentation with audio and visual elements. The
students who choose to learn about Thinglink will gain a second presentation tool with visual and audio
elements. Some of the students are familiar with some of the Google features however the students who
choose to work Google Slides and Google Docs will develop additional skills on working with the brochure
template and poster feature. Each of the students who work with Kahoot will gain an understanding of how to
create questions through a game based platform. Prior to starting the project, the students need to have read
the text and have a basic understanding of the story. The students will have technology choices however the
only technology skills the students will need prior to starting the products is a basic understanding of how to
use our learning management system, Canvas, and understanding of how to safely use the Internet if they look
up any additional information for their project. The teacher will provide whole group, small group, and individual
instruction of technology tools as needed.

Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can you
find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

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 Students have completed reading the book in class and participated in learning activities relating to the story
prior to the final choice board implementation. Students have gone on a field trip to experience the struggles of
shelter and fire making so they can relate to the character in the text. Students should have a firm
understanding of the events in the story, characters, conflicts, and solutions. The students have completed
discussion questions, vocabulary activities, and partner/group assignments in class orally and written to
demonstrate their understanding. Prior to starting the activity, the students have demonstrated their technology
skills as they participated in assignments on Canvas, Google Docs, and Flipgrid.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
troubleshoot them?

Students will have whole group, small group, and individual instruction depending on the individual student’s
choice from the tic-tac-toe board. The instruction will happen within the Gifted classroom however students will
have access to the assignments in the computer lab, advance content classroom, and home since everything
will be housed on Canvas. The students will have access to Chromebook and laptops throughout the school
day. Students will not be required to complete any component of the project at home because time will be
provided in class for students. If technical issues arise due to device problems, students will get a device from
the library or their advanced classroom. If technical issues arise due to internet function, each direction of the
choice board has one choice requiring no technology so students will concentrate on that portion of the project
until the problem has been resolved. If there is an extended technical issue, due dates will be extended or time
to work on the project will be coordinated with the advanced classroom teachers.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or creativity
levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic, relevant, and
meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge and skills?
How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other and others?
How will you facilitate the collaboration?

The students will work in cooperative learning groups as they work with the technology choices. The content of
their projects will be their own however as they learn about the technology and work to create the new products
they will work in teams to share their discoveries of how to use the the technology tools. The students enjoy
working and teaching each other as they work to create a common product but prefer to add their own content
so they can add their understanding and individual touches. After the choice board is introduced completely
the students make their choices and groups are assigned based on the technology products. As the teacher, I
will instruct the different groups on the basics of the programs but my main roles will be to facilitate the product
creation, observe their usage, and evaluate the progress. The individual student roles will be producers,
generators, and teachers of their understanding of the technology as well as the text. Students will choose
from the following options on the choice board: Thinglink presentation highlighting the top 10 events of the
story, chart including items needed to survive in the wilderness (not exceeding 20 pounds), book jacket for the
novel including a summary of the story and a new eye-catching cover, model of Sam’s bed and tree (using craft
supplies, string, toothpicks), book trailer using Adobe Spark, quiz of student created questions using Kahoot,
digital poster advertising your “Survival Camp” using Google Slides, travel brochure featuring figurative
language using Google Docs, and/or a smartphone template activity (paper/pencil activity). Each individual
student will present their choices to the class for peer feedback and teacher feedback. The product choices
within the choice board addressed various levels of Bloom’s taxonomy allowing students to create, evaluate,
analyze, apply, understand, and recall information from the text while the technology opportunities created
collaboration as well as communication within their groups based on their individual choices.

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Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

My class consists of identified gifted learners however not all gifted learners are gifted in every area or at the
same level. My classroom receives no additional support teachers so to accommodate the various learning
styles and levels I created the choice board to address the learning needs of the students in my classroom. I
provided activities for students who were kinesthetic learners, visual learners, auditory learners, verbal
learners, and logical learners while also providing opportunities for students to be within groups as they created
with the technology or work independently. I provided one on one instruction to students who needed
individual instruction. Extension opportunities were provided within the product rubrics so students could
extend based on their own learning and time. Students were also allowed to complete more than three
products if they wanted to extend the project. Students were provided headphones and many assistive
technology tools such as snap and read and co-writer provided by the district if they needed additional
assistance. Students who need additional vocabulary support for the technical programs and text were
provided additional assistance with instruction through paraphrasing and visual representation when
necessary.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
• Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways was this lesson effective?
• What went well and why?
• What did not go well and why?
• How would you teach this lesson differently?)

The students will present their products to the class and receive feedback from their peers and teacher. An
interactive board will be displayed in the hall throughout November and December while parents are attending
events to showcase the products utilizing QR codes for digital products. Parents will be directed to view their
individual student’s products through Canvas. Students will be asked to reflect on the unit and projects after
the presentation day. Based on the students’ comments, they found the projects meaningful and I had all
students complete the projects which can be a challenge when the gifted class can be viewed as “extra” in
some eyes. I believe the choice board integrating technology choices was effective because first the students
had to complete reading the book as well as the activities to develop an understanding of the text prior to
working on any of the project. I also previewed each choice individually and allowed the students to think about
their choices prior to picking the products. The students also had to create a rough draft of each component
prior to starting any technology project and had the rubrics to use as their guidelines. As a final check before
turning in the assignments the students had to review the rubrics to make sure they could check off the boxes.
I found time to be a major factor in completing the project due to interruptions to the schedule for school related
functions for the students to attend on my instruction days. I will plan one additional day for presentations only
and require students to bring in any supplies they want to use from home for their models prior to their work
days. The students seem to be the most excited about the technology components and left the other products
to the last minute.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson?

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 The lesson went well with my students integrating several new technology tools. The students had very little
difficulty with the tools which made it a positive experience even with so many different choices to manage.
Our district provides many of these tools on the individual student’s platforms so they do not have to remember
individual usernames and passwords which is also very helpful. The students only had to remember how to
access their Launchpoint and Canvas as long as they were signed in through their student account. It creates
a very streamlined process. I would like to find a better way for the students to create the Kahoot quiz because
they were frustrated with the restrictions on sharing. Most of the students in this class are familiar with
technology because they have been in a blended learning classroom for several years with projects as part of
their routine. If I were to implement this in a regular classroom with students who are not familiar with
technology, I would provide less choices or tutorial videos for students to reference to help with managing all
the different moving parts of technology.

Attachments: Tic-tac-toe Choice Board; Kahoot Rubric; Thinglink Rubric; Adobe Spark Rubric; Brochure Rubric;
Poster rubric; Model rubric; Book jacket rubric, Smartphone Activity & Rubric Page 1; Smartphone Activity &
Rubric Page 2

Resources:
Tic-Tac-Toe template provided by Kasey Bell – www.ShakeUpLearning.com
Model Rubric - @Stanton_Lit
Smartphone Activity and Rubric – S.Dempsey @ SmocusSmocus.blogspot.com
Brochure Rubric – Sherree Brown @ Always Bringing Creativity
Adobe Spark Rubric – Innovations in Technology 2017

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