Learner Description - The students are a mix of various abilities including those with learning disabilities, and those who are gifted.

Overview

What and how will the unit be taught?

After reading the novel Old Yeller, the students will delve into some of the questions they have had about characters, plot, and author's intentions by creating a creative and technologically based project on the novel.  

Rationale

Why would you teach this unit?

This unit is being taught in order for students to be able to express their ideas about what they have read. It also allows them to show their understanding of a novel that has taken place in the 1860s through technology.

Why would this unit qualify as an engaged learning unit?

It also allows them to delve into logistics, plot, and characters of the novel.

The students will have a variety of projects to choose from, they will be working in groups, they will help develop the rubric, and they will be using technology.

Why is technology an important component of this unit?

Technology is important because it gives the students many different ways to express their ideas as opposed to conventional uses of pen/paper projects. Also students will be learning more about technology as they use it.

Why is this project authentic/meaningful, and challenging for students?

The students will look at this project as a reward to finishing the book. They will get to choose the multiple intelligence project they would like to work on, and they enjoy working with technology. Also, this project is extremely multi-tiered. Students can achieve based on their cognitive abilities and still succeed.

Goals- Content, Cognitive and Social

What new attributes do you expect students to gain?

The students will work in cooperative groups to achieve a goal and create a finished project that will help them gain a better understanding of the novel. The following state standards will be addressed while the students complete the projects.

What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are addresses?

1.C.3a Use information to form, explain and support questions and predictions.

1.C.3b Interpret and analyze entire narrative text using story elements, point of view and theme.

1.C.3d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.

2.A.3b Describe how the development of theme, character, plot and setting contribute to the overall impact of a piece of literature.

2.A.3d Identify ways that an author uses language structure, word choice and style to convey the author's viewpoint.

2.B.3a Respond to literary material from personal, creative and critical points of view.

2.B.3c Analyze how characters in literature deal with conflict, solve problems and relate to real-life situations.

3.B.3a Produce documents that convey a clear understanding and interpretation of ideas and information and display focus, organization, elaboration and coherence.

3.C.3b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.

4.B.3b Design and produce reports and multi-media compositions that represent group projects.

4.B.3a Deliver planned oral presentations, using language and vocabulary appropriate to the purpose, message and audience; provide details and supporting information that clarify main ideas; and use visual aids and contemporary technology as support.

5.C.3b Prepare and orally present original work (e.g., poems, monologues, reports, plays, stories) supported by research.

5.C.3c Take notes, conduct interviews, organize and report information in oral, visual and electronic formats.

Learning Activities - The students had a variety of activities they could pick from in order to achieve their goal. They had the option of creating a diorama, making a timeline of major events, rewriting the ending of the book, writing a song and making a music video, making a movie of a major scene, writing a eulogy, having a debate with a fellow student, or researching on the topic of hydrophobia.

Student Assessment- Enables student and teacher to measure student's attainment of goals.

My scoring characteristics are based on what the students and I came up with in order to evaluate the students. We agreed that each project should have all correct details associated with the novel including characters and events. We also agreed that some aspect of technology should be used to complete the projects. Next, we felt that all projects should include a typed written element. Lastly, we decided that their projects should have an element of creativity and neatness.

What will indicate that the students are novices, practitioners, or experts?

The score on the rubric will indicate their success. Also, the students will take a test at the end of the unit. The completion of the project should aid the students in achieving this goal. 

How will I measure and communicate student progress on goals?

I will take a daily evaluation of the students, and I will have the students set daily goals for themselves.

How can students be involved in establishing goals and criteria for the assessment?

The students will help in making the rubric, and they will do a daily self-evaluation.

How will the assessments be implemented to ensure that they are generative? Seamless and ongoing? Equitable for all students? An authentic task? How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills? (Observations, portfolios, projects, performances, oral reports, paper-&-pencil activities, journals, checklists, student self-assessment, student peer assessment, etc.)

The students will use their class created rubric as well as their daily and ending self and group evaluations in order to assure that the project is generative, seamless and ongoing, equitable, and authentic. Also, daily monitoring and grouping students heterogeneously by the teacher allow for maximum success. The students will demonstrate their knowledge by presenting their final project.

Resources - The students will need the use of computers, they will need the knowledge of the the novel they are studying, and they will need knowledge of the technology they are planning on implementing.  

Management

How will you manage student work individually and in groups?

The students will do a daily self-evaluation and goals setting sheet. They will also complete a group evaluation.

How will the room be arranged?

The students will be working in a computer lab and library with computers and tables available for the students to work at.

Where will equipment and materials be located to promote maximum use?

The equipment and materials will be located in my classroom or in the library where they will have access to it when they need it. The lab allows all students to be in a central location so that they can consult one another.

Where will students need to work and how can they be accommodated?

The students will work in a lab or at a table where they can effectively communicate.

How will students with special need be helped?

Students with special needs will have the support of an additional teacher as well as the support of their peers to help them achieve their goals.

Unit Evaluation

What was effective?

I thought the way the students were grouped was very effective. Giving them a choice of projects allowed all students to succeed in what they did best. I thought the daily self, and end of unit evaluations gave the students a chance to express there opinions and feeling about the project as well as there group members. I also liked the student generated rubric.

What wasn't effective?

It was difficult to get around to all the students at once. It was also difficult when the technology was not working or not available.

What will I do differently next time?

Next time, I would try a big project like this with one class first to see how it works out.