Helene+James

Bienvenue sur ma page :) Instructional Objectives: Students will understand the PBL. Students know the different steps to organize a __trip__ Students will be able to use a currency converter calculato Students will understand what a storytelling is. || Day 1
 * = Daily Lesson GAME Plan Lesson 1 = ||
 * Lesson Title: PBL for a __trip__ to France |||| Related Lessons: ||
 * Grade Level: 8th |||| Unit: Traveling/Transportation ||
 * ==GOALS== ||
 * Content Standards:
 * Standard 2.2: ** Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied ||
 * ISTE NETS-S
 * Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources
 * ==ACTION== ||
 * **Before-Class Preparation:** vocabulary on traveling, different steps of traveling, create rubric ||
 * During Class ||
 * Time

Day 2 |||| **Instructional Activities** Videos __Laptop__ cart PBL __Access__ to internet: Rubistar YouTube Vimeo Xe Checklist Rubrics || [] (example) [] (example) || LESSON REFLECTIONS AND NOTES: Jennifer Robichaux to Helene (April 1, 2012) Hi Helene, your lesson sounds like a great way to engage students interest in a creative an authentic way while teaching content. I think this would be a fun lesson to participate in myself. Maybe I am being to literal when I ask this, but what exactly is the problem? Do you consider the budget piece to be the crux of the problem? I am just inquiring as to your line of thinking as I am a newbie at PBL. Hi again, it is a day later and I have been thinking about your lesson as it is less stressful than examining my own (smile). I had a thought, you should require your students to visit key locations in France (tourist locations) and also have to budget different types of accommodations such as a hostel, hotel, etc. as well as different types of transportation styles in order to travel throughout France. I think this would up the learning curve a bit by requiring deeper investigations in locations, costs, etc. This would add more math, geography, and language content. Maybe my idea could be used as an extension for a future lesson or if you had students who needed to be challenged a bit more. I honestly think this lesson sounds fun. I think you have some solid ideas. Thanks for letting me share. Jennifer Hello, Thank you for your feedback. To answer your question, my PBL is for students to be able to organize a trip in a foreign country, which would have to include tourist locations, hotel, airfare and transportation as well. This is one of my weakness. I am never clear enough when I instruct students. I have the information in my mind,but do not site it clearly on the paper. As I was reading others PBL, I feel I misunders tood the application. I thought we were supposed to make a unit with there lessons on a same PBL. I was thinking detailing the PBL for the next lesson. Students will collaborate with experts to determine what tourist locations, restaurants, transportations, and accommodation they should use. Then I will have them creating a digital storytelling on the trip they organize. Do you think I should mention everything during lesson one? Hi Helene, I think you might be confused with regards to the unit we are creating for the next two weeks (three total-including last week). The unit needs to be somehow tied thematically; however, the lesson above is your PBL lesson, the next lesson needs to include on-line networking/social collaboration, and the third lesson needs to include digital story telling. This might help clear up some confusion for you. At least, this is what I understand to be true. I think you have it you just went about it in your own way. To answer your question, I think you should give students the big picture of your unit, so they know where they are going; however, I think you should segment and chunk the specifics, so they don't feel overwhelmed. ** PBL: ** You are going to France, but you only have 5000 Euros, you will need to have accommodations for ___nights. You will need to stay in__ ___ accommodations (different accommodation styles) you will need to visit__ _,___,___ etc. and you must eat to budget for two meals a day. (This is a rough draft) __ Social Networking: __ Collaboration with experts/collaboration with each other ( wiki, docs, delicious.com (sharing websites)  __ Digital Story Telling: __ Try this website it is called Map Skip: http://www.mapskip.com/.  == These are just thoughts for you- I would try to be a specific as possible about students expectations. I think you should create a rubric for each lesson and give it to the students before they get started with that specific lesson. This would also require you to be clear on what it is you expect from them, which would ultimately lead to success for them. Thanks for collaborating. Cheers Jennifer ==  ====  Thank you, I will be fixing lesson one to give students the big picture and will add the rubric. My lesson 2 will be using the the PBL as well and I will be explaining what social network I will be using. Your input is helping me a lot. Thanks again.  Helene, I am glad I can help. I hope it is coming across the right way as I wouldn't want to offend you. I like reading about your lesson and watching it take shape. I wish that collaboration was this simple on an everyday basis in a real-life educational setting. But, time is at a premium on a daily basis and there is just never enough of it. Jennifer || Helene, Your lesson sounds very interesting and fun. I agree with Jennifer regarding the organization and structure. I have learned from experience that students need more structure than you may think in order to be successful. I would suggest creating a rubric or a check list to assist students with making sure they have covered each aspect required, for example, different places to stay. Also, a timeline with different due dates would be helpful to keep students moving along at a good pace.
 * __I will introduce students the PBL:__ The French embassy is giving 25 scholarships to students to go to France, to encourage students to travel, to develop their horizons and to allow students to be exposed to the French culture. The __scholarship__ gives a budget of € 5,000 (euros) per students. In order to get the scholarship, you have to organize a trip to France as a tourist, using the € 5,000 budget. Your trip to France will have to include accommodation for your stay, places you are visiting such as cities, monuments, and/or museums, transportation and a budget for food. You will present the different steps of your trip in a digital storytelling. The product has to be in French to show your willingness to speak and learn the language. The best products will get a __scholarship__ to travel to France.
 * Answer the eventual questions.
 * Have students research the term “digital storytelling” on their own in groups of three to four and have them report to the class.
 * Since most of my students never travelled abroad, we will create a traveling checklist to help students understand the different steps.
 * Convert 5,000 euros into dollars. []
 * Create a rubric for their researching and gathering information.
 * Create a rubric for digital storytelling with class.
 * In pairs, students will start talking about where they would like to travel and what activities they would like to do/places to visit. In groups students will come up with a list (accommodations, restaurant etc...).
 * Groups will report to the class and we will create a checklist together.
 * Go over the PBL one more time at the end of the period by asking guided questions to the students. || **Materials and Resources**
 * **Note student groupings, environmental modifications needed, etc:** Students will be grouped during the research of information (day 2 and Lesson 2) but they will have to create their own final product (lesson 3) ||
 * ==MONITOR== ||
 * **Ongoing Assessment(s):** Did all the students participate in the class discussion? Can students answer my guided questions? Groups work: was each team member assigned a job. Did they complete it?
 * Accommodations and Extensions:** If students are confused about what they need to do and what a storytelling is, I will have to provide more examples, and go over the PBL differently. Use my back-up plan resources for students who need more examples and/or to remind them of what is expected as the final product.
 * Back-Up Plan:** If students do not understand/ and/or we have an issue with the laptop, I will show examples of digital storytelling to show students what is expected. I will use “You tube” [] (What is a storytelling)
 * Back-Up Plan:** If students do not understand/ and/or we have an issue with the laptop, I will show examples of digital storytelling to show students what is expected. I will use “You tube” [] (What is a storytelling)
 * ==EVALUATE AND EXTEND== ||
 * **Be specific and include the evaluation that you will use for this lesson:** I will be collecting work/notes from Day 1 and check mark every students who will participate in the making of the checklist and the rubrics for Day 2.

