blogs.longwood.edublogs.longwood.edu/.../06/final-product-lesson.docx · Web viewGeorge Washington’s Birth Place Field Trip: Katlin Major, Lizzie Byrnes, Tori Simmons . Narrative

George Washington’s Birth Place Field Trip:

Katlin Major, Lizzie Byrnes, Tori Simmons

Narrative SOLstice 2012

A. The main theme that our unit explored is George Washington and his life. We focused on what shaped him to be a major political figure as well as, how his birth place has changed over the years.

B. The essential Questions are:1) What was life like when George Washington was growing up?2) What do you think influenced his life the most? 3) If you could go back in time to give George Washington advise, what would

you tell him?C. Our unit is designed for 5th grade students.D. We chose a wide variety of genres in order to keep our students engaged. The different

genres we chose also address a wide variety of writing techniques. We used Powerpoint, diary, newspaper article, driver’s license, obituary, CD label, interview, and letter which were all then combined into a multigenre project.

E. Our unit combines a wide variety of writing styles in order to keep our students engaged while allowing them to expand their writing skills. Through this unit we hope that our students are able to draw connects from our field trip to George Washington’s Birth Place, research they are completing in class, and previous knowledge. We want the students to focus on George Washington’s life and the change that has happened since his death. We also want students to focus on obtaining important research skills that they can use the rest of their life. The class materials we used were from A Teacher’s Gide to the Multigenre Research Project by Melinda Putz

F. Works Cited:

Blasingame, J., & Bushman, J. H. (2005). Teaching writing in middle and secondary schools. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Putz, M. (2006). A teacher's guide to the multigenre research project: everything you need to get started. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Day 1

Teacher(s): Tori Simmons, Katlin Major, Elizabeth ByrnesSubject: WritingGrade: 5th

SOL(s): 5.2 The student will use effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills to deliver planned oral presentations.

a) Maintain eye contact with listeners. b) Use gestures to support, accentuate, and dramatize verbal message. c) Use facial expressions to support and dramatize verbal message. d) Use posture appropriate for communication setting. f) Organize content sequentially around major ideas. h) Incorporate visual media to support the presentation.

General Objective(s): Students will:

Employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

Participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Introduction: As you know we have been talking about unconventional writing types lately and we will be continuing that discussion throughout the week. During today’s lesson we will focus on writing for a real audience in play form. If we have time at the end of the day (an hour and a half) we will perform the play to a real audience (the class). We will travel back in time and experience some of the same things that George Washington may have experienced or encountered as a child.

Specific Objectives: Students will:

Go back in time and experience some of the things George Washington did as a child Analyze what type of life (encounters or experiences) George Washington might have

had Get broken up into groups by the teacher and brainstorm ideas for a play In groups, create a play of a certain encounter George Washington might have had

within their groups

Present their play in front of the class Students will use their knowledge of George Washington’s Birthplace to write (and

perform a play) of their own creation. Students will keep in character while performing their play. Students will be able to use facial expressions as they act out their plays. Students will incorporate visual items in their plays in order to support their writings.

Procedures: The Teacher Will:

1. Create an atmosphere in such a way that the students feel as if they are going back in time by using a time machine built by the teacher.

2. Use a time machine prop to go back in time and perform a short skit for the students. Each teacher will be in character (Nanny, cook, and gardener etc.) and describe their daily tasks to the students.

3. Review some of the things that the children learned while on the George Washington Birthplace fieldtrip such as the tasks of various people at the home may have had. .

4. Divide the class into groups based on where they are sitting5. Pass out and explain instructions on writing their own play6. Walk around and provide thought provoking questions to push groups along7. Place specific time limits for the students and make sure they keep on task8. Have each group present their play

Closing: The students will have gone and experienced a little of what George Washington’s life was like as a child with music, acting, and writing. The teacher will ask the students what some of their favorite things about the field trip were and what they may be interested in researching further tomorrow.

Evaluation: The teacher will observe the students while they are creating their play to make sure that the student’s information is accurate, if the teacher notices the students are not correctly completing the assignment she will review that part of the assignment with the student . The teacher will also collect the students’ play after they are written to see that they are written in proper English and will be graded based on a rubric.

Materials:

Drums Time machine (that teachers have created) Clothes from George Washington’s time (if able to find) Fake food to demonstrate different cooking methods in kitchen Flowers/herbs to demonstrate different sources in the garden

Instructions for students to create a play of their own Paper/pencils

Assignments: When you go home, make a list of some things you would like to further research about George Washington’s Birthplace.

Extenders/Back-Up Activities:

Students will write a letter to George Washington from their previous knowledge of him and give advice as to certain things he should do differently and why.

Teacher will sit the students in a semi-circle. Then, teacher will pass out drums (students may have to take turns with the drums). Teacher will instruct the students without drums to tap on the floor or their legs. Teacher will begin to tap a beat into his/her drum. Students are instructed to follow as best as they can. Once students are ready to pay attention, the class will work together to create a code using their drums. Once code is created, students can try talking to each other in this code

Teacher Notes:

Teacher’s Introduction:

Tori will start by explaining a day of watching over George Washington. She will go over the different games they play and toys she gives him to keep him occupied. While describing this she will focus on making up games and talk about the toys that George Washington could have played with.

