920FP-Nazareth,+Staci

=Final Project= = Staci Nazareth = = 5/13/10 = ** TECHNOLOGIES UTILIZED ** Vodcast Wiki Blog Online Interactive Activities from Scholastic.com about ecosystems and dinosaurs Screencast tutorials GoAnimate.com/ToonDoo/iMovie/Word (choice of 1) Wallwisher.com ** INTRODUCTION ** This unit takes place over the course of 14 days, approximately 3 weeks. Students will be studying the elements of science fiction in order to both appreciate the genre, as well as create a narrative piece of science fiction writing. ** GOALS ** Curriculum Standard State of Michigan W R I T I N G Writing Genres Students will… W.GN.08.01 write a cohesive narrative piece such as poetry, historical ﬁction, science ﬁction, or realistic ﬁction that includes appropriate conventions to genre employing literary and plot devices (e.g., narrator credibility, rising and falling actions and/or conﬂict, imagery and transitional language). ** STUDENT OBJECTIVES ** The objectives for this unit are for the students to understand the basic conventions of science fiction, become acquainted with classic and new authors, understand the structure of the narrative, so that they can produce a piece of original science fiction. PRE-ACTIVITIES Students will have an informal discussion on what they believe are the characteristics of science fiction, such as: technology, aliens, space ships, time travel, utopias/dystopias, futurism, etc. These items will be written on the board. The students will view the VODCAST that explains the origins of science fiction, classic and new authors, as an introduction to this unit. The VODCAST is located [] Students will be given an opportunity to go through the library collection and choose a science fiction novel from the collection. They will be required to take the novel home for the first assignment, due on day 2. Each of the students will be given a bookmark that has the characteristics of science fiction on it. For their homework tonight, they are to browse the science fiction book (they are not required to read it, unless they want to, but they must complete a science fiction novel for their final project) to see if they can identify any of the characteristics discussed in class or on the vodcast.  ** Science Fiction Bookmark ** // Which Elements Can You Find? // Ø Robots Ø Aliens & Invasions Ø Monsters Out of Time Ø Space Exploration and Wars Ø Artificial Intelligence Ø Futuristic Civilizations Ø Time Travel Ø Body or Mind Alteration Ø Worldwide Apocalypse The teacher will very briefly summarize some of the characteristics of science fiction as discussed yesterday in class, and will ask students to share what types of science fiction elements they found in their novels. Students will be divided into groups of 5, and participate in a quick book pass. On a lined sheet of paper they will divide their paper into the following columns: Title Author 1 sentence description They will have 3 minutes to silently examine the book from the person to their left and fill out the form, at which time the teacher will call time and they will pass. At the conclusion of this 15 minute book pass, they will have been exposed to several other science fiction titles and authors. = Students will be working on a “What If Story” project in the computer lab. The teacher will project the following story on the projector, Hackers Crack Into Texas Road Sign, Warn of Zombies Ahead at [] = The story will be summarized (it doesn’t need to be read out loud), and then students will be given the following instructions. The goal for this lesson is to have the students practice both creative writing, as well as posting to a wiki. “What if this sign was real? Let’s give ourselves a scenario. You are in the car with some of your best friends, driving down the highway. You are coming back from your favorite concert. It’s late at night and it’s raining and you come upon this sign. What if there really were zombies ahead? “ Students will be given 30 minutes to creatively write their stories. At the end of 30 minutes, the teacher will display a wiki address for students to post their work to. Prior to the start of this session, the teacher will have created an index page with all students names listed alphabetically. Students will log in, and paste their unfinished stories to the wiki. Then, they will save the page and have a short discussion about working collaboratively on a wiki- the do’s and the don’ts (language, rudeness, obscenity, vulgarity etc.). Students will have an opportunity to add to another student’s story (this can be done by drawing names, numbers or by choice). Allow students to add the next part of the “What If” story, in which they must include at least 2 new elements of science fiction. Allow students to write for 20 minutes. At the conclusion of the class period, students will be given time to read the new versions of their story, and other stories. Students will be discussing cause and effect by reading the story, The Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, and will also complete a blog entry. They will build prior knowledge about ecosystems and dinosaurs by completing 2 online activities. This lesson has been adapted from the lesson plan on this Scholastic website: [], but adapted from a PowerPoint to an online blog posting, and has had additional resources added, such as printable worksheets, vocabulary, links to the movie on YouTube and an online version of the story. > I use the short story **// A Sound of Thunder //** as a read aloud for this lesson. You may want to choose one from your library or substitute books about time travel like these: [|**//The Time