921-Rutar,+Karen

Junior High Language Arts Thematic Novel Unit Included in this are a Grade 7 and a Grade 8 thematic unit that are each based on a different novel. The literature included in the Grade 7 Unit is:
 * Song- You’ve Got A Friend In Me (from Disney’s Toy Story)
 * Song– Go The Distance (from Disney’s Hercules)
 * Poem– Kids Who Are Different by Digby Wolfe
 * Novel - Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
 * Film - Day and Night (Pixar short film)
 * Film - Partly Cloudy (Pixar short film)
 * Article - Aochan and Gohan (msnbc.com, Jan 24, 2006)
 * Film -Charlotte’s Web directed by Gary Winick
 * Short Story - When Television Ate My Best Friend by Linda Ellerbee
 * Film - Boundin’(Pixar short film)
 * Non-Fiction Short Stories - Three Wishes:Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis
 * Film- Birds (Pixar short film)
 * Non-fiction article - Confessions Of A Bully –People Magazine article

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The literature included in the Grade8 unit is:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Film Clip – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Song– Imagine by the Glee cast
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Short Story – The Veldt by Ray Bradbury
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Poem– War Games by Derek Stuart
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Short Story – The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Novel– The Giver by Lois Lowry
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Film– The Village directed by M. Night Shyamalan
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Film– The Island directed by Michael Bay
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Short Story – Ambush by Tim O’Brien

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__Writing Assessment__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">All writing assignments that are marked summatively will be graded using the writing rubric. The writing rubric below is modified from the rubric used by the Alberta Government for marking Provincial Achievement Tests. All assignments will be graded on all five categories unless otherwise stated in the assignment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">In term of differentiated instruction, this rubric lends itself nicely to allowing the teacher the professional judgement to make adaptions to marking standards as they see fit for their own students. As many students have different learning needs and goals (as put forth by their IPP’s and classroom accommodations), we steered away from the rigidity of different assignments and rubrics for the different levels of learning. Activities such as the Freak the Mighty Tic Tac Toe do allow for differentiated instruction based on the students interests and abilities. This specific assignment is explained later in the unit.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Content and Organization are marked on what the teacher believes the student achieved according to the specific KLO’s and assignment instruction. Sentence structure, vocabulary and conventions are marked based on the criteria give as well as the complexity of the response in proportion to its length. (For example, a student who had excellent content and organization and wrote a lengthy piece, should not be penalized for minor errors in sentence structure, vocabulary and conventions.)
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">WRITING RUBRIC **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**(5) Exceptional (E) :**Consistent and highly effective work; superior attempt; exceeds standard

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**(4) Proficient (Pf) :** Effective work; great attempt; above standard

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**(3) Satisfactory (S) :**Reasonably effective work; fair attempt; accomplishing at standard

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**(2) Limited (L) **: Moderately effective work; some attempt; approaching standard

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**(1) Poor (P) :**Demonstrates difficulty; significantly below standard

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**(0) Insufficient (I) :**Unable to assess due to lack of content

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Content 1 2 3 4 5 x 2 = /10** > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Organization** **1 2 3 4 5 x2 = /10**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer captivates and holds the reader’s interest
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer’s purpose is clear and sustained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The ideas used by the writer are carefully chosen and insightful
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Supporting details are precise and creative
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writing is on-topic and responds to the assignments throughout the writing
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The introduction is purposeful and interesting and it clearly establishes an appropriate focus that is sustained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Events and/or details are arranged in paragraphs in an effective order and coherence is maintained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Transitions effectively connect events and/or details within sentences and between paragraphs
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Closure is effective and purposeful

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Sentence Structure** **1 2 3 4 5 = /5**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Sentence structure is effectively and consistently controlled
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Sentence type and sentence length are consistently effective
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Sentence beginnings are consistently varied

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Vocabulary 1 2 3 4 5 = /5** > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Conventions 1 2 3 4 5 = /5**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Words and expressions are used accurately and deliberately to fulfill the writer’s purpose
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Specific words and expressions are used to create vivid images or enrich details
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer’s voice/tone is confident and it enhances the meaning
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The quality of writing is enhanced because it is essentially error-free
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The relative absence of error is impressive considering the complexity of the response

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__Standards__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The Alberta Program of Studies for Junior High Language Arts has FIVE general outcomes. Each general outcome has numerous specific outcomes. These specific outcomes are called Key Learner Outcomes (KLO’s) and this is what is reported on their report cards. The push right now is for teachers to create outcome based lessons to ensure their teaching aligns with the Program of Studies. Below are the KLO’s that both the Grade 7 and Grade 8 units cover.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">TOTAL /35 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__General Outcome 1__** **-** Explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**1.1** **Discover and Explore** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">1.1.1. Express ideas and develop understanding

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**1.2** **Clarify and Extend** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">1.2.2. Combine ideas <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">1.2.3 Consider the ideas of others

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__General Outcome 2__** **-** Comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**2.1 Use strategies and clues** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">2.1.1 Use prior knowledge <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2.1.2 Use comprehension strategies <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2.1.3 Use textual clues

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**2.2 Respond to texts** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">2.2.1Experience various texts <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2.2.2 Construct meaning from texts