Katlin will then take over and explain to the students her day in the life of cooking for George. What he likes to eat, how he likes it cooked, and the different strategies she might use to accomplish this.

Lizzie will then take over as the gardener. She will explain some of the different herbs she might use for medicine, dying clothes/paper, or to help the cook make his food.

We will then end the “back in time” adventure pretending we are done with our long, hard day’s work drumming by the fire. We will explain how we communicate and connect to each other through drums.

Instructions for George Washington Play:

Now that you know a little about George Washington and how he grew up, think about what experiences he might have had, what problems or encounters with others he might have faced. In your groups you will choose from the following topics and write a play:

Create a great or horrible experience George Washington might have had Create a problem George might have had and how he overcame it

Create a conversation about what types of people did George come in contact with and how was the conversation.

Once your group has picked a topic, write a short play to depict how you think life was back then. They should focus on the information they gained during the recent field trip. Each member of the group should contribute equally to the creation of the play and also have an equal speaking part during the play. I did not include specific topics because I want you to open your mind as to what it was really like when George Washington was growing up.

Instructions for Letter to George Washington:

Now that you have gone back in time and experienced a day in the life of George, and created a scene of your own, I want you to write a letter to George. Include the following:

What were some aspects you agreed with such as having others cook and clean for you?

What are some changes you would ask George to think about changing because they might hurt others’ feelings?

If you could ask George any question about his life, what would it be? Explain your interest or disinterest in his life and tell him why.

Act as if George has come back to life just to address your letter!

Rubric: George Washington Play

Teachers: Ms. Simmons, Ms. Byrnes, and Ms. Major

Class: English Grade 5

This assignment will be graded based on students’ preparation, presentation, and performance of their plays.

F D C B A

Student failed to complete the play and did not put forth effort in trying.

Student completed work but put forth little effort.

Student completed the assignment, but the play felt incomplete.

Student completed the assignment

Student completed the assignment to the best of their ability. He/she used their knowledge of Washington throughout their play.

Student had multiple grammatical errors/did not complete assignment

Student had more that 15 grammatical errors.

Student had 10-15 grammatical errors.

Student had 7-10 grammatical errors.

Student had less than 7 grammatical errors.

Student did not use anything they learned from the field investigation.



Student used at least one fact that they learned from the field investigation.

Student used many facts that they learned from the field investigation.

Comments: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Something that I liked:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Something that could be improved: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Student Grade:

Day 2

Day 2: Research DayTeacher(s): Tori Simmons, Katlin Major, Elizabeth Byrnes

Subject: WritingGrade: 5th

SOL(s): 5.9 The student will find, evaluate, and select appropriate resources for a research product. b) Collect information from multiple resources including online, print, and media. c) Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information. d) Organize information presented on charts, maps, and graphs. e) Develop notes that include important concepts, summaries, and identification of information sources. f) Give credit to sources used in research. Grade 5 Writing SOL Test Blueprint This revised test blueprint will be effective with the administration of the 2012-2013 English Standards of Learning tests. 6 g) Define the meaning and consequences of plagiarism.






Introduction: Students will take a trip to the library and learn how to effectively research their topic on George Washington. With the information they have collected, they will pick some of the major points they would like to share and create a powerpoint to share with their peers.


Read over the instructions for effective research and review the different resources given to them either by print, online, media etc.

Students will gather information and main points onto the FQI worksheet the teacher has provided (they will only be filling out the facts portion at this time)

After they have gathered their information, they will then watch a short demonstration on how to put together a powerpoint

They will then put their main points within a powerpoint to be shown to their peers


Hand out and go over the information sheet that was put together by teacher and media specialist (or librarian) and also go over the FQI worksheet.

Provide assistance when needed Give a short presentation on how to create a powerpoint Give instructions on what is expected in their own powerpoint presentation

Closing: The students should have all the resources and knowledge needed for the week’s projects. They will leave the library with a worksheet and a powerpoint that is full of information on their topic. This information will be used over and over throughout the week to create a multigenre project.

Evaluation: Their evaluation will be based on how effectively they researched their topic throughout the day and the information they have collected on their worksheet and powerpoint.

Materials:

Computers Internet Books Encyclopedias Handouts (provided by teacher) Program for powerpoint Smartboard

Assignments: The students will be asked to go home and fill out the question portion of their FQI worksheet.


Students will further explore the different applications for creating a powerpoint presentation by changing the background, adding pictures, changing the font/color, etc.

Students will learn how to properly find a book in the library. They will each be given a specific book to go and find. This can also be turned into a game that whoever finds the book the fastest will win a prize such as a free pencil.

Teacher Notes:

The teacher will need to bring the worksheet that has already been created with the help of the school’s media specialist

This worksheet will contain the different places and sources to help aid the student in their research process

The teacher will hand out a worksheet for students to write down any facts they have found along with where they received their facts. This worksheet is called the FQI worksheet. They will only be filling out the Facts portion of this sheet at this time. The teacher show one example of how to fill out the fact sheet.

