#476. Searching the Internet for MS Lesson Plans

other, level: Advanced
Posted Thu Jun 18 12:49:37 PDT 1998 by Robert Schmadeke (schmad@grundy-center.k12.ia.us).
Grundy Center Middle School, Grundy Center, IA, USA
Materials Required: Internet access
Activity Time: 1+ hours
Concepts Taught: Teacher education, Internet, Internet integration

SEARCHING THE INTERNET FOR MS LESSON PLANS
Robert Schmadeke

INTRODUCTION
As a middle school teacher have you searched the Internet for lesson plans to enhance your lessons, by hooking your students to a topic of study, spicing up the activities, or looking for new ideas?

THE TASK

You will be using the Internet to locate, access, and examine and evaluate various lesson plans that may be available in your curricular content area. You should select three topics, which you will be using during the first trimester of the school year. You will use the various search engines and web sites to locate the information needed to enhance the lessons being taught. By completing this activity you should achieve the following goals:

· Select various search engines to access information.
· Use the Internet to locate information for selected topics.
· Gain practice in using the search process.
· Use the bookmarks to reference the materials selected.
· Evaluate the web site for the information found on the Internet.
· Share the information with other staff members.
· Provide written evidence either electronically or by hardcopy that the lesson plan was used.
· Provide a written self-reflection on the effectiveness of the activity.

THE PROCESS

To accomplish these tasks, complete the following steps and answer the following questions:
1. Select the curricular area are you teaching this fall? Math, Science, Lang. Arts, Social Studies, PE, Music.
2. What units of study are you are teaching this trimester? List two.

3. From the units of study, identify three topics you will be covering within one of those units.

4. What are the keywords to identify each of these topics?

5. Using the keywords to identify one of the topics go to each of the following tools to locate possible resources: Bookmark the sites you potentially will use in your classes. (Refer to your cheat sheet that is provided)
Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/
Excite http://www.excite.com/
Mamma http://www.mamma.com/
Hotbot http://www.hotbot.com/

To further enhance your search process select the grade level you teach for more specific topics and sites.

6. If you teach 6th grade try the following web sites for possible lesson plans:
· Go to the site and select the curricular area of interest.
· Bookmark the sites you potentially will use in your classes.
· After you have browsed and bookmarked each of these sites, evaluate the web site(s) using the "Adapted Critical Evaluation Survey: Secondary School Level" as your guide. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators http://www.capecod.net/schrockguide/evalhigh.htm

http://www.knownet.net/users/Ackley/lessons.html
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/posts.html
http://data.teachingk-8.com/k-8/resources.tmpl

· List the site(s) that you browsed and bookmarked.

· Describe how this site(s) could enhance or be implemented to your teaching unit.

7. If you teach 7th or 8th grade try the following web sites for possible lesson plans:
· Go to the site and select the curricular area of interest.
· Bookmark the sites you potentially will use in your classes.
· After you have browsed and bookmarked each of these sites evaluate the web site using the "Adapted Critical Evaluation Survey: Secondary School Level as your guide. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators http://www.capecod.net/schrockguide/evalhigh.htm

http://data.teachingk-8.com/k-8/resources.tmpl
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/posts.html
http://www.col-ed.org/cur/

· List the site(s) that you browsed and bookmarked.

· Describe how this site(s) could enhance or be implemented to your teaching unit.

8. After you complete this activity, write a brief self-reflection on the effectiveness of this activity. Include: a) what you have learned; b) how the Internet could be used to enhance or be implemented in your classroom; and c) how you could share this information with other staff members.

EVALUATION
At the conclusion of the task the learner will provide written evidence of using a selected lesson plan and their self-reflection about the activity.

CONCLUSION
This activity was developed to assist you in integating the Internet into your classroom. You should now be able to spice-up your classroom units.