Title III Technology Literacy Challenge Grant

Learning Unit

OVERVIEW

     This is a thematic unit which links numerous pieces of literature in multiple genres, as well as      having social studies components. The main text is The Giver by Lois Lowry. This unit was designed for an 8^th grade class which is piloting learner-centered strategies, and thus uses collaboration as well as individual work, journal writing, and assignment options whenever possible. It was extremely well-received by the students who demonstrated significant progress in attaining several of the NYS Learning Standards in addition to the one being formally assessed in the unit. It turned out to be a favorite unit for both teacher and students and took about 5 weeks.  (SEE APPENDIX A FOR 0NE-PAGE OVERVIEW OF UNIT)

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What has been mankind’s vision of a perfect world in history and literature?

TOPIC QUESTIONS:

1. Why is it important to know the history of our lives, our countries, and the world?
2. Why is diversity healthy within a culture? (science link: biodiversity)
3. Why is it unrealistic to think that utopia can ever be truly achieved?

CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
List Standard # and Key Idea #: Write out related Performance Indicator(s) or Benchmark(s)

ELA Standard #2: Read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

Performance Indicators:

Write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately 3-5 paragraphs to:

*draw conclusions and provide reasons for the conclusions

*compare and contrast characters, setting, mood, and voice in more than one literary text

*make connections between literary texts and personal experience or knowledge

INITIATING ACTIVITY

1. Spend 15 minutes reading newspapers; in collaborative pairs, tell a partner about a newsarticle you read.
2. Carousel: On newsprint taped on walls, respond to these prompts: "The world would be a better place if there were more." AND "The world would be a better place if there were less" Have a volunteer lead the class in a discussion of the responses.

Journal: What would be your idea of a "perfect world?" Share responses. <1/40-minute      

                                                                                                                               class period>

LEARNING EXPERIENCES
In chronological order including acquisition experiences and extending/refining
experiences for all stated declarative and procedural knowledge.

Introduce novel, The Giver, and train students in how to conduct literature circles; have initial meeting of lit. circles where 1^st jobs and 1^st reading is assigned. Reading is begun in class and finished as homework. <1/2 period>

                  2. Review paragraph-writing skills in mini-writing workshop. <1/2 period>

                  3.Continue literature circles for approximately 20 minutes/day for 2-3 weeks, until all 

                     groups have finished reading and discussing the novel. Students are assessed daily  

                     by teacher who circulates around the groups and assigns + or – grades; two grades

                     per day: 1 for having job sheets filled out, 1 for participation in the discussion.

Second half of each period is used to prepare students for writing assignments by conducting writing workshops every other day where students practice writing strong sentences, topic sentences, supporting sentences, concluding sentences.

Second half of each period on alternating days is used to expose them to diverse texts linked to The Giver by theme. Students respond to these in journals and share thoughts orally either in pairs or with whole group. These texts include:

the Bible: Eden; Genesis 2:8-15

Quotation from Helen Keller: "Literature is my utopia..."

Poem by William Butler Yeats: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"

Public Documents: Opening 2 paragraphs of the Declaration of

     Independence by Thomas Jefferson

Poem by Edgar Allan Poe: "Eldorado"

Song from movie "The Wizard of Oz": "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

(SEE WORKS CITED PAGE)

                  4. As each group finishes, they are provided materials to make artistic or graphic

                     representations of the ideas from The Giver. These allow for students with  

                     strengths in artistic/spatial/visual intelligence to take leadership roles. (These

                     posters will later be used as visual and memory aids when students exhibit and talk 

                      about their work in May at an Exhibition at the Massena Mall.) <1/2 class period on

  days.

                5. LISTENING COMPREHENSION COMPONENT : Students listen to Lois Lowry’s  

                      Newbery Award Acceptance Speech and take notes on a graphic organizer of their

                      own design, or one suggested. After hearing the speech twice, they then write a 3-5

                      paragraph essay in answer to the question: "Where did Lowry get her ideas for The  

                       Giver?"

