Website of Mr. Crawford

Lesson Plan Project

Lesson plan using Inspiration 8 software

Dr. Judy Arzt

Computers in the Classroom

Mr. Crawford

Supplemental Material: Exit Slips Short Answer Questions

Introduction

This lesson is designed for a sixth grade science class although it could be adapted for nearly any grade above sixth and almost any discipline. This lesson plan uses Inspiration, to facilitate judicious review of a unit of study. In other words, this lesson plan uses Inspiration to help students create and organize a study guide.

The Inspiration software at its core is a tool designed to create visual aids such as graphic organizers, concept maps, and outlines. Along with being a very intuitive program Inspiration also has many built in features such as templates, symbols, and tutorials to help teachers and students create lessons or enhance learning.

This lesson assumes that students have been exposed to Inspiration before. However, the intuitiveness of the program will allow students of most abilities to participate, assuming students have a computer.

Specific Objectives of the Lesson

Objective: Students will be able to recall, give examples, and/or explain major weather factors after judicious review of a unit.

Method: Using Inspiration, students will develop a concept/organizational map or outline to be used as a study guide and/or plan for writing.

Standard

6.3 Variation in the amount of the Sun’s energy hitting the Earth’s surface affects daily and seasonal weather patterns.

Instructional Materials

o Teacher

o Computer

o Inspiration software

o Projector

o Screen

o Students

o Computer

o Inspiration software

o Science Explorer books

o Notes from previous classes

o Teacher made template (if necessary)

Lesson Sequence

1. DAY 1 Initiation (10-15 minutes)

a. Have students open Inspiration in the diagram setting, matching what the teacher has projected.

a. Discuss general topics covered in the recent unit.

i. For example, a teacher could start by asking, “What unit have we been covering?”

ii. Students should respond by saying, “Weather”

b. Teacher will steer discussion towards several learning chunks.

i. Energy from the Sun

ii. Atmosphere

iii. Air pressure

iv. Wind

v. Storms

c. By clicking on blank space and typing each new learning chunk becomes a bubble.

d. Demonstrate how to link bubbles by using link button, the direction of arrows is very important.

e. Complete initiation by summarizing the organizational map and turning learning chunks into questions i.e. “What do we know about wind?”

2. Day 1into Day 2 Body of class (30-50 minutes)

a. Give instructions on how to add sub-topic bubbles to each learning chunk.

b. Give instructions on how to add notes to each sub-topic. Click on the note button in the tool bar.

c. Allow students to use books or class notes to answer questions and fill in notes.

d. Teacher circulates, helping students with technology and/or content.

3. Day 2 or homework Body of class (30 to 50 min)

a. Have students continue adding information from their sources, to fill in bubbles and add notes. Circulate.

b. Demonstrate for students how to personalize the study guide by changing the “bubbles” to symbols.

4. Day 3 Body of class (10-20 min)

a. Students that are ahead may add hyperlinks to appropriate websites.

b. Students quiz themselves or one another with collapsed study guides; by clicking the arrow, learning chunks appear.

c. After learning chunks appear, click the arrow (top right of the learning chunk), the subtopics appear.

d. Finally, by clicking on the small icon of a note pad (look to the top right of the umbrella below), specific details are revealed. A completed section might look like this.

5. Day 3 Closure (20-30 minutes)

a. Teacher projects a collapsed, completed study guide.

b. As a whole class group, expand each subtopic completely allowing students to answer each question and provide details.

c. This closure allows the teacher to be certain that students have access to the correct information.

d. Allow any students that missed some facts to complete their study guide.

e. Any work not completed could be done for homework.

f. Show students the outline (shown below as diagram) button in the top left corner and this is a perfect quick look for assessing.

Evaluation or Assessment

There are a number of ways to assess the learning outcome.

1. Conference with each student

2. Have student write a paragraph on a subtopic or an essay on a learning chunk.

3. Test, multiple choice, short answer or combination.

4. Quick look checklists to see if web is expandable.

5. Exit slips (each student would have to answer a specific question to leave the class)