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**2.3 Understand forms, elements and techniques** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">2.3.1Understand forms and genres <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2.3.2 Understand techniques and elements

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**2.4 Create original texts** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">2.4.1Generate ideas <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2.4.2 Elaborate on the expression of ideas <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2.4.3 Structure texts

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__General Outcome 3__** **-** Manage ideas and information

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**3.2 Select and Process** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">3.2.1 Use a variety of sources

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**3.3 Organize,Record and Evaluate** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">3.3.1Organize information <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 3.3.2 Record information <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 3.3.3 Evaluate information

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**3.4 Share and Review** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">3.4.1Share ideas and information

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__General Outcome 4__** **-** Enhance the clarity and artistry of communication

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**4.1 Enhance and Improve** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.1.1 Appraise own and other’s work <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.1.2 Revise and edit

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**4.2 Attend to Conventions** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.2.1 Attend to grammar and usage <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.2.2 Attend to spelling <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.2.3 Attend to capitalization and punctuation

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**4.3 Present and Share** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.3.1 Present information <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.3.2 Enhance presentation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.3.3 Use effective oral and visual communication <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4.3.4 Demonstrate attentive listening and viewing

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__General Outcome 5__** **-** Respect,support and collaborate with others

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**5.2 Work within a Group** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">5.2.1Cooperate with others <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 5.2.2 Work in groups

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Grade 7 Thematic Language Arts Unit: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 1** (1 block)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Using the following two songs and one poem to discuss friendship, perseverance and differences:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Song - You’ve Got A Friend In Me (from Disney’s Toy Story)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Song – Go The Distance (from Disney’s Hercules)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Poem – Kids Who Are Different by Dig by Wolfe

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">For each piece, have students answer the following questions and discuss as a class:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__You’ve Got A Friend In Me__ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Who is your best friend and what is one characteristic about this person that makes you like them so much? What would you feel if one day your best friend moved away? How would you react?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__ Go The Distance __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Reflect on a time that you had to persevere or a time that you came across an obstacle or when you wanted to accomplish something. What did you do to help you get past the obstacle? How did that make you feel? What has perseverance taught you?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__ Kids Who Are Different __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How does this poem make you feel? Do you think difference among people is good?Why or why not?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** Lesson 2 ** (1 block)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">2.1 Courage

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Discuss the quote

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow”. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Anonymous

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">2.2 Review the Plot Diagram Elements

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 3** (approximately 15 blocks)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Class novel study, Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__Mini-Lessons__


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Day and Night (Pixar short film) –watch the film at the end of chapter 7. This short film is an excellent example of friendship and how two people/things can co-exist, and even better, how they can bring out the best in each other. Have students do a short thematic analysis writing piece. (Formative Assessment)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Partly Cloudy (Pixar short film) –watch the film any time after chapter 15. The message in this film is perseverance. Have students do a short thematic writing piece based on the film. (Formative Assessment)

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">**//Aochan and Gohan//** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> //At the Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo near Tokyo, a nine-centimeter dwarf hamster is dwelling with a 1.2 meter rat snake.Gohan is the hamster and Aochan the snake. Gohan,whose name means “meal” in Japanese, was presented to Aochan as lunch one day mainly because the snake refused to eat the frozen mice that are usually on themenu. The weird thing is, though, Aochan didn’t eat Gohan, not then, not since.// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//Instead, they became friends, which must have seemed as weird to Gohan was to the zookeepers. Believe it or not, the two have shared a box ever since Gohan was dropped into Aochan’s world.// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> //“I’ve never seen anything like it,”said zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto. “Gohan sometimes even climbs on Aochan to take a nap on his back.”//
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Aochan and Gohan (article and short story writing) – read the article on Aochan and Gohan. A true story about a gerbil and a snake who end up becoming friends even though the gerbil was meant to be the snakes meal. Students will complete a creative writing piece based on the article. (Summative Assessment – content and organization only)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**WRITINGASSIGNMENT** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Write a short story that focuses on “A Day in the Lifeof Aochan and Gohan.” Allow your two animal characters to chat with one another. To provide some dramatic tension, create a crisis or problem that the two experience over the course of the day. You may, if you like, introduce one more character. Limit your story to 1 page.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Story Information:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Characters:** Aochan, the snake and Gohan, the hamster, and perhaps one more <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Setting:**Cardboard box in the Mutsugoro Zoo (near Tokyo) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Passage of Time**: One Day <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Plot:** It’s up to you : ) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Does this sound like anybody in our story?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Freak the Knight and the Knights of the Round Table – complete this mini lesson after students have read chapter 12.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Introduce the subject of the Knights of the Round Table. Brainstorm what comes to mind when you think about Knights. What do we know about them? What words come to mind?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">A quote from the KOTRT website about Knights:
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The Knights were men of courage, honor, dignity, courtesy, and nobleness. They protected ladies and damsels, honored and fought for kings, and undertook dangerous quests.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">While we don’t have actual knights in modern times, certain people or professions still have these traits. Who are some of these people or what are some of these jobs? One example can be the police.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Watch the clip of Dudley Do-Right
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Does he fit the description of a knight? If you agree, why? If you disagree, why?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Do we see any of these character types in the book? Make a list of the characters in the book that fit these roles?Specifically, think of our “Damsel of Distress.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">As students make their way through the novel, they can be taking notes about each of the mentioned categories. After every three chapters or so, have students log onto the wiki and start creating a list/timeline of what each character thinks and feels and where they go. The end product will be a good review tool for the students since all of the major events will be mentioned somewhere on the wiki. (Formative Assessment)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Character Study – Max and Kevin. This will be ongoing throughout the novel. Create a wiki for the class. Have 6 different pages that the students have access too. Each one should be titled as follows:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What he thinks – Max
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What he feels – Max
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Where he goes – Max
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What he thinks – Kevin
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What he feels – Kevin
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Where he goes – Kevin

