Teaching Practice Under the Sea: The Electronic Portfolio and Me THE LESSON
Understanding The PLP
Name Cynthia Hurlbut Grade Level 4 Date March, 2003
Unit Plan of which this lesson is a part Developing Electronic Portfolios with Fourth Graders
1. Lesson Focus/Title What is a PLP? and How do I choose work to put in my PLP?
2. Learning Objectives of the Lesson: What will the students know, understand, be able to do as a result of this lesson? What dispositions or attitudes will they demonstrate? (These should include restatement of the national, state, and local standards focused on in this particular lesson of the unit.)
Upon completion of this lesson, the student will:
a. understand what a Personal Learning Portfolio (PLP) is and how it is used.
b. learn to develop a rubric for choosing personal work to be put in a PLP.
c. be able to choose work for the PLP based on specific criteria of the rubric.
3. NETS standards for students: What are the NETS standards that will be covered by this lesson?
a. 5. plan and implement technology-based learning activities that promote student engagement in analysis, synthesis, interpretation, and creation of original products. (II, III)
b. recognize students' talents in the use of technology and provide them with opportunities to share their expertise with their teachers, peers, and others. (II, III, V)
c.
4. Assessment Tools/Procedures: How will you evaluate student learning and participation in the lesson? Link your assessments to the objectives for the lesson and the NETS standards. (Be specific: State your conditions and criteria clearly. Use a variety of assessment techniques.)
a. Students will participate in open discussion about PLPs and rubrics.
b. Students will create a rubric which includes criteria defined by the class and submit the rubric for a grade.
c. Students will write a paragraph describing the function of a PLP, the properties of a rubric, and how both of these tools can be used for archiving quality pieces of work.
5. Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge or skills do the students need to have in order to participate in this lesson?
Students should be able to look at pieces of their work and evaluate them for quality. We practiced by comparing earlier pieces with recent pieces to help us develop an “eye” for spotting changes in areas such as spelling, grammar, writing, penmanship, content, and overall quality of work.
6. Introduction to the lesson: How will you engage students in the topic/lesson? How will you tap and assess their prior knowledge?
In anticipation of this lesson, approximately 2 months earlier, students wrote a paragraph about the components of a well-written story. These papers were saved by the teacher. For this lesson, students again wrote a paragraph on the same topic. The two papers were then evaluated simultaneously based on the rubric developed by the students. Engagement was immediate because they were evaluating their own work and were able to clearly see the growth and development of their own writing skills. Because they had the rubric, which provided specific things to look for, they were able to focus on each criteria and “separate” it from the overall look of the paper.
7. Lesson structure: What sequence of activities will you follow in the lesson? What teaching methods will you use at each step?
For the PLP:
1. Write “PLP” on the board. Ask if anyone knows what it means. Write “Personal Learning Portfolio” on the board. Ask if anyone knows what any of the words mean. Write the answers next to each word defined. Develop a sentence which uses the given definitions of each word.
2. Discuss the various assignments we’ve done and how each could be used as an artifact to populate a PLP. Include in the discussion the models, dioramas, and posters made during our Ocean unit. How could we put them in a PLP?
3. Have students view “Plentiful Penguins” on the Apple site.
4. With partners, have students brainstorm a list of software/media which can be used to produce documents suitable for a PLP. Bring the class back together to share their lists.
5. Conclude the lesson with students making a “mini-book.” The cover page was the title: “What Can I Put In My PLP?” Each page thereafter would include a type of document that can be uploaded to a PLP with an illustration of that media.
For the Rubric:
1. Two students from NEC came to our class to teach and help students create a rubric for writing. This was a planned event; it was necessary that students understood the PLP and had something to evaluate (their papers on the components of a good story.)
2. A grid was drawn on the board; students had a paper copy of the grid to fill in as the rubric was developed.
3. The rubric had three levels of evaluation – Excellent, Good, and Need Improvement. They defined five levels of criteria – Proper Heading, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, Writing, and Content.
4. Each cell of the rubric was discussed, students were involved in developing the standards appropriate to the criteria. (What determines an Excellent Proper Heading?)
5. Upon completion of the rubric, students used their recent paper to evaluate. They assigned their own grades to each criteria.
6. They turned in their evaluations/grades and the teacher then evaluated their papers based on the rubric.
7. When the papers were returned to the students, time was spent going over any differences between the students’ assessments and the teacher’s.
8. A mini-lesson about editing was delivered. Students realized that having the rubric BEFORE writing would be a valuable tool for producing quality work and reducing missed errors made during the editing process.
8. Differentiated instruction/modifications: How will you differentiate instruction for students of various abilities and learning styles? How will you accommodate multiple intelligences?
