Make-a-Movie Lesson Plan: Digital Citizenship

Lesson Procedure:

1. Display a Brainstorming Web on the whiteboard. Write the title of the overarching theme students will be exploring in the center of the web (e.g., Digital Etiquette, Internet Safety, etc.). Ask students what they know about the topic. Encourage them to share whatever comes to mind. Jot down their ideas on the web.
2. As a class, review terminology related to the theme.  See Digital Citizenship vocabulary.
3. Identify the topics that align to the theme (see What is Digital Citizenship for associated topics). For example, if the theme is Internet Safety, the BrainPOP topics include Information Privacy, Hackers, and Cyberbullying.
4. Divide the class into small groups. Within a group, assign a different topic to each student so that as a group they will cover all the topics in the theme. If there are more students than topics, pair students to work together on a topic.
5. Allow time for students explore the topic, including the movie, games, activities, quizzes etc. Depending on the number of features the topic offers (e.g., games, activities, etc), exploration may require several class periods (you may also assign as homework). As students learn about the topic, encourage them to keep notes on a concept map. If students are exploring a topic as a pair, you might suggest that after watching the movie together, each student reviews different features, so for example, one does the Primary Source activity while the other reads the Related Readings.
6. After everyone in the group has navigated through their topic, instruct them to use the Make-a-Movie tool (accessible from within their assigned topic) to create a BrainPOP-style movie about the topic they explored. NOTE: Students must be logged into a My BrainPOP account to access the Make-a-Movie tool. Point out that they can begin their movies with one of the pre-written letters if it’s relevant or they can write their own. For students working in pairs, suggest that they divide the tasks. For example, one person might select the art while the other does the narration.
7. Finally, invite each student or pair to share his or her movie with the small group. Build in time for questions and answers after each presentation.
8. Bring the whole class together again, and display the Brainstorming Web from the beginning. Invite students to add ideas they learned and to correct anything that may have been incorrect during the initial brainstorm.