A Walk in Someone Else's Shoes (Word document)

Students utilize the Internet to harvest facts related to their topic on the plight of those less fortunate, and use an electronic worksheet for collection and to cite sources. They harvest appropriate graphics as well and the information and graphics are used to create a PowerPoint project for class presentation. Click here for the PowerPoint template.

Subject Area
Computer Enhanced Instruction/English Language Arts

Grade Levels
7

Objectives

National Educational Technology Standards: II. Planning and Designing Learning Environments & Experiences: C. Identified and located tech.resources and evaluated them for accuracy and suitability III. Teaching, Learning and Curriculum: A - D VI. Social, Ethical, Legal and Human Issues: A. Model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use. ELA Standards: 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret and evaluate information 8. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Internet Used
The Internet is employed to collect, evaluate, and present information that has been synthesized, discussed, and finally used to create and present information.

Materials Used
Required materials include a computer with Internet access, Microsoft Office and PowerPoint, a Web browser, CPU, printer, television monitor, and Remote Desktop for student instruction and modeling each step.

Standards Addressed
The students collect and synthesize online information, create new knowledge based on their findings, and become aware of the ethical issues regarding information on the Internet. They process data and report the results via presentation.

Assessment
This is a project-based measurement and as the students worked through the entire process, the teacher observes and records each student's progress and success. The ELA teacher uses a rubric to measure achievement on both the content and presentation delivery.

Students Involved
These students are in a special education class and required assistance along the way, but completed the tasks with great success. They also learned a great deal about their topic because they had a personal interest in what they had selected. Once the information is gathered it lends itself to a multitude of final products. This depends upon the focus of the teachers involved.

Teacher Tips
Always use a "directed" search with this grade level. Providing students with a Word document and pre-approved hyperlinks avoids unproductive days of searching for information. Click here for a list of URL's.

Overall Value
This unit allows creativity and a learning experience different from the regular classroom in that students collect facts, but also read individual accounts of those who live very different lives from them.