Once the teacher has explained, gone over, and answered any further questions regarding the research process she/he will then send the students to do individual research of their own

Once most of the students look like they have made progress the teacher will call them together and show them a quick presentation on how to create a powerpoint

The teacher will then hand out a worksheet and go over the worksheet on what is expected of their powerpoint presentation

The students will then break to finish any research they still might have or start on the powerpoint presentation

Once the students have finished, they will present their presentations in front of their peers

At this point some of the students have an idea of how to cite their sources, but others do not. Though it will be required of them to put where they found their information, the correct and proper form will not be graded as this time since we will be going over the process at the end of the unit to tie all of the information together.

Good Resources in our Media Center or Online

1. The Card Catalogue

When you begin your research, you will probably begin at the card

catalogue. As you peruse the files there, don’t forget that your subject may be included in books about more general topics. For instance, if your research is on Elvis Presley, by entering his name as subject, you probably will find whole autobiographies on the singer, but you can undoubtedly also find information on him in other books on more general topics such as Rock ’n Roll, Entertainment, The 50s, and so on.

2. The Encyclopedias

Don’t forget the old standbys, the encyclopedias; they contain valuable, factual information, usually sequenced in a way that can help you get an overall view of your subject before you begin extensive research.

3. Then, look at these books. Check off the ones you’ve used. About People:

_____ Avery, Laura, ed. 2004. Newsmakers: The People Behind the Headlines. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.

_____ Barnes, Dana R., ed. 2000. Contemporary Heroes and Heroines. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale Group.

_____ Gillispie, Charles Coulston. 1971. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

_____ Great Athletes. 1992. 20 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.

_____ Hilstrom, Devin, ed. 2004. Biography Today: Profiles of People of Interest to Young Readers. Detroit: Omnigraphics.

_____ Leish, Kenneth W., proj. dir. 2001. The American Scene: Lives. 12 vols. Danbury, CT: Grolier.

_____ Levin, Eric, ed. 1999. People Weekly: 25 Amazing Years. New York: Time Inc. Home Entertainment.

_____ Magill, Frank N., ed. 1987. Great Lives from American History.5 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.

_____ Moritz, Charles, ed. 1990. Current Biography Yearbook. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company.

©2006 by Melinda Putz from A Teacher’s Guide to the Multigenre Research Project. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

About Events:

_____Churchill, James, ed. 1995. Twentieth-Century America: A Primary Source Collection from The Associated Press. 9 vols. Danbury CT: Grolier Publishing.

_____ Gerdes, Louise I., ed. 2000. America’s Decades. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.

_____ Layman, Richard, ed. 1994. American Decades. 12 vols. Detroit: Gale Research.

_____ Levine, Matt, ed. 1998. The Associated Press Library of Disasters. 8 vols. Danbury, CT: Grolier International.

_____ Ushan, Michael V. 1999. A Cultural History of the United States: Through the Decades. 5 vols. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, Inc.

About Issues:

_____ Goldfarb, Theodore D. 1993. Taking Sides. 20 vols. Guilford, CT: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.

About Places:

_____ Johnson, William Weber, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. 1972. The American Wilderness. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books.

4. Then, check out these websites:

_____ http://mel.org This is the best! Among other things, it include: 150 newspapers, including New York Times, Michigan newspapers, General Reference Center Gold, InfoTrac.

_____www.infoplease.com All kinds of information._____ www.refdesk.com Links to search engines, quick finds,

pictures, and references._____www.libraryspot.com Links to all kinds of libraries._____www.findarticles.com Vast archive of published articles._____ memory.loc.gov Source materials relating to the history

and culture of the United States._____www.biography.com A good place to begin biography

research._____www.lokol.com A great site that uses a number of search

engines.

©2006 by Melinda Putz from A Teacher’s Guide to the Multigenre Research Project.

http://www.refdesk.com/

Using Electronic Sources Review the following search techniques before you begin your Internet search. Taking the time to do this could save you time and frustration.

Many online databases allow the use of the Boolean terms NOT, AND, OR and the use of quotation marks to help you limit your search. In some databases, you can use (+) for AND or (–) for NOT.

If you use AND, the documents you are looking for must contain both words that are connected with AND. For example, Tigers AND baseball—instead of just Tigers—will probably eliminate the possibility of getting articles on jungle animals (unless there’s some trained tiger that has learned to catch baseballs in his teeth).

If you use OR, the documents you are looking for will contain either one word or the other, so you would get articles on both topics. If you type Tigers OR baseball, you’ll get tons of hits—everything on any kind of tiger and everything about baseball.

If you are hunting for a particular category, but you don’t want anything about some particular part of that category, then you should enter AND NOT. So if you are looking for all pets except fish, you would type in pets AND NOT fish.

If you are looking for one subject and either of a couple of other subjects, you can use AND and parentheses and OR. For instance, if you wanted to find out about either the planning or the schedule of Woodstock, you could type in Woodstock AND (planning OR schedule).

