Peace+Corps

Nora Neumann Lesson Title: Peace Corps Mix Book Springfield High School Grade Level: 12th Grade Time: 15 Minute Lesson **  1. ** ** Pre-Instructional Planning  ** This is a fifteen minute lesson planned for a senior history class that will introduce students to the second part of a Peace Corps project and to the website Mixbook. Students are to create a scrapbook that reflects their experiences in the country they choose for the first part of their project. To prepare for this lesson I created an online lesson page. Additionally I spent time on Mixbook learning how to use the website. Using Mixbook I created a sample Peace Corps scrapbook. [] a. Planning Team: This lesson was a collaborative effort between Joyce Valenza, Ken Arlan and Nora Neumann. b. Student Group: The class contains 17 senior students. c. Lesson Title: Peace Corps Mixbook d. PA K-12 Standards: Research 1.8.11 Speaking & Listening 1.6.11 Quality of Writing 1.5.3 e. AASL 21st Century Reading/Information Literacy Standards: Inquire, Think Critically, and Gain Knowledge Skills 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.8, 1.3.1 Draw Conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.6, 2.3.1, 2.3.2, 2.3.3 Pursue personal and aesthetic growth 4.1.1 f. ** Objectives ** As a result of today’s lesson the senior history class will begin the process of creating an online scrapbook that reflects their experiences in the Peace Corps. **  2. ** ** Materials:  ** Smartboard, links to SHS library online lesson page, Mixbook website **  3. ****  Lesson Activities:   ** **  a.   ** **  Introduction:  ** Librarian greets students and directs them to sit at the tables. “Good Morning. By now you’ve all completed your Animoto regarding the country you choose for your Peace Corps project. I’m going to begin by telling you about the next phase of your project which is that you are going to create a digital scrapbook that reflects your time and experiences in the Peace Corps. On the library home page you will be able to access the lesson”. [|**http://tinyurl.com/29bnwyl**] **  b.   ** **  Developmental Activities:  **  1. “You are to create an online scrapbook that reflects how your experiences impacted you, what you learned about your country’s culture and how all of us can better understand your country”.  2. “Mr. Arlan has certain elements that he wants your scrapbook to include. For your scrapbook you are going to use the online site Mixbook”.  3. Pull up the Mixbook screen on the Smartboard. “The first task is that you have to create a Mixbook account. The site is extremely easy to use and what I want to do is show you a few of the available options”.  4. “After you’ve created your account you’ll want to click ‘create’ to begin your project. Now you’re free to create. One of the main reasons why I picked this site for you to use is because it gives you the option of including text. Your project will include a fair amount of text. For this option go to the page layout icon and click. Here you will see multiple page layout options with or without text”. Demonstrate for students how to use this option.  5. “Another great feature of Mixbook is the photo feature. You have to upload your photos as a jpeg and then upload them to Mixbook. My advice is to upload several of them, pick your layout and then put them on the designated page. Do so by clicking and dragging. Very simple. Click and drag”. Demonstrate.  6. “Another simple feature of Mixbook is your background. There are many, many backgrounds to choose from”. Demonstrate for students how to place and/or change background.  7. “Mixbook also has some fun decorative choices”. Demonstrate.  8. “I want to show you the links that I’ve added to the bottom of Peace Corps page. They’ll be helpful as you begin to put your scrapbook together. [] [|**http://www.peacecorps.gov/**] [] [] 9. Show students websites bringing up Culturegrams on the Smart board. 10. “Today you’re going to look for images for your scrapbook and you’re going to think about the letters that you will be writing. Remember you have to write three personal letters as if you were a Peace Corps worker from your country. Your letters are based on fact. You’ll want to include economic, social and political about information about your country”. 11. “Now I’d like to read an excerpt from a letter that a man wrote who was stationed in Tanzania. It addresses some of the social and economic issues relevant to the country”. 12. “This is a great letter. Obviously it’s real. My point is that to me it’s interesting. I believe it. Now let’s talk about your letter. What do you need at the top of page of your letter”? Discuss. **  c. Closure:   ** 13. “Think about all of this as you begin to gather images and write your letters. Read the requirements that Mr. Arlan wants included in the project. Think about how to go about the project, what ‘s important and what you’ll want to include”. 14. “Any questions”? 15. “By the end of this period you are to have found four images to be used in your scrapbook. Along with the images you are to have completed an annotation for each image in Noodletools”. 15. If you have any questions or need help Dr. Valenza and I are here to help you”. **  c.   ** **  Student Assessment Activities:  ** Assessment is ongoing throughout the lesson as I see who responds to questions and how students work as they begin to create their project.  http://peacecorpsproject.wikispaces.com/PeaceCorpsMixbook