>
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Freak the Mighty Tic Tac Toe – to be completed when students are done the novel. Have students create a line of the tic tac toe. Weaker students should complete only the top row, and stronger students should be encouraged to complete the bottom row. Students can also work vertically or in a diagonal. (Formative Assessment)
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Choose one character and write a poem about that character. (minimum 10 lines) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Make a chart that lists the advantages and disadvantages of being Freak the Mighty. || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Choose an important scene in the book to illustrate. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Choose 10 new words from the novel you learned and create your //own// dictionary definition for each one. || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Map out a route of Max and Freak’s quest to the New Testaments. (Include a legend for the map) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Identify the main conflicts in the story leading up to the climax. What category does each fall under? (e.g. Man vs. Man) ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Create a collage on the theme of friendship. Include synonyms, qualities, pictures and quotations about friendship. || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Write a letter to Max giving him advice on how to deal with the loss of his best friend, Kevin. || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Find a song that sums up the theme of differences. Print out the lyrics and write a paragraph explaining your choice. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Thematic Blog – to be completed after the novel is completed. On the class blog, have students respond to the following three themes that can be found in Freak the Mighty: friendship, perseverance and accepting differences. In their blogs, students should include examples of where these ideas are present in the book, how the ideas can be found in their own lives and the world, and how these ideas are the core of the novel, __Freak the Mighty__.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 4** (approximately 3 blocks)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> View the movie, Charlotte’s Web. In the past, The Mighty was used, but it is too similar to the novel (as it is an almost direct representation of the novel). It is because of this, students had a hard time drawing connections between the two. Have students complete a viewing guide while watching so they can keep track of the similarities in regards to the three main themes.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 5** (1 block)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> When Television Ate My Best Friend by Linda Ellerbee

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Read the short story and answer the following questions:(Formative Assessment)* Who is the protagonist? What is her name? > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 6** (1 block)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Who or what is the antagonist? Why?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What point of view is this story told from?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What is meant by the last line,“television really does eat people”?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Explain a time when you can identify with the protagonist. Have you ever lost a best friend?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Where do you eat dinner? Is the television on in the background? Do you eat meals as a family?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Television was responsible for many changes in the author’s life. Some of these ‘changes’ are things that we might take for granted now. Imagine that there was no television in the world! What would change in your life?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Draw a visualization that you had while reading the story. Pay attention to detail! You must have a sentence at the bottom of the picture that starts with “I would like you to notice…” You will finish this sentence with what the picture is about; why you drew it (what did the author put in your head while reading).
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Sometimes authors don’t write everything, but will leave clues to help you INFER meaning (Reading between the lines). You must write down 1 – 2 things that you inferred from the story that you read.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Boundin’ (Pixar short film) – a review of the plot diagram > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 7** (3 blocks)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Hand out a blank plot diagram to students, and as they view the short film a few times, have them complete the plot diagram.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Using a collection of short stories from __Three Wishes:Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak__ by Deborah Ellis, have students respond to the readings on the class blog. Students can answer questions on the blog such as: (Formative Assessment) > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 8** (1block)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Initial reaction
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Differences between the two groups of children
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What are they doing that children in Canada could be doing
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How has history affected these children
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Main ideas that stood out

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Birds (Pixar short film) – how to write proper dialogue within a short story. Review with students how to write proper dialogue. Watch the short film and have students write the dialogue between the big bird and the little birds. Have students share with the class or a partner. (Formative Assessment)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 9** (5blocks)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Why Can’t We Be Friends Writing Prompt:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> You and your best friend have been friends for years but you became best friends under unusual circumstances. Tell the story of how your friendship came to be. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Write a narrative based on this prompt. Be sure to include: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Use the story planner to help you map out your ideas. You cannot use any of the plot from Freak the Mighty. This story must be your own ORIGINAL ideas! You will have time to plan, write a rough, revise and edit and type your good copy.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Descriptive characters
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Detailed setting
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Clear problem to be solved
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lots of descriptive language
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">A clear solution to the problem