If you want to limit your search to a specific kind of item, you can use parentheses and AND NOT. For instance, you might enter (Beatles OR “John Lennon” OR “Ringo Starr”) AND NOT (“George Harrison” OR “Paul McCartney”).

You’ll notice that in the last entry, the names were included in quotation marks. That is because some search engines will search for entries containing each word. If you want it to look for both words in the order in which they are given, you should enclose them in parentheses.

Does the Website Contain Accurate and Reliable Information?

Here are some questions (Berger 1998, 56, 65) you should ask about a source before you decide to include information about it in your research paper.

• Is it clear who owns the website? Is • Is the content meaningful and useful?contact information for author or • Do you notice any kind of bias? webmaster available? • Does the information appear to be fact

• Does the purpose of the site seem to or opinion?be to entertain, sell, educate, or • Does the information appear to bepersuade? accurate?

• What is the author’s expertise? • Are the grammar and spelling correct? • When was it last updated?


HANDOUT 3B

FQI Sheet

Topic: ________________________________________

MLA Entry: __________________________________________________

Facts (with page #s) Questions Interpretations


FQI Sheet (by Jami Cameron)Topic: Charles M. Schulz

MLA Entry: Michaelis, David. “Passages: The Life and Times of Charles Schulz.” 2003. Charles M. Schulz Museum. 13 Oct. 2003. www.schulzmuseum.org/ schulzbio.html

Facts (with page #s)

Oct. 2, 1950—Peanuts debuts, Charles was 27 years old. (1)

Nov. 26, 1922 Charles Sparky Schulz was born in St. Paul, MN—(only child). (4)

His father was a barber. Charles talked about it in his comics. (3)

Left out as a child because he was so smart. (4)

Drawings were left out of the yearbook, but at 53 he made sure the high school report cards showed a facsimile of his work. (5)

Survived W.W.II and the Depression. (5)

New type of strip; most mid-century comics had action, adventure, etc. Schulz drew the real feelings of his life and time. (1)

“Charlie Brown was something new in comics: a real person, with a real psyche and real problems.” (2) The reader felt like they knew him.

He always felt like no one loved him except his mom and dad. (4)

At high school “he felt underestimated by teachers, coaches, and peers. No one ever gave him credit for his drawing or superior golf games.” (4)

Mom died from colon cancer when he was 20. Three days later, he left for the army. (5)

Questions Interpretations Where did he get the ideas for his characters?

Birth announcement

How did he feel about his father Comic strip being a barber?

What did the report card look Report card like?

Did he have bad memories about Something about the this? military—in the newspaper

What made him choose this type?

Who is Charlie modeled after?

Birthday card

What did these people do to Dialogue him?

How did he feel? Obituary


HANDOUT 3E

Directions for the Powerpoint:

This powerpoint presentation is to show you how to use a different genre and how to gather information and pull out the main points. It will need to have at least five slides that include:

What your topic is about What role you will be playing and why Background information What life was like (was it hard, was it dangerous, etc.) Why was George so important? Where you got your information

Please remember that although you will not be graded on the proper form of citing your sources, they still need to be there. You will need to know where you got your information so that at the end of the week when we learn how to make a works cited page, you will have the information to do so. The information needed will include:

The author or authors name(s) The date The publishing date The publishing company The title The page numbers, volume and issue The URL (if from online source)

Some sources might not have all the information, but make sure you have enough to go back and find it again if you need to. Collecting as much data today will save you time on Friday when we create our works cited page. If you have any questions or concerns on where to find any of this information, please don’t hesitate to ASK!

Day 3


SOL(s): 5.1 The student will listen, draw conclusions, and share responses in subject-related group learning activities.

a) Participate in and contribute to discussions across content areas. b) Organize information to present in reports of group activities. c) Summarize information gathered in group activities. e) Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams. f) Demonstrate the ability to work independently.


Students will adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

Students will employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Students will use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning,enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Introduction: The teacher will have the student get out the information they found in the lab the previous day. Then the teacher will ask how the students feel about journals/diaries. Teacher will explain that diaries/journals are important, using examples from The Diary of Anne Frank. Teacher will then proceed to assign the diary entry. The diary entry should resemble something similar to Anne’s, but still have the individuality of the student. Dairy should be written in the perspective of young George Washington or one of the people who came in contact with him when he was young (ex. Slave, mother, carpenter etc.).


Students will use the research from their technology lesson in order to use it for a diary assignment.

Students will create a diary entry as if they are George Washington himself or someone who had lived on his childhood plantation.

Students will draw/create a visual aid to go with their diary. Students will present their diary entries to the class.


Have students get out the research they did in the lab the previous day. Start a conversation about why diaries and journals are important (see extender section

if you cannot think of questions). Read sample entries from important journals/diaries. Have the students write a diary entry as if they were George Washington or someone

who lived with/near George Washington as a child. Have the students draw/make a visual aid to go with their entry. Have students present their entries to the class.

Closing: Students will share their journal entries with the class and briefly explain why they chose to write from the perspective they wrote from. The teacher will review the importance of/need for journals and diaries.

