Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETSSTemplate I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Teacher(s)
Name

Valeria Williams

Position

Business Education Instructor

School/District

Wilkinson County High School

E-mail

valeria.williams@wilkinson.k12.ga.us

Phone

478-946-2441

Grade Level(s)

9 - 12

Content Area

Business Communications

Time line

4 Months

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.
BMA-BC-1: Demonstrate employability skills required by business and industry.
Content Standards
BMA-BC-2: Examine and practice grammar, mechanics, and process of composing professionally
written business communications.
BMA-BC-3: Apply effective oral communication by communicating in a clear, courteous, concise, and
professional manner.
BMA-BC-7: Apply skills and strategies for the delivery of effective oral communication and
presentations.

NETS*S Standards:

BMA-BC-8:Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.),

communication/networking tools, and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate,
evaluate, and create information to successfully function in professional settings.
Creativity and innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and
develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Communication and collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate
and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the
learning of others.

Critical thinking, problem solving and decision making: Students use critical thinking skills to
plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using
appropriate digital tools and resources.
Technology operations and concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology
concepts, systems, and operations.

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Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)
This assignment is a capstone project which requires students to utilize the oral and written communications skills
learned throughout the semester. Students are required to work in groups of 2 3 and work as Website
Consultants and Publication Designers for teachers throughout the school. Students are required to create a
website and a monthly newsletter (four newsletters total) which will exhibit all of the content that is being taught in
the chosen teachers classroom. Prior to starting this project, each group is required to compose a letter of
proposal requesting the teachers permission to complete the project. Additionally, students are required to
consult with the teacher at least two times per week. The website must include the following topics: an
introduction page, teachers information page, course information page, assignments/projects page, and point of
contact page. The newsletters must include the following information: cover page, class information, contact
information, and pictures of the class/students. At the end of the semester, students will present their products to
their teachers, an administrator, and/or parents.
In order to address the collaborative component of this project, the newsletters and letter of proposal will be
created using Google Docs. The website will be created using Weebly.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple yes or no and should have many acceptable answers.
Essential Questions
o How can I use written and oral communication skills professionally?
o How do Web 2.0 tools, such as Weebly and Google Docs, enhance communication skills?
o How can teachers use the Internet to inform parents and students of daily activities?
o How are objects used in a website similar to objects used in word processing software?

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.
Students will produce a website with appropriate pages, subpages, objects, and links that will demonstrate
important components of their teachers class. Students can generate new knowledge by reviewing websites
from teachers at different schools. Students will be assessed monthly to see how well their websites are
progressing and being updated. Groups should complete a newsletter each month. I will use a rubric to assess
the website and newsletters.
Students with special needs or who have a hard time composing a website will have the option of creating four
interactive books using Flipsnack. Each Flipsnack should be composed of the same components that are
required for the website.

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Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resourcesonline student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etchelp elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)
The technology use in this class will support the students ability to learn how to use Web 2.0 tools to
communicate effectively and collaborate with other students. Students will use Google Docs to work
collaboratively on this project. Additionally, students will be provided the opportunity to ask questions and access
their assessment rubrics via Schoology, our classroom management system. My teacher website can be used as
a reference model as to what I am expecting for their project.
Students enrolled in this course are completing the Business and Technology pathway, which is a series of three
courses. Students are required to take Introduction to Business and Technology and Business and Technology
prior to taking Business Communications. Introduction to Business and Technology teaches the concepts of word
processing software and how they relate to Web 2.0 tools. Business and Technology incorporates the use of
Web 2.0 tools and software to create quantitative reports. Students must exhibit knowledge from all three
courses when completing this project.
Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)
Students will need to know the following to complete this project successfully:

How to use word processing software to create industry appropriate documents

How to create an outline from a major topic
How to create a website with corresponding webpages
How to create the appropriate subpages for a webpage
How to interview a client to gather information
How to create a product based on information that is gathered orally

I review each students grades from Introduction to Business and Technology and Business and Technology in
order to ensure that they have the skills deemed necessary for this class. Students are remediated according to
the concepts that they struggled in previously. In addition to reviewing grades, I give a pre-assessment at the
beginning of the year to test word processing skills. Students may have difficulty linking the concepts from word
processing software to Google Docs or Weebly.
Typically, I teach the students in two of the three Business and Technology classes. Therefore, I have a strong
sense of their strengths and weaknesses. About 10 percent of the students in my Business Communications
class took a different instructor. Therefore, they may not be acclimated with some of the Web 2.0 tools that I use
in my classroom, which can be an issue at times.
Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

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My classroom is a computer lab with 32 stations. Every computer in my classroom has Internet access. Students
are assigned to specific computers within the class. I am able to monitor and control each students computer
using software called Vision. If the Internet is inaccessible, students will be required to use Microsoft Word to
complete their projects. Files will be saved to their computers Documents folder. They will be able to upload
their files at a later time.
In order to ensure that students are using their time wisely, I will conduct random checkpoints that will require
them to turn in the work that they have completed.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Blooms Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

The instructional strategies that I use will be based on Marzanos Nine High-Yield Instructional Strategies.
Marzano elucidates that there are nine strategies that teachers should use in order to increase student
achievement (Palm Beach Schools). I plan to use the three following techniques: summarizing and note taking,
cooperative learning, and setting objectives and providing feedback. Students will use the summarizing technique
when they create an outline to base their websites on. Students will work in pairs, which addresses the
cooperative learning aspect. Objectives and feedback will be provided on a rubric that students can access via
Schoology.
My role will be to act as a facilitator that will assist them with any remediation that is needed to complete the
project. I will consistently ask questions to ensure that students are clear on what is required, provide feedback,
and provide examples of exemplary work. Students will work as Website Consultants and Publication Designers
for teachers. High order thinking will be exemplified by the products that students create. The technological
aspect of this project allows them to work collaboratively by using tools, such as Google Docs and Weebly.
Students will communicate with the teachers that they chose to base their project on to ensure that their
customer is satisfied with the end result. I will facilitate the collaboration by formatively assessing what the
students have completed and providing feedback on what could make their project better.

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)
I will create modules using Schoology that will be composed of screencasts. Each screencast will show students
how to complete tasks using Weebly and Google Docs. For enrichment purposes, students will have the
opportunity to create a website for a local business that does not have a website and present it to the owner.
Students that struggle with spelling or typing will be able to use the voice typing feature built into Google Docs to
complete their project.

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Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?
How would you teach this lesson differently?
As my closing event, students will be evaluated by their chosen teacher, business professionals, administrators,
and/or parents. Students will be given a chance to complete an online evaluation of what they have learned from
this project and what could have been done differently. My process of evaluation will be based on the students
feedback, stakeholders feedback, and how well the project that they were assigned was completed. My teaching
methodology of this lesson will be based on the overall pass rate for each class.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
When I created this project, I wanted to prepare students for having capstone projects in college. As a college
student, I know that most of the time I procrastinate, but my work ethic keeps me focus. This is not always the
case with high school students. Often times, I had to extend the project checkpoint dates because students have
not worked on the project effectively. Students did not value their clients time as well. They often waited until the
last minute to ask their client for information.
If you plan on implementing this lesson be sure to thoroughly review interviewing skills and time management.
Most of my students have a hard time completing this project because they do not know the right questions to ask
to get the information that they need. Since I give students the entire semester to complete this project, they do
not take advantage of the time that is given. Instead of doing monthly checks, do biweekly progress checks to
see where they are with completing this project. Lastly, stress the importance of balancing their daily work with
completing this semester project.

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