A Science-Fiction Lesson Plan

Science-Fiction Lesson Plan

Content	What is the content you are teaching and what are the big ideas? What are the challenging concepts that students struggle with or are difficult to teach? Consider your state standards (GLCEs or HSCEs) as you develop the essential questions you are trying to address.	Content: Writing Science-Fiction I am currently developing an online science-fiction unit for students who may need credit recovery or for teachers to use when crunched for “in-class” time.  Teachers may use this for a grade or for an extra credit project.   Big Ideas: (Unit Essential Questions) Why write science-fiction? What effects can science-fiction have on society? What are the implications of science-fiction? Lesson 1: What is Science-Fiction? I can... Determine my own definition and understanding of Science Fiction. Write a blog response to the question, "What is Science Fiction?" Recognize the first English-written Science Fiction novel. Understand extrapolation. Identify major themes in Science Fiction. Recognize the four major elements in Science Fiction. Essential Questions: What is science-fiction? What is the first recognized English written piece of science-fiction? What is extrapolation? What are the major themes of science-fiction? What are the four major elements of science-fiction?
Pedagogy	What pedagogical strategies are you using and why? What theories of learning inform your strategies? What learner characteristics did you take into consideration?	I am using both cognitive constructivism and social constructivism in this lesson.  Students are developing their own understanding of what science-fiction is through viewing a video mash-up and responding with their thoughts through a blog posting.  As the learning progresses, students will view a a Power Point to examine extrapolation, themes of science-fiction, and the four major elements of the genre.  Students will then view a video clip and use this clip to determine elements of science-fiction.  Students will also read Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains and answer element questions.  At the end of the lesson, students will blog about their findings of reading Ray Bradbury’s piece and discuss with one another about how it is a good example of science-fiction.
Content & Pedagogy	How do these particular strategies help you teach the content mentioned above? Why choose these strategies over other approaches? Are there any technical or physical constraints that figured significantly into your choices?	I chose these particular strategies because most students are visual learners.  I tried to incorporate as much visual learning as possible.  I also incorporated the blog postings and having to respond to each other’s posting to build that social learning.  No two people are going to have the same exact thoughts on this science-fiction piece, and therefore, have the opportunity to learn from one another.  There are some technical constraints that figured into my choices.  I do not have a recorded lesson of myself teaching this content.  I may consider doing this as I feel it will help students achieve greater learning.  I just have not developed it into the online course yet.
Technology	What technology will you be using and why? Is the use of this technology absolutely necessary to achieve your objective? That is, would be impossible to teach the lesson without it? Remember that content specific technology (e.g., probes, graphing calculators, Geometer’s Sketchpad, United Streaming videos) are used to teach a content-specific concepts, whereas content-general technologies (e.g., Flash animation, Web 2.0 technologies) may facilitate deeper understanding by allowing students to manipulate information, explore a “network of ideas,” and investigate multiple representations of material.	I am using Weebly, Google-Docs, videos, blogging, and MicroSoft PhotoStory.  Due to the fact that I am developing this as an online course, these technologies are absolutely necessary to achieving my objectives.  The entire course will be online and all communication and collaboration will be online.  Even though this lesson does not incorporate MicroSoft PhotoStory, the final assessment in this unit is a visual story production.  This will allow students to bring their writing to life and be forever preserved on the Internet!
Technology & Pedagogy	How does the technology you have chosen fit with your pedagogical strategies and theories about learning? What types of learning strategies are employed by the technology?	The technologies I have chosen fit with my pedagogical strategies and theories about learning because they are engaging tools that will allow students to be active participants in their own learning.  Students are constructing knowledge through videos and readings.  They then become social after creating their own knowledge of science-fiction and express their thoughts and comment on the thoughts of others through blogging.
Technology & Content	How does your choice of technology help you teach the "big ideas" and address the essential questions underlying the concept your lesson addresses?	First of all, my choice of using Weebly to set up this unit will help students achieve understanding of the big ideas because of its ease-of-use.  The incorporation of video will stimulate the learners visually and help them create a deeper understanding of what science-fiction is.  Blogging with the students will help them to deepen their understanding of the elements of science-fiction and why it is important to write this genre.
Assessment	What do you want your students to know, and how will you know when they know it?  How will you assess what students have learned?  What role does technology play in these assessments?	I want my students to build a meaning of what science-fiction is and what the major themes and elements are.  I will know they have reached full understanding when viewing their blog responses and how they respond to others.  I have created one rubric for assessing their first blog posting.  It can be found at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEMyN1BhT2lSSFRvV045UU9vX084V2c6MQ#gid=0. Technology will play a huge role in my assessments as they will be rubrics created using Google Forms.

If you are interested in viewing the progress of this online unit, feel free to visit at http://mcclainssciencefiction.weebly.com.