BP 8 RILS Publication

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If you are a teacher, the RILS should have not been a problem.  It is just another format for a lesson plan.  We as teachers should have plenty of lesson plans laying around to use.  I teach a unit on Government, and focus on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  This lesson is for the introduction to the Constitution and that is the Preamble.  

I use 2 web 2.0 tools for this assignment. The first one is bubbl.us.  I use this web tool in different parts of the lesson for the students to use to help brainstorm certain questions to the lesson.  If every student has access to the a computer they will be able to complete their own graphic organizer.  If however, you only had your class room and could use a multimedia projector to show one map, the students could take turns coming up to your computer and put their input to show up on the screen.  

Another web 2.0 tool that I look into using is GoAnimate.  The students will use this web tool to create an animation explaining the different components to the Preamble.  The students then will create a second animation that describes their own personal Preamble or mission statement for their lives.  I didn't use the traditional rubric, because I found or believe that some of them made by teachers our vague and leave a lot of room open to guessing exactly what teacher wanted or left room for a lot of interpretation.  

Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario

Stephen Weigandt

Brief Overview: This is a quick lesson on the Preamble of United States Constitution.  The students create their own animated cartoon showing they understand the meaning and the components to the Preamble. 

Target Audience: 9^th Grade JROTC students.  Over 70 percent are at risk students and 30 percent are English Second Language (ESL) students. 

Materials: Computer with Internet access and a copy of the Preamble to the United States Constitution, student journals, bubbl.us

Objective: At the end of this scenario the learner will be able to

•        Each student will design and create an animated cartoon describing the parts of the Preamble to the United States Constitution.
•        Working in groups or pairs students will examine and explain the goals of the Preamble.
•         Each student will create and design an animated cartoon of a Preamble for his or her lives

·         Procedure:

Icebreaker/Energizer:

1.     Divide the class into two teams.

2.     Instruct the class that they are going to participate in an energizer.  As they play, ask the students to keep the following points or ideas in mind:

·      Observe the reactions of the students on each of the teams.

·      Observe your own feelings and reactions during the activity.

Learning Activity:

1.     Display focusing questions (stated above).

2.     Pass out a piece of paper and color markers or pencils to each student in the class.

3.     Pass out the Mission Slips to half of the class.

Mission Slip:  Your mission is to create and decorate a paper airplane.  You must remain silent at all times and not communicate any information to other half of the class.  When you hear the bell ring (or signal of your choice) launch your airplane into the air.

4.     Tell the class that they will have 5 minutes to complete the activity.

5.     Start Flash your timer and tell the class to begin. If the team without instructions questions you, just instruct them to complete their activity.

6.     At the end of 5 minutes, the timer will sound and the team with instructions will launch their airplanes into the air.

         7.  Encourage student to record notes and answers to the reflection questions

                in their journals.

Reflection:

Use these questions as tools to focus student discussion, reflection, and note taking: ·      Ask the team without instructions: o       What were you missing? o       How would you rate your success compared to the others in the class? ·      Ask the team with instructions: o       What do you suppose was the purpose of this activity? ·      Ask the class: o       What are the written instructions that guide the lives of American citizens? o       What do you think was the common goals of the Framers of the Constitution? ·      How necessary was a mission or vision for the Framers of the Constitution?

Phase 1 -- Inquire:

Setup:
Prepare to display multimedia item bubbl.us including reinforcing question(s).
Direct Students focus:
Preview with student’s the learning objectives, learning activities and assessment activities. Ask the pairs to think about another word for the Preamble. Learning Activity: 1.     Direct the students to form into pairs and read the Preamble to the Constitution from their handout (One student could read aloud the first half and the other cadet could read aloud the second half.) 2.     In pairs, develop a Concept Web on bubbl.us. 3.     Discuss with the class, their findings and ask the following discussion questions: ·     What did the writers of the Preamble want to establish? ·     Why did they want to establish it? ·     So what word could we use instead of Preamble that is more contemporary?  (Examples:  Mission of the U.S.; Goals of the U.S.; Purpose of the U.S.; etc.)     Note: You want students to understand that the Preamble is a mission statement for the Constitution. Reflection:

Use these questions as tools to focus cadet discussion, reflection, and note taking:

·     How have you personally experienced the goals outlined in the Preamble?