As a math teacher, I appreciate your emphasis on staying on a budget. This not only incorporates math, but also assists students in being realistic as to what they would actually be able to accomplish. This is a real world skill which is beneficial for students to experience. Sarah

Hello, Thank you for your feedback. I need to review my lesson one. I am thinking having students in small groups creating a checklist of what they need to have when they organize a trip and then each groups would report to the class. I would then write a checklist based on their information.


 * = Daily Lesson GAME Plan Lesson 2 = ||
 * Lesson Title: Research on Traveling |||| Related Lessons: ||
 * Grade Level: 8th |||| Unit: Traveling/transportation ||
 * ==GOALS== ||
 * Content Standards:
 * .** Standard 1.1: ** Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
 * ** Standard 1.2: ** Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
 * ** Standard 5.1: ** Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting ||
 * ISTE NETS-S
 * Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
 * Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures
 * Plan strategies to guide inquiry
 * Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media
 * Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks
 * Process data and report results Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
 * Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity
 * Understand and use technology systems
 * Select and use applications effectively and productively

Instructional Objectives: Based on the PBL of lesson one, students will be able to collect accurate information to plan their trip to France. || Day 1 (5min)
 * ==ACTION== ||
 * Before-Class Preparation: Lesson 1 on traveling, create a wiki for my 8th grade class, and create emails account for www.Epals.com to collaborate with a French class. Make copies of a checklist. Rubric for wiki discussion. ||
 * During Class ||
 * Time

(5min)

(20min)

(10 min)

(3min)

Day 2,3, & 4 (5-10min) (7min)

(25min)

(5min) |||| Instructional Activities
 * Each group will create a page on the 8th grade wiki. Students will be storing their finding before the end of each period

Too many students waste lots of time searching because they were not taught how to do it efficiently.
 * Before students start researching for information we will watch a short video on how researching information on the web with: []


 * Students will then start to research information about their trip.


 * Students will ask their Epal questions about traveling to France such as places to visit.

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
 * Students will have to go to a given websites/blogs and ask questions about traveling to France.


 * Students will store all the information on their page on the wiki. (Pictures, websites addresses…)


 * Students will read each other wikis and use other students’ information if needed.


 * Check if Epals and experts wrote back.


 * Students keep researching information based on their checklist.


 * Make sure students will add information to their wiki.


