Final Project: Menu

Studying American ideals-5th grade Social Studies

This lesson plan is for 5th graders studying American ideals through music or songs in America. Students are asked to listen to and analyze the songs "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner." The final project is for the students to find songs that they think represent American ideals and present the project to class by playing the song via YouTube and explaining their thoughts on the song as it relates to ideals in America.

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Content Standards

Content Objectives

Lesson Structure

Assessment

Technology Utilized

Survey

Thank you!

Frank Nappi

Final Project: Technology Utilized

Students will have used technology for this project by using a computer to write a reflection on their own song that reflects on American ideals, and the Internet to find and print song lyrics, plus, using YouTube to download the songs and listen to them on the computer as part of the assignment. Specifically, when the students present their own version of songs that represent American ideals, they will hold the interest of the class by playing the song from YouTube for the class, which will enhance the lesson and their presentation. By using YouTube the students have successfully communicated to the class the song that they feel best represents American ideals.

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Final Project: Assessment of Student Performance

Students will be asked to share music other than the songs played in class, which too represent American ideals. They will be asked to write a short paper on how the song represents the ideals of America and why, which will be turned into me. The presentation will include playing the song and discussing shortly with the class why they think their song of choice represents the ideals of America. Also, the students will play the song for the entire class before presenting, by going on to YouTube to download the song (I will have loudspeakers set-up to the computer in the class, which will play the song selection for the class to hear).
My assessment will be to read their papers and listen to their presentations as an assessment for the project. In order to receive the grade of "+" the students must successfully download the song on Youtube to be played for class, and the song must be representative of ideals in America. My rubric for the assignment is listed below:

"+" grade will be given for a song that appropriately and clearly represents American ideals, and the student was able to use YouTube on their own to download the song on the computer to be played for the class during their presentation.

"check mark" will be give to students who find a song that mostly represents American ideals, and the student was able to use YouTube with little to no help to download the song on the computer to be able to be played for the class during their presentation.

"-" grade will be given to students who find a song that somewhat or does not represent American ideals, and the student was not able to download the song on YouTube on their own to be played for the class during their presentation.


Final Project Menu

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Final Project: Lesson Structure

The lesson should be done in the course of one day during Social Studies time, preferably on the same day that we go to computer lab. Half the class will be used to discuss ideals and American ideals by listening to songs that represent the ideals of America, and the other half of class will be spent searching and listening to these songs in the computer lab. We will end the lesson with a journal entry about the meaning and thoughts about the translation of the two songs.
I will begin the lesson by having a class discussion about what it means to have an ideal or what ideals mean or is meant by ideals. Then, I will ask the students to work in pairs to come up with a list of American ideals or what are the ideals that we hold dear in America, which will be shared with the class. Next, we will listen to the songs "America the Beautiful" and the "Star Spangled Banner." I will ask the children to review their list of American ideals that was done previously with a partner, and see how it compared to the ideals represented and sung in the songs of our national anthem and the nation hymn. Afterwards, we will take a trip to the computer lab to search for these two patriotic songs and their lyrics on the internet, using YouTube, to listen to and comprehend the meaning of the two songs.
At the computer lab, I will have the students individually work and use the internet to find the lyrics to the songs "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner," and have them print up the lyrics. Next, I will have them go to YouTube to search for and listen to both songs. It will be their job to listen to the songs and read the lyrics as they go and follow along with the song. I have allotted 20 minutes to find the lyrics on the Internet and listen to the song of YouTube. Within this time frame, the children can listen to both songs as often as they want. Last, we will go back to classroom to do a journal entry on the songs that we have listened to.
When we return to class the children will have about 10 to 15 minutes to record their thoughts on the meaning of the songs and how it relates to representing American ideals. As homework or work beyond the lesson, I can have the students find other songs that represent American ideals, with their translation and thoughts written as a paper to be turned into class or used as a presentation, provided they bring the music or upload it on the computer (using YouTube) to be shared with the rest of the class.

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Final Project: Content Objectives

The goal and objective of this project is to get students to learn about American Ideals by using YouTube and the Internet to listen, gather song lyrics, and examine the songs "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner." Ultimately, I want my students to understand and reflect on the meaning of the national anthem and patriotic song as it relates to our ideals in America.

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Final Project: Content Standards

American Music

Students will know and understand songs that express American Ideals. Songs like "America the Beautiful" and the "Star Spangled Banner" represent the American ideals that make a democratic society, much like a Social Studies class, and the American republic. Students will use technology, particularly YouTube, to locate and gather information about patriotic songs that represent the ideals of America.

