Unit Framework - Email the Teachers
Title: The Dream Makers: Martin, Jason, Jack, and ME
Subject and Level: Reading, Eighth Grade
Learner Description: This group of students is a homogeneous/heterogeneously grouped class of developmental readers. They are eighth graders from a suburban middle-class community northwest of Chicago. The following types of students make up this class: low ability, poorly motivated, remedial readers, and English as second language
Overview: Mrs. Duderstadt's 8th grade students will prepare a presentation on the theme of "I Have a Dream" based on their own personal visions for the future, character traits discovered on their survival field trip experiences and in their reading of various forms of literature in reading class.
Problem:
The 8th grade class studies the CALL OF THE WILD and learns a bit about the author, Jack London.....BUT .... do they really know the qualities that Jack London and others have in pursuing their dreams.
They participate in a week long series of activities that give them the knowledge of the time....BUT...do the students really understand the qualities that are needed to survive the climate, terrain, and the living conditions of the times? AND... can the students apply this knowledge to their own lives and their pursuit of their dreams for their future?
What will be taught and what will students learn?
new vocabulary, comprehension strategies, biographical information of famous people, life applications from literature, geographies of Alaska and the Yukon Territory, Canada, history of the Klondike gold rush, survival skills, cooking, internet directed activities, teamwork, use of technology, especially the digital camera and the scanner, Inspiration software, Appleworks word processing and presentation slide show, career awareness
How will this be taught?
How can technology assist this class in their project?
Rationale - Purpose for the unit as a whole. The WHY questions.
Why would you teach this unit?
Why would this this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit?
This would qualify as an Engaged Learning Unit because of the following:
Why is technology an important component of this unit?
Why is this project authentic/meaningful, and challenging for students?
Our students are leaving MacArthur Middle School and beginning high school; they need to focus on their plans for their future. They will have to deal with real life choices and situations. They need to be able to face these real life choices and situations with a better knowledge of themselves.
Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social - The WHAT questions
What new attributes (knowledge, skills, attitudes) do you expect students to gain?
What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are addressed?
State Standards addressed in this Unit Project.
State Standards for English Language Arts:
State Goal 1: Read with understanding and fluency
State Goal 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
State Goal 4: Listen and speak affectively in a variety of situations
State Goal 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.
State Standards in Physical Development and Health
State Goal 24: Promote and enhance health and well-being through the use of effective communication and decision making skills
State Standards in Social Science
State Goal 16: Understanding events, trends, individuals, and movements, shaping the history of Illinois, the United States, and other nations
State Goal 17: Understand world geography and the effects of geography on society, with an emphasis on the United States
School, district, and national learning goals support and reflect these attributes and standards.
Learning Activities - The activities required to achieve the goals.
1. Using the digital camera to make bio-poems of the major characters in the Outsiders novel
2. Read "Up the Slide", making a flap book to summarize the story
3. Read Jason's Gold
• daily quizzes
• audio tape listening sessions
• class discussion
4. Watch Martin Luther King Jr. speech with written text of speech
5. Personal vision chart
5. Dreams Inspiration project
6. Field Trip to Sunrise Outdoor Education Center -
7. Transfer digital pictures to student server folder
8. Jack London internet search
9. Read Call of the Wild
10. Call of the Wild Webquest
11. Make sour dough starter/Bake and eat sour dough biscuits
12. Public Relations brochure for Sunrise Lake
13. Vision project with Apple Presentation
The How questions.
Student Assessment- Enables student and teacher to measure student's attainment of goals.
What are my scoring characteristics? (What do I want to measure? What is an important outcome of this unit?)
Students are scored on the quality and the quantity of the information gained and on the presentations given as required by the scoring rubrics prepared by both students and teacher.
What will indicate that students are novices, practitioners, or experts?
Student brochures and presentations will indicate status or mastery.
How will I measure and communicate student progress on the goals?
Communication between teacher and students will be on going through the unit. Teachers will regularly conference with students to assess and set goals.
Resources - What resources will you need to do this unit?
Telephone, e-mail, computers and printers, digital still and video cameras, scanner, internet, district technology facilitators, district website, specifically the Curriculum Links, Sunrise Outdoor Education Center.
Management
As needed each group will have its own work space in Mrs. Duderstadt's room and in the library computer labs.
Unit Evaluation
What will we need to be aware of while teaching this unit?