Lesson Plan

Lesson:  Creating a Blog for Collaboration

Subject:  MOVE curriculum with severely disabled students

Lesson Objectives: Learners will identify, produce and share strategies of MOVE from their classroom experience.

Lesson Details:

Identify: The learners will identify a successful MOVE strategy that has improved mobility in their classroom and decreased staff’s workload.  [For example, a student is now able to transfer to a regular chair in the classroom for lunch instead of being lifted or left in their wheelchair isolated from the group.]

Produce:  The learners will be asked to choose a unique example and edit it so that it is applicable to others.  This can be in the form of a written document, an audio presentation or a visual presentation.  In this section, there will also be teamwork that involves collaboration of all classroom staff.  The group will choose and edit an appropriate example that fits the guidelines.

Share:  The learners will be instructed on how to blog using a new site and how to add their productions to share with other classrooms.  They will also utilize the Smartboard so that students along with staff are able to navigate through the blog.

Content:  How to use a blog will be demonstrated and the type of collaborative material to be placed on the blog will be discussed.  The big ideas are to share strategies and ideas, and to support and mentor the school staff involved with severely physically disabled students.  Another big idea is taking pride in the work that is being done and taking time to reflect on what makes this good being able to showcase this in the blog.  As the teacher, I am aware that some learners’ preconceived notion of MOVE is just to get a student in a piece of equipment.  To help clarify understanding of the MOVE curriculum, I will review and have the staff ask these important questions when choosing their example so they understand the goal:

1)      Is the child doing something that is meaningful to him/her or will decrease the amount of lifting a caregiver has to provide?

2)      Is the child able to socialize with other students in this position and is it the least restrictive environment?

3)      Does this activity allow the student a chance to make choices or to be more independent?

We will not be considering state standards in this lesson, but we will be addressing students’ mobility goals and family needs.  I will also review use of adaptive equipment if there are any learners new to the program.

Once the background information is provided, the new information that will be introduced is creating and accessing the MOVE blog.  The learners will also receive a description of what examples are appropriate to add and allowed a lot of room for creativity.  We will also learn how to upload pictures, movies and audio and create a post.  They will receive tips on editing projects and use of appropriate online etiquette.

Pedagogy:   To start I know the characteristics of my adult learners and I will be very clear on how much time we will spend on each section.  These adult learners want to see the immediate use of this information in their life, so from the beginning it will be known that through collaboration their work is easier and more enjoyable. The review of background information and the introduction to blogging will occur in a large group setting.  I will model with several examples (written, audio, video) so that they will have an idea of what the finished product looks like.  I plan on using the social constructivist theories to guide my sessions.  I will encourage discussion and thinking out loud to develop the groups’ learning.  The group will then break down into smaller groups to establish project ideas and determine group roles.  Possible roles may be a leader who is responsible for the actual posting, a camera or audio person and a recorder to keep notes.  The group may rotate these roles or maintain them for the school year.  The smaller group size will allow them to practice posting.  Some of the groups may require scaffolding on which example to use and they will be referred back to the 3 questions to see if their example fits in the guidelines.  There will be more creativity in the project when the ideas are driven by the group and facilitated by the teacher.  Some groups may also require scaffolding for the technology use and this can be provided by me or other resources in the school. 

Content & Pedagogy: To teach the overarching goal of collaboration the work needs to be done in a group.  The groups are very diverse in regards to age and education so it is a great time to improve their relationships and appreciate the special skills and backgrounds that each member brings to the group.  A technical constraint is that there are many veteran teachers that are skeptical and cautious about using technology.  The overall project will be demonstrated and then if they have difficulty with any of the parts they can ask for assistance. Keeping strategic networks in mind, the learners will appreciate seeing the whole process of blogging learned simultaneously rather than one step at a time.

Technology:   The technology will not be content specific, that is they will learn to use a collaborative tool to start with MOVE ideas and this could spread to include other topics.  I will incorporate content-general technologies to facilitate a deeper understanding so that the learners can explore their options of collaboration.  Technology is essential in this lesson because of the flexibility it allows for the classrooms to work on their projects when they are not working directly with students.

Technology & Pedagogy: By choosing this type of technology and working in a group, different levels of understanding are supported.  The one who has the idea for the project may not be able to use the technology to create it.  The one with the technology savvy may not have the creative ideas.  Through teamwork, they learn from each other.  Seeing their creation also allows opportunities for reflection on strategies they use in the classroom and a deeper understanding of the MOVE philosophy.

Technology & Content: I chose this type of technology because it is readily available in our school and in many homes so that school staff will realize how easy collaboration is and how much easier the work is when everyone can share their knowledge and tips for making the workload lighter. Adult learners will appreciate the practical applications of information sharing in other aspects of their work through this interaction. 

Assessment: The assessment I will use is to see if their project of using MOVE in the classroom is in line with the philosophy and mission provided in the review.  I will know that they understand the philosophy if their project represents severely disabled students up and mobile while working toward a goal of independence or in a social situation- not just up in a walker doing nothing- going nowhere.