Renee Warish                                                                                          Grade 3

Commack School District                                                                        5 July 2008

Social Studies and Language Arts                                                            3 Days (40 min. per day)

Lesson Topic: Interviewing Peers from Other Countries

ISTE Standards:

1.D Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

• Teachers model collaborative knowledge constructed by engaging in learning with students in face-to-face and virtual environments.

NYS Language Arts Standard:

Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding.

• Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Objectives:

1. Upon completion of the social studies Guatemala unit, the student will write seven to ten interview questions concerning Guatemala’s culture, government, population, geography and everyday life.  

2. Utilizing Skype, the student will conduct an interview of a third grade student from Guatemala.

Materials:

1. 24 computers with Skype access

2. 24 computer cameras

3. 24 computer microphones

4. Parent permission contract for using Skype

*Prior to beginning the interviewing process, students and parents must sign the Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) contract. The contract titled “Kids Pledge” is located on my Wiki page under parent resources.

Anticipatory Set/Introduction:

On the Smartboard, show the students an example of how to Skype. Prior to the lesson, determine a video chat time with another teacher in the building. Call the teacher using Skype; therefore, the students can see how video conferencing works. Explain to the students that they will be able to chat and interview a peer from Guatemala. 

Instructional Procedures:

Day 1: Have the students create seven to ten interview questions about Guatemala’s culture, government, population, geography and everyday life. Review online safety guidelines and have the parent’s sign a permission slip to be able to video chat online using Skype. 

Day 2: Have the students meet in the computer lab for a beginner’s tutorial on Skype. Create user names and passwords for each student. Review online safety guidelines again. Also, have the students practice using Skype by video chatting with classmate.

Day 3: Have the students conduct their interview with a third grader from Guatemala in the computer lab.    

Closure: 

In groups of three, have each student present their interview to their group mates. On the Smartboard, have each student write one interesting fact he/she learned about Guatemala from conducting their interview. As a class, discuss the list you created.  

Evaluation:

Class participation and graded interview questions.