California Content Standard:

5.7 Students describe the people and events associated with the development of the U.S. Constitution and analyze the Constitution's significance as the foundation of the American republic.

6. Know the songs that express American ideals (e.g., "America the Beautiful," "The Star Spangled Banner").

ISTE Standards for Technology:

3. Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

b.	locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c.	evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

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Next: Content Objectives

YouTube Video

Videos make good use of enhancing your teaching or can be a great opening to a lesson to hook or grab the students interest. Most students are familiar with the website YouTube, and there are tons of videos that can be used to enhance a lesson. Again, videos are not used to pass the time or teach the intended lesson, but rather, is a good source to warm your students up to the new material. So, by using YouTube videos in this regard, then you are inspiring student learning, and going outside the box to do so. There are lots of funny or informational videos that can be used to enhance your teaching or lesson.

Excel Gradebook

A spreadsheet is an effective way to keep an organized record of your students grades on assignments and their overall grade. You can also share an electronic version of your spreadsheets with colleges via Google Docs, which is good for correspondence about certain students and their progress. In this way, you are working with the model of digital-age learning and teaching. Excel spreadsheets save teachers a lot of time because it can calculate all of your students grades, finding the average, minimum, or maximum values on a range of data in no time, and correcting errors is fast. The spreadsheets display information that makes it easy to share and read with your colleges. Excel spreadsheets is a good alternative source to keep grades and scores on assignments.

Click here to see my gradebook

Surveys and Data Collection

Surveys in the classroom are a good tool to use when you want to collect information from or about your students. Topics of information to collect could range from, how your students are feeling, gathering class opinions anonymously, and evaluations for teacher reflection. Also, when you are ready to collect personal information about your students, a survey is a great way to do so. For example, if you are looking for topics to write about in writers workshop, you can choose those topics from the personal information collected from the survey--like writing about your last vacation or your favorite sport. Surveys are an effective way to collect information from your class.

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Reflection: Social Networking and Privacy

Almost everyone and their grandma is on Facebook, so what better way than to introduce it into the educational setting--a medium that some of your students are already comfortable using. It is effective for class discussions, because you can develop a post, and have students respond with comments as feedback. Plus, the document section is a place for students to upload assignments, while getting them active in practicing online communication and skills. Additionally, you can correspond with other parents who have access to the site about classroom news, up-and-coming events, and important forms for download, like a field trip permission slip. It is a great tool to upload any information, from videos to news articles, that you as the teacher feel are important for your class. For example, it's a lot easier and more effective to post a news article or a "stop bullying campaign" on the profile than to bring it to class in print for it to be read and passed around. Yes, it is basically the same thing, but you can get comments and discussion on topics without distracting or taking up class time--time that can be devoted to teaching the mile-wide standards. Last, if your students are getting the majority of their research from online about a topic or assignment, then you can have them upload article links that are relevant for an assignment to the class profile, and write a about the article there. This way, you can see the article and their thoughts on it, plus you can monitor for plagiarism.
Facebook is a cool tool when communicating with teachers and getting information or worksheets from them as well. It can also create a greater community amongst teachers and their classes, so that everyone is involved, and it becomes and inclusive discussion. Moreover, with teacher strikes now-a-days, you can keep parents and other leaders informed on things happening in the community, and its a place to pull the community in on what is happening at their school.
The drawbacks, are that not everyone has access to a computer, like some ELL parents, so traditional means of keeping them informed should still be in place. Also, with students, those who are advanced with using the medium, might get carried away and add pictures or other information that can be distracting or distasteful. Also, you do not want it to be a gateway for unwanted users to gain access to your students profiles, so safety of your students should be the number one priority when using the site. So, learning the privacy portion of the site is important with relation to your class profile and those of your students.
If Facebook is going to be used in class it is hard to say whether or not it is being used for school or for socializing, so implementing some rules about when or where to use the site is key.
We want to prepare our students for a world that will be using social media and electronic communications, so using Facebook in the classroom in any of the above ways is an effective way of preparing them for that future.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds is a great tool for receiving up-to-date information on your favorite sites or publications. In the classroom this is effective because you can talk about or have your students journal about a topic that comes up on you feed--knowing that the topic or information is current. Also, it is an easy and quick or fun way to receive information about someone or something that is new or different for you. This is especially important when you want to stay up with the trends or things that are going on in the lives of your students, in this way, RSS feeds become relevant and useful. Additionally, by keeping up with what is going on in the lives of your students, you are engaging in professional growth, and more so, you become an effective leader to your students, since you can get on their level in some cases, which is what it is all about when teaching.
I subscribed to feeds that include updates from the NY Times education section, NPR education news, the White House and education, and other similar feeds. As well, I subscribed to updates from the 49ers, SF Giants, and Rolling Stone, since I am already a follower of sports and music entertainment, the RSS feeds give me exclusive insight and information that other mediums do not offer. RSS feeds are cool because I don't have to search for information anymore, rather, I can have the information come to me on almost anything.