1. Students with limited abilities developed a 3 X 3 grid rubric using the titles “Great, OK, and I Could Do Better.” The criteria for their rubric was “Number of Problems Missed, Neatness, and Proper Heading.” They evaluated a simple math worksheet with addition problems.
9. Closure: How will you conclude the lesson? Ask for examples? Summarize with questions? Relate to other lessons? Use evaluative tools?
1. Students answered questions about PLPs in a group discussion.
2. Students created a rubric grid and filled in the cells.
3. Students evaluated their own work using their own rubric.
4. A quiz was given (What is a PLP? and What is a rubric?) Students were asked to provide as many details as they could remember. A rubric for the quiz was posted on the board.
(Follow-up: students stated that posting the rubric at the beginning of the quiz was very helpful in their answers. They knew exactly what they needed to address, how many details were necessary, and what the paragraphs needed to look like. They appreciated knowing what they had to do to get the “A” – and almost all of them got an “A!”)
10. Materials needed:
1. Chalkboard/whiteboard
2. Blank grids, sample of a rubric on an overhead transparency
3. Two pieces of each student’s work (an earlier writing and a recent writing on the same topic)
4. Red pens for editing
5. Access to computers/internet
11. Extensions:
To show students that a “grid rubric” is not the only type of rubric, I also showed examples of other styles. I explained that any type of work can be assessed using a rubric as long as the rubric has been created for that assignment. I wanted them to understand that rubrics are flexible and that they are a useful tool which, when developed prior to completing an assignment, can save time and energy. Quality work can be produced the first time if they follow the rubric.
12. Assets to be collected or developed:
1. Practice rubric, done together
2. Quiz – “What is a PLP? and “What is a Rubric?”
3. Corrected/assessed writing
13. Reflection questions for teacher: (Answer upon completion of the lesson)
This was a great lesson. Students were interested, I think mainly because they are so interested in anything that has them working on the computer. Their answers on the quiz reflected not only learning but a desire to do more. I was also impressed at comments such as: “I think I will make a rubric every time I have to write a paragraph.” “The computer is a great place to store my work because my mom gets mad when I tape everything on my wall.” “Now I know how you grade my papers.” and “Now I know how to get A’s.”
I must admit that I’ve always used rubrics exclusively for grading papers. I never realized what a valuable tool the rubric could be for students, especially if the student creates the rubric. I intend to use this tool much more in class and definitely prior to any writing assignments.
14. Reflection questions for students: (A random sample of students should answer these questions after placing their work on the PLP.)
a. What was this lesson about?
b. What did you do?
c. Why did you choose to put this in your PLP?
How to Populate a PLP
Name Cyndi Hurlbut & Larry Restuccia Grade Level 4 Date March, 2003
Unit Plan of which this lesson is a part Developing Electronic Portfolios for Fourth Graders
1. Lesson Focus/Title Multi-media Applications Used To Populate A PLP
2. Learning Objectives of the Lesson: What will the students know, understand, be able to do as a result of this lesson? What dispositions or attitudes will they demonstrate? (These should include restatement of the national, state, and local standards focused on in this particular lesson of the unit.)
Upon completion of this lesson, the student will:
a. be introduced to various media applications which can produce or document student work to be placed in his/her PLP. These include a word-processed document, an Excel bar chart, a Kid Pix drawing, a scanned image, a still photograph of a three-dimensional project, and an I-Movie.
b. understand that any type of quality work can be used to populate the PLP.
c. demonstrate and produce at least 3 documents in different applications which will be uploaded into a PLP.
d. practice using various equipment such as a video camera, a digital camera, and a scanner.
3. NETS standards for students: What are the NETS standards that will be covered by this lesson?
a. recognize students' talents in the use of technology and provide them with opportunities to share their expertise with their teachers, peers, and others. (II, III, V)
b. plan and implement technology-based learning activities that promote student engagement in analysis, synthesis, interpretation, and creation of original products. (II, III)
c. use results from assessment measures (e.g., learner profiles, computer-based testing, electronic portfolios) to improve instructional planning, management, and implementation of learning strategies. (II, IV)
4. Assessment Tools/Procedures: How will you evaluate student learning and participation in the lesson? Link your assessments to the objectives for the lesson and the NETS standards. (Be specific: State your conditions and criteria clearly. Use a variety of assessment techniques.)
a. Observation of students in the computer lab practicing typing, drawing, and file management.
b. Students will produce a word-processed document, an Excel bar chart, and a Kid Pix drawing suitable (based on a rubric) for their PLP.
c. Students will write a reflection paragraph on their experience.
5. Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge or skills do the students need to have in order to participate in this lesson?
Students should have some experience on a computer. They should be able to open a program, work within the program, and save their work to an appropriate folder. They should also be familiar with using a rubric for creating and assessing their work.
6. Introduction to the lesson: How will you engage students in the topic/lesson? How will you tap and assess their prior knowledge?
