Stephanie Alexander

CEP 800

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Module 6: Lesson Implementation Reflection

The title of my lesson plan was The American Revolution: Causes and Effects. Using
Inspiration 9 software, students were to create concept maps that helped to analyze relationships
between various events of the revolution and to make connections. As new information was read
and learned, students were to update their concept maps to reflect their new understandings about
the topic. The overall goal for this particular lesson was not to memorize specific facts and dates,
but rather to formulate understandings about the relatedness between events. The American
Revolution was a long, complicated event, so the aim of creating personal concept maps was to
try to illustrate how certain events unfolded and then inspired later events.
Due to my lack of a fifth grade classroom during the second week of summer vacation, I
have to improvise my audience. For this lesson, my boyfriend and my sister were my students.
My boyfriend holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics and is competent with
computers and using different software. Although he stated that he had a decent understanding of
the main events of the American Revolution, he admitted that some of the underlying causes
were a bit fuzzy due to the passage of time since his last exposure to content relating to the
revolution. My sister was pretty much on the same level as my boyfriend regarding knowledge of
the American Revolution. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, and is the most
tech-savvy in my family. Before the lesson, I had no worries that they would each be able to
handle the technology component of the assignment.
I made two changes in the lesson plan since my first draft. One change was in the initial
introduction of the Inspiration 9 software. Because my students were two computer-competent
adults instead of a classroom of 5th graders, I simply had them watch a tutorial video about the
software instead of doing a full concept map with them prior to beginning the independent work.

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The other change was the time frame - instead of a project spread out over the course of about
two weeks, my students spent about an hour completing the lesson. We did not complete
readings or have discussions together, as I would have with my 5th grade class. Instead, I gave
my two students a copy of the textbook to consult, and also told them they could use the Internet
for additional information.
Reflection
The actual implementation of the lesson exceeded my expectations. The learning goals
were for students to think critically about the events of the American Revolution, to analyze
relationships between events, and to make connections with supporting evidence. My boyfriend
and my sister both noted that by the end of their experience, they had thought about the
American Revolution in a new way. As an example, when my boyfriend tried to place the French
and Indian War on his map, he decided to list it as an early cause of the revolution. He
explained that prior to this lesson, he had only thought of the French and Indian War as the
reason Great Britain was so far in debt. Through completing the concept map, however, he began
to think of the French and Indian War as one of the initial reasons to justify American
independence, for after the defeat of the French, the colonists no longer needed British
protection.
There were many affordances for how knowledge was represented using the Inspiration 9
software. Both of my students found the software easy to manipulate and were therefore able to
create meaningful concept maps. My students could choose from a variety of maps and
diagrams, and information could be easily moved if necessary. My students also discovered that
the software had quite a variety of historical images to choose from to enhance work, and the

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U.S. history images were perfect for their assignment. Another affordance of the program was
that students could turn their work into a presentation with a simple click of a button. The
constraints of the program include pricing, as well as the time it takes to learn the program. With
a free 30-day trial and two computer competent adults, these were non-issues, but the case would
be different in a classroom of ten-year olds over the course of a school year.
During this lesson, learning mimicked a constructivist perspective. As my two students
continued to gain more knowledge and to make new connections, they were able to edit and
modify their maps to fit their new understandings (this fits well with Piagets idea of adaptation,
assimilation, and accommodation). Events that didnt seem to fit their concept maps had to be
thought about in a different light in order to become integrated, or the events were discarded
altogether. From a behaviorist perspective, the Inspiration 9 software allowed students to follow
behaviorist ideas as they learned how to navigate the tool. Features that worked successfully to
implement ideas were used more often, while features that had negative results were learned to
be avoided.
The intention of this lesson was to enhance understanding of the American Revolutions
causes. Having to create an organizer and to analyze the relationships between historical events
allowed the two students to think about the American Revolution in a more critical way. While
differences between learners was not a concern with my adult learners, these would be important
to consider with my 5th graders, who have varying abilities with technology and reading. All
students could find success with this lesson, however, with scaffolding and support. The lesson
allows for a high amount of creative freedom, which is beneficial to those students who think
outside the box.

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In order to integrate technology successfully, teachers and learners need to know the
purpose of the technology, as well as how to use the technology effectively. Teachers must be
sure to provide students with proper training and guidance before allowing students to get their
feet wet. Knowledge of how to use the various features of Inspiration is needed, in addition to
knowledge of how to transfer a map to an outline to a presentation. Teachers need to be certain
that technology isnt being used for the sake of using technology, but that content is aligned with
good teaching practices, and that the lesson can be enhanced or positively transformed by the
technology. Following Mishra and Koehlers TPACK model is important for successful
implementation.
At the end of the lesson, students were assessed by their finished maps. They had to
justify the choices that they made. I knew they were successful by the content that students chose
to include, as well as by the explanations that justified the connections between events. While my
students had two different maps, both were able to provide reasoning behind their decisions that
aligned with the facts of the American Revolution.
The technology played a key role in the lesson, for it allowed my students to easily
represent their ideas in a visual way. The technology also allowed for modifications as they were
needed. My two pilot students responded favorably to the technology, citing that the program
was straightforward to use. The only question my students asked during the process was if they
were doing it right. My response was that as long as they were including events that they felt
were important causes of the American Revolution, while also illustrating the relationships
between events, then they were on the right track.
In the end, I knew that my students had meaningful learning experiences due to the detail
and connections that they included in their Inspiration concept maps.

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References

Koehler, M. J., Mishra, P., Kereluik, K., Shin, T. S., & Graham, C.
R. (2014). The technological pedagogical content knowledge framework. In J.M. Specter,
M.D. Merrill, J. Elen, & M.J. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational
communications and technology (pp. 101-111). Springer New York. DOI: DOI
10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_9