Title III Technology Literacy Challenge Grant
Learning Experience
| LE Title: Attic Hunting (from the unit, Preserving the Past, Present and Future with Journals) | Author: Debbie Dermady |
| Grade Level: Sixth Grade | Thousand Islands Middle School |
| Topic/Subject Area: Language Arts | County Route 9, P.O. Box 1000, Clayton, NY 13624 |
| Email: ddermady@1000islandsschools.org or bad8251@aol.com | Phone/Fax: 315-686-5199 |
Attic Hunting
The purpose of this learning experience is to create an awareness of the unique contributions journals and journal writing can provide in preserving past, present, and future history. To help you have a better understanding of this experience, the timeline of the entire unit is given below. This experience is Lesson Three of Twelve.
| Lesson One | What is a Journal and How Could I Use One? (Launch) (Using A Structured Overview and K-W-L Strategy) |
| Lesson Two | Using Journals from the Past with Literature Circles (Think-Pair-Share) and with The World Wide Web. |
| Lesson Three | Attic Hunting |
| Lesson Four | Museum Visit (Prediction/Reaction Guide) |
| Lesson Five | Character Sketches |
| Lesson Six | How Our Community Preserves History in the Present with Journals (Compare/Contrast Graphic Organizer) |
| Lesson Seven | Our Own Baby Books, Organizers, Agendas, and more |
| Lesson Eight | Creating a Journal of Our Own (Autobiography) |
| Lesson Nine | Using Realistic Fiction and Non-fiction Pertaining |
| Lesson Ten | Using Computers as a Writing Tool for the Present and Future |
| Lesson Eleven | Using Videos, Time Capsules, and More to Preserve Journals for the Future (This lesson will take at least one week, if not more) |
| Lesson Twelve | Personal Narrative |
| Culminating Activity | Celebration - Our Gift to the Future (Presentation of our video(s) and closing ceremony for our time capsule) |
Lesson One, as insight in what has been happening in the unit thus far.
In the initiating activity, students will be asked to activate prior knowledge about journals by using the K-W-L Strategy. They will also use a graphic organizer in the form of a structured overview as an outline for their learning unit. A variety of journals will be on display for students to view. A video from Scholastic's Dear America Series will be shown to give the students insight to how a journal was used to preserve history from the past.
Purpose or Focus of Experience
The purpose of this learning experience is to create an awareness as to the many types of journals kept by a diverse group of people.
Connection to Standards
Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Key Idea 1:
Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts, and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written and electronic sources.
Students will:
Essential Questions
In what ways do journals serve as means of preserving the past?
How do journals tell stories?
How do journals effectively communicate the life of a person or a group of people?
How can the Internet provide me with information about journals and their usage?
Content Knowledge:
Declarative
Students will know that:
Procedural
Students will be able to:
Instruction:
The student will:
The teacher will:
Students will have the opportunity to work with the remedial teacher and or resource room teacher if they need extra help completing the assignment. Modifications on the student's IEP will be provided for.
One class period would be for modeling Internet usage, sharing a variety of journals
and assigning the task. The second would be more Internet access and
for sharing of what they found. If more time is needed, a third class period will be used.
Resources
Daniels, Harvey. Literature Circles, Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom. York,Maine:Stenhouse Publishers,1994.
Fulwiler, Toby. "Journals Across the Disciplines. " English Journal. Dec1980:9.
Kyvig, David and Marty Myron. Exploring the Past Around You. Nashville:AASLA, 1982.
Swallow, Pamela Curtis. A Writer's Notebook. NY:Scholastic, 1999.
Weizman, David. My Backyard History Book. Boston:Little Brown and Co., 1975
Internet Sites
www.scholastic.com (various extensions for the Dear America, My Name Is America, and The Royal Diaries Series.
www.diaryproject.com (older students)
www.ralphfletcher.com (a children's writer kids can communicate with)
www.wdt.net (Watertown Daily Times)
www.ipl.org/teen (Internet Public Library Teens Division)
www.1000islandsschools.org (an excellent siteour own homepage where if you check the library link, our librarians have given a multitude of websites for anyone's use)
Also many search engines are connected to our homepage as wellTry it out!
Other Technology Pieces
Scholastic's Software Diary Maker (this is not compatible with Windows NT)
Jefferson County Historical Society
Clayton/Cape Vincent Museums
Clayton/ Cape Vincent Public Libraries
Thousand Islands Craft Museum
Literature Used throughout the Unit
Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. NY:Dell Publishing, 1983.
Creech, Sharon. Absolutely Normal Chaos. NY:Harper-Collins, 1995.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey. NY:Simon & Schuster, 1996.
MacLachlan, Patricia. Journey. NY:Yearling, 1991.
Scholastic Books - Dear America Series, My Name is America Series, and
The Royal Diaries Series
This is only part of a running bibliography.
The teacher will evaluate the students involvement by reading the students response journals. A completed assignment would have students writing about what they found on their "attic hunt." Students should also refer to this part of the unit when they are writing their narrative summary ( see Time Line)
I have used this lesson in several ways and find each time the students are assigned this they are able to come up with more than enough memorabilia. If not diaries, old newspaper clippings, photos, photo albums, and more.
All of these tell stories and in a sense, serve as journals.