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Lesson Plan 2: Learning the software while gathering content, forming teams of web journalists, and creating groups to discuss content critically Instructional Objectives
Time requiredA minimum of two weeks (10 instructional periods) Advance PreparationThe advance preparation will concentrate on finding the right content for the web site, a content that is high quality, inspirational and reflects the needs of the participants. The students will review the rules of the lab and the procedures for working on and off line. The guidelines for creating functional groups will be reviewed periodically. Materials RequiredComputer lab, chalk and blackboard, construction papers and markers (ideal for brainstorming, drafting ideas and action plans in groups and for presenting the results to the class). VocabularyReview and expand the fundamental vocabulary needed to do Internet activities. New words: web authoring software, hyperlink, server, plug-ins, layout, digital picture, audio and video streaming. Vocabulary for group work: performance, management, tasks, teamwork, departments, self-evaluation, rubrics, peer review. ProceduresGroup work will become the dominant teaching methodology. ActivitiesDay One and Two. Students will receive basic instruction on how to use a simple web authoring software (any program that allows you to post content on the web). We will review Microsoft Word 2000, Front Page 2000, and Netscape). Students will learn the easy steps in opening any of these programs, adding content, saving it as a web page (HTML), and then opening it and being able to make revisions. For a list of procedures to use Microsoft Front Page, go to this page: http://fklane.org/january_30.htm Day Three and Four. Students will meet again in the
classroom to discuss their plans on how to indicate their presence on the web. From
their experience in going to other schools' websites, the youngsters will come
up with a list of proposed activities that can be reflected on the school web
site. This list may include the following and many others:
School History, Principal’s Message, Departments, School Activities, Sports and
Teams, Senior Class, Showcase Projects (literature, math and science research,
arts, etc.), Alumni, Teachers, Surveys, Links of Interest. The students will
create “web teams”, made of students who are interested in the same subject.
Day Five and Six.
Students will create graphic representations of the proposed web on large
papers. They will draw links and layouts on paper and show it to members of
other groups. Peer review (see below for more information on this concept) and
critical thinking will be used. The groups will also search for the graphic and
the special effects concepts they would like to see on their future web site. Day Seven and
Eight. The students are back in the computer room to learn more about web page
design. They will have this time some ideas of how the site is going to look
like, and they will have some content to process. The students will learn how to
copy and paste the content into their web page, how to save it, open it again,
and edit it. They will also learn some elements of web layout, such as tables,
borders, background, and image manipulation. They will make some decisions at
this point, such as the background colors, the tables, the use of pictures, and
the general layout. Students will also learn how to create an internal hyperlink
(between two files on their web) and external hyperlink (between a file on their
web and another document on the Internet).
Day Nine and Ten. Students will now learn how to gather the materials onto one roof. The teacher will show them how to publish on the school server. The students and the instructor will assemble the information and graphics available. They will look at the published website on line and on paper and form a peer review committee to see where to go next. It is not expected to have a functional web page at this moment. However, it is important that students see their drafts on the web so that they will continue working and improving. Example of student web sites can be found at: http://fklane.org/studentweb.htm
Extensions or Follow-up During most of the time during this segment of instruction, students will use critical thinking to approach the work they do in groups or other groups’ work. Some elements are needed to instill elements of civility and intellectual stimulation in the critical process. Let us introduce the concept of peer review here. Peer review is a system of formalized reflection upon learning and teaching that is done by teachers. The rules of peer review can be found at New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning web site (http://nysatl.nysed.gov/whatpr.html). I am sure that many of the procedures for teachers peer review can be applied for students as well. It is clear that this unit is directly connected to journalism. Students should be able to receive relevant information about how to write a good and efficient news article on a certain topic. Students will also learn how to collect information in a
short period of time, by using multiple sources and exercising objectivity and
critical thinking during investigation. They will learn to distinguish the
primary sources from the secondary sources, as well as opinions from facts. They
will do interviews, polls, coverage of events, and investigative reports.
HomeworkDay One and Two. Students will find content for their future web pages. They will think about their interests, write down the first draft, and discuss their plans with the members of their group. Day Three and Four, Five and Six. Students will be asked to continue working on their proposed list of web subjects at home. They will come back with a detailed plan on how they want to cover the subjects/areas they are interested in. They will bring content to their class, whether it is from their investigation in school or it is from the Internet and/or other sources. Day Seven and Eight, Nine and Ten. According to their proposed plan on covering a subject and presenting a material, students working in groups will divide the tasks, go out and perform. They will do research, interview people in school or community, obtain information from school officials, go on the Internet for models of web coverage, and write, write, and write. Example of student generated web pages covering one subject, and the way the instructor is asking for peer feedback: http://fklane.org/webproject.htm The student web pages found at this location are rough drafts. They are being processed and redesigned through the process of peer review and teacher intervention. Students will comment upon them and make additions, remarks, and criticisms, according to the criteria presented above. An example of a student self-check list is here: http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/fklane/selfcheck.htm EvaluationThe peer review process is in fact an evaluative process conducted by the participants that agreed to a format of discussion. Students will assess their own work step by step. They will create rules and criteria to judge their performance. For instance, quality checks can be found for judging an article on school activities, interviews with teachers and seniors, or opinion polls. Other principles may be found when you judge the quality of a web page. The teacher should intervene here to create a more balanced discussion that will include multiple perspectives, analytical framework, and plenty of models of acceptable formats in interviews, articles, opinion polls, and commentaries. At this state, the evaluation of student activities will include rubrics, quality checks, and criteria produced by students. A college-level evaluation system for web pages can be found at: http://lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvalQuestions.html Students can devise simpler evaluation criteria, along the lines proposed by Kathy Schrock. For instance, there are three groups of criteria to be observed: 1. Technical and Visual Aspects of the Web Page 2. Content 3. Authority
The teacher may ask the students to come up with the performance indicators for each criterion, by using class brainstorming techniques. For instance, for number 1, Technical and Visual Aspects of the Web Page, students will develop a list that may include some of these indicators, proposed by Kathy Schrock, or many others:
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