lesson_columbus_1

=​Names:= Mildred Bueno Melissa Gonzalez Doris Santiago

Standards:
The students will learn about Christopher Columbus and his voyage, discovery of the Americas, native Americans and how it shapes this country today. Students will also be able to do critical thinking on Columbus's voyage after a thorough lesson that will address different aspects of his voyage such as: intentions, economic and social struggles in Europe at the time, treatment of the Natives in the Americas by Columbus and his men, the influence that Columbus had on America then and now.


 * **New York State** – [S2,K1,P1,2,3]
 * **New York City** – [Unit 2 Exploration 4.1c,4.1f, 4.2c,1.4a,1.4c,2.1a,2.1c, 2.3a, 2.4a,2.4c]
 * **National** – [not mentioned]

__**Lesson Plan Summary:**__
 * __Uploaded Lesson Plan__:**

> >
 * **Day 1:** Introduce the topic of Christopher Columbus by reading a story to the class and having them ask questions or give comments. Reiterate what was just read by speaking to the class on what was just read. Break the students up into groups of 3-5 (depending on the number of students in class) and having role playing activities. Assign vocabulary words for the class to know and announce there will be a quiz at the end of the week.
 * **Day 2:** Give a short quiz on the previous day's assignment in order for the teacher to determine what the class understood or not understood and work on closing the gaps that the childen were not understanding by going over the story. Include an activity where sections of the story is drawn by groups (the same groups as the previous day) and have the groups present to the rest of the class. Go over the vocabulary words through cut and paste letters where they attach the letter to a picture that corresponds.
 * **Day 3:** Quiz the children on their vocabulary words and recap on the story of Christopher Columbus and ask the students questions such as, "Do you think C.C changed the way that the Natives did things, how?, What were the most obvious changes, do we still have some of those practices today? What are they?, Is it important to respect other cultures, why?..etc..

__Lesson Plan Template Source:__

 * This template was copied from Microsoft Office Online.

Why did your group choose this specific format for your template?
 * The group felt that this lesson plan was a general lesson plan that would be able to fit into any type of lesson that was being taught. As an elementary school teacher, there will be different lessons being taught all day and with this plan the teacher is able to customize the lesson and aggragate any specifics. It is well organized and covers all of the standards that a teacher is looking to cover throughout the lesson. Also, it is very presentable to superiors.

__**ERIC article summaries and APA Citation:**__ > **Article Summary:** This article was really helpful because it is very thorough and describes all the aspects of the lesson plan from the introduction to the amount of time spent on questions, also gave some child friendly questions that will open the discussion of the lesson by incorporating the students from the beginning. It is a 2 day lesson plan. Another thing that I found very interesting is that the teacher is doing this lesson as a internet search, not only are the students learning about a historical figure, they are also learning how to navigate the internet at the same time. The lesson plan comes complete with objectives for both teacher and student, timeline, grade levels, overview, and internet sites available for the students and a handout. All of the links are readily available and organized. Extended work is provided in the case that further explanations or lessons are needed. Reviewing this lesson plan was extremely helpful because it gives me a very clear example of what a complete, organized lesson plan looks like. I thought the teacher did a great thorough job and by making it into a internet based lesson, made the lesson more knowledgeable and fun for the students. > > **Article Summary:** The resource founded is a teachers manual integrated with a student text book It has the history of Christopher Columbus voyages. In this book the historical events tend to explain cultural diversion, and intergration. The educator that utilize this resourceful information; can develop a quick lesson plan, because the summary can be founded one chapter at a time. It's information is very detailed. The teacher's guide is also used with a student text book which can help the student's and educator share information, read along and keep updated through out the lesson of Christopher Columbus. If there is a substitute teacher, the children will still have the work provided by this same resource. This guide states the; vocabulary words, a list visual aids necessary, fill in the blanks exercise, answering questions critically. Its format helps prepare also ideas for preparing test. > **Article Summary:** [insert text here]
 * 1) **APA Citation:** Woolley, J. (2003). Cyberspace Explorer: Getting To Know Christopher Columbus (Report No. ED480322). Kents Store, VA: Virginia Managing Editor, ReadWriteThink, International Reading Association Retrieved February 5th, 2010, from ERIC Database
 * 1) **APA Citation:** Clear de Road A Manual For Teachers To Accompany A Virgin Island Text Book of the same name on Virgin Islands History for fourth grade (Report No. ED266054) Author:Sage, Jewel Ross Published on 1983.
 * 1) **APA Citation:** [insert text here]