To begin the lesson, which in fact became a series of lessons due to logistics and time available to work in the computer lab at the school, we place various pieces of equipment on a table in from of the room. These included a CPU, a video camera, a digital camera, a scanner, and the boxes from several software applications (Word, Excel, and Kid Pix.) Students were asked what each piece of equipment was and if they had ever used it. The software programs were discussed and defined - examples of products from the three software programs were also shown. Students were told that they would use all of these products over the next couple of weeks to produce artifacts for their PLPs.
7. Lesson structure: What sequence of activities will you follow in the lesson? What teaching methods will you use at each step?
“Understanding the Computer”
1. Students will be introduced to the computer, it’s functions, and file management during their regularly scheduled computer lab. This 55-minute session happens every 2nd day of our 6-day schedule. Classes in the computer lab are taught by our Technology Teacher, Mrs. Rand. Mrs. Rand is a member of this PLP team and prepared her lessons according to our needs and schedules for this project.
“Word Processing”
1. Students will hand-write a paper titled “My Team and How We Worked Together.” The first draft will be edited based on a writing rubric developed in an earlier lesson.
2. Students will take their edited papers to the computer lab.
3. After an introduction to Microsoft Word, they will enter their papers into the computer and save them to a personal folder. The papers will be typed, formatted, spell-checked, and printed.
“Excel Bar Chart”
1. Upon completion of an exciting Ocean unit, we had a taste test of 13 items harvested from the sea. As we tasted each item, we voted on whether or not we would eat this product again. After establishing our base number, we recorded our votes. This information was then entered into an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and converted to a bar chart.
2. Students will print out the bar chart and write a summary paragraph based on their own interpretation of the visual statistics.
3. Students will save their bar chart files in their personal folders.
“Kid Pix”
1. Students will be introduced to “Kid Pix” and create a drawing of their favorite creature from the ocean.
2. Students will save their drawings in their personal folders.
“The Video Camera”
1. Students will learn how to hold the camera, how to attach it to a tripod, how to operate the various buttons, and how to view what they have photographed.
2. Each student has the opportunity to video the classroom for a 15-second session.
3. In the computer lab, students viewed and verbally critiqued their video.
“The Digital Camera”
1. Students will learn how to hold the camera, how to use the view finder and LCD, how to operate the various buttons, and how to play back their pictures.
2. Each student has the opportunity to take a picture of their Ocean diorama.
3. In the computer lab, students downloaded their pictures to their personal folders.
“Scanning”
1. In the computer lab, students learned how the scanner works, how to place documents into the scanner, and how to name and download the documents to their personal folders.
8. Differentiated instruction/modifications: How will you differentiate instruction for students of various abilities and learning styles? How will you accommodate multiple intelligences?
Very few modifications were necessary for this series of technology lessons. They were created to provide a hands-on approach. Most of our students adapted to the computers with ease and familiarity. Written assignments for students with limited abilities were modified. The focus was using the computers and all of our students were able to participate at their own levels.
9. Closure: How will you conclude the lesson? Ask for examples? Summarize with questions? Relate to other lessons? Use evaluative tools?
Students produced a document in each of the areas. These were placed in their personal folders in the computer lab. A print out of each document was printed and evaluated based on rubrics developed prior to these lessons. Students created a poster displaying their “Computer Skills Savvy.”
10. Materials needed:
1. A display of various media equipment (for example: a CPU, a video camera, a digital camera, a scanner, cover boxes or CD’s of various software applications.)
2. Access to a computer.
3. A very helpful Technology Teacher!
4. Various pieces of student work
11. Extensions:
12. Assets to be collected or developed:
Students produced a document in each of the areas. These were placed in their personal folders in the computer lab. A printout of each document was made and evaluated based on rubrics developed prior to these lessons.
13. Reflection questions for teacher: (Answer upon completion of the lesson)
Going into these lessons with somewhat limited knowledge of digital equipment presented not only a challenge, but an opportunity for me to finally learn how to use my own video and digital cameras. I feel like I learned right along with my students, thanks to the competent teaching and hands-on approach presented by Mrs. Rand. I believe students are eager to learn anything that uses high-tech equipment. Our students were excited about this series of lessons from beginning to end. Will we do it again? Absolutely. The comfort and confidence displayed by students was refreshing and energizing.
14. Reflection questions for students: (A random sample of students should answer these questions after placing their work on the plp.)
a. What was this lesson about?
b. What did you do?
c. Why did you choose to put this in your plp?
Author:Cyndi Hurlbut
and Larry Restuccia School:A Collaborative Project with Center Woods Elementary School and New England College Organization:Center Woods Elementary School and New England College Credits:Debra Nitschke-Shaw, Director of Teacher Education
Meaghan Dube, preservice teacher, New England College
Lindsey Inman, preservice teacher, New England College
