Olliff 1

Information Literacy Lesson Plan

Jessica Olliff

FRIT 7136
Dr. Judi Repman
Fall 2010

Pathfinder URL
www.researchpathfinder.weebly.com
 Olliff 2

Title of Back it up! Grade 5th Grade

Lesson Level
Curriculum Language Arts Time 3 45 minute class periods
Area Frame
Overview of Back it up! Unit
This unit is designed for a 5th grade Language Arts class. The students are working on persuasive writing in
their class right now, which presents the perfect opportunity for them to learn and practice performing
online research. Most of the fifth grade students at our school have had very little open exposure to the
internet at school (mostly online educational sites and Accelerated Reader – NOT internet – are used at our
school). They have very little knowledge of how to go about finding information on a computer by
themselves. The classroom teacher and myself have decided to give them the chance to research and back
up their persuasive writings with their findings on the internet. Our school is really pushing for use of
Nettrekker, so students will be taught how to use this resource, as well as Galileo.

Because Chatham County implements district-wide uniforms, we chose this as the topic for the students to
focus on. The class was divided in half (11 and 11), and told which side they were to be “arguing” – either
for uniforms or against. (individual opinion did not matter.)
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Content Standards:
Information Literacy Standards for Lesson:
2.2.1 Demonstrate flexibility in the use of resources by adapting information strategies to each specific resource and by seeking
additional resources when clear conclusions cannot be drawn.
3.1.1 Conclude an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and reflecting on the learning.
3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.
1.1.8 Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and pursuing inquiry.
1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using
this process in own life.

5th Grade GPS Standards for Unit:

ELA5LSV2 The student listens to and views various forms of text and media in
1 order to gather and share information, persuade others, and express and understand ideas.
2
3 When responding to visual and oral texts and media (e.g., television, radio, film
4 productions, and electronic media), the student:
5
6 a. Demonstrates an awareness of the presence of the media in the daily lives of
7 most people.
8 b. Evaluates the role of the media in focusing attention and in forming an
9 opinion.
10 c. Judges the extent to which media provide a source of entertainment as well
11 as a source of information.

ELA5W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing. The student:
a. Acknowledges information from sources.

ELA5W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

The student produces a persuasive essay that:
a. Engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a speaker’s voice, and
otherwise developing reader interest.
b. States a clear position in support of a proposal.
c. Supports a position with relevant evidence.
 Olliff 3

12
Big Idea from Lesson: Use research from the internet to back up persuasive arguments.
Core Tasks from Lesson: Find articles and facts on the internet relevant to your own argument.

Lesson Understandings
Students will understand that:
- The internet is a valuable resource that offers endless information.
- Information and resources found on the internet can be used to support persuasive writing.
- There are several ways to conduct research on the internet.

Related Misconceptions:
- There is one answer to every question on the internet.

Lesson Essential Questions

Overarching Question: Topical Questions:
What search engines can I use to find information?
Why is knowing how to use the internet to
conduct research an important life skill? How can I use Galileo and NetTrekker to find information?

How can research found on the internet help How can I weed out useless information from good
to support arguments in our writing? information?

How can I incorporate my research findings into my

writing to support my position?

Lesson Knowledge and Skills

Knowledge Skills
Students will know: Students will be able to:
- That they can use the internet to - use Nettrekker and Galileo to find articles
conduct research relevant to their supporting their writing.
writing. - Sign in to each of these sites independently.
- That there are several different search - Analyze search results to identify relevant findings.
engines available.
- That not all sources offer the same
information.

Lesson Materials and Equipment

- LCD Projector
- Access to Nettrekker.
- Computer lab with at least 22 computers.
- Student writing materials.
- Access to Galileo.
- Computer lab promethean board.
- Pick the Right Sources Activity
 Olliff 4

Lesson Procedures/Activities
Day 1:

MS will come in to the regular classroom as students are beginning their persuasive writing assignment. The
MS will read two persuasive papers; one with personal opinions on why outdoor recess is important during
the school day (as if convincing teacher or principal to continue outdoor recess), and this one with research
supporting the opinion that outdoor recess is important. The class will listen to each and discuss which one
is more influential to the audience, and what makes it that way. The MS will list some of the students’
points on the board about why the paper that included research was better for making an argument.