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> You will be marked using the writing rubric. (Summative Assessment)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 10** (1 block)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Graffiti* Lay chart paper around the class at different stations with markers. At each station, place a poem or visual and have students go around to each station and read or view what is there. Using the markers, have students write a word or thought about what they just read. Students cannot repeat what is already written; encourage them to build on what has already been written. Best done when the class is silent – students should focus on the response, not on the discussion of it. All poems and visuals should focus on the same idea or theme (i.e bullying)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 11** (1 block)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Coffee Shop <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">This strategy allows students to predict what they think will happen in the text as they make inferences, see causal relationships, compare and contrast, practice sequencing and draw on their prior experiences. > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 12** (1 block)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Choose a piece of engaging text (preferably about the theme, i.e. friendship).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Decide what phrases, sentences or single words you want to place on index cards. (Usually about ½ as many as # of students in the class, i.e. for a class of 33 students, choose 15 phrases, repeat 9 of them twice and 5 of them 3 times.) Choose phrases that give you insight into setting, characters, setting and conflicts. Choose some phrases that might be interpreted in multiple ways.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Distribute one index card to each student.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Ask the students to get up and move from student to student with the following goals in mind:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Share their card with as many classmates as possible.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Listen to others as they read their cards.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Discuss how your cards might be related.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Speculate on what the cards, collectively, might be about.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Circulate amongst the students to ensure that they not only share their cards, but also begin discussing what the text might be about.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Have students form small groups (of about 5) to discuss what they presume is happening in the text.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Ask students to record their predictions by completing this statement: “We think this selection is about...”
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Have students share their “We think…” statements, explaining how they came up with their predictions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Read the selection as a class.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Solution – Problem

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Write the phrase <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> on the board, along with this diagram

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Have students move to the side of the room that they feel about the statement. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Discuss as a class. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Has their opinion changed? Have students move to the side of the room where they now feel they sit with the statement.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 13** (1 block)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Confessions Of A Bully –People Magazine article

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Read the following article and discuss as a class.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Confessions of A Bully <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">(People Magazine, [|__October 18, 2010__], Vol. 74, No. 1)

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The teasing began in fifth grade, after Daniel Harrison and a neighborhood pal had a growth spurt and Courtney Kondor did not. "We were taller and just naturally started making fun of her," says Daniel, now 15 and a sophomore at Mattawan High School, near Kalamazoo, Mich."When she didn't do anything about it, we drove in more and more. Like I would see her in the school hallways and shout, 'Hey, shorty!'" By seventh grade, on the school bus, "I used to mess up Courtney's hair," Daniel says, while his pal continued to provide the laugh track. "It felt cool to not be made fun of and to be the one making the fun." At no point did he think of himself as a "mean bully," he says. "I thought of myself as a playful bully: I bullied with a smile on my face." One morning in December 2007 Daniel ramped up the bus "fun" by snatching a hat from Courtney's head. Daniel tossed it to his sidekick, who passed it to another girl the two boys liked to tease, who in turn threw it back to Daniel."I put the hat down my pants," he says, then clarifies, "Uh, the front. It wasn't under my boxers." As he got off the bus, Daniel says he noticed that "Courtney was devastated" and realized that he'd gone"definitely a little too far." The next morning he was summoned by his middle school dean to talk with-and apologize to-Courtney. He was also told to report to detention the following day. None of that made much of an impression on Daniel. "I was worried about getting grounded," he says. "I wasn't worried about hurting Courtney's feelings." Then his parents received a phone call from the dean. Until that moment, the worst his mom, Yvette Harrison, a juvenile probation officer, and dad, Stanley, an electrician, had heard about the younger of their two sons was that he was a"class clown" and a charmer. "I was furious with Daniel,"his mom recalls. "I was embarrassed. Where did I go wrong in raising him?" She grounded Daniel from playing his beloved video games for two weeks and insisted they go over to the Kondors' house to apologize."Daniel was very nervous," she says, "but he didn't fight me on it." There, Daniel came face-to-face with not only Courtney but her mother, Kim Kondor, whom Daniel had known for years. "As soon as Courtney's mother came to the door, we could see the anger on her face," Daniel's mom says. Kondor accepted Daniel's apology, then described how Courtney had returned from school the previous day "crying so bad she couldn't hardly get the story out." And that wasn't the only day Courtney had come home upset. "It was really shocking," says Daniel. "I thought it was, like, hurting her feelings that day and then moving on." In detention the next day, Daniel chanced upon Ben Mikaelsen's Touching Spirit Bear. "It was just perfect timing to read that book," he says of the story about an angry teen who torments a white bear. The following school year,assigned by his language-arts teacher Laurie Hogan-McLean to send a letter to an author describing how a particular book had proved inspiring, Daniel wrote to Mikaelsen that, while reading Bear, "I realized who I was, and I hated it." A few months later his letter took top state honours in the nationa lLetters About Literature contest. "Daniel opened a door to help kids reflect," says Hogan-McLean. Today Daniel is a leader in his school's chapter of Peace-Jam, a nationwide student organization that studies the deeds of Nobel Peace Prize laureates.With Courtney, 15, Daniel says, he gave her "the power" to choose what would become of their relationship. "If she wanted to kick me out of her life, so be it." Her choice: to resume their friendship. And he has become a champion of those in need. "I always end up befriending the people being bullied," he says. "It's satisfying to help people out."