 * Students will read each other wikis and use other students’ information if needed. They will give feedback on at least two groups.


 * On day 3 & 4 students will give feedback to at least two groups that is not in their class. || Materials and Resources:

Laptops Wiki Blogs Rubric for wiki ||
 * Students will be in-group of two to research and talk to the experts. ||
 * ==MONITOR== ||
 * Ongoing Assessment(s): I will use a rubric for the wiki to assess students’ work on a daily basis. I will also look at the emails through Epals.
 * Ongoing Assessment(s): I will use a rubric for the wiki to assess students’ work on a daily basis. I will also look at the emails through Epals.

Accommodations and Extensions: Provide students addresses of blogs on traveling and other websites such as Travelocity to help students who do not know how to start. Students will get more time if needed.

Back-Up Plan: If the experts do not answer back, I will have students write to an American agency to help students answer their questions. || Did the member of each group work together as a team? Can students use their peers’ feedback to improve what they are doing?
 * ==EVALUATE AND EXTEND== ||
 * Be specific and include the evaluation that you will use for this lesson:

LESSON REFLECTIONS AND NOTES: || Helene, I like how you chose to provide your students with the websites you wish them to use. To often our students struggle with finding websites that are proper to use for in class research. They are super fond of Google websites thrown at their key word searches and wikipedia. You have created an almost modified webquest in which you are giving them the websites and the check list but you are having them create a wiki in the end. At the end of each day, you can check in on their wikis and see their overall progress and additional work from the class period. You can create a rubric to give to each group at the beginning of the class period to provide feedback from what you saw on the wiki. This will allow for informal assessment of their work. I think your structure and guidance is key at the 8th grade level.

Nice work.

Mary Karen

Thank you for your help. I think it is a great idea to create a rubric for the discussion on the wiki. I will be working on that. Helene

Helene-

Your lesson plan is very “real world applicable” and fun. Students need to learn how to plan a trip, especially to a foreign country. I also really like the idea of using ePals to find out more information. I think it would be interesting to have them look up information about a particular place, either using a book or the Internet, and then compare the description with that of someone who actually lives there.

What is the criteria for their travel plans? Do they have to go to a certain number of many historical places or it is up to them? What would be really neat is if they were able to actually make friends through ePals and even meet them some day! Would you work with the teacher in France and have them do research on America? I also like that you are incorporating a wiki. I thought about trying that this year, but am going to stick to my blog. Good luck!

JenZ Thank you Jen, I did not think of a specific number. I want students to be free to crete their trip. But now that you are saying something, a problem I might encounter would be that students might just go to places such as amusement park. I do not know if 8th grade students who are not use to travel would think of places such as museum and/or historic places. I think I am going to change my guideline. I would love my students build a relationship with someone in France. I would love to work on a project with a class from France. It is one of my goal in the future. This project will help me to learn and work towards this goal. Helene

Helene, You and I are working on similar projects! My students are doing a country study of Japan for our International Day that we have at our school every year in May. I think having students communicate with a class in France is a great idea-I am also using ePals. One suggestion I would make it to make sure that the collaborative teacher from ePals realizes what a short schedule you are working on. Otherwise, your students may not receive responses in a quick enough time frame. Another suggestion is to require students to use at least one suggestion from their pen pal as part of their trip. For example, perhaps their pal suggests a particular museum or restaurant. Your student would then have to include that attraction within their field trip. I am also considering trying to Skype with our ePals classroom at the end (or toward the end) of our unit. I think it would be pretty amazing to be able to have that type of communication occur in my classroom. Another idea would be to exchange digital postcards with their ePals. Especially for the digital storytelling portion of the lesson, your students could create a "tour" of your hometown and perhaps the ePals could do and share the same with your class! Good luck going forward! Caitlin Thank you. It is great feedback, I love this wiki. I am learning so much. I like your suggestions on how to use peals more efficiently. I am using Epals for my project and plan on having students keep writing to each other until the end of the year. For my next lesson, students will invite their Epals to the class blog to take a look at their digital story. I would like to use Skype but France is 6hrs ahead of us,which makes it very difficult to chat on live. i could record students and send it, but it would be for the next school year. I have to keep in mind that I need "to start small"(Laureate Education, 2011) so I don't get overwhelmed. Helene

Carlos to Helene,

I think usin epals is a great way to give your students a first hand experience to a country they may not have the chance to ever visit. I also like how you can have students use other online tools like Google Translator to help them communicate with students in another language. This lesson will give the students in your classroom information not only from professionals and experts but from real people who live in France. I agree with JenZ what is the criteria for this project? Most students can list off different sites to see in Paris and make it a weeks worth of sights to see. Do your students need to visit two different cities and how many sites do they need to see in that city? This will also open up more dialogue between the epals because I'm sure every city has a landmark or an area with some history behind it. Great job hope you have fun with this lesson.