**__Lesson Plans:__**
> **Lesson Plan Summary:** I enjoyed this lesson plan because the teacher took time to have the students learn about many different aspects of Christopher Columbus voyages rather than just concentrating on one thing. I found very interesting that she also took time to discuss the Taino Indians and the affect that Columbus had on them. There were notes to the teacher to fully prepare the teacher for the lesson accompanied with links, specific paragraphs in books to read, and direct questions to ask the students. However, some of the language or subjects may be a bit too advanced depending on the grade level that you are teaching. Perhaps for a 5th grade class this lesson plan would be ideal. Another aspect that I enjoyed is that along with is being a lesson plan that lasts several days, there is also group work incorporated in the lesson plan; the students are able to work independently while they contemplate and grasp the information, and then they are able to discuss it among themselves in groups and prepare a project. I would definately use many of the aspects that the teacher incorporated in the lesson such as reading and discussing different materials and looking at the lesson object from another perspective as the author did. > **Lesson Plan Summary:** This lesson plan would teach the children that there is more than one way of looking at historical events. The children will enjoy the read aloud and the pictures in the books that are being read to them as well as other books that would be available for their viewing. > > **Lesson Plan Summary:** There are both negative and positive aspects of this lesson plan that peeked my attention. For starters, the lesson plan had an introduction in which the teacher was able to give background information on both Christopher and the Natives that already lived on the land. Without givin the students too much information the teacher is able to then give a set of different tasks that make the students think of different situations but at the same time think back on the knowledge that was already given to them. Through the question they are able to critically think about both the settler and the natives and this gives the students a very important skill, to think of a situation on both spectrums. I thought that some of the tasks were a bit too complex for an earlier elementary grade class. The negative aspect of this lesson plan is that there is no interaction between the students and/or the teacher once the teacher introduces the subject and the information. In order to make the lesson more interesting, especially for younger grades, I would incorporate an activity in which either drawing, role play, or story telling/creating would be involved. This would give the students the chance to wrap up all that they have analyzed through the questions and answers and give them a chance to really retain the information through an activity that they will enjoy and most likely remember. > > **Lesson Plan Summary:** In this web page there are different forms of preparing a lesson plan to explain Christopher Columbus voyage. The time line was the format that I would use in a class, specifically because while teaching the events, vocabulary and other at the same time I help the students become organized with the sequence of events and dates that they occurred. It also include traits and colorful maps that makes the children attentive and involved when following the ships path > > **Lesson Plan Summary:** This is a lesson plan good for a day. I find it ideal to use this lesson plan when explaining the Thanksgiving concept. It includes a book to read and a group activity that involves "hypothesis" and critical thinking. By volunteering in the group activity the students can demonstrate that differences between cultures, in this case language, can lead into sicial misunderstandings. As the age of the children increase they can be introduced to othe r topics of Christopher Columbus.
 * 1) **Lesson Plan Link**: What Was Columbus Thinking? Lesson Plan
 * 1) **Lesson Plan Link**: Columbus Day – Two Perspectives
 * 1) **Lesson Plan Link**: What was early contact like between Europeans and Natives?
 * 1) **Lesson Plan Link**:The Columbus Navigation Home Page
 * 1) **Lesson Plan Link:** Making Friends (Christopher/Columbus American Indians)

**Assessment Questions**
[ I have it in a USB We need to find a form to post it on the blog .]

**__Group Definition of Educational Blogs:__**
An Educational Blog is a technological service that keeps educators, students, and education seekers alike, from different parts of the country, where it serves, in this case New York informed of the changes of the educational system: National, State, City. The technological advancements are resourceful, for it helps educators and students have a faster and detailed form of researching and completing work and obtaining information for the students.

__Edublogs__
Mildred Bueno
 * Name & Web Address:
 * Article #1: [The reason why I choose this article is because depression is something that is affecting everyone including our children schools. The fact of the matter is that this affects one in every five children and this is very serious because this will affect their education, their feelings, behavior and body. These children can have a hard time coping with everyday activities and responsibilities. They can even suffer from low self esteem. This is very unfortunate to have a child with depression because they are in the process of growing up and also dealing with other situations in life that they don't really understand why. In other words these are small children dealing with difficulties very early in life.

