Integrating Social Networking

Integrating social networking into a lesson could boost students’ digital literacy and enhance their learning experience.  For this example, I am developing a lesson with project that integrates social networking and other web 2.0 tools for my 10^th-12^th Grade Personal Law elective class.  The reason I chose this class is because it is truly content/knowledge-driven as opposed to my other classes, which are primarily skills-driven.  Also, for your information, my district utilizes the Learning Focused Schools (LFS) model of lesson/unit planning, so the lesson will be organized as such.

Quick background/synopsis on lesson:

With this being my first year teaching this content and with a severe lack of established curriculum, I’ve been building this course from the ground, up.  This unit is on Contract Law and this lesson is on Offers, Offer Termination, and Offer Acceptance.

Lesson Essential Question: Basically, an essential question is an objective stated in the form of a question.    

How are offers created, terminated, and accepted in regards to contract law?  

Students will create a new notebook in Evernote on a laptop with the essential question as the name of the notebook.  Alternatively, students may use their personal smartphones and download the Evernote app on Google Play or iTunes.

Activating Strategy: The activating strategy is basically a part of the “anticipatory set” in which prior knowledge is diagnosed through an activity.

 

For this lesson, I would have the students create a KWL chart through Google Docs and invite all other students to collaborate through a shortened URL link via bit.ly on Twiducate (the invitation/link would have been sent out prior to class).

Students will then share their ideas on the K and W parts of the chart and “clip” the webpage to their phones or laptops via Evernote.  Of course, students will revisit the L part at the end of class or after class as an assignment and repeat the webpage “clipping.”

Acceleration/Previewing:

This is another part of the “anticipatory set” in which vocabulary is presented (accelerated and previewed for students who need it).

For this lesson, I would make a list of vocabulary terms that students need to define and post to Twiducate.  Each student would have 2 terms to define.  Students will then copy and paste all terms and definitions into an Evernote note.

Teaching Strategies:

This section is where the breadth of the content is delivered in specific manners (i.e. direct instruction, cooperative learning, independent practice).

For this lesson, I would teach the content directly in a Prezi and have students take notes and ultimately develop a backchannel log through Today’s Meet, which will be shared through Twiducate (the link for the example below is http://today.io/QXg7).  Every student must post at least 4 notes during the direct instruction.  Students will then incorporate the backchannel log into their Evernote notes.

Graphic Organizer:

This section is meant to ensure that students are getting graphic organizers that relate back to the essential question.

The students will create a flow chart graphic organizer using Google Drive Drawing that answers the Lesson Essential Question in a step-by-step manner.  Students would need to "clip" the webpage to their Evernote notes.

Extended Thinking Activity:

This is the section in which students take their learning to the next level.

Assign students to develop thoughtful questions, collaboratively find lawyers, share lawyers and contact information on Twiducate, and communicate with them via email requesting them to Skype during class on the topic of contract law and offers.  This way, students construct support for their own knowledge while developing a deep understanding for the law from a professional.  Students would be required to log notes on Today's Meet and add the backchannel log to Evernote through the link provided on Twiducate.  Alternatively, if students are unable to get a lawyer to Skype, they can have him/her answer questions on Socrative or Poll Everywhere.  Students will then discuss answers and take notes via Evernote.

Summarizing Strategy:

In this section, students summarize what they have learned.

Students will revisit the initial KWL chart developed on the Google Drive Spreadsheet and fill in the L section.  Students will then review other students' responses and ask any questions to other students about their responses on Twiducate.

Assignment:

The assignments include:

Evernote Notes, Google Drive Drawing - Graphic Organizer, Google Drive Spreadsheet -  KWL chart, Twiducate - vocabulary definitions, Today's Meet notes.  They should all be combined into a separate notebook within Evernote. 

Final Analysis:

I enjoyed challenging myself with creating this lesson.  The project itself would be the Extended Thinking Activity, although other activities are built within each section.  Integrating social networking is expected through Twiducate and even Skype.  Students also share notes and collaborate via Today's Meet and Google Docs.  And, of course, Evernote brings it all together in a medium that students have access to all of the time.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.