Brett+Trefethen

Unit Plan Assignment: Problem Based Learning Lesson

Brett Trefethen EDUC 6713I-3 Virgil Kirk 3 June 2012

The following PBL lesson is for 7th and 8th grade middle school German students. As part of a trimester long unit of study entitled the “Virtual Exchange Student” my students have been studying the theme “clothing”. The lesson is called “Virtual Shopping Spree”. The problem: your luggage has been misplaced shortly after arrival at your destination. You have €100 to do some shopping for the necessary clothing you will need until your luggage is recovered.

The outcomes for the lesson are both in the content area and technology (researching) skills. Students will be given a list of clothing (in German) and links to clothing stores in Germany where they will shop for the clothing they will be purchasing. When they are finished they will provide to the teacher an itemized list including the following: quantity of each article, price, store name, and the URL for the page of each purchased item. They calculate the amount in both euros and dollars to compare the costs of typical clothing items purchased in two different countries. The content area standard addressed from the Maine Learning Results (2009) is **B3 Comparisons with Own Culture** --//Students compare some common culturally-appropriate products and practices////of daily life of a culture(s) in which the target language is spoken to the culture in which the student lives.//

All my students have Apple MacBook computers. They will use technology in this lesson for practically every step. I have set up links to german department stores in my Portaportal page they will use for their shopping spree. They may also use Amazon.de to search for the articles. They will employ the technique of searching in the target language and synthesizing the results. Some of the articles with be specific like a “red jacket” or “designer jeans” so they will need to use the appropriate search terms on the department store page. Male and female students will need to shop for items specific to their gender. Students will copy and paste the URLs for the websites they used into a word processing document and e-mail them to me in attachment or compose a Google doc and share with me.

This lesson can be customized in several ways for diverse learners. For lower-level learners I could minimize the list to five items instead of ten. I could limit the number of websites used for certain students and direct them to sites that are rated on “user-friendly” scale of 1-5. For enrichment, students could do a supplemental activity by using a template Facebook™ status update page they could post an update about the shopping spree, the items they bought and where they went to buy them. Then they could post fictitious comments from their friends on their wall.

In terms of assessment for this lesson I would use Socrative.com to develop an “exit ticket” activity. This would be a short formative assessment with three to five questions. The questions would be aimed at both content and technology. I will also include a question about culture as one of the objectives of the lesson is for the student to compare products and perspectives of the German-speaking country with their own. I will also do a content-specific assessment covering the vocabulary used in this lesson.

References Maine's Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction. 2007. Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/language/index.html. June 12, 2011

Brett, I really like your unit plan idea. It covers all of the content standards as well as technology standards that you need to cover. Not only does it cover content, but it truly is a real life situation that could happen to students if they travel. It also allows students to be creative because not all students will wear the same clothes, therefore they should not have to buy the same clothes for this project. Your assessment also allows you to make sure students understood the problem and the content but it is quick and to the point. This problem-based activity sounds very interesting to me! Great job and I look forward to hearing more about it! Samantha R. Brett, what a great authentic learning activity. I like the way you differentiate your instruction. Your struggling students are still learning the content, but it is adjusted for them to handle and not be overwhelmed. You could use Edmodo for your "Facebook" enrichment activity. It is like Facebook, but it is for educational use and is easy to manage. Your activity cracks me up because it is a real world situation that happens all of the time. I can totally relate! Great PBL! Jackie

Brett, I agree that, short of traveling to Germany, this is a true PBL activity. The technology options will motivate your students, and are accessible since you mentioned that all of your students have a Macbook. As for your struggling learners, are you able to create a Google Custom Search ahead of time containing those "user-friendly" sites that they (or any of your students) could access? I have done this, mostly to avoid inappropriate content for my 5th graders, but also to guarantee that their searches would yield relevant results. Also, is there any way to access ReadWriteGold on their Macbooks? This program has been a lifesaver for my struggling readers (and myself) since they are able to be a bit more independent. The program allows them to highlight Internet text and click to have it read to them (in a computerized voice they have selected). Then, they can more easily locate relevant information no matter the readability level of the text. This sounds like a fun PBL. Good luck! Sandy

Hey Brett,

This looks like a great lesson. I'm sure your students get a kick out of searching for german clothes, and converting from euros to dollars is a math lesson that will hopefully benefit them someday. I like the use of Socrative.com for your exit tickets. I have not yet used that website but you have given yet another reminder to check it out. Good luck with your lesson

-Mike

Hi Brett, I like your exit slip idea! I use exit slips in my classroom and find they are extremely helpful in encouraging studetns to stay focused, motivated, and on task. Furthermore, your lesson seems quite interesting and engaging! Incorporating technology throughout your lesson also ensure studetns boost their technology skills, which are clearly pertinent in many if not all adult carreers. Best, Kristy

**Unit Plan Assignment: Online Collaboration Lesson**

Lesson Title: Collaborating on a Google Presentation “Shopping Excursion”

Grade Level: Middle Grades

Related Lesson: Virtual Shopping Spree, clothing catologue

Unit: Virtual Exchange Student

**Goals**

National Standard 2.1: //Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied.//

Maine Learning Results//: Standard B1 Describe common similarities and//

//differences related to practices of a culture(s) in which the target language////is spoken.//

ISTE NETS-S

Creativity and Innovation

Communication and collaboration

Research and information fluency

Instructional Objective(s): Students create Google presentations of a typical shopping excursion in Germany. They include links to pictures of the shops visited, culture sites, maps, times and directions in the target language from a train station or airport, and a tally of the money (€ EUROS) they spend.

**Action**

Before-class preparation: Inform students to bring MacBooks to class, make sure they can access their Google accounts (password management), review clothing vocabulary.

**During Class**

Review vocabulary and present a typical situation of going
 * 5-10 minutes ||  ||

your first excursion in the new foreign country you are living in.

Share with class an example Google slideshow presentation on taking an excursion in the city where the teacher studied
 * 20 minutes ||

German (Salzburg, Austria).

Students work in pairs or small groups to produce their own slideshow. Since every student has their own city they will
 * 25-35 minutes ||

need to agree on which city they are visiting for this excrusion.

**Monitor**

Ongoing Assessments: Students will share their slideshow with the instructor so he/she can monitor their progress, make suggestions or help

with technology questions.

Accommodations and Extension: Teacher and higher functioning students will assist students with lower level technology skills as needed.

**Evaluation**

When students present their slideshows the teacher will grade accordingly to a student and teacher designed rubric. Some categories would be: correct use of the language, contains all the required parts, technology use--citizenship, ethical use.

Brett- I love the idea of a "virtual shopping spree," if that doesn't engage middle school students I don't know what would. I like the way students have to solve problems that could come up in real life situations like the airlines losing your luggage. One reason that students are not engaged or motivated to do many lessons are because in their minds it seems useless; they can definitely see how this lesson can be useful in their real lives one day. Great lesson! Traci Reynolds