For my mini lesson, I chose to do an activity that might be done at the end of a unit. I assigned each of my students a historical figure from the Civil Rights Era. With that historical figure, came a small bio about them, in order to remind my students who their historical figure was. They were to “use their notes” from the past couple class and make 5 twitter posts as their historical figure would. Each student were to make their posts on the Padlet page set up for this lesson.
One of the objectives for this lesson is for students to be able to understand what their historical figure is known for and show that they knew that by making a fake social media for them. This gives students a chance to use something they’re familiar with, social media, interpret things they’ve learned.
I think with the time constraints and limitations, I was able to accomplish my goals during this lesson. I liked how I was able to incorportate technology and use the Padlet to act as a fake social media feed. I could have used a different template on Padlet and wish that I had so that students would have been able to comment on other students posts. But I also liked the template I used because it gave more of a Twitter feed feel that the other templates did. It all depends on what you’re looking for. I think also requiring that one of the tweets incorporate a photo, or a quote from their historical figure or a major accomplishment from their figure as well, would help structure the directions a bit more as well. I also would have liked to give an example of what I was talking about because I didn’t realize a couple students were a little unsure after I gave directions. I liked how I was walking around the room to make sure that students were on task and that I was available if students had questions as well.
This lesson was based in independent work and students were able to complete the necessary work on time. Students were quiet and focused while working. This provided our classroom with a quiet work environment so that students could finish the task at hand. After students finished their 5 tweets, I brought the class back together and each person was able to share a tweet they thought was significant and why they chose to post it. I think my timing was good and I divided things up well so that students had time to listen to directions, work independently, and then explain why they wrote what they did.
After giving this lesson once, I learned how I can tweak things to make sure I’m clear in my expectations and directions as well as giving students enough structure and time to complete the activity. I think this is a good activity to wrap a unit and gives students the ability to show what they know instead of just taking a test.
What an engaging way to conclude a unit on civil rights. A great chance for students to share information or perspectives that stuck with them.
I hadn’t used Padlet in a while, but it worked well for gathering content from students. None of their templates are perfect for this. The one you used displays the posts larger (great for photos). The column template would keep different people in columns, but posts are smaller. A big question is how to scale this up to a full class. I guess you could have the students in groups and give each their own Padlet.
I think adding instructions that they should post an image, quote, accomplishment would provide a bit more guidance. Regardless – it was engaging, fun and well-planned way to check for learning at the end of a unit. Your biography handouts were perfectly bitesized.
Maddy! Let me just say that as a participant in your lesson, I had a lot of fun! I absolutely think you have a great base of a lesson here that would be really engaging for students. This was a great way to connect students with historical figures through bringing it into modern times with the Twitter posts. I think you did an awesome job! 🙂