Name: Kaitlyn McConnell

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Content Area: Social Studies
Technology Used (check all that apply):
Blog
Wiki
Other
Website Creation Tool (list):
Content Area/Grade/Standards/Topics Addressed:
SS3CG1
Describe the elements of representative democracy/republic in the United States. a. Describe the three branches of
national government: executive (president), legislative (Congress), and judicial (Supreme Court of the United States).
Brief Description of Learning Experience:
For this unit students will have already learned the 3 branches of our National Government. They also will have
already learned who is in each branch of government. The teacher would have presented this information through
mini lessons for 1 week. As a summative assessment students will use this activity after these mini lessons to prove
their knowledge. Students will be broken in to 3 groups. Each group will be assigned a different branch of
government. Within each of those 3 groups students will collaborate to present who is in each branch, what they do,
and more (only top figures in each branch ex: executive- President and Vice President, legislative- describing the two
houses, Speaker of the House, etc., judicial- all supreme court justices). Students will work to present these in the
class Edublog under a discussion post created by the teacher as a hard copy form for the teacher, and for parents and
other staff to view. Once all postings are made the groups will present their information in class. This project would
be an in class project. This project would be held over the course of a week.
Blooms Level of Critical Thinking Required (check all that apply):
See http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Analyzing

Evaluating

Creating

Student Engagement/Level of Technology Implementation (LoTi):

Loti Level 5
Students engage in higher-level critical thinking skills like Blooms taxonomy of educational objectives:
evaluating and creating.
Students engage in two-way collaborations with peers and mentors beyond the classroom as they pursue their
learning.
Students produce products that are interesting and meaningful. They share these products with an audience
beyond their classroom.
Importance of technology:
This tool is critical to the project because this will be the first large assignment that students are given the freedom to
create on their own, and present to the class, and publish for others to see. This project could be done without the
blog, but would not be as meaningful or exciting to the students.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy:
To avoid any student privacy issues I will adhere to my district policies, research terms of use and age policies,
consider all safety concerns, know what is approved and under what conditions, my class blog will be private and
only able to view by users I approve, anything posted must be approved by me before being visible in the blog,
notifications will be set up to notify me when users log in and out, FERPA would be followed exactly, parental
consent would be approved for all users,
Describe your personal learning goal for this activity.
I have not had students post their work for others to see like this. This would be a big step for me, as I am very
concerned of the safety of my students. Each group would post under accounts made by me, without any names being
used, just group names made up by the students. I hope to learn how to monitor my students in a safe environment,
while still allowing them to present the knowledge in a way they can be proud of. I hope to learn how hands off a
teacher can be while letting students present information in their own way. I hope this helps the students by giving
them the freedom to individualize their ideas and show pride in their work through their presentations.
Other comments about your proposed activity:
I am very excited to implement this project in my future classroom!