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__ Reflection Questions __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">1. Does this innocent ‘teasing’ sound like bullying to you? Why or why not? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2. How would you have reacted if you were Courtney? Why? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 3. Most everyone has teased or bullied someone, even without knowing it, or realizing its bullying or hurting the other person. How would you feel if your parents made you face the person you have bullied and apologize? What about that person’s parents? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4. Have you ever been bullied? How has it affected you? Are you friends with the person still? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 5. Have you ever read a book that has inspired the way you act? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 6. Would you want to be friends again with someone who has bullied you, like Courtney allowing her and Daniel to be friends again?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 14**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Final Assignment – Video Podcasting

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? Think about this statement. Think about your friends. Think about your family. Think about the world. Think about all that we have done in this unit. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> It seems to be one of those questions that is easy to discuss but hard to put into action. Throughout this unit we have examined odd friendships, lost friendships, true friendships and issues that can affect friendships. We have read novels and short stories, watched movies and clips and examined non-fiction articles. Use the space below to list some of the literature, texts and media we studied this unit “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> For the final assignment for this unit, you will be creating a podcast. You must reflect on the question “WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG”. In your podcast,you must reference at least 3 activities or pieces of literature from this unit. For example, one reason people can’t get along is they can’t see past each other’s differences. Kevin and Max from Freak the Mighty were able to see past each other’s shortcomings and had a true friendship. You would then need to explain their situation in more detail.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> How This Will Work: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Write a rough draft of what you will say during your podcast <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Revise and Edit your work <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Rehearse and prepare to record it using a digital media <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Add in pictures/clips <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Submit <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Play it for the class <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Your final product should be 3 – 5 minutes long with approx. 30-40 images

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> You will be marked on the content and organization of your podcast with the writing rubric (/20) as well as a mark for the verbal presentation/ flow of your podcast (/10) for a total out of 30 marks. The verbal presentation portion will include: voice, pace and volume.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__Podcast Assessment__**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Content /10** > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Organization /10**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer captivates and holds the reader’s interest
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer’s purpose is clear and sustained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The ideas used by the writer are carefully chosen and insightful
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Supporting details are precise and creative
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writing is on-topic and responds to the assignments throughout the writing
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The introduction is purposeful and interesting and it clearly establishes an appropriate focus that is sustained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Events and/or details are arranged in paragraphs in an effective order and coherence is maintained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Transitions effectively connect events and/or details within sentences and between paragraphs
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Closure is effective and purposeful
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**4-Excellent Achievement** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**3-Proficient Achievement** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**2-Basic Achievement** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**1-Insufficient Achievement** ||
 * * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">retrieves images independently with accuracy and
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">efficiency checks images in a purposeful order, demonstrates attention to purposeful style
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">designs, follows and revises, as appropriate,a comprehensive and realistic plan that accomplishes the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">communicates the message clearly and effectively || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">retrieves images with accuracy and efficiency
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">puts the images in a purposeful order
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">designs, follows and revises, as appropriate,a fairly thorough and reasonable plan that accomplishes much of the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">communicates the message clearly || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">retrieves images with a little assistance
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">puts the images in order
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">designs and follows a plan that accomplishes some of the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">communicates the message, but more information is required || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">retrieves images with a great deal of assistance
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">does not place the images in order
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">is unable to design and follow a plan that accomplishes the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">is unable to communicate the message ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Grade 8 Thematic Language Arts Unit: It’s A Perfect World?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Before beginning this unit, set up a class blog; students will need to respond on the class blog multiple times throughout this unit. The class blog will be used as formative assessment to foster discussion and enhance understanding of the concepts and themes studied during this unit. Students are expected to respond to the questions posted on the blog and to other student’s responses.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 1:** Intro to Utopia (3 blocks)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Write the phrase “A Perfect World” on the board. Then have students brainstorm as a class what this phrase means. (possible responses include: no snow,tropical island, no war, no hunger, no school/homework, not possible) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> You can then give students this definition - Utopias: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> A place, state, or condition ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Then view the clip from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (The Original version) when the group first walks into the main room of the factory. It is when Willy Wonka sings the song “From my Imagination.” <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Discuss how Willy Wonka had created his own utopia. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Then listen to the song “Imagine” by the Glee cast. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Discuss with students what the song presents a perfect world could consist of: No war, no religion, no greed, no hunger. In other words, there are no differences. Is this perfect? Is this even plausible? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Students will now create a visual designing what their perfect school would look like. They need to create a poster advertising the changes in their school. In addition to the picture, they will have to do a written explanation for what makes their school the ideal school. This will include a list of 5 rules that everyone would have to follow and the reasons why these rules would work. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> The 5 rules need to be on the poster and the explanations on a separate sheet of paper. The rules that they create will have to be reasonable and plausible. In other words, the rules have to be justified!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** Blog Response: ** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Is it possible to create a perfect world that would last? Decide whether or not you think that it is possible to have a perfect world and your reasons for thinking that. What would you need to do to ensure a utopia stayed the way it was? What kind of rules would you create to make things all the same?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** Lesson 2: ** Short Story Literary Elements (2 blocks)

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Introduce or review short story literary elements. Students may copy these elements down or the teacher may give them to students. This could also be posted electronically.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** Lesson 3: ** The Veldt Short Story and War Games Poem (3 blocks)