                                           (SEE LISTENING COMPREHENSION RUBRIC IN APPENDIX B)

LINKED LITERATURE: Students read short story, "Old Glory" by Bruce Coville. Discuss as whole class.

             Write in journal: "What connection does this story have with The Giver?" Discuss.

       Assessment: Answer 10 out of 15 questions about the characters, meaning and theme

                           of the short story.                               <1/40 minute class + homework>

                                      (SEE QUESTIONS IN APPENDIX C)

SPEAKING COMPONENT/Assessment: Students sit in table groups (4-6) and  circulate question cards about The Giver.  They share responses orally.

                                                                                                          <1/2 class period> The next day, each chooses a card on the way to the lectern and provides a 1-minute oral response for holistic grade.                                                  <1class period>

EXTENDING AND REFINING EXPERIENCES

In table groups, students are asked to brainstorm a list of connections between The Giver and the novel from the previous unit on The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. A master list is then generated as a whole class and posted in the room. <1/2 period>

After being given options for research, students travel to the computer lab to research topics on the Internet including:

(SEE LIST OF INTERNET SITES UNDER ”Technology Use”)  -plus-

           the lost city of Atlantis

          Hitler’s attempt to create a "Master Race"

          communes of the 1960’s

          Bosnian/Serbian/Albanian "ethnic cleansing"

          Brigadoon

                                                                                       They take notes. <1 class period>

         Jigsaw: The next day, they group for ½ period in expert groups to discuss findings; then                  

                      they regroup in mixed groups to share findings.                      <1 class period>

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Include rubric(s)

The culminating performance for this unit is to write an essay of 4-6 paragraphs (8-10 sentences each) which answers all parts of ONE of the following questions. Since it was deemed important for students to have choices in their essay writing, a generic writing rubric was designed to assess all essays. The questions call for a variety of types of writing including: comparison-contrast, fictional narrative, personal narrative-comparison, historical analysis, and literary analysis.

All require demonstration of having achieved the identified standard through one or more of the performance indicators; and all require an understanding of the content and procedural knowledge. A fundamental understanding of The Giver on the interpretive and synthesis level is also required.

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE OPTIONS

#1.Compare and contrast Jonas’ experiences within his controlled community in The Giver with Kit’s experiences with the Puritans in The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Explain two ways in which they are alike and two ways in which they are different. Draw conclusions: What difference do these similarities and differences make?

#2. Since The Giver ends in an ambiguous way, write the final chapter as you think it should end based on the resolution you think the author intended the reader to infer.

#3. It is always important to make connections between the books we read and our personal experience and knowledge. Write an essay about an experience you have had which can be connected to Jonas’ experiences in The Giver. Be sure to show how your experience parallels Jonas’ and how you feel about it.

#4. Analyze one positive and one negative social experiment in humanity’s quest for utopia. Your analysis of each should include:

an explanation of the experiment’s historical setting

a description of the community proposed or created

an evaluation of its success or failure

the major reason for its success or failure

#5. Consider literary presentations of utopia. How have different authors presented utopian societies differently? Explain what accounts for so many literary creations of utopia.

                        (SEE APPENDIX D FOR CULMINATING PERFORMANCE RUBRIC)

PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS

It is understood that students will have experience from previous units in the writing process, speaking in small and large groups, note-taking, internet use, use of graphic organizers, and use of rubrics.

MODIFICATIONS

For less able students:

Listening to The Giver on audio-tape as they read

Extended time on writing assignments

Second try on speaking assessment

     For more able students:

Additional linked literature i.e. Animal Farm by George Orwell

                                                        1984 by George Orwell

                                            Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Helping less able students prepare for speaking experience

Becoming peer editors for others

UNIT SCHEDULE/TIME PLAN

Assuming a class period of about 40 minutes, 5 days a week, this unit would take about 5 weeks.

Reading is done mostly out of class. Writing is drafted outside of class, peer-conferenced in class, and revised both in and out of class.

Collaborative work, journal writing, carousel, jigsaw, speaking/listening activities, and whole group discussions take place during class time.

