2.

4 Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Candidate will model and facilitate the effective use of digital tools and resources to support and
enhance higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits of mind

This artifact, the Internet Lesson Plan is a project designed using the NETS-S template to help
guide the development of lesson using ISTE-S standards and provide sixth grade students with the
opportunity to participate in research-based, learner-centered learning activities. This lesson asked
students to choose a familiar story (Cinderella, Three Little Pigs, etc.) and retell the story from a
different point of view. Prior to the lesson, the students reviewed various aspects of writing, specifically
the aspect of author’s point-of-view. Students looked at the point-of-view of the author from a variety
of familiar short stories and discussed how the stories may be different had a different author told the
story. The students then worked in groups to choose a familiar story and then retell the story from a
new characters point-of-view.

Working with the sixth grade ELA teachers, I used this project as an opportunity to model and
facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support higher order thinking skills, processes, and
mental habits of mind. During this project, students were asked to “think outside of the box” in order to
retell famous stories from various points of view. When I suggested to the teachers that we allow
students to demonstrate their ability and understanding of point of view in ways other than a written
piece, many were skeptical and believed that students were going to be more distracted by the final
product than by mastering the concepts. As we let students explore a variety of tools in which they
could demonstrate understanding, we found that the more control over their project that they were
given, the more pride they took in their work. Student products surpassed teacher expectations and
many demonstrated an ability to blend multiple skills together, both digital and physical skills, to
produce high quality worked that effectively demonstrated students mastery.

I really enjoyed planning, modeling, and implementing this lesson with a sixth grade class.
Several days after the completion of the lesson, I received feedback from several students and the
teacher that they enjoyed how fun the class had been. By allowing students the opportunity to choose
their own path and to choose their own method to demonstrate their learning and understanding, they
owned each step of the lesson, maintaining a high level of engagement. Several students submitted
their final videos and podcasts to the district reflections contest. It was exciting to see students take
pride in their work enough that they were willing to submit it to a public contest! I have actually used
this lesson plan with several other courses since its’ completion. I think that it works well the way it is
and it is easily scaffolded for different grade levels and abilities.

This lesson impacted faculty development and student growth. At the time of this lesson, we
had one green screen at Elkins Pointe. Since this time, we have received four new green screens (one for
each grade level and the new MakerSpace). One of the groups of students that participated in the lesson
and completed a Greenscreen video founded the video production club at the school. They meet weekly
to create short PSA for morning announcements using the skills they learned while completing the
project. Our sixth grade teachers have also increased the opportunities they provide students to
complete their work. Many teachers have changed their project guidelines to remove “required” final
products. Instead, they have adopted a new strategy that allows students to demonstrate their
understanding in multiple ways and not a single, final product that is identical student to student. The
lesson also demonstrated how effective technology can support student mastery. The shift to
technology integration can be difficult for many teachers, but this lesson helped many teachers see that
technology can be a tool to support teaching and student learning. It does not need to be a requirement
to check off a box for completion, but should be used to increase engagement and understanding.