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Students will read The Veldt by Ray Bradbury as a class using popcorn reading, silently or in small groups –up to teacher discretion. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Once finished students will complete the following comprehension questions in small groups in a jigsaw format. # In what point of view is this story told? Find three examples from the text. How would the story change if it was told from the perspective of one of the children? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Students now get a copy of War Games by Derek Stuart. This can be read in small groups or as a class. I have found that students find this poem challenging so they need the support of others. Then complete comprehension questions and discuss the meaning of the poem. # What is this poem about? > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** Lesson 4: ** The Lottery Short Story (4 blocks)
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What is the initial complication that gets the story started? Why do you believe that this is the motivating incident? Use at least 2 examples from the text and justify your answer.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What does the psychologist friend believe to be the family’s problem? What do you think the family’s problem is? Why?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">List 4 things that went wrong with the nursery? How do you think these things could have been avoided?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The theme of a text is often the author’s message about human nature or society. Come up with 2 themes for this story. Justify why you think each is a theme.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Do you think the Hadley’s were good parents or bad parents? Why? Use at least 2 quotes from the text to support your answer.
 * 1) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What message do you think the author is trying to portray?
 * 2) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> How is this poem about apathy?
 * 3) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Have you ever been apathetic towards someone or something just as the character in the poem is?
 * 4) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Why do you think the author chose the characters imaginary world to be so grim when it could of been so positive?
 * 5) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How does what we watch (or surround ourselves with) affect the way we live our lives?
 * 6) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What connections can you make between the poem and our thematic unit "It's A Perfect World?" (hint: think text to world connections)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Listen to the Lottery by Shirley Jackson as a class. It can be found at [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Provide the students with a copy of the text so they can follow along. Remind students that they should be focusing on the images that form in their minds from listening to the short story. Once the audio has finished, complete the comprehension questions as a class to ensure understanding # What are the first signs that something odd or sinister is taking place? What definite signs are there that the outcome will be dreadful? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Once the questions have been discussed students will complete the following assignments addressing the setting of the story. Students will be assessed on the criteria stated.
 * 1) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How did the author use the character of Tessie Hutchinson to strengthen the impact and point of the story?
 * 2) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What role did foreshadowing play in the development of the story?
 * 3) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What did you think when Mrs. Hutchinson’s children seemed so pleased when they did not get the winning ticket, knowing someone else in the family had to? What might this say about the society they live in?
 * 4) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">It looked as if Tessie Hutchinson’s family participated in the execution. What do think the author is trying to say here about their society?
 * 5) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Tradition seems to have played a particularly important role in the lives of these people. Do you think they understood the significance of the tradition of the Lottery?
 * 6) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How does this story connect to our "It’s a Perfect World?" theme? Do you think they think they have created a perfect society? Do you agree with them?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">**The Lottery – Setting Assignment** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Your assignment is to draw the setting that you pictured in your mind when listening to The Lottery. You can draw any part of story but you need to make sure that you capture the setting. You also need to include 3 direct quotes from the story to add to your drawing. Your drawing needs to be consistent with the information provided in the story. Your drawing needs to be colored and presentable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Rubric:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Setting consistent with the story /10 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 3 direct quotes from the story /6 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Quotes apply to scene illustrated /4 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Esthetic appeal /10 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> **Total /30**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Blog Response:** We have studied 2 short stories and 1 poem that relates to the idea of utopia. Do you think these texts fit under the umbrella of a utopia? Why or why not? Use specific examples from the text where possible.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 5:**The Giver Novel Study (20 blocks)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__Mini Lessons__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Review what students already know about utopia <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Have students answer the following: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Imagine: Use the cover of the book, the summary on the back and any pictures in the book to make an inference on what this novel is about. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Explore: Read a page at random from the middle of the book. What questions do you have? What interests you from that excerpt? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Conclude: What is it about this book that you predict you will enjoy? Is this the type of book you may chose to read on your own? Why or why not?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Before novel study **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Have students complete the following True/False survey. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Answer TRUE or FALSE to these statements: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> ­­­­­­­ 1. An ideal community would not have any hunger or starvation. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 2. An ideal community would not have any jealousy or competition. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 3. An ideal community would not have any unemployment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 4. All children should have equal possessions and privileges at a certain age, regardless of the status of their families. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 5. Families are much more closer when they share their feelings. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 6. Life would be better and easier if we did not carry bad memories in our heads. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 7. Over population is such a problem that families should not be allowed to have more than two children. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 8. There is no real need to learn about world history. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 9. There is no real need to learn about one’s own family history. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> 10. One’s job or occupation in life should be a careful match of one’s interests, talents, and skills.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Blog Response:** Now what we have finished reading chapter 1, blog about your initial thoughts from the novel. Be sure to address anything you may be confused about, things you have questions about and your first impressions from the novel.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Foreshadowing and Setting Activity(after chapter 3) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Review the elements of setting and foreshadowing. Then have students complete the following questions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**The Setting** of a story is the time period and the location in which the story takes place. Setting also consists of the social and moral environment in which the story plays out. In //The Giver//, we are told nothing of the geographical location of Jonas’ community, nor are we told what year the story takes place, but we are given textual clues to help us determine the characteristics of the community. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//Read each of the passages below and then explain what each passage suggests or reveals about Jonas’ community.//# All of the citizens had been ordered to go into the nearest building and stay there. Immediately the rasping voice through the speakers had said “Leave your bicycles where they are.” <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> “Animals?” Jonas suggested. He laughed. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> “That’s right,” Lily said, laughing too. “Like animals.” Neither child knew what the word meant exactly, but it was often used to describe someone uneducated or clumsy, someone who didn’t fit in.# Today a repeat offender had been brought before her, someone who had broken the rules before. Someone who she had hoped had been adequately and fairly punished, and who had been restored to his place; to his job, his home, his family unit…“The rules say that if there is a third transgression, he simply has to be released.”
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">When the class took their seats at the conclusion of the patriotic hymn, Asher remained standing to make his public apology as was required.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">“Who wants to be first tonight for feelings?” Jonas’ father asked at the conclusion of the evening meal. It was one of the rituals, the telling of feelings.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lily considered, and shook her head. “I don’t know. They acted like… like…”

