Multimedia Tools

Lesson Idea Name: The Boston Massacre

Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 4th Grade
Content Standard Addressed: SS4H1 Explain the causes, events, and results of the American Revolution. a.
Trace the events that shaped the revolutionary movement in America: French and Indian War, 1765 Stamp Act,
the slogan “no taxation without representation,” the activities of the Sons of Liberty, the activities of the
Daughters of Liberty, Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.

Technology Standard Addressed: Creative Communicator - Students communicate clearly and express
themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media
appropriate to their goals.

Selected Technology Tool:

☒ Movie (list application):
☐ Audio (list application):
☐ Other: (list)
URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): https://www.apple.com/imovie/

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☐ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☒ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Students of all will be able to complete this activity. Students with audio
disabilities will have access to closed captions. Students who have vision disabilities will have access to zoom
and guided access within Apple products. Students will have their own preferences in this lesson, therefore
students with attention deficits will be able to stay on task because they are creating what they want and will
get bored less often. English Language Learners will have access to translator applications and closed
captioning.
Lesson idea implementation: The teacher will begin the lesson with a discussion of the Boston Massacre.
He/she may ask, “What is the Boston Massacre?”, “What happened?”. She will then instruct her students to
locate their classroom blog and go to the “Flipped Classroom” page. The students will then listen to the audio
file/podcast and then will follow those instructions. The students will then watch the teacher created short film
about the Boston Massacre. The students then choose their history topic and create their own short films using
iMovie. They may choose from the French and Indian War, 1765 Stamp Act, the slogan “no taxation without
representation,” the activities of the Sons of Liberty, the activities of the Daughters of Liberty, Boston Massacre,
and the Boston Tea Party, King George III, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Benedict
Arnold, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Paul Revere, and Black regiments, the Battles of Lexington and Concord,
Saratoga, and Yorktown, and the Declaration of Independence. The students must then find 10-15 images about
their choice, find a video that correlates and compose their own video, using correct citation and/or sources
page. The project will take 1-3 computer lab periods. Teachers must be ready to show their students how to
cut and splice video and add music and/or narration to their films. The student learning will be assessed by
following directions i.e. how many images, if they correctly cited and found a correlating video. The final
product will be used to inform other students in the class about the topics they did not choose. Therefore, the

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 Multimedia Tools
learning and teaching will be directed by their peers. The lesson will conclude with student presentations of
their created works. Students will be given feedback after each of their films are displayed.
Importance of technology: Using a multimedia authoring tool is critical to the project because the students will
not be able to create their movies without the application, iMovie. The project could not be used without this
technology. The students would lose the basic, elementary, movie-making application. The students will use
Discovery Education’s search engine to find photos and videos, and they may use Google SafeSearch.
Inspiration (optional): Lesson template inspiration came from the teacher’s own lesson for a class she took.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy: Some Internet safety and student privacy issues that may arise while
implementing this learning experience would be that students display their full name, what school they are
from, and inappropriate videos or images through researching. To minimize the risks for students and myself, I
will explain to the students that only their first name is allowed on the project, they must never express where
they live, where they are schooled, and how old they are. All search engines used will be researched as safe
before sending the students to use them. To alleviate any fears by parents/administrators, information about
the project will be sent home multiple times, making sure that both the staff and parents of the children are
well informed about the project they are about to take on. If any parents disagree and do not want their child
participating in the creation of a video shown in class, then exceptions will be made, and other forms of teaching
will be implemented.
Reflective Practice: Students will have a better understanding of how to research on the Internet safely and
how to design their own video. To further extend the lesson, students may also be taught how to create their
own podcast using Audacity. To further enhance this project, some other technology tools that could help are
Animoto, Magisto, and Toontastic.

Spring 2018_SJB