Module 6: Flipped Learning – SMS 6th Grade Rocks!

Theme: Flipped

The objective of this lesson will be to introduce students to understanding theme, which is often confused with topic. I will assign this article during my unit on PLOT at the beginning of the year. The introduction to theme is a perfect lesson to be flipped, as the concept should be fairly familiar from elementary school. The concept of theme is also very engaging as it can be applied to narrative text and movies alike.

First Exposure

Tile 1 is a set of directions for the flipped lesson.
Tile 2 includes an introductory video.
Tile 3 has text on the definition of theme.
Tile 4 includes a practice lesson where students find the theme from 3 video shorts. (PIXAR, Disney etc)
Tile 5 is a resource with a list of theme TOPICS. After looking over this thorough list, students will then go back to their Tile 4 practice lesson and make revisions if deemed necessary.

Lesson Completion: Accountability

Tile 6 is a video quiz from EdPuzzle and will be due before the start of class. Before class begins, I will go to the progress page on EdPuzzle and view at a glance which students mastered the introduction and will need a challenge, which will need further support, and which students didn’t complete the assignment on time.

Post Flip: Higher-Level Lesson

Surface, deep, and transfer are the goals of every lesson. (Thank you Michael McDowell!) After this ‘Surface’ flipped lesson, students will engage in a small group discussion about the multiple themes in our literary book, Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen. After discussion and agreement, they will create a mini-poster with their theme, specific examples from the text, and a graphic representation.

Groups will then switch posters with one another and give specific, encouraging, and constructive feedback using specific examples.

For the transfer lesson, students will then define the theme of their personal reading books, giving evidence from the text why they believe it is so.