                                                          TECHNOLOGY USE

1. Much of the teacher preparation, such as finding the literature to link to the main text was accomplished through use of technology, both from the Internet and software entitled "Library of the Future."
2. Our school librarian made the audio-tape version of The Giver available to us.
3. Incidental occasions called for bringing items up from the Internet on the big screen TV connected to the computer in my classroom, such as: photos of Edgar Allan Poe, Helen Keller, William Butler Yeats, and Thomas Jefferson when we studied their texts.
4. The research component of the course was accomplished on the Internet.
5. Giver : Related Web sites –

www.ipl.org/youth/AskAuthor/Lowry.html

www.carolhurst.com/titles/giver.html

www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/lowry.html

www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/Giver/givertg.htm

6. Students word process the final drafts of their culminating performances to save for their portfolios.

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

LISTENING COMPREHENSION RUBRIC

CRITERIA                                                                                                                  Pts. Possible       Pts. Earned

Listening Skills

1. Essay shows evidence of having picked out main ideas                                                  20

2. Main ideas are elaborated using detail and explanation                                                   20

Writing Skills

1. Opening introduces ideas which will follow                                                                   10

2. Each paragraph is about one separate idea                                                                       10

3. Essay includes concluding comments                                                                             10

Reading Skills

  Essay uses understanding of novel to link Lowry’s experiences

     w/the writing  of the novel                                                                                              20    

Mechanics

  Essay is free of CUPS errors (capit., usage, punct., spelling)                                           10

                                                                                                                          Total.100                              

APPENDIX C

“Old Glory” by Bruce Coville                                                                                      Response to reading

Instructions:  You must answer TEN questions correctly.  You must decide whether to answer all of them and hope to get ten right, or to answer only ten that you are absolutely sure are right.  (Consider carefully all questions before you decide.)  Answer with COMPLETE SENTENCES.

What’s the reason Donald is writing his essay?

What will the teacher, Ms. Barnan, think of the essay?  How do you know?

What does S.O.S. stand for?

Why did Grand-Da think the flag in his room was ridiculous?

What does Grand-Da think of Donald and his peers at school?

Name two scientific advancements or inventions that Donald’s world has that ours doesn’t.

In what two ways is Donald like kids today in our world?

Why did Grand-Da dress the way he did on his last day?

Who are ‘the Uncles?”

Why would Grand-Da be upset about the teacher leaving out a few Presidents?

Why was Donald “a little excited” while he waited for the S.O.S. men to arrive?

Why is Donald afraid to talk to his teacher?

What difficult decision does Donald make?

How does Donald feel about what he did?

Why is everyone afraid of Grand-Da?

APPENDIX D

Works Cited

Arlen, Harold and Harburg, E. Y. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” http://www.angelfire.com/az/AB86WizardofOzOnline/OzLyrics.html

Bible, The New King James Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985. Genesis 2:8-15. http://www.genesis.net.au/~bible/kjv/genesis/

Coville, Bruce.  “Old Glory.” The Giver and Related Readings.  Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1997.  203-209.

Huxley, Aldous.  Brave New World.   http://www.huxley.net/

Jefferson, Thomas.  The Declaration of Independence.  www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/declaration.html

Keller, Helen. “Literature is my utopia”  www.monroe.lib.in.us/~friends/index7.html

Lowry, Lois. The Giver.  Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1997.

                    “Newbery Award Acceptance Speech”  in The Giver and Related Readings.

                       Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1997.  170-181.

Orwell, George.  Animal Farm. http://www.novelguide.com/animalfarm/novelsummary.html

  http://members.tripod.com/~SummaryCentral/1984.htm

Poe, Edgar Allan.  “Eldorado.” http://sites.inka.de/sites/suq/poetry_eldorado.htm

Speare, Elizabeth George.  The Witch of Blackbird Pond. http://www.schooldirect.com/School/Direct/Titles/270293%7C5041825724835041827029818849

Yeats, William Butler.  “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~lgardner/innisfree.html