What do we know about Afghanistan? Using Padlet to create a group KWL chart by Sheila Brandes

Title: What do we know about Afghanistan? Using Padlet to create a group KWL chart.

Overview:  

The students will learn how to use iPads to access, via QR Code, a KWL chart created on Padlet. The students will add their own comments, questions, photos, videos, links, maps, etc. to the “What I Know” and “What I Want to Know” columns. After reading and research, students will add to the “What I Learned” column.

Content/Context: 

The class has been reading about and discussing various countries of the world that are “hotspots” in order to increase understanding of the issues surrounding these countries.

Length of lesson:

1 hour for the first part - learning how to use Padlet and making comments to the first two columns of the KWL chart.

1 additional hour for reading in small groups and posting to the third column of the KWL chart in the large group.

Digital Literacy Standards:

Demonstrate knowledge of keys on a keyboard. Identify icons on a desktop. Perform internet search using clear parameters. Insert objects into a document, including images, shapes, hyperlinks, and tables. Post, share, like, or comment on content.

College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS):

Reading Anchor 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Reading Anchor 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Transitions Integration Framework (TIF) Standards:

Effective Communication - Engage positively and actively with individuals in both one-on-one and team settings to accomplish goals. Use language style, level of formality, and nonverbal cues, appropriate to context and task in oral and written communication. Utilize a variety of technologies for communication.

Critical Thinking - Organize, analyze and illustrate relationships between components, items and ideas. Use information to draw conclusions and make decisions. Recognize bias, assumptions and multiple perspectives.

Lesson Objective(s):

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to use an iPad to post a comment to an interactive app such as Padlet.

Assessing Mastery of the Objective(s): 

At the end of this lesson, students will show mastery of the objectives as evidenced by posting a comment in the “What I Learned” column of the group KWL chart on Padlet.

Materials/links:

iPads, Padlet app on iPads, QR Code generated by Padlet for students to scan, paper copy of a KWL chart, level-appropriate readings on Afghanistan.

Lesson Outline:

Introduction: 

Explain to the students that we will use a KWL chart to organize our knowledge about Afghanistan. Show students the paper copy and review how it works (or teach first time users). Use the paper copy in the traditional way to record several comments from the large group. Stop the activity to elicit input on some of the drawbacks of this type of activity: only some students participate, some students are not engaged with the topic, some students might not want to participate for fear of being wrong, students have to wait until the teacher calls on them, etc. Use this as a transition to the digital KWL chart on Padlet.

Explanation/Modeling:

Display the KWL chart created with Padlet on the Smartboard. Demonstrate how to post comments, edit comments, add photos, links, etc. Display the QR Code and discuss if necessary. Tell the students that they will gain access to the chart when they scan the QR Code with an iPad.

Guided Practice:

Distribute the iPads, guide students to the app, help students scan the code. Have everyone start by posting to the “What I Know” column: write a title, write a comment, post. Have students look for their post and edit if necessary.

Independent Practice:

Allow lots of time for independent posting which allows students to explore the different ways they can enhance their posts.

Student Reflection on Learning, Closure, Connection:

After reading an article on Afghanistan, students post something that they learned to the final column of the KWL chart.

Students can reflect on whether multiple students had the same question about Afghanistan. If so, are we failing to teach this information or failing to pay attention to it?

Students can reflect on whether the reading answered the majority of the questions posed by the group or whether the students have questions that go beyond the teacher or the text. If so, how can they find answers?

Students can also reflect on the format of the KWL chart on Padlet - was it organized or confusing? Was it hard to keep track of what was posted because you have to scroll up and down to see all the posts? Were spelling mistakes and repetitive posts okay or distracting?

Teacher Notes:

The students were very engaged, creating multiple posts and exploring features. They said they enjoyed working on their own posts without having to wait to do everything as a large group. Some people shared iPads which was fine - they were able to discuss and help each other work things out. The more posts there are, the harder it is to keep organized - we decided that giving each post a title or category could help the teacher rearrange the posts into like groups that would be easier to focus on during the discussion. The discussion raised many questions about biased information, unflattering photos of leaders, how to find answers to unanswered questions, and more.