Bike//**] by Jane Langton or **// [|The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time-Travel Adventure] //** by Elvira Woodruff > 2. Schedule time in your computer lab, if needed. > 3. You may want to share the ecosystem and dinosaur content of this lesson with your students' science teachers for cross-curricular ideas. > 4. Make a transparency of The Butterfly Effect Printable. > 5. Copy The Butterfly Effect Printable for each student. > 6. Preview the [|Online Activity: Endangered Ecosystems] and the [|Online Activity: Dinosaur Times] > These activities will be used in this lesson to build background about how people cause ecosystems to change and about the different dinosaur species discussed in the **// A Sound of Thunder. //** Students who would do better by viewing the story, rather than reading can view it in parts on YouTube: Part 1 of 3: [] Part 2 of 3: [] Part 3 of 3: [] This lesson was created with at-risk students and Special Education students in mind. Modeling strategic reading behaviors while reading aloud benefits struggling readers. Using transparencies of any handouts for modeling purposes is also helpful. Teacher Observation: Did students transfer their learning from the online activities to their understanding of the story? Did they understand the consequences of time travel on the ecosystem? Written Outcome: Evaluate The Butterfly Effect printable for students' understanding of the outcomes of human impact on ecosystems. 1. Participation in Online Activities 2. Complete The Butterfly Effect Printable 3. Review the elements of science fiction [] For homework, students can define the new vocabulary words written on the chalkboard from the short story **// A Sound of Thunder //**. The Butterfly Effect printable can be taken home to complete, if necessary. Students should also read the elements of science fiction using the printout above to prepare for their final project. Were the students interested in the story? Did you model effective reading strategies for the students as you read the story aloud? Were there any strategies that needed more time? Are they motivated to write about their own time travel? Day 8 Students will review the basic elements of science fiction, and will work on their culminating project, either an original short story, an animated cartoon version of a science fiction story, comic book or a movie trailer for their own original sci fi movie treatment. Materials: Computer lab with a computer for each student, as well as access to the internet GoAnimate.com accounts for students who wish to create an animated cartoon Animoto.com accounts Access to Google Docs or Microsoft Word Assignment: Choose one of the writing prompts below, or create your own. Write a science fiction short story. You may choose to write it, animate it, or create a movie trailer for your story. All projects must include the following elements: Plot: 3 elements of rising action, a climax, and a resolution. Protagonist Antagonist Elements of science fiction: writer’s choice // Taken from: http://www.writeanygenre.com/creative-writing-prompts.html // ~ You inherit a rambling old hotel with dark secrets. (This won’t be an Agatha Christie.) Once taking up residence in the decrepit structure, it’s like pulling the servant’s teeth to clarify some rumors. Finally, a child helps you. The child says each of the many rooms allows you to tap into the lives of the people who died there and to clarify unsolved crimes. He says some people disappear and never came back. ~ A person with whom you’ve become close friends always seems to disappear. You look away and when you look back, and he’s gone. Later, he has a flimsy excuse for his absence. As this happens more and more, you pay closer attention and, out of the corner of your eye, finally see him disappear as if vaporized. As he disappears, you catch a glimpse of the being he really is, grotesque and otherworldly, as only an alien can be. And he has caught you looking! ~ A man has an idyllic life in a world so advanced that every desire is gratified. Though the lifestyle is far advanced and futuristic, it is near militaristic. It’s the one thing he has promised himself to improve. However, he has an innate fear that all will end prematurely and his knowledge will be wasted. One day he is called into an office with officials standing around. They tell him that his time is up. He is being sent away. They send him to earth in the 21st Century to bring the world up to the next level. (This could make quite a comedy too.) ~ A man goes into the hospital for a check up since he’s been feeling out of sorts for a long time. He learns he’s not an earthling! ~ A businessman (late for a meeting) gets in an elevator that takes him to the basement against his will. When the doors open, the elevator shuts down. He steps out and the first thing he sees is a massive aquarium containing a giant octopus. What happens? Students can view the tutorials at: [] for GoAnimate for animated cartoons, ToonDo for comic books, and iMovie for a movie trailer. Allow time for students to view the tutorials and get started on their project. Students will work on completing their science fiction story project. As they work, the teacher will go to each student and discuss their project to be sure they are on track, and will offer assistance as needed. On Day 12, they should be finishing up their projects. Finishing touches. Students should work on finishing their project so that it is ready for public viewing. All projects should have a detailed title page or screen with author name and story title. All written text should be proofread by partners. Work