Evaluation: See Diary/Presentation Rubric

Materials:

Blow Dryer Tea Bags No-line Paper Ink Well Pins Pen/Paper

Markers Crayons Colored Pencils Construction paper

Assignments: “Remember that we are using technology this week to help us strengthen our writing skills in multiple genres. Today we learned how to write a diary entry using research that we did earlier this week. When you go home tonight, I want you to write a brief paragraph discussing whether or not the research helped you when writing your diary and if it did not, what you would do differently when researching or have me do differently with the assignment.”

Extenders/Back-Up Activities: If the students finish making and presenting their diaries early, they will create another diary entry answering some of/ all of the following questions (remember be creative):Where were you born?How big is your family?

How old are you?What are some of the things that you like to do for fun?What is it like to not have air-conditioning during the summer and a heater during the winter?If you could warn the people of 2012 about one thing, what would it be?

Teacher Notes:

Teacher will call the role while students pull out their George Washington research from yesterday’s computer lab lesson.

Teacher will ask students questions like the following: Do you think it is important to keep a diary/journal? Why/why not? Do you think that people use diaries/journals to account for historical events? Teacher will read an entry from The Diary of Anne Frank (preferably having to do with

the bombings). Teacher will have students take out regular paper and a pen/pencil. Teacher will tell the students that they are going to use their research to help them write

a diary entry as if they were the young George Washington or someone who lived with him or helped take care of him.

Teacher will tell the students’ to make sure their work is edited (by teacher) before making their final draft.

BEFORE children start writing, explain that they will be making their paper look more authentic by dying it with tea leaves. (Look at Paper Dying Instructions below for reference as to how to dye the paper. Reference 1)

Teacher will then have students start writing and bringing their work to his/her desk. When students work has been checked, student can go over to the paper dying station. Teacher will then hand out ink well pens to those who are done so that they can write

their final copy on their dyed paper. Teacher will check final product and have student go to the visual aid station

(Reference 2) and pick out what they want to use for creating their visual aid. Teacher will have the class sit back down and have everyone present their diaries. (until

the bell rings) Teacher will briefly review why diaries are important. Teacher will give their students their homework (see assignments).

References:

1. Paper dying Instructions:Crinkle one piece of plain paperPlace one tea bag in a container of water until moistTake moist tea bag and shake over water containerSlowly rub moist tea bag on paper (push harder for darker results)Use blow dryer to dry paper

2. Visual aid station:

Have multiple types/colors of paper, markers, crayons, and colored pencils.

Diary/Presentation Rubric

___ Student completed diary entry

___ Diary entry followed appropriate topic selected in class

___ Student had few grammatical errors

___ Student presented diary entry to the class

___ Student included a visual aid with diary entry

___ Student put forth effort into the assignment

Comments:_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.Next time:_____________________________________________________________________.

What I liked this time: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Grade:

Day 4


SOL(s): 5.8 The student will write for a variety of purposes: to describe, to inform, to entertain, and

to explain.a) Choose planning strategies for various writing purposes.b) Organize information.c) Demonstrate awareness of intended audience.d) Use precise and descriptive vocabulary to create tone and voice.e) Vary sentence structure.f) Revise writing for clarity.g) Use available technology to access information.






Introduction: The teacher will bring in different newspapers such as the New York Times, Richmond Times Dispatch, and Southside sentinel, from across the state and have the students break up into pairs. They will then look a few front page news stories to see and find the important attributes of a front page story. The teacher will then review the different elements of a front page news story with the students.


Be placed into pairs by the teacher dependent upon their writing level. A good writer will be paired with a struggling writer.

Pick a major event that happened at George Washington’s birth place from a list given out by the teacher (or they can choose their own if they desire).

Use the computers and books in the classroom to further explore the event that they chose to write about.

Write a front page news story with a partner about George Washington’s birth place.


Review the important elements of a front page news article with the class. Divide the student into pairs. Help the students pick out a topic they are interested in writing about. Monitor the students as they research to make sure they are on the right track. Place all the articles together in order to create an actual newspaper written by the class

about the major event that occurred at George Washington’s birth place.

Closing: The students will share with the class briefly about the topic they chose to write about. The teacher will review the important parts of a newspapers paper article with the students to insure that they were included in their writing. This will be done orally. The teacher will review all of the genres covered so far this week orally, by asking students questions.

Evaluation: Their evaluation will be based on the student’s knowledge of their topic, the research they completed, and the article that was written. The teacher will also ask questions throughout the process of the project in order to check the student’s knowledge.

Materials:

Computers Internet Books Encyclopedias Instructions for article Newspaper from around the country


The students will look for pictures that can help to make their article more appealing. The students will use computers in the classroom to type up their article so that a

newspaper can be created.

Teacher Notes:

Introduction:

The teacher will bring in news papers from various parts of the country such as small town news papers, state paper, and even the New York Times.

The teacher will ask the students if they read these on a daily basis or if they have seen their parents reading the newspaper on a daily basis. The point to be made here will be

that everybody has some contact with news papers. The teacher will also make the point that before the internet or television the newspaper was the only souse of knowing what was happening in the world.