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">**Foreshadowing and Mood** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">In Chapter 1, from the first paragraph on, we are presented with an example of **//foreshadowing//**. Foreshadowing is a clue that may create suspense by hinting at the things to come. **Write a quote that illustrates foreshadowing. Be sure to include a page number and an explanation as to why you think it is foreshadowing.** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Mood is the feeling or atmosphere you get from a story. What is the mood of Chapter 1?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> What words and phrases develop this mood?


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Letter from Roberto **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Review with students the elements of writing a detailed descriptive paragraph. Then have students write a paragraph from Roberto’s perspective about what happens to him after he is released. Where does he go? What does he see? Etc. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">This assignment will be marked on the following: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Content: /10** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ Student has written a continuation of Roberto’s release from his perspective <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ There written section is appropriate and accurate to the information presented in the novel <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ The student demonstrates originality and creativity

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Conventions/Sentence Structure /10** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ There is evidence of revision and editing <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ Student uses appropriate language and spelling <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ Vocabulary is detailed and descriptive <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">³ Grammar is used correctly

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Total: /20** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**﻿**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Job Assignments (after chapter 6) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Create a list of jobs that students could be assigned in society. Then cut up these jobs and have students pick one out of a hat. Once students have their job have them answer the following questions. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Jonas and his peers are assigned jobs. For this assignment, you will be given a slip of paper with a particular job on it. This is what you must train to be; you have NO choice. Answer the following about your "assignment":# What is your job? > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Blog Response:** How do you feel about having your job chosen for you? Why do you think Jonas and the rest of his group mates are fine with this ritual? * Jonas’ training (end of chapter 9)
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How do you feel about your "assignment"?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Do you think you would be suited? Why or why not?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What would be the worst thing about having this job?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What would be the best thing about having this job?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Blog Response:** Discuss how you think Jonas could be feeling about not being able to tell anyone about his training? How would you feel if you heard all your friends taking about their training and asking you questions about yours? How would you answer their questions?