should be published in the following manner: GoAnimate and ToonDo Projects: Embed code should be copied and submitted by email or through a Google Docs form to the teacher, so it can be embedded on a website, collecting all works of the students in one area for viewing. iMovie: movies should be exported and uploaded to TeacherTube, YouTube or another service. Word: all stories should be added to a wiki All links to all projects should be centrally located in one place for later viewing. Sci Fi Gallery Share To prepare for the class, the teacher will bring up [] with a new wall, and will project that on the screen. Students will be shown how to use wallwisher, and will be able to leave messages and feedback (positive only!) about the projects they view. This will be on the big screen. Students will get the class period to view other students cartoons, comic books, movie trailers and online stories. To facilitate this, the students could bring their projects up on the screen and leave them, and the class can move from computer to computer to view them, or they could each be seated at their own computer and have an opportunity to view their peers work. Students should create feedback on the wallwisher board so kids can read other kids feedback. Student projects will be evaluated using the following rubric, taken from here: [] ** A Rubric to Grade a Science Fiction Story ** [|The Assignment] | [|Ideas for Stories] | [|Peer editing] | [|Grading Rubric] //This rubric is intended as a general description of your story. It is possible that some areas of the rubric would not be appropriate for the story you wrote. For example, some stories may not need a strong setting, or it may be possible that characterization is not the focus of the story; if that is the case, then the story will not be evaluated in that area. For some stories, this rubric wouldn't apply at all; if that is the case, then a separate written explanation of the evaluation would be used.// _____ Advanced: Characters are strongly drawn, clearly separate and fully developed. The main character(s) are presented in multiple ways (appearance, action, thoughts, speech, etc.). They behave "within" their character. They have a past and a future. _____ Proficient: Characters are clear and reasonably developed. The main character(s) have identifiable characteristics. They may seem to lack a past or future. _____ In-Progress: Characters are unclear. They may be little more than a name and a description or do not rise beyond stereotype. They may be unbelievably inconsistent, or there may not be enough information to form a judgement about them. _____ Advanced: What the conflict is in the story is clear and the importance of it to the characters is convincing. Actions will produce new situations which will produce new actions. The characters will struggle with their problems in interesting and meaningful ways. The story will have a satisfying and logical climax that is the culmination of the proceeding events. The story explores and develops its SF element. The SF is integral to the plot. _____ Proficient: What the conflict is in the story is clear. The importance of the conflict to the characters may be fuzzy, although it will clearly be important. Actions will produce new situations which will produce new actions. The characters will struggle with their problems. The story will have a climax that is the culmination of the proceeding events. The story explores its SF element. _____ In-Progress: The conflict may be unclear or absent. The conflict may be clear, but the importance of it to the characters will never be communicated. There may be no actions (the story is static), or the actions do not seem related to an identifiable conflict. The characters may be passive and not struggle. The story may lack a climax that is the culmination of the proceeding events. There is an SF element, but the story would be no different without it, or there is no SF. _____ Advanced: Where the story takes place is clearly drawn and has an impact on the story. The reader will experience the story through multiple appeals to several senses. An appropriate amount of the story is shown rather than told. _____ Proficient: Where the story takes place is clear. The story makes appeals to the senses. Some of the story is shown rather than told. _____ In Progress: Where the story takes place may be unclear or setting may be absent altogether. The story may make very limited or no appeals to the senses. Most of the story is told rather than shown. _____ Advanced: The style is appropriate to the story and heightens its effectiveness. This may include interesting and appropriate figurative language, diction and syntax. Sentences will be varied in length and type. The relationships between the parts of the story will be smoothly handled and clear. _____ Proficient: The style will not interfere with the understanding of the story. Writing will be workmanlike and clear. The relationships between the parts of the story will be clear. _____ In-Progress: The style will interfere with the understanding of the story. Sentences may need to be reread for meaning. Transitions may be absent. The relationships between the parts of the story may be unclear. _____ Advanced: The story will be closely proofread and will contain few or no errors in punctuation, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, capitalization, etc. The manuscript is "clean" and in proper format. _____ Proficient: The story will be reasonably well proofread. There may be some errors, but they do not interfere with the understanding of the story. The manuscript is "clean" and in proper format. _____ In-Progress: The story will show little evidence of proofreading. Proofreading errors will be pervasive and interfere with the understanding of the story. The manuscript may be sloppy or not in proper format. _____ Advanced: All the elements of the story will work together in a successful way. The meaningfulness of the narrative will be apparent, compelling and artful. _____ Proficient: The story is competently told. The meaningfulness of the narrative will be apparent. _____ In-Progress: The elements of the story may not work together. The meaningfulness of the narrative may be absent or confusing.
