Soda Ban Lesson Plan

Topics for Today: 

1. Soda Ban Lesson Plan

2. Reflecting on Plan

Objective: Students will write an argumentative essay, taking a stand on the NY soda ban.

Materials: 

1. Soda Ban Article (hard copies for students)

2. Two sizes of soda cups

3. Paper, writing supplies

Common Core Standard Addressed: w.6.1: Write an arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. 

*Assessment: This would probably take more time than just one class period, so the ultimate assessment would be the essay itself and I would have to create a rubric for that assessment, but I did not do that for this assignment*

• I would write some words on the board to help facilitate our discussion or to make sure the students knew what was meant by each:

• I would break the lesson up into a discussion portion and a writing portion.  For the discussion I would have prior reading questions and post reading questions.

Prior Reading Questions:

1. What are laws?

2. Do you think laws protect us or hold us back?

3. Do you think laws are fair? or Have there ever been unfair laws?

4. Who gets to make the laws?

5. What are some consequences to breaking the law?

• Then I would pass out the Soda Ban article and we would read it as a class (or I would read it to them).

Post Reading Questions:

1. What does the law say?

2. Who drinks soda? (informal closed eye poll)

3. Is soda good for you? (I might show the two cup sizes at this point to illustrate the differences)

4. Why do you think they would make this law?

5. Does this law protect us or hold us back? or Do you think this law is fair?

• Then I would remind them about some prior discussion about argumentative essays.  (This would be something we had practiced, but not recently)

• After discussing what an argumentative essay looks like I would go back to the article.

• I would write the question on the board: Do you think the NY Soda Ban is a fair law?

• As a class we might share some opinions and I would ask the students to look for evidence in the text and think of evidence from some other source to support their opinions.  Then I would leave the rest of the class for brainstorming and drafting the essay. 

This might be a two-day project where the next day is focused on proofreading, peer editing, and publishing the final copy (and turning it in).

I think the students would have strong opinions about the soda ban and this would help them articulate their opinions and then practice supporting opinions with evidence.

Reflection:

It took me a long time to nail down a lesson plan, but I am happy with the result.  I think this lesson would be suitable for 6th graders, which is the grade the common core standard is assigned to.  This lesson would have to come after already introducing argumentative essays because it would be too much new knowledge if I was introducing the format too. It also be more effective if it takes place in the middle of the year so that students feel comfortable sharing their ideas in a group discussion. 

I am excited to read the other lesson plans for this article, it will be interesting to see the different approaches.

Day 1 Reflection

Topics for today:

1. EDUC 504

2. Reaction to Sheskey Article

3. Digital citizenship

                       

Technology is a means to an end.  It gives access to information, opens lines of communication, and provides new ways at looking at old (and new) things.  Using technology for every lesson is not the end goal, but using technology to enhance learning in meaningful ways is a great means to opening new possibilities for my future students.

It was reassuring in class on Friday when one teacher said that technology is not always the best option; sometimes notecards with a specific purpose fits the lesson the best. I was expecting this class to be even more “plugged in” than our other classes, but I was pleasantly surprised when we had a great old-fashioned conversation, face to face.

The conversation, one of my favorite means of learning, was about an article by Bill Sheskey.  The players included my classmates/cohorts and professors for whom I have great respect.  We talked about why the students in the article enjoyed seeing their projects & photos on a big screen. This boiled down to ownership and accountability.  In the same way that the students wanted to put forth their best effort, I want to take ownership of this Blog.  However when trying to decide on a URL name I came across many blogs that only had one post, or had been abandoned even before starting. This is the problematic use of technology.  Anyone can start a blog, post to a social media network, or upload a photo, and then it stays there.  This is wonderful if the “thing” you are posting/starting/uploading is your best work, but when its not, it still stays.  For the young man in the article that wanted to redo his project, that idea was enough.  He wanted the permanence to reflect his best work, not a mediocre job.  For others it is scary to put forth something so permanent and they choose to not put their work “out there” even if that means starting a blog and never posting or in an academic setting not completing the assignment.  There was some mention, in class, about being shy and how displaying work can be counteractive to learning because some students might shut down. So then how do you use technology in a way that motivates some students (ownership) and protects some students from feeling vulnerable to the point of shutting down? Will anonymity give the introverted students the courage to display their best work, but still motivate the extrovert students enough? What is the balance between privacy and publicity?

We also talked about Digital Citizenship and how there isn’t a well-defined etiquette for the World Wide Web.  I agree with this to an extent, but I don’t know what the long-term effects are.  I heard a few personal anecdotes about how kids were using Facebook for “drama” (bullying, gossip, and embarrassment).  This would lead us to believe that there should be etiquette online, but all three of those things under the umbrella of “drama” were around way before technology gave it a new forum.  Kids were bullying each other long before it was made public.  I don’t know if the etiquette we need to teach is online etiquette or simply human interaction etiquette. Technology may make it easier to bully someone from another school or across the country, but it didn’t invent the idea of bullying.   Does technology make bullying last longer because you can look at the history of the abuse and therefore never escape it? Does it make it easier to fight against because if adults are monitoring then the evidence is out in the open to see and stop?

The digital age is now which means that it is hard to gain perspective.  I agree that there should be some etiquette online, but I also agree that real life could use some etiquette as well.  Technology is a means to change but it is how we use it that enacts the change.  As a teacher I’m hoping to create a safe place for learning, this includes digital space as well, so I am excited for this class to explore the ways I can make sure my students are motivated by ownership, but not worried about the vulnerability that comes from publicity.