Classroom Blog and Website Creation Tools

Lesson Idea Name: Vacations (Beach & Camping)

Content Area: ESOL/ELA/Social Studies
Grade Level(s): L3/L4 Students (3rd-5th Grade)
Content Standard Addressed:
Standard 1: English language learners communicate for Social and Instructional purposes within the school
setting.
Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic
success in the content area of Language Arts.
(TESOL technology standards framework. (2008). Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages.)

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Writing, Text Type and Purposes #23 (Grade 8):
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through
the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event
sequences.
Common Core State Language Standards, Conventions of Standard English #12 (Grade 6): Demonstrate
command of the conventions of standard English grammar when writing or speaking; Demonstrate command
of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
(The 2012 amplification of the English language development standards kindergarten grade 12)

Technology Standard Addressed:

Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to
achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes. (ISTE-1)
Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to
demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. (ISTE-1)
Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social
interactions online or when using networked devices. (ISTE-2)
Students manage their personal data to maintain digital privacy and security and are aware of data-
collection technology used to track their navigation online. (ISTE-2)
Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
(ISTE-6)

Selected Technology Tool:

Blog Wiki Other: Website Creation Tool (list): EduBlogs

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

http://lwelch11.edublogs.org/flipped-classrooms/vacations/
https://youtu.be/GfJF_UrPoz8
https://quizlet.com/216707013/vacation-beach-camping-flash-cards/
Blooms Taxonomy Level(s):
Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level): (Level determined by the specific lesson idea)
Level 1: Awareness Level 2: Exploration Level 3: Infusion Level 4: Integration
Level 5: Expansion Level 6: Refinement
Summer 2017_SJB
 Classroom Blog and Website Creation Tools

Lesson idea implementation:

In this flipped classroom assignment, the students will be learning new vocabulary and concepts to assist in a
future assignment. Over the weekend, the students will go to the classroom blog website where they will find
the flipped classroom assignment on Vacations. They can either listen to the instructions via the audio file or
read the instructions on the post. First, they will watch a YouTube video that introduces some
phrases/questions about vacations; it plays through twice, the second time having captions and pauses so
that the students may read as they go along. The students are encouraged to write down any words or
phrases they are unfamiliar with or have questions about. After they have watched the video, the students
will then login to Quizlet. They have to go through the flashcards and do at least three other activities with
the new vocabulary. In order to receive credit, they also have to take the test, even if it is more of a formative
assessment than a summative one. To complete the flipped classroom assignment, the students must
produce 3-7 sentences answering the questions, If you could choose any place to vacation, where would you
go and why? What would you do? They will bring this assignment to class.

As the teacher, I will monitor over the weekend the progress the students are making as they go through the
Quizlet games. When they come back to class, I will do a recap of what they went over during the weekend,
playing the YouTube video and going over the vocabulary in more detail. This lesson will be used to introduce
the assignment of making a video or poster of the students ideal vacation using iMovie.
Importance of technology:
Using a website-creation tool is critical to this assignment because it gives the students access from a secure
and compact location for all of the parts of their assignment; I am treating the class blog as more of a limited
Learning Management System. The assignment could be completed without the technology, but it would
make the assignment more difficult because the students might not have a collective place to receive the
instruction. Because the blog and all of the assignments are mobile-accessible, the students are not required
to have a personal computer in order to complete the assignment; they can use a parents phone or even a
computer at the local library.
Inspiration (optional): I actually adapted a lesson idea I had created for a certification class for this
assignment.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy:
One of the possible issues surrounding internet safety and student privacy that could arise would be the link
out to YouTube. Because YouTube is so widely accessible, the advertisements may not be appropriate for my
class. To help minimize risk before we do any flipped classroom or online assignments, I would teach my
students about what it means to be safe on the internet (not to post personal information; if they see explicit
content, to shut down the browser immediately and tell an authority figure, etc.). I would then make sure
that the parents know exactly what the students should be doing for their assignment by directing them to
the page themselves so that the students are held accountable. I would also make sure that I stay up to date
on the terms of use of all of the products I will be using in the lesson (Quizlet, EduBlogs, YouTube).

Describe your personal learning goal for this activity.

I personally have never created a flipped classroom assignment where I will be relying on the students
learning the content on their own before I introduce it to them. I hope to learn more about my students
learning styles, and how I can make better use of our in-class together time. I hope that my students will learn
how to study on their own and accountability when given a deadline.

Other comments about your proposed activity:

Summer 2017_SJB