Deborah Kozdras, Ph.D.

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

3-2-1 Vocabulary: Learning Filmmaking Vocabulary by Making Films

Bring the vocabulary of film to life through the processes of filmmaking. Students learn terminology and techniques simultaneously as they plan, film, and edit a short video.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Blast Off! Vocabulary Instruction Using a Virtual Moon Trip

3, 2, 1... Blast off! Students learn new vocabulary by taking a virtual field trip to the moon, read-alouds, creating a picture dictionary, and completing a final writing activity.

 

Grades   2 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Minilesson

Bringing Economic Vocabulary to Life Through Video Posters

Imagine if vocabulary could come alive with the click of a button! Students create video posters to demonstrate knowledge of new economics vocabulary.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Creating a Class Pattern Book With Popular Culture Characters

Students hit the hallways with their favorite pop culture characters in this lesson to photograph the characters in various situations and then write about the pictures in a pattern-book structure.

 

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Crit Lit for Kids: From Critical Consciousness to Service Learning

Students take their ideas from the classroom page to the community pavement when they participate in a service-learning project based on their multimedia presentations.

 

Grades   7 – 10  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Engineering the Perfect Poem by Using the Vocabulary of STEM

Students research engineering careers and create poetry to understand the vocabulary of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Minilesson

Finding Fabulous Financial Literacy Vocabulary With Fancy Nancy

Fancy Nancy teaches fancy words. Did you know Nancy also teaches about fabulous financial literacy concepts? Explore basic economics vocabulary with the entrepreneur extraordinaire!

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Gabbing About Garfield: Conversing About Texts With Comic Creator

Students will definitely get animated as they discuss comics’ features and designs, and they’re sure to enjoy the lesson’s punch line assignment: creating a comic strip of their own.

 

Grades   9 – 12  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Hoax or No Hoax? Strategies for Online Comprehension and Evaluation

Are your students easily fooled? You’ll find out in this lesson in which students carefully and critically examine hoax websites to determine their validity.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Multimedia Responses to Content Area Topics Using Fact-"Faction"-Fiction

Students climb into the mind of a spider in this lesson that asks them to compose a spider diary using spider facts, fiction, and "faction"—fiction that sounds like fact.

 

Grades   9 – 12  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Music and Me: Visual Representations of Lyrics to Popular Music

Students will whistle while they work on this lesson, creating a photomontage movie of their interpretation of a favorite song’s lyrics that will end everyone’s day on a high note.

 

Grades   9 – 12  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

MyTube: Changing the World With Video Public Service Announcements

This assignment will go viral with students as they think about the meanings of words and images in public service announcements from YouTube before creating a PSA of their own.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Once Upon a Link: A PowerPoint Adventure With Fractured Fairy Tales

What really happened to the three little pigs? Students will read and write fractured fairy tales. In composing and editing these tales, students focus on the six traits of writing.

 

Grades   9 – 12  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Recording Readers Theatre: Developing Comprehension and Fluency With Audio Texts

Students investigate audio texts of mystery stories, evaluate them in terms of both literary and audio qualities, and create Readers Theatre scripts, which they use to record their own podcasts.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Recurring Lesson

Shared Experiences, Individual Impressions: Buddies Create PowerPoint Stories

Stories and snapshots of school-related experiences are the perfect sources of inspiration for students as they create PowerPoint presentations with the help of an older student.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Taking Photos of Curious George: Exploring Character Through Images

Students will be monkeying around in this lesson when they create a digital class book in which they imagine what Curious George would do if he visited their school.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Teaching About Story Structure Using Fairy Tales

From "once upon a time" to "happily ever after," students learn to recognize story structure in fairy tales and create a logical sequence of events when writing original stories.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Teaching Shapes Using Read-Alouds, Visualization, and Sketch to Stretch

Visual clues in winter-themed books used in this lesson encourage students to make real-world math connections.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Recurring Lesson

Using Word Storms to Explore Vocabulary and Encourage Critical Thinking

Students learn that dogs are more than just pets in this lesson, which teaches them to use research and vocabulary-acquisition strategies to learn and write about working dogs.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Zines for Kids: Multigenre Texts About Media Icons

Special edition! Students use ReadWriteThink tools to create magazines about prominent figures using a variety of writing genres and styles.