 * Day 1 **
 * Day 2 **
 * Day 3 **
 * Days 4-7 **
 * MATERIALS **
 * 1) LCD Projector
 * 2) Screen
 * 3) Computer Lab or Classroom computers
 * 4) [|Time Travel PowerPoint Presentation - Student Sample] (PPT)
 * 5) [|The Butterfly Effect Printable] (PDF)
 * 1) Transparency
 * 2) Overhead Projector
 * SET UP AND PREPARE **
 * 1) 1. Prepare LCD and computer. Download Time Travel PowerPoint presentation, and print the story from this website: [|http://www.lasalle.edu/~didio/courses/hon462/hon462_assets/sound_of_thunder.htm]
 * REPRODUCIBLES **
 * 1) [|The Butterfly Effect Printable] (PDF)
 * DIRECTIONS **
 * Day 4–5 **
 * Step 1: ** Building Background: Either in your school computer lab or in small groups at your classroom computers, have students take part in the [|Scholastic Online Activity: Endangered Ecosystems]. In this activity, students will learn the important roles of large and small animals within an ecosystem and the threats to their survival. Instruct students to click on the "Listen" link and tell them that they'll be listening to a science teacher who will talk about how we impact our planet. After the audio, tell students to accept their mission and read about the EarthWatch Field Site - Costa Rican Caterpillars. They may also go on to read field reports if time allows.
 * Step 2: ** Introduce the concept of time travel using the Time Travel PowerPoint Presentation. Share with them that this is a student example. Mention that they will be responding to A Sound of Thunder, a short story about time travel, **by responding to an online blog posting** about time travel in the days to come. Preview the Teacher PPT on the LCD projector, and show the students the student sample PPT.
 * Where would you go?
 * Which year or period of time would you travel to?
 * Who would you want to meet or what event would you want to witness?
 * Where would you find this person or see this event?
 * Why would you want to meet this person or witness this event?
 * How might you change history?
 * Step 3: ** Briefly introduce the short story A Sound of Thunder. Explain that in this story they will learn that traveling through time has its consequences. Remind them that the ecosystem is always the first to suffer when man plays with new technology. Review some of the important points learned in the online activity.
 * Step 4: ** Begin reading A Sound of Thunder to the students. Read only half the story. Because the story has some complex vocabulary and uses figurative language, stop every so often and model strategic reading strategies (self-monitoring, reread, predicting, etc.) when the story becomes difficult. Review new vocabulary as you read. Write these words on the board and discuss their meaning. Ask your students about their thoughts, feelings, and questions they may have up to this point in the story. Close the lesson by finishing the story, completing a plot diagram on the overhead and with a discussion. If additional discussion questions and vocabulary are necessary or needed for additional homework credit, they may be duplicated using this worksheet: []
 * Day 6-7 **
 * Step 5: Building Background: ** Either in your school computer lab or in small groups at your classroom computers, have students take part in the Scholastic Online Activity, [|Dinosaur Times]. In this game, students time travel to the different prehistoric periods and discover that not all dinosaurs lived at the same time.
 * Step 6: ** Introduce the lesson by reviewing the new vocabulary words that were written on the board on the previous day. Ask a few volunteers to retell parts of the story they heard thus far in their own words. Finish reading the rest of the story.
 * Step 7: ** Ask the students: "What do you think the A Sound of Thunder was? What are your thoughts/feelings/questions about the story now?" Discuss student responses.
 * Step 8: ** Continue the discussion by introducing the notion of cause and effect, citing examples from the short story. Ask students to contribute instances of outcomes that resulted from the characters' actions in the short story.
 * Step 9: ** Distribute The Butterfly Effect printable and model how to complete the handout using a transparency. Discuss possible outcomes for each topic. Allow students time to complete, and then share out to the whole class.
 * Step 10 ** : After students have had the opportunity to practice The Butterfly Effect, they can respond to the questions on the blog posting.
 * SUPPORTING ALL LEARNERS **
 * ASSESS STUDENTS **
 * ASSIGNMENTS **
 * HOMEWORK **
 * EVALUATE THE LESSON **
 * Day 8-12 **
 * Here are some strange creative writing prompts for this genre. If you are choosing to create an animation or movie trailer, you may want to browse their thematic clip art to get an idea for your story. **
 * Day 9-12 **
 * Day 13 **
 * Day 14 **
 * __ Characterization: __**
 * __ Plot: __**
 * __ Setting, Narration and Exposition, and Appeals to the Senses: __**
 * __ Style (use of language): __**
 * __ Mechanics: __**
 * __ Overall: __**

