As part of a unit on economic issues, students will work individually to research a current economic issue and create a blog discussing the issue and its impact on a federal, state and individual level.
Essential Question: How do economic issues impact me and my world?
Computers
Subscription databases
Access to blog site/Blackboard
Assessment Methods and Criteria: Rubric to assess grammatical structure, content, depth of analysis and participation. Students are expected to reflect daily and produce 2-3 more lengthy final blog posts on their topic. Additionally, the teacher(s) and librarian will assess and comment on student blog posts daily.
SESSION 1:
Setup/Preparation/Introduction: Students set up blogs at the beginning of the year and have been posting about current events and commenting on each other’s posts throughout the semester. As part of a unit on economic issues, students will choose a topic relevant to them, research this topic, reflect upon their research and create blog posts detailing what they’ve learned.
Direct Instruction: Students have chosen a topic relevant to them after a previous discussion of economic issues in the classroom. The regular education and special education teachers lead a brief discussion at the beginning of this lesson about the project expectations, including the rubric and the need for a bibliography and confirm that students are satisfied with their topic selections. The library media specialist reviews relevant subscription databases related to current economic issues that are available to students. These databases may include EBSCO’s Points of View and Thomson Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints, etc.
Modeling and Guided Practice:
Librarian and teachers discuss chosen topics with students. The librarian will select one issue to use as the search term example in the online resources review. The librarian will walk students through the process of finding information in the relevant tables, highlighting key content and search strategies.
Independent Practice:
Students will explore online resources to find information on their topic and select at least one that they will include in a project bibliography. Students will also reflect on the research process for that day.
Sharing and Reflecting:
Each student will reflect on their research process each day. After a period of independent practice with students searching for articles, the librarian will model how to compose a brief reflection on the research process, discussing ideas about what to blog about. Students will post a brief blog entry reflecting on the day’s research process; what they found, what they didn’t find, how the experience went, etc.
SESSION 2:
Setup/Preparation:
Students have set up blogs and practiced posting and commenting throughout the year. As part of a unit on economic issues, students have chosen a topic relevant to them and have begun to research this topic. The teacher and librarian have organized the students’ blogs by topic and posted blogrolls on the library website or Blackboard.
Direct Instruction: Students have chosen a topic relevant to them after a previous discussion of economic issues in the classroom. The teacher shows the students how to access the blogroll with their blogs organized by topic.
Modeling and Guided Practice: After showing the students how to access the blogroll, the teacher will model how to comment on another student’s research reflection, suggesting “meaty” comments rather than simple encouragement. (i.e. “I had trouble finding information on that topic, too. The EBSCO database worked better for me” instead of “Hey! Good job, man! J”)
Independent Practice: Students will comment on at least one other student’s research reflection, then continue to explore online resources to find information on their topic, evaluate which sources best meet their needs and select those they will include in a project bibliography. This will take place over the course of 3-4 days, with reflection each day.
Sharing and Reflecting:
Each day of the research process will include a brief time at the beginning of class for students to read and comment on each other’s blog entries as well as time at the end of class to reflect on their own research process for that day.