Learning Activity 4-4

The lesson that I normally do requires students to create a physical learning station on a topic of the 1950s American Culture. 

Original Lesson: The original lesson and project are over the span of usually three days. The first day is an introduction to the ideas of conformity and rebellion in 1950s American society. We discuss the definitions of each of these terms and how they apply to American society at the time. We then discuss modern day examples of conformity and rebellion. Next, students are introduced to various topics of 1950s culture such as Levittowns, Rock and Roll, the Beat movement, gender roles, African Americans and desegregation, consumerism, and the automobile. Once students are briefly introduced, they are assigned a topic. In a cooperative group, students are required to produce a physical learning station to teach their classmates about the topic. The station includes a summary of the topic, multiple pictures, a video, primary sources, and student made questions to share. Then students move through the stations on the third day of the lesson and answer the student made questions as they go through each station. Lastly, I review all the topics with a review Google Slides and then wrap up with a Kahoot. 

Adapted Assignment: Students will still be assigned a topic from the 1950s that was listed above, but they will now create a digital learning station. The digital learning station will be created on Pinterest. Students will store work collaboratively to create this learning station through a Pinterest board. The Pinterest board will still need the same requirements as stated above. Each group’s board will need at least one summary article of the topic, a primary source, at least 3 pictures, a video or advertisement, and finally digitally created questions to share with the class. Each of these requirements would be an individual pin on the Pinterest board. Instead of doing a physical station activity, students will create a shareable link and post the Pinterest board to a Schoology discussion board. Once all the links have been posted, students will move through the digital stations with their groups in their pods. Students will access the various Pinterest boards and answer the questions created by the groups and fill out their graphic organizers. Teacher will still finish the lesson with a Google Slides presentation review and a wrap up Kahoot. 

Why was this Lesson Chosen: I chose this lesson plan because my students create a lot of physical projects in my classroom and I thought it would be a nice change for them to create a digital project. In addition, finding resources on Pinterest to meet these requirements should not be too difficult and I believe this will make this lesson more interactive for my students. There are students who usually do not like to physically move around the room and interact with student created lessons and this will keep students in their seats, focused, and engaged. In addition, I picked this lesson because it easily is adapted to using a social bookmarking tool. The idea that students can make their own digital learning station on Pinterest was an easy adaptation to make to this lesson plan. Honestly, looking back at the pandemic, I had students make a Google Slide show for this lesson. I believe that if I would have known about Pinterest, I would have used this resource instead. It combines visual, auditory, and written learning styles all together in one platform and would have worked well in a digital classroom. 

Advantages and disadvantages of this revision: A major advantage of this revision is that Pinterest is so user friendly and once students use it once, they can use it multiple times throughout a course. Also, I believe that this revision will make this lesson more engaging for my students. Students will be more likely to view the additional resources on the Pinterest board than on the physical station they used to make. Often, when students are rotating through the physical stations, they do not use the QR codes to watch the videos or advertisements. They usually just read the summary and answer the questions and wait to move on. Having a digital learning station through Pinterest will increase student engagement with the additional resources in each learning station. Another advantage is that this lesson may not take 3-4 days as it normally does because students have to physically put the station together. Students should be able to gather the pins on the board within one 72 minute class period and I would be able to save a day and add it somewhere else in the curriculum. A disadvantage to this lesson could be that students may lose focus or be distracted by sitting in front of their computer screens viewing stations. That is usually why I do physical projects because I want to avoid the distraction of the computer screens. Another disadvantage could be that students may not spend as much time researching various sources because Pinterest provides a lot of quality information quickly. Despite these two potential drawbacks, I still plan to implement this assignment next semester when teaching my American Cultures students about 1950s American Society. I really think it will encourage more engagement and create better learning stations through the creation of Pinterest boards.