Reka+Tabb-Developing+a+topic+Lesson


 * Information Literacy Plan: Developing a Topic**


 * Pre-Assessment**- Before I designed the following lesson, I administered a needs assessment to my students that tested them on their information literacy skills. The students took the pre-test on information literacy online through the TRAILS program. This site is located at http://www.trails-9.org/.  This test focused on five core areas of information literacy. The areas include developing topics, identifying potential sources, developing research strategies, evaluating sources and information, and recognizing how to use information responsibly.  This test is geared for students at the high school level.

This tool was ideal for my needs. I wanted to know how much instruction my students needed in the above key areas before I assigned my students their research paper assignment.

In the five core areas of information literacy, my students scored as follows: developing a topic (52%), identifying potential sources (66%), developing search strategies (62%), evaluating sources (47%), and recognizing how to use information responsibly (75%). On the overall test, the students’ mean score was 61%. As a result, I knew I wanted to teach lessons covering the three lowest areas. Below is a one day lesson I created that focuses specifically on strengthening students skills in the area of developing a topic.


 * Standard(s) and/or Goal(s)**

Standard 1.0: Writing Standard: The student will develop the structural and creative skills necessary to produce written language that can be read and interpreted by various audiences. Standard Rationale: Writing is a lifelong interactive process that is used to communicate with a variety of audiences and for a variety of purposes, adapting language conventions appropriately according to context. Writing is an act of discovery, a means of personal growth, and a tool for clarifying knowledge. To accomplish writing tasks more effectively, students need exposure to a variety of strategies, such as those included in the stages of the writing process, in order to approach writing systematically.


 * Instructional Objectives:**

A-(1.07)-Students will apply appropriate elements of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. B-Students will view and work with different resources that will strengthen their ability to develop good research topics. C-Students will demonstrate mastery of this skill (developing a topic) by scoring at least a 70 percent when they retake the developing a topic portion of the information literacy test. They will do this after the lesson on this topic has been administered. D-I expect all students to score a minimum of 70 percent on the post test in order to call the skill mastered. It is my hope that they will do better than this. My goal is that at least 50 percent will score 75 percent or higher.


 * Materials:**


 * Slips of paper with highly interesting and more bland research topics
 * Library T.V. Screen for displaying a power point
 * Document Reader for displaying an encyclopedia page
 * Computers with internet access
 * Encyclopedias


 * Set Induction:**

1.	To begin the lesson, I will hand out small slips of folded paper to each student. The students will be in groups of four at round tables in the library. Students will be instructed not to open the slips until I give the go ahead. 2.	Next, I will ask them to each open their slips and read them aloud to their fellow group members. (Some of the strips will have fun and interesting research topics that will likely be of interest to teens. Other slips will have very dry topics.)  I will next tell the students that these will be their upcoming research topics. I will ask them to discuss the their thoughts about their assigned topics amongst their groups. 3.	After they have had some times to discuss the topics in groups, I am almost 100 percent certain that this is when the grumbling will start, and someone will ask if they can trade or switch topics. If they don’t ask, there likely be someone complaining or looking disgruntled, and I will use one of the complainers or hopeful switchers to start a discussion. I will ask the person in front of the whole class, “Why don’t you like the particular topic you have?” Someone will likely respond that the topic is boring or that they aren’t interested in it. That will allow me to begin a discussion about the importance of picking something they are interested in (if given the choice in a class) or at least making the most out of what they get(if they aren’t given a choice in a class) when the develop a topic. I will then lead into the fact that today we’re going to look at how to develop great topics for research papers or at the very least live with the ones they get if they have no choice. I will be using some of the topics on their slips throughout the class as illustrations as we talk.


 * Instructional Sequence:**

1. (Set Induction-8-12 min.)- See above activity 2. (Discussion-5 min.)-After the set induction, I will ask students to share topics they’ve done in past classes that they have either really enjoyed or really hated. I will ask them to tell me what made them feel this way. 3. (Powerpoint-20 minutes)-At this point I will open up a powerpoint. I will explain that after today, I hope they will be better equipped to both choose topics and make the ones that they are assigned more livable. (I have attached this powerpoint in the wiki for perusal). The powerpoint will cover a number of things that students can do to help them in topic development:

•	Power Point Slides 1-6: (YOU’VE BEEN ASSIGNED A TOPIC, BUT DON’T UNDERSTAND IT.)-Do you understand the topic? Where’s the best place to go if you don’t? (Teach about how encyclopedias are a great resource to gain general background knowledge)

HANDS-ON PLUG IN-Each group will have an encyclopedia on their desk- with a slip of paper with a topic that might require some background be learned (ie- string theory) The students will look this topic up in the dictionary to better understand the general meaning of the theory. I will then call on someone to tell me what they found. I will also show by switching to the document reader how we would use the encyclopedia for the censorship hypothetical topic as well.

•	Power Point Slides 7-8: (I UNDERSTAND MY TOPIC, BUT HOW DO I NARROW IT DOWN?) –For this, we will discuss  how encyclopedias can be great at coming up with a sub category, and how webbing and some online sites can further the process. I will switch to the document reader and use the example of censorship to again show the encyclopedia, and then I will pass out a webbing graph for students to try using the censorship topic. After this, I will put noodletools.com on the screen and show them it’s features for topic narrowing.

•	Power Point Slide 9: (I GET TO PICK MY OWN TOPIC, BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M INTERESTED IN!?!)- Again we will look at noodle tools for this. They have a site section just for helping students brainstorm their interests.

4. (Independent Exploration-10-15 minutes)- I will end the class by sending them to the computers, to do some exploratory work with the sample topic they got in class today. I will want them to use the noodletools site we looked at to see how easy it was to narrow their topic or find out more about it. We will discuss what they thought of the site tomorrow.

**Closure:** The next day, I will begin class by briefly touching on the main points of what they learned in the above lesson. I will ask them to rate the noodletools site. Did they like using it? Did they find it beneficial? Did they prefer webbing better? etc… I will then tell them the broad concept for their 11th grade research paper and explain that after their post-test on developing topics, I would like to see them using the processes from yesterday when developing their specific topic.


 * Adaptation and Extentions:**


 * This lesson met the needs of hands-on learners with encyclopedia perusal, visual learners with the power point and document reader, and auditory learners with the discussion.  Because my students are different, some of my students will want to use the encyclopedias after the lesson, some will opt for webbing, and others the online work.  As students embark on their independent exploration of topics, the librarians and I will be going around to help slower learners or those requiring extra assistance.

I will know how well the students understood the lesson by administering the TRAILS post-test on the developing a topic section of information literacy.
 * Assessment:**


 * Reflection:**

I am certain I will learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t work after I teach this lesson for the first time. I will make adjustments accordingly.