Next, the MS will ask what places on the internet students can go to find information. Their answers will be
recorded on the board. (expected answers: Google, Yahoo, Bing….maybe a couple others). Students will be
asked if they have ever heard of or used Nettrekker. On the LCD projector, students will watch the
Nettrekker “key word search” tutorial video, the “advanced search” tutorial video, and the “understanding
search results” tutorial video.

The MS will call on students to come to the front and help “demonstrate” using Nettrekker as a search
device to find different articles on topics. The MS will show students how the first few results are usually
the best, and how some results really are not relevant for what is needed.

MS will share the pathfinder resource page at www.researchpathfinder.weebly.com . Each student will be
given their Nettrekker username and password. For homework/assessment, students will be told to visit
Nettrekker, find one article that interests them, and write a brief summary and the link of the article to share
with the class the next day. (if no internet access is available at home, the MS and teacher will collaborate to
find a time either later during this day or the next morning for the child to visit the Media Center to
complete this assignment.)

Day 2:

MS will go over the students’ homework assessments to see what the students found using NetTrekker.
Students will discuss their findings. Class will do a quick “refresher” on what was learned yesterday, by
logging into NetTrekker and performing a search.

MS will ask students if they have ever heard of or used Galileo. MS will explain the similarities between
Galileo and NetTrekker, and the differences. On the LCD projector, MS will pull up the Galileo site and
demonstrate how to sign on. (from school computers, it is an automatic sign-in). MS will walk the students
through the Galileo tutorial powerpoint found here (or, if that doesn’t work, found here).

Now that the class has practiced using both NetTrekker and Galileo, we will work on our weeding abilities.
The MS will demonstrate how to look through search results to identify relevant and irrelevant resources.
Students will then complete the “Pick the Right Sources” activity.

Day 3:

This lesson will be taught in the computer lab. The class will review what we have learned about using
NetTrekker and Galileo. Before we get started conducting our research for the day, the students will write
down 5 points that they remember about how to use the two sites, and how to choose resources once they
are on them.
 Olliff 5

Once this is completed, the MS will quickly show the students (using the Promethean board in the computer
lab) how to set up their own Delicious account, so that they can save their findings and retrieve them from
another location, since much of this paper writing will be done in the classroom or at home.

Students will begin using the two search engines to conduct their research, saving their favorite findings in
their Delicious tab. They will be reminded that they need to reference at least two articles in their writing
assignment. At the end of their computer lab research time, students will write a paragraph briefly
describing their “research experience”, highlighting which search engine they preferred, how good they felt
like they were at finding results, what they liked about the engines and what they did not like, etc.

Lesson Assessments
1. Night 1 homework – assesses whether students are able to use the NetTrekker resource on their own to
find information, and record where they found the information.

2. Pick the Right Sources – this will assess how well the students are able to evaluate resources for their
purpose.

3. List 5 things activity – this will assess whether students have retained information learned over the past
lessons.

4. Describe your research experience – this will allow students to self assess what they liked, didn’t like,
were comfortable with, and uncomfortable with in their research.

4. The final product! – Persuasive papers will be assessed to see if students included research findings in
their papers to help back up their point. In the rubric that the classroom teacher used to assess their writings,
there was one area worth 20 points based on their use of research findings in their paper. They had to
reference at least two different articles in their paper to earn these points. Of the 22 students, 18 of them got
the whole 20 points in this section. (yay!!), and the other 4 students got 15 points, for only correctly
referencing one article in their writing.

