Artifact #7: Technology Lesson – Social Studies

Students spend a large portion of their day in school learning. It is understandably

challenging for many of them to keep focus. Using technology is a great tool to engage students.

The majority of them are very interested technology, so it makes sense to incorporate it into

lesson planning, when appropriate. This lesson focuses on social studies; specifically The

Underground Railroad, but has an interesting technology aspect. This will help to engage

students, but will also give them the opportunity to develop technology skills as well. I included

this lesson to show diversity in my approach to teaching. The lesson focuses on social studies,

but I added diverse ways in which to learn. It is based in technology, but within the tech there

are standard ways to learn. It includes reading and researching. There is a read-aloud book as

part of the presentation, but it is still a book. There is music from the era about the Underground

Railroad. There is one piece call ‘virtual field trip’ in which the students can have a 360 degree

view of a station on the railroad, and a cotton plantation. There is also a quiz to evaluate

students’ learning at the end, all within the technology. To ensure that the students are truly

engaging with their material, there is one paper and pencil task. While they are viewing,

listening and reading, they are to create a short quiz for their fellow students. This will ensure

that they are engaging with the material, and is a piece that could be included in their own

assessment. This lesson was created on Nearpod which is an application that I will absolutely

use when teaching my own students. There are so many ways to use technology to teach all

within this one app that I had to include it in my portfolio. It is one of the lesson that I am most

proud of creating and was worth all the work and extra effort it took to learn to create it.
 The link online is no longer live. As I can access it myself, I took a video of myself

scrolling through the slides. Double clicking on the PowerPoint will activate the video so it can

be viewed, listened to and paused.

InTASC Standards

7(h) in which teacher understands how integrating cross disciplinary skills in instruction

engages learners purposefully in applying content knowledge.

7(c) The teacher develops appropriate sequencing of learning experiences and provides

multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge and skill” is also demonstrated in this lesson plan as the

students are offered many different ways to learn, and different ways in which to demonstrate

understanding. Students are creating their own quiz, answering a teacher created quiz, answering

questions that show up anonymously to the class, only known to teachers to encourage

participation.

CAEP/DOE Claims

Medaille College graduates meet the needs of diverse learners through

effective pedagogy and best teaching practices” is shown in the diversity of the lesson plan

itself as it offers many ways to learn which embraces the different learning styles of each

student.

New York State Code of Ethics for Educators

Principle 1 Educators nurture the intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and civic

potential of each student. Educators promote growth in all students through the integration of

intellectual, physical, emotional, social and civic learning. They respect the inherent dignity and

worth of each individual. Educators help students to value their own identity, learn more about

their cultural heritage, and practice social and civic responsibilities. They help students to reflect
on their own learning and connect it to their life experience. They engage students in activities

that encourage diverse approaches and solutions to issues, while providing a range of ways for

students to demonstrate their abilities and learning. They foster the development of students who

can analyze, synthesize, evaluate and communicate information effectively. While this lesson

could have been created using less time and energy, it would have been less engaging. Doing

what I know is best, despite the challenges would be supported by the Ontario teacher ethics

statement about ‘

Ethical Standards by the Ontario College of Teachers

Integrity “Integrity Honesty, reliability and moral action are embodied in the

ethical standard of Integrity. Continual reflection assists members in exercising integrity

in their professional commitments and responsibilities” ISTE standards are also met

looking at the same ideas as mentioned above looking at standard 5a which states that

teachers “use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster

independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs” (ISTE, 2018).

Ontario Social Studies, Grade 5 curriculum:

B1. Assess responses of governments in Canada to some significant issues, and develop

plans of action for governments and citizens to address social and environmental issues. This

comes in to play as the Canadians helped to address the social issues with the Underground

Railroad despite the fact that the victims weren’t Canadian (Ontario Ministry of Education,

2007).

ISTE Standards
 5A Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster

independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.

5B Design authentic learning activities that align with the content area standards and use

digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)

1. Maintaining challenging expectations for individuals with exceptionalities to develop

the highest possible learning outcomes and quality of life potential in ways that respect their

dignity, culture, language, and background.

Nearpod Lesson – The Underground Railroad

Nearpod Lesson

Standards and Objectives:

Ontario Standards: Grade 5 Social Studies

Overall expectations: B1. Explain the importance of international cooperation in addressing global
issues, and evaluate the effectiveness of selected actions by Canada and Canadian citizens in the
international arena.
Big Ideas: The actions of Canada and Canadians can make a difference in the world.

Objectives: Students will understand that the well-being of the world’s people and environment require
international cooperation.
Students will describe what Canada and Canadians do and can do for other people around the world and
why it is important to be global citizens.

Anticipatory Set
Anticipatory Set: Music from the era will be playing as students arrive for the lesson (from Harriett
Tubman Society). Students will be told that we will be learning more about black history, for Black
History month, and will talk about the Underground Railroad and Canada's involvement.

Step by Step Instructions

:
Teacher will go from anticipatory set into Nearpod presentation. Most of the presentation will be student-
paced. However, the beginning which has the website and some teacher produced text will be discussed
as a group.
Teacher will pull out important and relevant information from the website to discuss and ask questions of
the class. We will be gauging thoughts and feelings before students work on their own.
The quiz is included at the end of the presentation.
After all students are finished, the teacher will go over results of the collaborative slide and the poll so the
students can share information and feelings about what they have learned.

Closure

Teacher will address the hard work that has completed today. Teacher will thank everyone for opening
up about their feelings and ideas as we learned not only about the Underground Railroad which is such an
important part of black history, but also about Canada's involvement in it. Teacher will ask students to
keep in mind how important it is to be a good global citizen, and not just a Canadian. Teacher will
announce that tomorrow we can go over the results of the quiz. Anyone that didn't feel confident can
learn more about it tomorrow.

Materials needed:

Tablets/computers to complete Nearpod assignment.

Paper and pens/pencils to complete "student-generated" test to be completed during lecture portion of
presentation.
Access to speakers to play music for anticipatory set (computer speakers)