The teacher will ask the students what they know about front page stories (expecting answers such as the heading is big, it is important, pictures, etc.)

The teacher will then distribute the newspapers to the class and have the class brain storm what makes a great front page news article (important things that should be mentioned: it should be attractive, the first couple of sentences should catch the reader’s attention, it should be short and to the point (no fluff), the audience is the public, should keep the reader’s attention). The teacher will also address other things that the students bring up keep a running list on the board.

The students will then be broken into pairs by the teacher (they will already be determined) to start the next writing assignment. A strong writer will be paired with a struggling writer.

The Assignment (Also see assignment sheet for written instructions): The teacher will tell the students that they are going to be writing a front page news

paper article about an event that would have happened at George Washington’s birth place.

The teacher will explain that the students should consider the attributes of a good article that they had just talked about with the other newspapers.

The teacher will then hand out the assignment sheet and ask the students the pick a topic that they remember a lot about or that they are interested in.

The teacher will then explain that they can use the knowledge they gained from the field trip or that they can use resources in the classroom such as computers or books to help gain more information. They can use the research skill gained earlier in the week and feel free to ask the teacher questions.

The teacher will then explain that if the information comes from someplace other than their brain, they will need to cite the source because no one is allowed to steal other individuals work. Since the students will not have yet been taught to cite their source correctly, they will need to write down the web site and author or the book and author. Tomorrow they will learn to completely cite all of their sources for the entire project.

While the students are working on their articles, the teacher will circulate to make sure the students are on task and are using their resources correctly. The teacher will remind the students that an article should not be extremely long.

Extension and Closure: As the students begin to finish writing the teacher will briefly read over the article to

see if the students are on the right track.

The teacher will then allow the students to type their articles and find pictures to make the article more appealing to the audience.

If time permits, the students will share their articles with the rest of the class. If not the teacher will review the important parts of an article with the class making

sure their articles supports each of those important concepts.

After class the teacher will print off the articles and combine them into a newspaper that will be kept in the classroom.

George Washington Birth Place News Article Assignment

You and your partner are traveling back into time and are reporters for the local newspaper during George Washington’s life. Choose one of the topics below and create a front page story about the topic.

A few things to remember about writing an article:

o It needs a title

o It needs to have the authors’ names written under the titleo The first paragraph should grab the reader’s attentiono The audience is the publico It should be to the point and avoid fluffo It should be attractive and appealingo It should keep the readers’ attention

When you have completed writing your article make sure you have included everything on this list!

You can use your knowledge from our field trip or your research skills to add more information. Remember if you use somebody else’s work you must cite it.

Topic Choices:

o The Great House burning downo New games createdo A slave was hurt which completing a daily task such as (cooking/ sewing/ making a

nail)o George Washington was elected presidento Slave musico Any other topic covered on the field trip that you would like to write about – Must

have teacher’s permission

Day 5


SOL(s): 5.8 The student will write for a variety of purposes: to describe, to inform, to entertain, and to explain.

h) Choose planning strategies for various writing purposes.i) Organize information.j) Demonstrate awareness of intended audience.k) Use precise and descriptive vocabulary to create tone and voice.l) Vary sentence structure.m) Revise writing for clarity.n) Use available technology to access information.


Students will employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Students will use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning,enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Introduction: From the past week’s learning of different genres and research collected, students will use their knowledge and imaginations to choose a genre in which they would like to create. After they have created their piece, the teacher will demonstrate for the whole class how to do a works cited page. They will then create their works cited page individually.


Student will reflect on the week’s writing assignments. Student will pick one of the following: A genre used during the week, a genre from the

teachers chosen list (see teacher notes for list), or a genre specially approved for the child.

Student will use previous knowledge of their chosen genre, as well as the teacher credentials(see list below teacher notes) for the genre in order to complete one sample piece of work.

If time permits, the students will share their work and tell the class why they picked their genre.

Student will turn in their work for the whole week in order to have it graded as a whole (see rubric in teacher notes).

Student will go home and write about their experience throughout the week including:What they liked about the multi-genre theme, what they did not like, what they would do differently next time, and if they felt like the week helped strengthen their writing skills.


Review with the students all the things they have covered over the past week including the field trip, genres covered, and research techniques.

Review with the students how to cite their sources. Help the students pick the genre that will best show their knowledge. Explain to the students that over the past week they have created a multigenre project.

Closing: The students will have learned how to be more creative independently by coming up with their very own genre piece to go into their multigenre project. They will have also learned how to cite all of the sources they have collected for their project. This will wrap up the unit as a whole and they will be better acquainted with different genres.

Evaluation: The students will be evaluated on the entire multigenre project based on a rubric that is attached.

Materials:

Worksheet Overhead projector Markers Colored Paper


When students have finished their project and works cited page, they will be assigned to help another student that is struggling or having trouble.

If everyone has finished, they will then form a circle and have a discussion about what they enjoyed about the project and what they did not enjoy about the project. They will also be asked to share some other ideas that they might have liked to incorporate as well.