·     What questions would you ask about the Preamble?

·     Who benefits from the Preamble?

Phase 2 -- Gather:

Setup:

1. Prepare to display multimedia item bubbl.us

Direct Student Focus:

        1.  Explain to students that they are going to examine the various components of                      

              the Preamble.

Learning Activity:

1.     Provide a briefing on The Preamble, comparing it to a Mission Statement for an individual or an organization.

2.     Divide the students into teams of 3-4. Handout a copy of the Preamble to each team.

3.     Ask each team to categorize the components of the Preamble.

·      Each team must cut out and categorize the contents of the Preamble, using bubbl.us (or other graphic organizer) and the following column headings:

o     Beneficiaries (Who is it for?)

o     Goals (What are its goals?)

o     Responsible Party (Who is responsible for seeing that these goals are met?)

Example:

·      Beneficiaries - We the people of the United States.

·      Goals – Establish Justice.

·      Responsible Party – We the people of the United States.

o        Next to each goal, have each team write examples of how each goal is accomplished in today’s society.

4.     Select 2 or 3 teams to present their findings to the class providing examples of how each goal is accomplished in today’s society.

5.     Encourage students to record notes and answers to the reflection questions in their student journals.

Reflection:

 Use these questions as tools to focus student discussion, reflection, and note taking:

·              Which goals of the Preamble do you think are most important and why?

·              How do the goals of the Preamble relate to the goals of your community, family or school?

·              What questions do you have about the beneficiaries, goals or responsible Parties as outlined in the Preamble?       

Phase 3 -- Process: 

 Setup:

1. Provide a dictionary and/or a computer with Internet access.
2. Cut the Preamble handouts into slips of paper and place the slips into a fish bowl or hat.  The slips will be as follows:

·      We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,

·      Establish justice,

·      Insure domestic tranquility,

·      Provide for the common defense,

·      Promote the general welfare,

·      And secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity,

·      Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States.

Direct Student Focus:

1.     Review with students where they are in the learning process. Brainstorm on bubbl.us the key concepts and supporting activities introduced during Part 1 of this lesson.

2.     The students are going to define each component of the Preamble.  Divide the class into seven teams by counting off 1 - 7. (All the ones together, all the twos together and etc.)

3.     Ask half of the teams to consider the following question when creating their definition:

·      What do you think the Framers of the Constitution were thinking when they wrote the Preamble?

4.     Ask the remaining teams to consider the following question when creating their definition:

·      How valid are the Preamble goals to today’s society?

 Learning Activity:   Conduct the Who Am I game with the class

1.     Have each team draw a piece of paper from the fish bowl or hat.

2.     Guide students on each team to discuss and define their section of the Preamble using the dictionary and/or Internet, as resources.

3.     Have students on each team share their definitions with the class.

4.     Tape a section of the Preamble onto the back of each cadet.  The section should be different from the one their team defined.

5.     Instruct students to move around the room asking questions about the section taped to their backs.  They cannot ask a question about the specific words used in their section.  They must refer to the meaning of the section.  The other students can only answer with Yes and No.

·      For example:  Establish Justice (Does my section provide a system for right and wrong?)

6.     End the activity when all cadets have guessed the Preamble section on their back.

Encourage students to record notes and answers to the reflection questions in their student journals.

Reflection:

Use these questions as tools to focus student discussion, reflection, and note taking:

·      What do you think the Framers of the Constitution were thinking when they wrote the Preamble?

·      How valid are the Preamble goals to today’s society?

·      How have your definitions of the goals of the Preamble changed?