Just like I said to JenZ, I want students to be free to choose, but the more I think about it the more I am concerned about students ability to make the choice. I travel a lot unlike most my students, they might not know what it means to visit a foreign country. Students could just be visiting Paris, because there is so much to see or they could go somewhere else depending on their interest. I will need to be clear about it in my guideline. Thanks for you comments Helene


 * = Daily Lesson GAME Plan Lesson 3 = ||
 * Lesson Title: |||| Related Lessons: ||
 * Grade Level: 8th |||| Unit: Traveling ||
 * ==GOALS== ||
 * Content Standards:
 * **Standard 1.1:** Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
 * **Standard 1.3:** Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
 * **Standard 2.1:** Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied
 * **Standard 3.1:** Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language
 * **Standard 3.2:** Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures

. || Identify trends and forecast possibilities
 * ISTE NETS-S
 * Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
 * Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats
 * Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
 * Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks
 * Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project
 * Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
 * Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity
 * Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning
 * Understand and use technology systems
 * Select and use applications effectively and productively
 * Troubleshoot systems and applications

Instructional Objectives: Students will be able to create a digital story of a trip to France. ||
 * ==ACTION== ||
 * Before-Class Preparation: Students will need the information they researched the previous days to create the digital story. Create a blog for my classes. Get storyboard template ||
 * During Class ||
 * Time

Day 1, 2, 3 & 4

Day 5 & 6

Day 7

Day 8 & 9

Day 10 |||| Instructional Activities

I will show students example of digital stories [] (example) [] (example)

The digital story should show the different steps of their trip to France and should not exceed 7 minutes. will use their information they gathered, wiki, suggestions from french teenagers to write their script. Students will use a storyboard template (see bottom of the page). Students will write in French using vocabulary they know and short sentences.

Instruct students about copyright and creative commons []

Students will then look for pictures on the Internet, or use the class wiki to create their digital story with movie maker/iMovie

Students will find a music for the background of their digital story.

Students will practice reading their script in groups of two or three. They will be able to use Google translate to listen to the pronunciation if necessary or will ask me for help.

Students will record their voice following the script. Students will review their digital story and make changes if necessary.

Students will follow instruction to upload their digital story on the class blog.

Students wil invite their Epal to take a look at their work.

Students will watch 6 digital story and comment on three of them. || **Materials and Resources** Storyboard template

Computer lab

Class wiki

Microphones

Imovie/window movie maker

Headphones

Rubric for script

Rubric for final product || Students will work individually. ||
 * Note student groupings, environmental modifications needed, etc:
 * Note student groupings, environmental modifications needed, etc:
 * ==MONITOR== ||
 * Ongoing Assessment(s): I will walk around the class to observe the progress of students. I will grade the script and the final product, and discussion on a blog.

Accommodations and Extensions: Make available a visual from lesson 1 that explain what a digital story is [] Watch a video of “plain in English on how to blog. []

Back-Up Plan: If we have technology issue, we will be able to use the storyboard template and have students read their script to the class. ||
 * ==EVALUATE AND EXTEND== ||
 * Be specific and include the evaluation that you will use for this lesson:

LESSON REFLECTIONS AND NOTES: ||



Helene, Great idea to provide students with a template for the storyboarding portion! By giving students the template/graphic organizer to use, it makes the planning stage a little less confusing. I was wondering what you are requiring for their story. For example, are you grading based more on the content provided? Is there a checklist of information that has to be included in the story? I am considering how I want to approach this aspect of my own project. My students are working on something similar in that they are studying a country. However, I am allowing them to present any aspect or topic from the information or research that they want (the biography of an influential leader, advertisement for visiting, travel guide, documentary). Therefore, I am wondering whether I should place a time limit or guide on the video. For example, should I tell students it must be at least three minutes but no more than five? I want them to present their information, but do not want to watch a 20 minute video either. What are your thoughts based on your own project? Caitlin

Caitlin Not too long ago my 7th grade made a movie. I did not think of giving them any time limit. Some of the videos were 10-20 minutes. Some scenes were too long and irrelevant. I could not ask them to make changes because when I saw the time length we did not have the computers anymore. You probably should give a range of minutes not to exceed. I need to fix it on this lesson. In lesson 1, students made a checklist of the different steps of planning a trip, so I will remind them to use it to create their digital story. I do not want to ask for a certain number of places to visit, but in the mean time most of my students never went to a foreign country. I am hoping that their research, sharing a wiki, and their interaction with French teenagers will help them to figure out what they should visit. For this time, I am going to leave it up to the students and I might have to make changes for the following year. I will grade their project on the content of the visual, which should show the different steps their trip, speaking French, and the script through a rubric. Helene