Instructional (Lesson) Plan Format

Central Washington University

Department of Education

 

Lesson Title/Focus: Cultural Diversity Project

 

Grade Level: 3^rd through 5^th Grade

 

Subjects: Language Arts, Technology

 

Input: This unit will focus on Cultural Diversity and writing skills.

 

Instructional Materials Needed:

• Access to the Internet
• At least one Email account for the students
• Video-camera recorder
• Television
• VCR
• Microsoft Word

 

Lesson Objective:

• Language:
• To write clear detailed paragraphs answering penpals questions and making up their own questions to ask.
• Students will make a menu about the foods from their chosen country and present it to the class. (Both the menu and a sample of the dish)
• Writing GLE 2.2.1. Demonstrates understanding of different purposes for writing.
• Writing GLE 4.1.2. Analyzes and evaluates own writing using established criteria.

 

• Technology:

NETS-S 1: Creativity and Innovation

NETS-S 2: Communication and Collaboration

 

Grouping Students for Instruction:

• With the class as a whole:
• Formulate 10-15 questions that will help us learn about a country's culture. For example: Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, how? If not, do you have a similar celebration? What are some other celebrations? What are some national foods you eat?, etc.
• In groups of 3 to 5 students:
• Choose a country.
• Find some information on the Internet about this country (ex. Location, population, language(s) spoken, flag).
• Go to the site with the following address:

http://www.ks-connection.org/connect/K_penpal.cfm

• Find a penpal from your country.
• Take the questions found as a class, write an Email message to your penpal asking the questions.
• Gather the information, get together and plan your report.
• Distribute task: writer, cameraman, reporter(s), or distribute the tasks so each get to do a little of each task.

• Film your report.
• Plan the menu and each person prepares a sample of the chosen food.

 

Learning Experiences:

The lesson will be inquiry based, as students use their prior knowledge from writing paragraphs. All students will have received extensive instruction in writing paragraphs up to this point, so writing will be routine.

 

Direct Instructions

Anticipatory Set: The classroom will be covered in flags from around the world. Under each flag, there will be a recipe from that particular country. Upon entering the classroom, the students will be given directions (Please stand under any flag around the room. Make sure that there are not more than 5 people under a flag.)

 

Modeling: The teacher will have a flag by his or her computer along with a recipe. The teacher will have already corresponded with a penpal from that country. (Have the email ready for students to view on the dot cam or overhead projector). The teacher will also log onto the website and instruct students on how to create an email account.

 

Guided Practice: The teacher will then lead the class through writing a short response to his or her penpal email together on the board. The teacher then will ask for possible questions to ask their penpal (ex. Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, how? If not, do you have a similar celebration? What are some other celebrations? What are some national foods you eat?, etc.) Then, both the teacher and the students will create an email account on the website provided.

 

Independent Practice: At this time, students will be log onto the website provided (http://www.ks-connection.org/connect/K_penpal.cfm) and search for a penpal in the area that the student chose. The students then will have the opportunity to write their letter using Microsoft Word. The students will peer edit each letters before submitting it to the teacher for final corrections. After the letter has been returned, the student will then submit his/her letter to his/her new penpal. Once their penpal has responded, the same procedure will be taken again before responding to penpal to ensure good grammar and sentences are used.

 

Checking for Understanding/Questions: When the students have gathered enough information, each group will construct a menu from their particular country and present it to the class. Students will also make a video report based on interesting facts from their designated country (ex. Penpal location, population, geography of location, capital, etc.) Each group member must have a role in the video and each student must create a dish from the country.

 

Closure: In conclusion, the students will not only have practiced good grammar and sentence structure but they will have also had the opportunity to make new friends and learn about different cultures.

 

Assessment Strategy: The students will be assessed both formally and informally.

• Informal: The teacher will walk around the classroom and observe students as they are writing their first draft of their letters.
• Formal: The teacher will then evaluate the students on their letters grammar and sentence structure. A rubric will be used to check for accuracy of studentÕs procedural writing and inclusion of video camera.

 

Lesson Plan Rational

 

Learning Target(s):

The learning targets directly address all of the learning standards. The GLEs are addressed as students practice their form of writing. They will also be addressed as students evaluate their peers writing samples and adding structure or fixing grammar for clarification where necessary.

The lesson addresses both NETS-S 1 and NETS-S 2. NETS-S 1 focuses on creativity and innovation. Students will create a report and will present it in video format. NETS-S 2 focuses on communication and collaboration. This lesson clearly focuses on communication and collaboration using technology, as writing to communicate to learn about another culture and using a video camera to present their findings.

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