Phase 4 -- Apply:

Setup:

1. Prepare to display multimedia items including: Cadet Preamble Assessment Task and GoAnimate.

       2.   Distribute the student Preamble assessment task and Rubric.

Direct Student Focus:

1. Tell the class that they are going to design and create an animation citing the Preamble using GoAnimate  and their own Preamble or personal mission statement.  This personal mission statement should be based on the following:

• What you want to become?
• What values or principles will serve as your moral compass?

Note: You might have the class volunteer other ideas for the content of their personal mission statement.

Learning Activity:

1. Ask each student to design and create an animation citing the Preamble and their own Preamble or personal mission statement for his or her own lives (GoAnimate project).  It should be a short statement limited to 1 to 3 sentences and also recorded as a Notebook Entry in their student.  It should contain the following items:

·        Who it is for?

·        What are your goals or ideals?

·        Who is responsible for completing your goals or ideals?

Example: I, Jane Doe, in order to ________________________, do ordain and establish this mission statement for Jane Doe.

     Reflection:  

• What is the benefit to writing your own Preamble or mission statement?
• The Preamble is accomplished through the guidelines set in the Constitution. What guidelines would you establish to accomplish your mission statement?
• What further questions do you have about the purpose and components of your personal Preamble?

Assessment:   

Guide students to complete the student Preamble Assessment Task.  Suggest that they use the Rubric as a guide to self-assess their work.  Have students submit their work for feedback and a grade.  Have students upload their completed assessment to YouTube, or post a working link on their student blog (if applicable).

(see assessment below for assessment guide)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Web 2.0 Tool: GoAnimate is web base tool that allows the user to create animated cartoon scenes.  They can be as short as 1 minute or over 5 minutes. http://goanimate.com/.

Social Participation/Social Learning: Social interaction can take place by having the students work in groups or pairs.  This will help the students work on communication and teamwork skills.  They should work together in pairs when creating their animation.  This will help them work on their critical thinking skills because they have to design an animation that makes sense from start to finish.  It will help them discover what it is like to work together to crate a product.  The end product would be the animation that meets the objectives.  You can also have the student’s pair up and just create one video between two students.  This could motivate the students to learn how to work together more because there has to only one video between them and they would have to learn how to come to an agreement on what goes in the video.  You can really get creative when it comes to how many you want in a group. The more you put in a group the more challenges the student’s have in working together.

Making Connections:  The students must have previous knowledge of why the Constitution was created.  If possible it would help if the students had prior experience in using GoAnimate. The students should know what goals are and why we have goals, this would help them better understand and look at the Preamble as a goal.  If the students have a blog, they could also post their final project and respond to other students project.

Create/Produce: The end product would be an animated cartoon explaining the parts of the Preamble and a separate animation of the student’s preamble. 

Assessment: For creating the animation for the Preamble and personal mission statement

Components of Preamble	Points
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union	5
Establish justice,	5
Insure for the common defense	5
Promote the general welfare,	5
And secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity	5
Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States	5
Introduction to Preamble	3
Use a different scene for each component of the Preamble	4
Use a different animated character for each scene	4
Transitions between scenes	3
Background music	3
Conclusion	3
TOTAL	50

Components of personal mission statement	Points
Introduction to the animation	7
What you want to become?	7
What values or principles will serve as your moral compass	7
Animation 5 minutes minimum	6
Use of at least 5 different scenes	6
Background music	5
Use of transitions between scenes	5
Conclusion	7
TOTAL	50

         
                                              TOTAL FOR ASSESSMENT:     100

Reflection: 

Student:

·      How have you personally experience the goals outlined in the Preamble?

·      Who benefits from the Preamble?

·      Which goals of the Preamble do you think are most important and why?

·      What is the befit to writing your own Preamble?

·      What is the benefit in using GoAnimate? Explain why or why you liked or disliked using it.

Instructor:

·      Was the use of GoAnimate useful for the students?

·      Was there enough time to create a quality animation?

·      How much time is needed to create the animation?

·      Do the students need more activities to understand the Preamble?

·      Do the animations being created meet the objectives?