Deliverable # 3 Staci Nazareth

Acceptable Use Policy: www.salineschools.com/ documents/20060509_fullaup_ official.pdf

I had a hand in writing the first several drafts of our acceptable use policy, yet until this lesson, I didn't realize that we are going to hold kids accountable for using online information WITHOUT embedding into the curriculum, over and over again, lessons that teach them about the criteria for evaluating the information they find! How can they NOT cheat or be inaccurate. Sheesh! Anyway, our AUP is pretty good.

Being a school library and "information specialist" it is obvious to me that kids are losing the skill of how to critically evaluate information. Truly. And, I don't just mean online information. Attention spans, as short as they used to be, seem to be getting shorter, as kids struggle to read articles that are longer than a paragraph, and without a flashing light or link to tell them what to do or where to click next.

I have struggled for YEARS to get teachers to understand that the critical evaluation of material lessons need to be taught at the beginning of the year and then reinforced all year through. It has taken me 4 years just to get our staff to understand that they are to NEVER tell the children to "Google it." To do so is not only IRRESPONSIBLE, but a complete and utter TIME WASTER for them and their students. When it comes to working on assignments, we direct students to databases. I give all 7th graders a lesson on where to find databases through the library website, and the differences between databases and search engines. This at least gets the main concept of finding accurate information across, especially when I hear teachers complaining about the lack of time to get research done.

Honestly, how do the teachers think they learned these critical evaluation skills? In the "olden days," they had to write persuasive essays, cite sources, etc. It's a matter of finding the time- don't tell me there isn't something else that can be changed to fit this crucial skill in. Finding and using information online is one of the #1 most important job and life skills our students will ever be using!

After I have given the main database VS Google presentation to the kids, some of the teachers book sessions with me to have their kids go even further. Then we talk about .orgs, .coms, etc. We look at sites, like the Mankato, MN Home Page, and my very favorite The History of Robots in the Victorian Era at awww.bigredhair.com/robots/ One of my favorite lessons as a tech teacher involved having the kids go through this website with a detailed worksheet doing "research" for a presentation on the history of robotics. After spending 2 days doing research, I revealed to them that their research was all bogus, as was the site itself, asking if anyone had ever bothered to double check the information (no one ever had). The look of shock was priceless.

As far as the 8th graders in my school, it has taken constant work, and will take continued pressure to embed website evaluation into the language arts curriculum for persuasive essay writing. I have made an impact by helping rewrite the research curriculum requirements, but I'm still not happy. It does allow for some bare bones website evaluation, so at least it is a start.

I agree with Bridget and Bill that it is tough to always find the time and facilities, but it is a critical skill. We are leaving a big hole in the kids' learning by expecting them "just to know how" to evaluate information. When we were all kids, our info came from books. These kids are exposed to professional looking information that could be totally bogus! We never faced that. So, even though it can be tough to fit it in, we need to FIND A WAY.