> **Article #1:** [|Early Education Initiative] > **Article #2:** Education Policy Program > **Article #3:** Head Start
 * **Name & Web Address:** New America Foundation

__Melissa Gonzalez__
 * **Name & Web Address:** Name: US Plan Threatens Free Book Group http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/education/09grants.html?partner=rss&emc=rss From: New York Times Written by Stephanie Strom
 * **Article #1:** This article is of interest because the "Free Book Group" is a nonprofit organization, who seeks to help the board of education, just like many other learning programs, obtain federal money for educational purposes. However the issue is that the Board of education is now taking away the money from these organizations, that help children improve their literacy, to give it to "state and local governments".
 * **Name and Web:** Montgomery schools in running for urban education prize[insert text here] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/01/AR2010040101900.html?wprss=rss_education From: Washington Post Written by: Michael Bimbaum
 * **Article #2:** This article is of very much significance, value and example for many of our schools in NYC. These types of news should be presented to all educators and students more often to value education and serve as a from of encouragement. At the same time I noticed thatnone of the many schools that we have in NYC were among the five finalist. This makes me question and think of some barriers and problems of the schools in NY.

Doris Santiago > > This Edublog was extremely helpful and knowledgeable for me as a student teacher. It came as no surprise to me to read that there are gender gaps when it comes to learning and achievement statistics however, it is common news that there is a negative stigma that follows young girls when it comes to their learning skills in comparison to that of boys. This article portrays data that achievement gaps that lagged girls behind are no longer accurate. This was very welcoming news to me because I feel that there are already many negative influences on little girls and education and learning should not indulge in adding to the negative stigma. In a perfect world I would like to read an article that read that both girls and boys are reading, writing and understanding math and science at fairly equal levels. As educators it is important to hold both girls and boys to the same standards even though the methods of teaching each gender may vary from one lesson to another. Reading this article helped me by refreshing my views and reiterating what I already knew; that both genders have great skills and it is not fair to students to not expect greatness from each child.
 * **Name & Web Address:** Change Agency
 * **Article #1:** The Blog caught my attention because of it's title. It is a short blog that gets straight to the point and directly lets the reader know how the author of the blog was feeling at the moment. I probably enjoyed it as much as I did because of my experience as a student. Being that I am a very curious person, that aspect of my personality definitely transcends through my classroom experience. I tend to ask many questions and comment on what I am learning. I am aware that at times my curiosity may annoy some of my classmates but I have been very blessed to have teachers that seem to understand where I am coming from and answer my questions to their best abilities, most of the times that is. I have learned over the years that often times the questions that I blurt out in class are usually ones that others are also wondering about, so in a sense, I may just be doing a public service :). As an educator I am sure that there will be times when a student does not understand the lesson or asks a question that should've been clearly answered through the lesson just taught. Thinking back on my experiences as a curious student will help me be able to serve my students better. This post helped me realize that each question counts not only for the students but for the teacher as well. As students feel free to ask the teacher questions, they are developing a relationship of trust with the teacher and learning. This might also unalarm another student who may think that he/she is the only person wondering that same question. Such questions are also very helpful to the teacher because it lets the teacher know more or less what the students are and are not understanding from the lesson.
 * Name & Web Address:
 * **Article #2:** Helping Boys in Reading Without Starting a Gender War


 * Group Definition of Educational Wikis:**

The educational Wiki helps the entire technological class keep updated with the work given and missed, without having to do research and jump from one web site to another. Through the Wiki, students are able to review work from their class and any other classes that have posted or used Wiki as a tool in their class. By incorporating Wiki into a lesson plan, it makes the catching up with the work given in class a lot easier. For example: if I did not understand a specific subject that Mr. Lewis discussed in class I am able to go back to the Wiki class page and re-read the work and analyze it at my own pace.


 * How does your group envision incorporating educational technologies in your classrooms?**

We were able to have a deeper understanding about the technological advancements and faclitations that exist throughout the web. Also, we understood that lesson plans can be adopted, remolded, or integrated with other information. We learned how to create similar questions to those of the regents and how to incorporate technological methods, such as the downloading of books, and videos for educational purposes. We would incorporate technology into the classroom by having students use the internet to research the web rather than books. Through this they will feel comfortable and knowledgeable of the topics in which they are to know.

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