Gather relevant information from
multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the
credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and
conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format
for citation.
My classroom, by default, is an ELL classroom. Classes have been sorted by school according to specific English-language proficiency, and within those classes lies a subtle differentiation of learners within a supposed strata of English-Language Acquisition. As with any classroom, some students will know and understand the material rather easily, others will have some knowledge but lack the precise skills to lead them to success in the Unit's outcomes, and others still will have very little prior knowledge of the material and need more intensive support in order to be successful.
Selection of the above standard comes with it an almost immediate need to differentiate, as it is reasonable to assume that many students will not be familiar with English-Language conventions for conducting research, and quoting and citing data. I would expect to approach this Unit with baseline objectives for all students, and then differentiate the most for students who struggle with English proficiency, likewise for those student who will easily grasp the information.
We'll start with the pre-assessment: A 10- question "Blind Kahoot!" that can be played individually. You can find the Kahoot! quiz here.
The pre-assessment Kahoot! is designed to be a lead-in to the first lesson of the Unit: "Introduction to Internet Search." Students will learn how search aggregates work in this lesson and complete the first of two Digital Scavenger Hunts that ask them to identify their source material. Information to seek in this session is going to be pretty straightforward to accommodate for all student learning abilities, and to allow students with accelerated knowledge of the topic time to "play around" with internet search--specifically in the realm of "asking Google" subjective questions, which they will discover still yield results.
The second lesson in the Unit is much more crucial to the overall understanding of the Unit's aims--determining validity of web-based resources. In my plan for this lesson, students will be asked to explore and create a hypothesis about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: Real, or Hoax?
In the original lesson plan, I designated Learning Stations for students at different stages of English-Language Acquisition. As such, I feel this design can easily accommodate students based on their pre-assessment results as well, by tweaking the original plan to include a more focused sort of Jigsaw Classroom experience.
As the website itself is dense with information, it seems an expedient way to determine credibility by using a division, and in the case of Jigsaw, specialization of Labor.
For the (5) students who answered the most difficult pre-assessment questions correctly, they will be asked to review and summarize the frontpage of the website, and then to explore recent news and media, as well as generate other sources to corroborate information on the website. They will find rather easily that the website is a hoax, since media links will bring them to an NPR story about the website's notoriety. Once they've determined the validity of the source, they will explore the rest of the webpage to answer targeted questions about investigating valid sources to complete their "report."
Next, the 12 students who have "some" knowledge but may need to develop higher-order thinking skills will engage in another part of the website--Activities, and Links. They will be asked to explore both parts of the webpage, and attempt to explain how to build a habitat for the PacNW Tree Octopus (this should lead them to understand how ridiculous the activity is). Links will provide more exposure to hoax/joke websites, allowing them to build their conclusions about the site to report in their mixed groups.
And finally, the students that may have struggled the most with the pre-assessment concepts and materials will be asked to review the frontpage of the website, along with a Vocabulary/glossary companion to help them with the complicated language. They will be asked to report about the PacNW Tree Octopus "FAQ's," including all of the different names for the Tree Octopus in World Languages. They will be asked to investigate pronunciation of the various languages, which should lead them to using Internet Search. Once they reach the "Sasquatch" and "Yeti" translations of the word, the nature of the website should be revealed to them. They will report basic facts back to their mixed groups.
Through pre-assessment, an introductory lesson, and a differentiation of instruction technique for more difficult authentic material, my students will hopefully be able to understand the importance of finding trustworthy sources of information on the internet. It is possible to differentiate this activity even more-- having the top 5 students exploring a more devious sort of fake news site, the middle 12 students inventorying famous internet hoaxes and visiting appropriate webpages, and the lower 5 students using the Tree Octopus site. In the end, it will depend on knowing and recognizing the needs of my specific classes.
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