Teacher Notes:

Teacher will start out by reviewing the week and the different genres they have covered.

o During the time the teacher will ask the students the important parts of each of the different genre that have discussed throughout the week (play, powerpoint, diary, and newspaper article)

o During the time the teacher will ask the students which genre they liked the best and why. This will show that everybody has their own way of writing.

She/he will then pass out a worksheet with all sorts of different genres that might be intriguing to the students. See Wrapping it All Up Worksheet

Then the teacher will review each genre with the students asking them what they already know about each of them. The teacher will talk about the check list on the assignment sheet and how each genre has different important concepts.

The students will then be asked to either pick one of these choices or come up with one of their own (with permission from the teacher first).

Remind the students that while some of the genres use a lot fewer words than others, they must be able to sum up everything in a few words. Therefore, the less words you use the more you know.

Once the student has picked a genre he/she would like to do, they will create a project using their check list for the different genres.

The teacher will explain that what the students have created this past week is a multigenre project. They will turn all five pieces of writing in together and be evaluated on each of them.

The teacher will then explain that in order for the project to be complete they need to learn to cite their sources because credit must be given to the proper person.

When they finish, the class will be brought together so that the teacher can show them how to create a works cited sheet on the overhead.

Using the worksheet that is attached the teacher will go over step by step how to cite a website and a book. The teacher will ask students to volunteer one of their sources so that the class can cite them together.

After the teacher has shown the class examples of how to cite their sources, she/he will let them work on theirs individually.

The teacher will tell the students to use the worksheet on citing sources that was provided and to ask questions when needed.

Remind the students that they will be finalizing all of their writings from the last week on Monday making them into a final product to be turned into the teacher.

Extender Questions:

What did you like about this project?

What did you not like about this project?

If you could do it again what would you change? Would you change anything?

Is there anything else that should have been incorporated in the project?

Wrapping it All Up:

Please choose from one of the following genres to complete your multigenre project. Use all of your knowledge from our field trip and your research from this week in order to complete this project.

Each genre has a checklist of items to make sure you include in your final draft.

Feel free to be as creative as possible! If you cannot find information you will have to make it up, but make sure to ASK THE TEACHER FIRST!!!! You will also need to make any information you make up realistic.

Driver’s License:

For this project you will be creating George Washington’s Driver’s License

Make sure to include the following:

_______ Picture

_______ Birth Date

_______ Address

_______ Sex, Height, Weight, Hair, Eyes

______ Description of the vehicle he will have driven

_______ Signature

CD Liner:

For this project you will be creating a CD liner for it George Washington was in a band. What would it say to describe him and his band?

Make sure to include:

_______ Title of the band

_______ Description of the band

_______ Major accomplishments of the band

_______ Publisher

_______ Appealing and colorful/ attractive

Fictitious Interview:

For this project you will be writing an interview in order to interview a person who lived with George Washington as a child.


_______ At least one page typed

_______ Formatted so that it is easy to read, appealing, and realistic

_______ Should be in question format

_______ Include the person you chose to interview

Letters to the Past:

For this project you will write a letter to George Washington to warn him about something that is happening now. Possible topics include global warming or political issues.


_______ Written in letter format

_______ Has to be sent through the mail (be sure to include an address)

_______ Formal Letter

_______ Signed

_______ Include the date

Obituary:

For this project you will be writing George Washington’s obituary.


_______ Birth and death date along with the places

_______ Important events in his life

_______ Information about his family

_______ Information about his funeral

_______ An organization to which people could make donation in his memory (You will have to make this up but make it realistic)

Good Resources in our Media Center or Online

1. The Card Catalogue

When you begin your research, you will probably begin at the card catalogue. As you peruse the files there, don’t forget that your subject may be included in books about more general topics. For instance, if your research is on Elvis Presley, by entering his name as subject, you probably will find whole autobiographies on the singer, but you can undoubtedly also find information on him in other books on more general topics such as Rock ’n Roll, Entertainment, The 50s, and so on.

2. The Encyclopedias

Don’t forget the old standbys, the encyclopedias; they contain valuable, factual information, usually sequenced in a way that can help you get an overall view of your subject before you begin extensive research.

3. Then, look at these books. Check off the ones you’ve used. About People:

_____ Avery, Laura, ed. 2004. Newsmakers: The People Behind the Headlines. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.

_____ Barnes, Dana R., ed. 2000. Contemporary Heroes and Heroines. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale Group.

_____ Gillispie, Charles Coulston. 1971. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

_____ Great Athletes. 1992. 20 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.

_____ Hilstrom, Devin, ed. 2004. Biography Today: Profiles of People of Interest to Young Readers. Detroit: Omnigraphics.

_____ Leish, Kenneth W., proj. dir. 2001. The American Scene: Lives. 12 vols. Danbury, CT: Grolier.

_____ Levin, Eric, ed. 1999. People Weekly: 25 Amazing Years. New York: Time Inc. Home Entertainment.

_____ Magill, Frank N., ed. 1987. Great Lives from American History.5 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.

_____ Moritz, Charles, ed. 1990. Current Biography Yearbook. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company.


