Service and Therapy Animals

Title of Project: Learning About Service and Therapy Animals

Schools and Teachers

Wantagh Elementary School. Teachers: Marisa Evert, Jamie Lynn Celeste, Justine Hernandez

ENL Proficiency Level | ENL Program | Standards | Technology

Transitioning, Expanding | Stand-Alone | 3,4,5R2; 3,4,5W6; 3,4,5W7; 3,4,5SL1 | Google Slides

Assessments

Formative and Summative: Students were assessed informally throughout the process of developing their Google Slides Presentations. They were provided a checklist to ensure they mentioned all points required.

Description

Students researched the similarities and differences between service dogs and therapy dogs. Through a district initiative, the students got the opportunity to interact with dogs of each category.

Content

I can research and write about a themed topic.

Language

I can engage in collaborative discussions with my peers about a specific topic.

Technology

I can create a Google Slides presentation.

Student work


Procedure

Students researched the topic of service dogs and therapy dogs to gather similarities and differences. Next they created and completed a Venn Diagram based on their research. They attended a presentation where service and therapy dogs were present. They then combined their individual group research into one collaborative Google Slides Presentation about the similarities and differences between service dogs and therapy dogs.

Reflection

The students enjoyed using Chromebooks and the internet to complete their projects. They were amused by Google Docs and Slides as they were able to work collaboratively in real-time. This helped them to proactively support each other in the moment, as opposed to being reactive. The students enjoyed researching a topic that they were interested in. They benefited from learning that dogs can provide help and services opposed to just being cute and fluffy. They also benefited from working collaboratively to produce one large end-product. Because this project was conducted across three grade levels, it brought students together whose paths may not have otherwise crossed and strengthened the sense of community. Allowing students to use a myriad of resources helped them to become more interested in their research as they felt that they were behind the steering wheel. If they found one article uninteresting, they were able to get similar information from another article that was better-suited for them.