CEP 800 Twitter Lesson Plan

Hello all!

This is a Twitter lesson plan that I created in order to discuss the events that occurred during the Paris Peace Conference. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Essential Question: Do leaders make rational decisions for their nations?

Standards:

·      Common Core:

o   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

o   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

Outcomes:

·      Students will be able to highlight the reasons why each major Allied nation in WWI fought the war

·      Students will be able to theorize why certain key leaders acted in particular ways during the Paris Peace Conference

·      Students will be able to make predictions about how the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties signed at the conference would cause problems for Europe’s future

Assessments:

·      Students will produce a narrative with Twitter that will showcase their knowledge of their “leader” and their interactions with other nations

·      Students will construct a final writing sample that indicates their prediction about the future of Europe after the treaties were signed at the Paris Peace Conference

Lesson Outline:

·      Introduction-

o   Give students the following question. Ask them to respond to this question within a few minutes. Share responses with the class.

§  “Do leaders make rational decisions for their nations?”

·      Body-

o   Paris Peace Conference Activity

§  Put students into groups of two or three. Give each student an iPad and instruct him or her to log in to his or her Twitter accounts.

§  Give each group a leader from the Paris Peace Conference.

·      United States

·      United Kingdom

·      France

·      Italy

·      Japan

·      Canada

·      Australia

·      Belgium

·      Brazil

·      Greece

·      Poland

·      Romania

§  Tell students that we will be going through time and tweeting about the events that have occurred up to a particular point. Tell students that I will be giving them dates throughout the conference and having them create a tweet for each date from their leader.

§  Remind students that each tweet must be researched from the Gale databases and the documents that are provided. Resources must be cited on the handout that was provided to them.

§  Progress through each of the following dates, allowing enough time for students to adequately research and tweet. Have students use the given hashtag and meet the requirements of each tweet.

·      January 18, 1919- Tweet using #1919parisconference1

·      June 28, 1919- Tweet using #1919parisconference2

o   Include a historically relevant image in the tweet

·      September 10, 1919- Tweet using #1919parisconference3

o   Include a link to a resource about this date

o   Include a historically relevant image or video in the tweet

·      November 27, 1919- Tweet using #1919parisconference4

o   Include a reply to another conference members tweet

·      June 4, 1920 Tweet using #1919parisconference5

o   Include a retweet and a reply to another individuals tweet (3 tweets total)

·      August 10, 1920 Tweet using #1919parisconference6

o   Include a reply to another conference member (with an attached multimedia form not provided before)

o   Retweet your favorite tweet of the conference

o   Tweet about the future of the world

·      Conclusion-

o   As a group, have students create an outline for a five paragraph essay that answers the question below. Include a thesis and topic sentence for each paragraph:

§  “How will the events that occurred at the Paris Peace Conference cause problems for the future of Europe?”

As part of this assignment, I was asked to answer multiple questions about this lesson. My responses are below. I have copied the questions at the end of this post for your convenience.

1.     This lesson teaches about the process that occurred at the Paris Peace Conference. It highlights the vendettas that countries brought into the conference and it asks students to make predictions about the future of Europe. Students often struggle to use information from these types of activities when making predictions about the future. They often fail to support their arguments with valid data. Because of this, during the following class we would discuss what information could be used to adequately support the arguments created.

2.     We all learn in different ways. Some students learn visually, through movement or through auditory means. In this lesson students are asked to highlight their learning with visual cues (images) and through text. There is a lack of teaching towards students who learn through active moving simulations. This lesson focuses on a social constructivist theory of learning. Students learn through doing and the teacher acts as a facilitator of knowledge. Students are breaking up large topics (like a jigsaw) in this activity in order to make it easier to decipher.

3.     This topic is so complex that allowing students to uncover the material makes it more meaningful for them. I have found that this topic can be confusing because of the sheer amount of information that is present. By breaking down the material into smaller chunks the students have an easier time internalizing it. Also, students make the information their own because they are discovering it and manipulating it to fit their needs.

4.     I am using Twitter. I believe that Twitter is the only way that this information can be manipulated in such a manner. Using the iPads and Twitter allows the students to research, look through images, and embed a variety of media types. They can interact with other “leaders” and form opinions about the topics. They are able to manipulate the information that comes in front them.

5.     I believe that powerful learning can only occur when knowledge is constructed. We learn from each other and from our interactions with material. Personally, I do not learn well when I am simply presented information and not allowed to discover it on my own. I believe that most students fit this same mold. I also believe that students must be engaged in a plethora of ways. Including images, text, and classroom lecture on the topic will lead a better understanding for more students.

6.     The essential question for this lesson focuses on the role of leaders in specific countries. Throughout history the leaders of nations have shaped their nation’s futures in unique ways. At no time in history is this more evident than at the end of World War One. Allowing students to use Twitter helps them to get “into the shoes” of the decision making process of a single leader. At the same time, they are interacting with other leaders of the time. This role-playing leads to a deep understanding of how and why leaders make certain decisions.

7.     I want my students to know how and why leaders make certain decisions. I want them to put this information into the context of WWI and think about the ramifications of each decision at the conference. Throughout the lesson I will monitor the discussions through the hashtags and will make sure to highlight key concepts that were missed by my students. Using Twitter will help inform my decisions about the content of future lessons. I will also use their group outlines to discuss key concepts and talk about the possible implications of the decisions of each leader. 

1. Content: What is the content you are teaching and what are the big ideas? What are the challenging concepts that students struggle with or are difficult to teach? Consider your state standards (GLCEs or HSCEs) as you develop the essential questions you are trying to address.
   
2. Pedagogy: What pedagogical strategies are you using and why? What theories of learning inform your strategies? What learner characteristics did you take into consideration?
   
3. Content & Pedagogy: How do these particular strategies help you teach the content mentioned above? Why choose these strategies over other approaches? Are there any technical or physical constraints that figured significantly into your choices?
4. Technology: What technology will you be using and why? Is the use of this technology absolutely necessary to achieve your objective? That is, would be impossible to teach the lesson without it? Remember that content specific technology (e.g., probes, graphing calculators, Geometer’s Sketchpad, United Streaming videos) are used to teach a content-specific concepts, whereas content-general technologies (e.g., Flash animation, Web 2.0 technologies) may facilitate deeper understanding by allowing students to manipulate information, explore a “network of ideas,” and investigate multiple representations of material.
5. Technology & Pedagogy: How does the technology you have chosen fit with your pedagogical strategies and theories about learning? What types of learning strategies are employed by the technology?
6. Technology & Content: How does your choice of technology help you teach the "big ideas" and address the essential questions underlying the concept your lesson addresses? 
7. Assessment: What do you want your students to know, and how will you know when they know it?  How will you assess what students have learned?  What role does technology play in these assessments?