Blog Post #12

Lesson Plan for History Blog

EDM 310 has been a class which has been filled with many surprises. My perspective of teaching has been expanded to include the implementation of technology in the classroom. Each assignment taught me different methods of technology that can be used in teaching. However, I believe it would have been beneficial to have had an assignment devising a lesson plan for students which included one of those methods. All future teachers will have to prepare lesson plans, and an assignment like this would allow EDM 310 Students to become familiar with incorporating technology in lessons they will someday teach.

History is one subject that I feel would benefit from this philosophy. Nothing could be more boring to a group of students than hearing about a bunch of people doing a lot of things that happened a long time ago, but imagine assuming the role of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abigail Adams, or Phyllis Wheatley and blogging as them every week! I wrote a lesson plan which allows students to learn about the American Revolutionary Period through the perspective of an assigned historical figure.

5th grade students would have weekly blog assignments which would revolve around the curriculum and lessons taught. Requirements and expectations for each student's blog would include:

1. Create a blog as assigned figure containing a title, brief biography, and picture of their figure.  
2. Post information on their blog, in character, as the history curriculum was covered.
3. Contain at least 4 embedded photographs or videos.
4. Contain at least 6 links to web resources.
5. Properly cite sources with the use of alt tags on photographs or videos.
6. Comment on at least 2 classmate's blogs each week.
7. Become familiar with and properly use blogging etiquette such as responding to comments left on your blog and the responsibility of leaving appropriate comments. 
8. Writing, spelling, grammar, and punctuation will be considered in grading.

I created a grading rubric which outlines requirements students would be graded on. Receiving a weekly grade would allow students to earn points for fulfilling blog requirements, writing skills, and summarizing the history information covered in class and homework assignments from the point-of-view of their assigned historical figure. It's my opinion that blogging would allow students to make history a reality.

I would recommend the following sites to students and parents to help them become more familiar with blogging:

http://thwt.org/index.php/discussion-collaboration/blogs   http://digitalbloomsexamples.wikispaces.com/Creating_Elementary

This is an example of a student blogging as John Locke from a school in Bronx, NY.

http://johnlockebls03.xanga.com/

A partial example of my grading rubric is listed below. I hope that someone becomes inspired by my lesson idea and can bring a part of education to life for their students through the magic of blogging!

Grading Rubric

	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Ideas & Content	The ideas expressed are not original, often confused and are not connected to discussions around history time period and character.	The ideas expressed are not necessarily original, and are not usually connected to discussions around history time period and character.	The student expresses some original ideas. The majority of ideas are related to history time period and character.	The student has many original ideas and expresses them clearly. The great majority of ideas are related to history time period events, character, and emotions.	___/_4_
Evaluation Comments
Post Frequency	The post frequency is well below course expectations.	The post frequency is slightly below average.	The post frequency is slightly above average.	The post frequency greatly exceeds course expectations.	___/_4__

·