Google Docs

Most students have access to computers, and therefore, using Google Docs should be easily accessible. Google Docs would be good for student collaboration, especially, when it comes to working on group projects or assignments. Not to mention, when planning with a colleague, Google Docs offers a good space to draft and come up with ways to implement plans and strategy in real time. Meet time face-to-face is limited due to Google Docs, therefore, teams meet and do the work simultaneously at their leisure. For example, if a fellow colleague and I need to meet to plan instruction, we can use Google Docs to correspond accordingly. Plus, if teachers work in a collaborative manner, then creating and looking at lesson plans with other teachers is easy and fast.
Google Docs addresses Design and development of Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments because you can use the application to collaborate with others, whether you are a student or teacher. Formative or summative assessments can be shared amongst teachers about potential students, and our children learn Google Docs as a way of navigating and negotiating projects or assignments, a medium which will become second hand in the future to come.

Reflection: The Future of Now

Technology is changing all the time at an alarming rate, and I would be hard-pressed to try and keep up with it all. As the videos point out, the reality is that we and our children are growing up in a digital world, and electronic communications are the way of now and the future. I don't think I will be competing with a robot for my teaching job in the future, but who knows. Supposedly, by 2030 home robots are going to be widespread and "normal." The implications it has on my teaching is that technology is a real and daily part of our lives, and should be included as much as it can be in the education of our children--even if it is as simple as just having the child play a game that has educational value. Especially, as the videos stress, technology is going to replace jobs and be the world that our children will live and work in, which as educators, we need to prepare them for.

My role as a teacher shouldn't change due to technological advances. If anything, I feel what's different is that technology is something that should be used to enhance our teaching. For example, in math, technology-based models can provide another source of models and manipulatives. There are many websites that have a range of virtual manipulatives, like geoboards, base-ten blocks, spinners and number lines. So, virtual manipulatives are a good addition to physical models, as some students will prefer the electronic version; furthermore, they may have access to these tools outside the classroom.

I have learned from these videos that technology is not something threatening, but rather, we need community leaders that can educate school staff about technology that can be useful in the classroom, while remaining relevant and realistic as we prepare our students for the future of now.

About Me

Hi- My name is Frank Nappi, I am 26, and I am a graduate student in the School of Ed here at Notre Dame de Namur University. I am currently in my last year, where I am working towards receiving my Multiple-Subject teaching credential. Prior to becoming a student at NDNU, I was a BECA major at San Francisco State University, where I graduated with a Radio and Television degree. I had a short stint working in radio for Clear Channel for mainly the station 98.1 KISS FM and a few other radio stations there. It was a great experience, but I later made a heart-driven decision to become a teacher, so again, here I am at NDNU.

I love going to concerts, eating good food, riding my bike, going to church, writing poetry, and I am currently getting into playing golf with some friends.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I look forward to another successful semester at NDNU.

Refelction One: Essential Conditions

I am currently not teaching at one school right now, I am subbing instead. So, I will reflect upon my last student teaching experience for a Kindergarden classroom to respond to the Essential Conditions post. All around, there was a shared vision for educational technology for all school staff, as well as, the community as a whole. To note, the school had equitable access to technology, like computers in every classroom, and skilled personnel were onsite to assist the school members and its staff with the effective use of the appropriate ICT resources. Moreover, I was most impressed with the technical support and ongoing professional learning that was offered to the staff members for new technology that was introduced into the classrooms, which were to be intergrated into use for teaching lessons for the day.

The conditions from the Essential Conditions post were clear, concise, and purposeful.

I believe having engaged communities, skilled staff, equitable access, and ongoing professional learning are key to having a successful implementation of technology in schools.

First and Foremost

This is my first post!