HANDOUT 3A

About Events:

_____Churchill, James, ed. 1995. Twentieth-Century America: A Primary Source Collection from The Associated Press. 9 vols. Danbury CT: Grolier Publishing.

_____ Gerdes, Louise I., ed. 2000. America’s Decades. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.

_____ Layman, Richard, ed. 1994. American Decades. 12 vols. Detroit: Gale Research.

_____ Levine, Matt, ed. 1998. The Associated Press Library of Disasters. 8 vols. Danbury, CT: Grolier International.

_____ Ushan, Michael V. 1999. A Cultural History of the United States: Through the Decades. 5 vols. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, Inc.

About Issues:

_____ Goldfarb, Theodore D. 1993. Taking Sides. 20 vols. Guilford, CT: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.

About Places:

_____ Johnson, William Weber, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. 1972. The American Wilderness. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books.

4. Then, check out these websites:

_____ http://mel.org This is the best! Among other things, it include: 150 newspapers, including New York Times, Michigan newspapers, General Reference Center Gold, InfoTrac.

_____www.infoplease.com All kinds of information._____ www.refdesk.com Links to search engines, quick finds,

pictures, and references._____www.libraryspot.com Links to all kinds of libraries._____www.findarticles.com Vast archive of published articles._____ memory.loc.gov Source materials relating to the history and

culture of the United States._____www.biography.com A good place to begin biography research._____www.lokol.com A great site that uses a number of search

engines.


HANDOUT 3A (continued)

http://www.refdesk.com/

Using Electronic Sources

Review the following search techniques before you begin your Internet search. Taking the time to do this could save you time and frustration.

Many online databases allow the use of the Boolean terms NOT, AND, OR and the use of quotation marks to help you limit your search. In some databases, you can use (+) for AND or (–) for NOT.

If you use AND, the documents you are looking for must contain both words that are connected with AND. For example, Tigers AND baseball—instead of just Tigers—will probably eliminate the possibility of getting articles on jungle animals (unless there’s some trained tiger that has learned to catch baseballs in his teeth).

If you use OR, the documents you are looking for will contain either one word or the other, so you would get articles on both topics. If you type Tigers OR baseball, you’ll get tons of hits—everything on any kind of tiger and everything about baseball.

If you are hunting for a particular category, but you don’t want anything about some particular part of that category, then you should enter AND NOT. So if you are looking for all pets except fish, you would type in pets AND NOT fish.

If you are looking for one subject and either of a couple of other subjects, you can use AND and parentheses and OR. For instance, if you wanted to find out about either the planning or the schedule of Woodstock, you could type in Woodstock AND (planning OR schedule).

If you want to limit your search to a specific kind of item, you can use parentheses and AND NOT. For instance, you might enter (Beatles OR “John Lennon” OR “Ringo Starr”) AND NOT (“George Harrison” OR “Paul McCartney”).

You’ll notice that in the last entry, the names were included in quotation marks. That is because some search engines will search for entries containing each word. If you want it to look for both words in the order in which they are given, you should enclose them in parentheses.

Does the Website Contain Accurate and Reliable Information?

Here are some questions (Berger 1998, 56, 65) you should ask about a source before you decide to include information about it in your research paper.

• Is it clear who owns the website? Is • Is the content meaningful and useful?contact information for author or • Do you notice any kind of bias? webmaster available? • Does the information appear to be fact

• Does the purpose of the site seem to or opinion?be to entertain, sell, educate, or • Does the information appear to bepersuade? accurate?

• What is the author’s expertise? • Are the grammar and spelling correct? • When was it last updated?


HANDOUT 3B

Assessment of Multigenre Research Project

1. Criterion: Content [specific facts; thorough; five genres; interesting; appealing]

Self Evaluation

|__________________________________|__________________________________| Yeah, right Not bad Fo shizzle!

Teacher Evaluation

|__________________________________|__________________________________| Not yet Okay Yes!

2. Criterion: Organization [focused; coherent (pieces are linked); logical order]

Self Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|

Yeah, right Not bad Fo shizzle!

Teacher Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|

Not yet Okay Yes!

3. Criterion: Creativity [graphic elements and pictures; unique and appropriate packaging; clever writing style (word choice, sentence variety, etc.); authentic presentation styles; colorful]

Self Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|


Teacher Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|

Not yet Okay Yes!


HANDOUT 8C

4. Criterion: Endnotes [source information for each piece with page numbers for directly quoted material]

Self Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|


Teacher Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|

Not yet Okay Yes!

5. Criterion: Works Cited [correct MLA format]

Self Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|


Teacher Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________| Not yet

Okay Yes!

6. Criterion: Mechanics [capitalization/sentence structure/spelling/usage; neat-ness; ink or typed]

Self Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|


Teacher Evaluation

|__________________________________|___________________________________|

Not yet Okay Yes!


Documents

blogs.longwood.edublogs.longwood.edu/.../06/final-product-lesson.docx · Web viewGeorge Washington’s Birth Place Field Trip: Katlin Major, Lizzie Byrnes, Tori Simmons . Narrative