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Memories (end of chapter 12) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Blog Response:** Identify an object that is meaningful to you. Why is this object meaningful? What kind of memories does it bring back? How would you feel knowing that all of your friends don’t have any “real” memories?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Discuss with students the concept of euthanasia. Talk about it being used in our own society on pets. Discuss the pro’s and con’s.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Euthanasia (end of chapter 19) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Blog Response:** Do you agree with how Jonas reacted to what release really means? Were you surprised by the actual meaning of release? Do you agree with what the society has chosen to do why or why not?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Discuss the ending with students and have them complete the following questions. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">**Your Opinions** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Read the following statement by Lois Lowry in her opinion of how The Giver ends. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don’t do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don’t want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds.// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music playing? So I’m always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don’t think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they’re out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that’s true for the people they left behind as well.//# Does your opinion change or remain the same in the light of this article. Explain.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">End of novel wrap-up **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Jonas said, “I didn’t know you had a daughter,Giver! You told me that you had a spouse. But I never knew about your daughter.” “Her name was Rosemary,” the Giver replied. Who was Rosemary? Was she his actual daughter, his foster daughter, or just his daughter in spirit? Explain.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">In Chapters 22 and 23, is Jonas actually somewhere else or is he simply recalling the memories that he has been given by the Giver? Explain.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Do Gabriel and Jonas live or die at the end of the novel? Explain.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Final Writing Assignment – Students will now write the next chapter or the epilogue to The Giver. Below are the requirements for this assignment. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">“Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him;and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.” <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> //The Giver, pages 178 - 179// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The ending of The Giver is generally vague, but fairly optimistic. Your task with this assignment is to write an epilogue for //The Giver//. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> When writing the epilogue, some points for you to consider are: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- What happened to Jonas and Gabriel? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- What does the next setting look like? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- What happened to the community and the Giver after Jonas left. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- How do you think the people of the community deal with the memories that have been released? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- Does Jonas ever return to the community where he grew up? How has the community changed? How does the community receive him?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Be sure to incorporate your thoughts, feelings, opinions of Jonas’ choice to leave the community into the story. You can choose to write what happens to Jonas and Gabe, what happens to the community once Jonas leaves or incorporate both. When writing, be sure to stick with the same tone, writing style and point-of-view that Lois Lowry used in the novel. It should be like you are just continuing her book. You will be marked using the writing rubric.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> If you would like to study a novel through a book club or lit circle approach The Giver would work nicely with Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Gone by Michael Grant. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Lesson 6: Mini film study (4 blocks) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The films that could fit into this unit are The Village directed by M. Night Shyamalan and The Island directed by Michael Bay. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">View either or both of these films and have students complete a viewing guide while watching. Once completed discuss the similarities and differences of these films and the novel The Giver. Also discuss how these films fit into the utopia theme.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Introduce or review poetry terminology with students. Then brainstorms the themes present in the unit so far and write a poem based on one of these themes as a class. Then have students pair off and write a poem based on a different theme together. Share these pomes with the rest of the class. Next have student’s choice a theme and write a poem on their own. Once the poems are completed on paper students will use Animoto to create a digital poem.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lesson 7: Poetry (6 blocks) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">They will be marking on the following criteria.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Focuses on an idea, feeling or experience. Uses specific, concrete images. May include poetic sound devices || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Exceptional focus of an idea, feeling or experience. Exceptional use of images. Includes many examples poetic sound devices || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Adequate focus of an idea, feeling or experience. Adequate use of images. Includes some examples poetic sound devices || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Inadequate focus of an idea, feeling or experience. Adequate use of images. Includes no examples poetic sound devices || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Disorganized ideas. Few images. Includes no examples poetic sound devices || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Uses a logical, effective organizational strategy. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Uses an exceptional logical and effective organizational strategy. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Uses an adequate logical and effective organizational strategy. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Uses an inadequate organizational strategy. || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Uses no organizational strategy. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Content Outcomes – Poetry ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Category || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">4 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">3 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">2 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">1 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Ideas and content
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//Organization//
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Digital Literacy: ISTE NETS∙S Performance Indicators ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Category || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">4 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">3 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">2 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">1 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Communication || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Strong awareness of audience in the design. Students can clearly explain why they felt the vocabulary, audio and/or graphics chosen fit the target audience. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Some awareness of audience in the design. Students can partially explain why they felt the vocabulary, audio and/or graphics chosen fit the target audience. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Some awareness of audience in the design. Students find it difficult to explain how the vocabulary, audio and/or graphics chosen fit the target audience. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Limited awareness of the needs and interests of the target audience. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Creativity || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The student's personality/voice comes through to create an original digital story. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The student's personality comes through in parts of the digital story. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">There is little evidence of creativity, but the student has completed a digital story. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Student has only partially completed a digital story. Little evidence of creativity is available. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lesson 8: Ambush (1 block) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lesson 8: Ambush (1 block) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Read the short story Ambush by Tim O’Brien as a class. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Then complete the following comprehension questions. >
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What questions was the author asked by his daughter?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How did he handle the question?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Re-tell in your own words the experience that haunts him.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What do you think you would have done in his position (in terms of answering his daughter)?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What does the author struggle with?
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What do his friends do to try to help? Does it work? Why?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lesson 9: Dystopia (4 blocks) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Identify with students what dystopia is. Talk about how it may have been present in the works that were studied during this unit.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Utopia vs. Dystopia Wiki Assignment

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Students will work in groups to create a class wiki. Each group will take a text or a series of texts as given by the teachers to create a wiki page for their given text.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Students need to: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- give a plot summary of their text <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- identify the elements of utopia in their text <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- identify how their text could be viewed as a work of dystopia <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">- link to at least 3 other links from their wiki page.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Students will be assessed using the following rubric

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**__Wiki Assessment__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Content /10** > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Organization /10** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Lesson 10:** Wrap Up Activity (1 block) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Write the phrase “Fair Doesn’t Always Mean Equal” on the board.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer captivates and holds the reader’s interest
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writer’s purpose is clear and sustained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The ideas used by the writer are carefully chosen and insightful
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Supporting details are precise and creative
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The writing is on-topic and responds to the assignments throughout the writing
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The introduction is purposeful and interesting and it clearly establishes an appropriate focus that is sustained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Events and/or details are arranged in paragraphs in an effective order and coherence is maintained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Transitions effectively connect events and/or details within sentences and between paragraphs
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Closure is effective and purposeful
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**4-Excellent Achievement** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**3-Proficient Achievement** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**2-Basic Achievement** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**1-Insufficient Achievement** ||
 * * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Identifies facts independently with accuracy and
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">efficiency checks information in a purposeful order, demonstrates attention to purposeful style
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">designs, follows and revises, as appropriate, a comprehensive and realistic plan that
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">accomplishes the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">communicates the message clearly and effectively || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Identifies facts with accuracy and efficiency
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">puts the information in a purposeful order
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">designs, follows and revises, as appropriate,a fairly thorough and reasonable plan that accomplishes much of the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">communicates the message clearly || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Identifies facts with a little assistance
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">puts the information in order
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">designs and follows a plan that accomplishes some of the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">communicates the message, but more information is required || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Identifies facts with a great deal of assistance
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">does not place the information in order
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">is unable to design and follow a plan that accomplishes the task
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">is unable to communicate the message ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Have students move to the side of the room that they feel about the statement. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Discuss as a class. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Has their opinion changed? Have students move to the side of the room where they now feel they sit with the statement.