Ok, so now I will try to put into practice what I summed up as over-arching goals in the last post. Here’s my first attempt with the students’ summer reading. The department’s requirement is to do a learning activity with the summer reading, but beyond that, it’s up to us:
(I’d love some feedback from you UBD experts!) Dana?
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Goals:
- Students will understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion about a novel, but ideas must be supported with textual evidence.
- Students will understand that rules and order can sometimes negatively affect a society.
- Students will understand theme is explored through the characters’ action, dialogue, and thoughts.
Stage One:
Understandings:
The student will understand that:
- Effective government requires a balance between individual rights and government regulation
- Our memories, painful and positive, affect how we live and learn.
- The author’s theme is developed through the characters’ actions, thoughts, and dialogue.
Essential Questions:
- How much should a government be able to control our individual rights for the benefit of society?
- Can we live without pain or suffering?
- How are Lowry’s themes developed in The Giver?
Students will know:
- the various literary elements such as plot, theme, characterization, and conflict
- the story line of The Giver
- how to support ideas with textual evidence
The student will be able to:
- outline the basic rules of Jonas’ society
- define terms utopia and dystopia
- evaluate issues related to individual rights vs government regulation
- create a new society with different rules from the novel
- write an essay explaining the changes he/she would make and give examples to support that change
Stage Two: Assessment Evidence
Performance Task:
Students will work together on a group project, discussing and deciding how to change at least three or four things in Jonas’ society (to create a new society). Students will propose these changes as a group with a defense of those changes.
Other Evidence:
Self-assessment rubric for group work
Persuasive essay (individual) on group topic-rubric provided to be used as a baseline for future writing
Stage Three: Learning Plan
Daily details in teacher’s plans
I love the TbD framework (or, as I learnt it from Harvard and World Wide, the TfU – Teaching for Understanding – framework). I also love ‘The Giver’.
I don’t teach that class any more (reading your plans made me want to teach it again!), but when I did I designed a couple of units around ‘The Giver’. If you can send me an email address, I’d be happy to share them with you. If you find anything useful there, you’re more than welcome to use it.
I like your essential questions. It might be good if your performance task were framed more like a real-world problem. For example, make the students be a task force hired by the government (or sent by Jonas or something like that) to look at the problems in the society that led to Jonas’s desire to leave. I would put the students in the position of an expert of some kind.
I love The Giver. You all should have a good time with that one. I think this is a good unit.
Ooooo, great idea, Dana. Thanks for the suggestion. Steve, it’s rather like your asking the students to look at their own future. Thanks to both of you.
I’m not a teacher, so I can’t add to the method discussion of how to teach this book. But as a past student i can say that i absolutely Loved this book, and as an adult, I’m glad to see teachers still have this in their lesson plans. It gave (and continues to give me) the insight to appericate why the world needs different types of people. I hope when my little girl grows up, and heads to school, that this book will still be on teachers lessons plans.. your students will be thankful for the “read” (this is coming for a past middle school student that rather be on the playing field, then reading ;-)…)
That’s great to know, Meaghan! I love hearing that others remember this book as a favorite:) I’m hoping we have some great discussions in class, too. And maybe when your little one grows up her grams will be able to share that book with her. What a lovely thought!