What Was Life Like in Ancient Hawaii?

Submitted by patricialouis on Thu, 03/22/2012 - 07:46Printable version Bookmark and Share
Created By:
Patricia Louis
Title/Role:
School Librarian
Organization/School Name:
Aliamanu Elementary School
Location:
Hawaii

Grade Level:
4
Type of Lesson:
Lesson in a unit
Type of Schedule:
Combination
Collaboration Continuum:
Moderate
Content Area:
Social studies
Content Topic:
Pre-contact Hawaii history
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Skills Indicator(s):
1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
3.1.6 Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.
Dispostion Indicator(s):
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts.
Responsibilities Indicator(s):
1.3.5 Use information technology responsibly.
Self-Assessment Strategies Indicator(s):
3.4.2 Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product.
Scenario:
This lesson is part of a larger unit on Hawaii history prior to Western contact. Students are studying the origins and culture of early Hawaiians and the roles and responsibilities of each class in pre-contact Hawaii. Students have already worked with the teacher and librarian to complete the research portion of the unit. In this lesson students are creating their final products in the form of digital posters.

Overview:
The essential question is what was Hawaii like in the past? Students describe the culture and geography of ancient Hawaii by searching for information in a range of resources and combining information and visuals from their research in the form of digital posters.

Final Product:
Students produce digital posters that reflect their understanding of cultural and/or geographical features of ancient Hawaii.

Library Lesson:
Students in grade four will be able to (1) describe at least one cultural or geographic characteristic of ancient Hawaii for each question, (2) locate and retrieve relevant information and visuals from both print and electronic sources, (3) create a list of resources used, and (4) integrate information and images in a digital poster.

Estimated Lesson Time:
120 minutes
Assessment
Product:
Students will use a rubric to assess the quality of their digital posters.

Process:
Students will compose exit passes that briefly describe specific tasks well done or problems that they must overcome in relation to the research and poster.

Self Questioning:
Did I accurately identify an important cultural or geographic feature of ancient Hawaii? Did the graphics in my poster effectively capture this information? Did I remember to cite my sources?

Instructional Plan
Resources students will use:
Dataset (ie. lists, tables, databases)
Still image (i.e.paintings, drawings, plans, and maps)
Moving Image (i.e. animations, movies, tv program, video)
Interactive Resource (i.e. webpages, multimedia learning objects, chat services)
Text (books, letters, poems, newspapers, etc.)

Interactive Resource URL:
http://www.hawaiialive.org/

Resources instructor will use:
Projector
Laptop
Smart board

Instruction/Activities
Direct instruction:
The LMS uses the Smart board to share samples of digital posters that range from poor to excellent. She challenges students to categorize the samples: needs work, okay, and great. The students categorize their responses using an e-clicker.

Modeling and guided practice:
The LMS and the teacher use the students’ e-clicker responses to facilitate a discussion on why students categorized the posters as they did. They guide them to identify and describe the characteristics of a good poster. They create a basic rubric using the poster characteristics the students identified as well as characteristics that she identified. They take one of the “poor” posters and uses the class-created rubric to suggest ways to improve the poster.

Independent practice:
Students create their own posters in their class and as homework.


Have you taught this lesson before:
Yes

Strategies for differentiation:
The teacher and LMS allow students to team and assist one another with technical aspects of production. They also provide reading and viewing materials of different levels of reading complexity as needed.