InformationLiteracyLessonPlanforLI877SecondaryPracticum

ByLisaGreenwood
TheShakespeareCode:Evaluatingthereliabilityofsources
Gradelevel:
6
Time:
one

20minuteclassperiod

KansasLibrary,MediaandTechnologyLearningStandardsaddressed:
InformationLiteracy1.5.3
Thestudentconductsanelectronicsearch
Standard1:Thestudentwhoisinformationliterateaccessesinformationefficientlyand
effectively.
TechnologyLiteracy14.1.3
Thestudentusesappropriatetechnologytoevaluateinformation
Standard14:Thestudentusestechnologyresearchtools.

Overviewoflesson:
ThislessonwilltakeplaceonThursday,April23.Inthe6thgradeEnglish/Language
Arts(ELA)classroom,studentshavebeenstudyingpoetryincludingsonnetsinobservance
ofAprilasNationalPoetryMonth.Thesestudentsusuallyvisitthelibraryonceeveryotherweek
withtheirELAclassesforashortlessonandbookcheckouttime.Intheweekspriortothis
lessonstudentshavenotbeentothelibraryontheirregularscheduleduetothestateassessments
affectingtheschoolschedule.Thiswillbetheirfirstvisittothelibraryinseveralweeks.This
lessonisintendedtotieintotheirclassroomactivitiesaswellashelpthemrecallsomelibrary
researchskillsusedearlierinthesemester,andisintendedasastandalonelesson/activity.
Studentsareseatedattablesingroupsof34students.Afterashortwelcometointroduce
thetopicoftheday(Shakespeare,asapoet,forNationalPoetryMonth)andabriefoverviewof
theactivityinstructions,studentswillworkingroupstocompletetheactivitywhilethelibrarian
movesaroundtheroomprompting,encouraging,andmotivatingstudentsasneeded.Students
willdecodeaquotefromaShakespeareplay,discusswhattheythinkitmeans,thenuseaweb
searchtofindoutwhatplaythequoteisfrom.Thenthestudentswilldiscusshowtheyknowthe

websitetheyhaveusedforinformationisreliable.Theirdiscussionresponseswillberecorded
onthehandoutthathasthequoteencoded.
Atbookcheckouttimethelibrarianwillalsodirectstudentattentiontovariousbooks
pulledandondisplayaroundthelibrarythatrelatetoShakespearestimeperiod,plays,ortopics.
Requiredresources:
TheShakespeareCodehandout,preparedusingcodepuzzlesfrom

www.free_for_kids.com
onequoteperhandout
HandoutAnswerSheetfortheteacher/librariantocheckstudentwork
Extrapencils
atleast10iPads(enoughsothateachgroupcanhavethemclasssizesvary)
Severalbookspulledfromthelibrarycollectionandputondisplay

DirectWholeGroupInstruction
EssentialQuestion:Howdoweknowawebsourceisreliable?
AskstudentsiftheyknowwhatdayApril23is?(Shakespearesbirthanddeathdate)
TellthemthatShakespearewasapoet,andtheyhavebeenstudyingpoetryincludingsonnetsfor
NationalPoetryMonth,sotodaysactivityistohonorShakespeareswork,PoetryMonth,and
usesomeresearchskillslearnedearlierinthesemesterspecificallyknowinghowtodetermine
iftheycantrustasourceofinformationontheinternet.Givethemanoverviewoftheprocess
theywillfollowduringtheactivity.
SmallGroupActivity
Studentsworktogethertodecodethequote.Suggestonepersonastherecorder,whoreadsaloud
andpromptstheothersforanswers.Suggesttheymovechairsononesideoftablesotheycanall
seethesheet.Ifonepersonseemstobedoingtheworkalone,suggesttheytaketurnsbeingthe
recorder.Haveonestudentreadthequotealoudwhentheyarefinished,andappointoneperson
togetaniPad.
Whiletheyaresearchingtheinternetforthesourceofthequote,movearoundamongthegroups
andaskwhattheirsearchingstrategyisandhowtheyknowwhichoftheresultstochoose.Ask
themguidingquestionstoremindthemofsearchstrategiestheylearnedearlierinthesemester
whentheywereevaluatingwebsitesforaresearchproject.Askthemguidingquestionsabout
wheretolooktofindinformationaboutawebsiteorwhatcluestheycanfindtoletthemknow
theycantrusttheinformation.
Assessment

Basedontheanswersgiventotheguidingquestionsandbasedontheinformationrecordedon
theirhandout,thelibrarianwillknowhowsuccessfullytheyrecalledwhattheylearnedearlierin
thesemesterabouthowtotellifawebsourceisreliable.
Studentresponsestotheessentialquestionincludedthefollowing:

userscannotchangetheinformationonthewebsite(unlikeWikipedia)
quotestheprimarysourcedirectly
hasagreatdealofdetailedinformation,orhasinformationthatisonothersites
theauthorisqualifiedtowriteaboutthetopic,isaprofessionalinthefield
noadsonthewebsite
thesourceisareference:quotationdictionary
purposeofthewebsiteisforhomeworkhelpandhasteacherguides

Basedontheseresponses,thestudentsseemfamiliarwithandcanrecallavarietyofcriteriafor
makingsurethattheyareusingreliablesources.Eachgroupstatedatleastoneofthesecriteria,
evenifusingtheirownwords.Somehadtoberemindedtolookfortheaboutusinformation,
butthensuccessfullyusedthatinformationtoconfirmthesourcesreliability.
ReflectiononLesson
Thislessonwasjustalittletoolongbecauseofthewhatdoesthequotemeanquestiononthe
handout.Futureversionsofthislessonwillnotincludethatquestionsothatstudentscan
completetheactivityandstillhave510minutesforbrowsingandcheckout.Afteracoupleof
classes,Ialsonotedwhichquotestooklongertodecodeandtendednottohandthoseoutunless
Ihadtosothattheycouldcompletethedecodingactivitymorequicklytogettotheessentialpart
ofthelesson.Twentyminutesisnotverymuchtimetocompletealessonwithallthetraditional
components(hook,modeling,guided/independentpractice,assessment).
Studentswereengagedintheactivityandreallyseemedtoenjoythecodebreaking.Allthreeof
theteachersfoundtheactivityinterestingandoneteachernotedthateventhestudentswithlower
readingskillsandbehaviorissuesinclassseemedtobefullyengagedintheactivity.Thesix
classeshadanaverageofsixgroupsperclass,andonlyabout3groupsamongalltheclassesdid
notcompletethequestionabouthowtheyknewawebsitewasreliable.However,Ididgetan
oralresponsetothequestionfromthosegroups.
Overall,itwasagoodwaytorefreshtheirmemoryonanimportantresearchskill,and
demonstratedthatshortandfrequentapplicationsofknowledgecanbeawayforthelibrarianto
assesswhatstudentsknowandcaneffectivelydo.