Reflection

Lesson  Implementation

Lesson goal: Students will be able to independently evaluate any website for credibility.

Instruction ran from April 3 to May 19 and included 6 40-minute sessions.

Activating background knowledge

Before beginning the actual instruction, we activated background knowledge by answering 3 essentials questions: What is credibility? Why should I assess the credibility of a website? How can I assess the credibility of a website?  The students seemed to enjoy this activity, and it led to meaningful discussion.

Student projects

In order to better understand and remember the elements of website evaluation for credibility, the students chose to either participate in the production of a rap video or create an infographic.
The projects were evaluated with the checklist below.

Assessments

The students took a Google survey about website credibility using a website of choice at the beginning and end of this project. I compared the survey results to see if the students' analyses improved as evidenced by more references to the elements of date (currency), author (authority), purpose and accuracy when assessing web site credibility.

Although all the students received instruction and practiced evaluating their website using the DAPA Website Evaluation form, the results were mixed. Predictably, the students that either narrated the rap or worked on infographics (and thus reviewed more often the elements of date, author, purpose and accuracy) did better than the students who mainly danced, etc., as their part of the video. Also, our instruction was interrupted due to testing which did not aid retention.

Impact of Technology
The students who interacted with technology for their projects retained the most about the four elements of website credibility evaluation. The narrator practiced his script and recorded it many times before the final product was just right. The students who created the infographics with Canva also reviewed the elements and saw them in writing as they worked on their projects. The students who performed for the rap did not see or hear the words repeatedly. However, I plan to use their rap video every time I teach this unit in the future, and their work will help other students retain these elements!

CLC Experience

The best part of this CLC for me was the opportunity to learn from and support my colleagues. I think it was good to have this take place at just one school and to emphasize reading and commenting on other members' blogs. Even though we are in the same building, we come from varying grade levels and areas of specialization. This was a great opportunity to see what our colleagues are doing in their rooms.

Thank you, Mr. Hill, for all your work on filming and producing our rap video! More thanks also go to Thea Delehanty and Eileen Kalbfus for working in Canva with the students who chose to make infographics.

Implementing technology is time-consuming, but taking part in a CLC forces me to focus on a topic and a technology and new lesson plans which can then be used again with future classes.

I think the students were more engaged in the topic because of the technology and choices, and it let them shine in their area of interest and expertise.

Planning and Goal Setting

https://flic.kr/p/b7T49Z

Why am I doing this lesson?

Both the Common Core and Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (a  K-12 framework for library instruction) include standards that require sixth-graders to be able to assess the credibility of information sources. In this time of "fake news," the need to teach this skill seems relevant and perhaps even urgent.

What materials, devices, apps, websites do I need for the lesson to be successful?

1. Camera for recording a rap
2. Movie Maker for editing rap
3. Google Slides to make infographic
4. Computer with Screencastify extension and microphone to make screencast of live website evaluation
5. SeeSaw blogging platform
6. DAPA Website Credibility Evaluation Form
7. Student computers for viewing websites 
8. Laptop and LCD projector to evaluate a website as a whole group
9. Posters and markers for World Cafe small group discussions
10. Checklist for evaluating student projects
11. Website Credibility Student Survey

Which teaching strategies will be best to facilitate my student's learning?

• Based on my pre-assessment, I understand that the students have not done a lot of critical thinking about assessing information sources. They will need to have the analysis modeled for them before striking out on their own.
• Using a World Cafe method, the students will participate in small group discussions about the essential questions: What is credibility? Why should I assess the credibility of a website? How can I assess the credibility of a website?

What are the academic, social, physical, emotional needs of my students for this lesson to be successful?

I think the choices of projects to show the students' learning (see below) will appeal to a variety of learning styles. In addition, because learning is social, the students will do the majority of the learning activities via whole group discussion, working in pairs, or as a small group.

How is this lesson motivating and engaging for your students?

We'll begin with small group discussions about why we should care about website credibility. Hopefully the students have heard about fake news enough to realize that it is important to know how to judge the credibility of information sources.

By Institution:IFLA [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

Who is the intended audience for your students work?

http://web.seesaw.me/blogs/

The students will be embedding their finished products into their SeeSaw blogs which Mr. Hill set up as part of Project-Based Learning. I plan to tweet about any exceptional products that I think other educators would be interested in seeing and include the blog post URL.  Also, I want to use their projects as examples to future classes and as a way to teach website credibility (e.g., post an infographic in the library and 6th-grade classrooms, play the rap video, etc.). So the intended audience is other educators and students.


The students will be able to choose how they want to show their learning about 4 criteria for evaluating website credibility. I will be discussing several options with them:

1. Write, perform and record a "DAPA rap" that talks about 4 elements of website credibility - date, author,  purpose, and accuracy.
2. Do a screencast of a live analysis of a website of choice.
3. Make an infographic clearly illustrating the 4 elements of website credibility using in Google Slides

SMART Goal:

As a result of learning about the 4 criteria for website evaluation, 100% of the students will be able to restate, illustrate, or demonstrate the use of those criteria via infographic, rap, or screencast. The goal will be measured via a rubric used to evaluate the student product (rap, screencast or infographic.) The students will see the rubric before they begin creating the rap, screencast or infographic.The teacher and students will assess the projects via a checklist. Students will also re-take the pre-assessment Google survey, and I will compare to the students' original analysis to see if they have included more of the 4 DAPA criteria than in the original pre-assessment survey.