Project 2:

Umbrella to Question Start

A Co-Taught Learning Experience Using a

Knowledge Building Center, a Think Model, and Technology

Teachers and professors often strive to bring students outside of a basic textbook/lecture environment and into the world of information and technology. This opens the doors for a teacher librarian to encourage students to inquire into the "real" world.

What Does This Mean?

For Project 2, you and your partner will take a basic "bird unit" and make it an exciting learning activity that could be co-taught by teachers (professors) and teacher librarians. The lesson you create will embrace a rich information and technology environment in order to help students deeper understanding and stimulate the development of 21st century skills. Meaning, your new unit will be turned into a Knowledge Building Center (KBC) where your students can access everything online.

The theory behind this is that the MLIS student will then be equipped to develop learning experiences with actual teachers and professors, as is the requirement of Project 5. Throughout the course, each one of these experiences will get more and more complex as the various partnerships learn to construct KBCs and Book2Cloud or QuickMOOCs experiences together.

Before You Begin

Read the textbooks, Beyond Bird Units and The Big Think. These two books have many many examples of transforming basic bird units into more advanced learning experiences. They are not formatted exactly the way you will format yours, but they contain the various elements you will include in your project.
Make sure you understand the 18 Think Models and the 9 Big Think models.
If you are in a state where this is applicable, look at the Common Core Standards. Additionally, you might look for the ESSA standards of your state for some guidance.

Project 2 - Umbrella Question Details

This is your first experience at collaborative co-teaching, so we try to make it a bit simpler and straight forward. You are learning the "Think!" models, how to use them in a Knowledge Building Center (KBC) created by a Google Site, and how to work with a partner whom you have never met.

Once you have a partner:

Select a unit on issues, people or places. These are very common units of instruction across education and are often in bird unit form. (Example: Ancient Egypt, The Founding Fathers, Immigration, etc. )
Select a Think Model from the text and follow it closely as you learn how to transform a learning experience. Basically, you will follow an example in Beyond Bird Units and The Big Think texts - to a different topic of your choice. If you feel comfortable, step out beyond the examples you are seeing.

Next Steps

You will construct your KBC using one of two Google options - either the classic Google Sites or the new Google Sites. NOTE THE NEW GOOGLE SITE LINK IS A GUIDE, NOT A TEMPLATE. YOU MUST CREATE YOUR OWN GOOGLE SITE. THIS IS IN COMPARISON TO THE CLASSIC GOOGLE SITE LINK THAT IS AN ACTUAL TEMPLATE. MEANING YOU CAN GO IN AND PUT YOUR INFO RIGHT ON THAT SITE. TO USE AS A TEMPLATE, CLICK "USE TEMPLATE" IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER. EMAIL DR. L OR JACLYN IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS.

Suggestion: play around with both the classic and new Google Site versions, as both have their pros and cons. Additionally, use the classic Google Sites as a layout model for a KBC while the new Google Site template explores the Umbrella Question more in depth (look at Phase 1 and Phase 2 under Getting Started).

Once you understand how to construct your KBC and have decided on a topic, you and your partner will name the unit.
Your Home page will have a hook. What is a hook? A relevant and interesting photo, video, or graphic along with a question to pull the student into your lesson. (Again, refer to the Umbrella Question Model Tutorial under the Home tab).
Then, on a sub page (aka "room"), create the lesson plan section. This section is list of everything you will need to include in the plan. FOR PROJECT 2 YOU ONLY NEED TO BUILD THIS LESSON PLAN ROOM OUT! (i.e. no need to build "Tools & Tutorials" or any other rooms).
During a workshop, you will share the KBC with our class and the instructor for constructive comment before submission.
Thinking about the SAMR Model, employ a technology in your KBC that pushes toward the top two levels.
Include an activity using one of the Models from the Big Think text.

Deliverables

A KBC via your choice of Google site. Your KBC will have a home page with an enticing hook and one additional page with a fully formed lesson plan.

HAVE FUN WITH THIS - GET CREATIVE AND THINK WHAT WOULD ENGAGE YOUR STUDENTS MOST!

Double Check

Make sure that you have opened your site so Dr. L can see it. Also, if you have embedded any Google Wuite tools, make sure they are open so that anyone with the link can view them.
If two or three of you have worked on a single transformation, just one of you needs to submit it to Canvas. The instructor will send the comments back to that person and everyone will receive credit.
Make sure you list the partner names so that credit can be given.

Dr. L will be looking for:

A unit of instruction; not a single lesson that follows closely one of the Think Models in the Ban Those Bird Units textbook
An enticing-to-the-learner hook page
A Lesson plan page where teachers and teacher librarians can do all their planning together.
The old and new method descriptions
Objectives and assessments that match and that embed the teacher librarian's agenda into the teacher's agenda
Hig qulity content knowledge in science, social studies, leterature, etcl.
Day by day learning activities
A good description of the culminating activity
Inclusion of the Big Think after the lesson is over and the grades are in
Inclusion of technologies that push up the SAMR model to boot the teaching and learning of the learning experience
Rooms where the students and teachers can do their work; however, these need not be fleshed out for Project 2
A defense of the learning experience

Google Sites

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