Reflection
This was a challenge!! When I first read the assignment, I was thinking “piece of cake! I can write a lesson
plan in my sleep..”. But this was way different – I started about 6 different lesson plan ideas before sticking
with this one, it was tough to come up with an information literacy unit for elementary students where they
could actually be interactive, not to mention that I could assess! (I’m sure there are dozens more ideas, my
mind just wasn’t thinking of them.) Our school/district really is trying to enforce the use of Nettrekker, so I
decided to go with that. I immediately decided to go with 5th grade, since they are the most capable of
internet use out of the elementary grades. Luckily, one of the fifth grade teachers here was happy to have me
come on board to help out with their persuasive writing lesson. And so began the journey…

Let me just say that these plans were initially to be 3 30 minute lessons (so that I would not have to take up
my entire planning period for 3 days to teach them), but, after the first day I realized I needed to go in and
change that to 45. The lessons could have been an hour if I had had the time. Basically, doing each of these
things took a whiiiiile…in a good way though, I felt as if the questions and problems that arose were out of
true interest and need to be thorough, not confusion. We ended up spending some of time each day just sort
of “playing around” together on these sites, so that the kids could become familiar with them. Teacher me
wants to say that this is wasted time – get back to the lesson! But MS me knows better, the time the students
spend familiarizing themselves with these sites was one of the most valuable parts of the lesson. The
 Olliff 6

students were very excited and eager to learn about places they could use on the internet - gasp - without
adult supervision! I mean, they really acted like I was giving them a gift when I showed them how there was
a tab just for elementary students, and that was “their space” they could use freely.

I found that the kids really enjoyed using NetTrekker the best out of the two engines (I think they really
enjoyed the “read aloud” feature) – it seemed to be more kid friendly. They LOVED delicious, and have
since told me how much they’ve been using it at home.

I really enjoyed collaborating with the fifth grade teacher on this assignment. It felt odd writing this lesson
plan, because again, teacher me is just geared to focus on the writing instruction part of this. I had to keep
reminding myself that this time it was not MY job to make sure they were capitalizing and punctuating and
referencing, etc. Once I was able to remind myself (a lot) that I was not responsible for this part of it, I
actually kind of enjoyed relinquishing those areas to the teacher and being able to take care of the “fun part”
of the lesson. I felt like I was in there to really help enrich their lesson, which was a good feeling. Obviously
the students could have written persuasive papers without using NetTrekker or Galileo, but integrating these
things into their papers really raised their level of interest in their writings, and subsequently improved their
writings.

Overall I would say the unit was a success! The students enjoyed it, I learned a lot, and the teacher
expressed to me how much she enjoyed my help with them, and how effectively they were able to use what
they learned in their papers. The main thing I am taking away from this – and I should have known better –
is that like any classroom lesson, teaching information literacy takes TIME. I wish I had had more time to
spend with these students on this unit, but with how things worked out, I was not. Next time I will plan
accordingly.
 Olliff 7

Pick the Right Sources Activity

Name: __________________________ Date:_____________________

I am writing a paper on immigration to America and have conducted some research to use. This is the first page
of search results that I got. Which of these resources would be useful to me and which would not?

1. Michigan State University: LETSNet: Immigration Explorations

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/letsnet/noframes/ ... cts/ss/b6pop2.html

Students will take a virtual tour of the Ellis Island Museum and peruse some other websites in this fun
activity. From the information they obtain, they will conduct group discussions and record their
findings in chart form.

USEFUL NOT USEFUL

2. Coming to America: Immigrant Voices (Thinkquest)

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212700/final_website/?tqskip1=1
This Thinkquest site includes actual interviews with immigrants. They tell their stories and share their
immigration experiences. Also included in the site are immigration laws, immigration history, recipes,
and more.

USEFUL NOT USEFUL

3. Celebrating César Chavez

http://celebratingcesarchavez.homestead.com/index.html
Learn about the hispanic leader César Chavez by discovering the many valuable links and resources
Señora S. has gathered together. Here you will find music,learning activities and standards in both
English and Spanish. Most of the lesson plans are for 3-6 grade levels.

USEFUL NOT USEFUL

4. NYC 100: Immigrant Stories and Information

http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nyc100/html/imm_stories/index.html
Read immigration stories of families enduring the hardships to start a new life in America. The site
contains stories as well as links to immigrant resources.

USEFUL NOT USEFUL