Novel Unit

Meyer 5730

Karen Chester

July 1, 2010

I elected to complete the novel unit onThe Giver by Lois Lowery. This is a complex young adult novel, both in content and vocabulary. In order to most effectively teach literature, I must also teach relevent vocabulary and prepare the students for the content. By the time students reach middle school, they have a diverse background knowledge and vocabulary that assists in reading comprehension. Yet, I recognize that all students are faced with vocabulary that is unfamiliar and that fact can interfere with comprehension. Rigorous vocabulary instruction and comprehension strategies can combine to create better readers and foster greater comprehension skills in understanding words, concepts, topics, and themes in middle school and beyond.

I chose to teach this particular novel because I feel it is necessary for students to be exposed to the idea of a perfect society. By the time they reach 8th grade, they have been exposed to Hitler’s idea of a perfect race and the Holocaust. I want the students to decide for themselves if the concept of a Utopian society is a good idea. Initially most students think it sounds like a great idea until they realize all of the freedoms they would lose. The concluding activity is not original, but remarkable in learning potential. My AIG students, as well as EC students, thoroughly enjoy this novel and the concluding activity. I plan to use this new unit in my classroom next fall.

Before Reading

Utopia Research Activity Webquest

What is a Utopia?

Use the following websites to research the concept of “Utopia.”

Definition of Utopia

Utopian Philosophy:

The three links below are "utopias." Choose two of them to research. Consider their similarities and differences, then, complete a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the two communities you have chosen. You may redraw the Venn Diagram if you need more room. Include at least 3 similarities and 3 differences.

Excellent 3pts. / Good 2pts. / Needs Improvement 1pt.
Organization / Well thought-out, clear, carefully researched ideas. / Clear, easy to follow, and research is logical. / Difficult to understand ideas presented.
Content / Student openly participates in the research. Ideas are very important to the society. / Content accurately reflects student's research, but isn’t relelvent. / Content does not reflect the student researched the communities.

Day One

Read Chapters 1-4

Write Two Voice Poem

1. Hold a whole class discussion about their ideas. Ask follow-up questionsquestions to develop responses. On a T- chart labeled GIVER COMMUNITY & MYCOMMUNITY, list characteristics students share under GIVER COMMUNITY.

2. Now ask students to have another 2-3 minute conversation with partners,

discussing characteristics of life in their own community (fine to compare andcontrast with The Giver community.)

3. Tell the students that they will be expressing their ideas about the two

communities by writing poems "two-voice poems.”

4. Model as an example.

Living in my community... Living in my community. . .

I have very few choices I have many choices.

I am given an Assignment. I choose my job.

Families in my community Families in my community

Can be two, three, four, or more people. Always have four people.

5. Some ideas for students to develop might be living in the community, family life,jobs, or being a particular age. Brainstorm ideas to build their poems.

6. Write or paste poem into your reading response journal.

Criteria / Exemplary / Developing / Weak/Missing
Voice / The poem has two
well developed,
clearly recognizable
voices. / The poem has two voices but the voices are not clearly
recognizable. / The poem does
not have two
voices.
Contrasting Views / The poem shows
an accurate, well
developed view of contrasting communities. / The poem does
not clearly show
contrasting communities. / The poem does
not address contrasting viewpoints.
Format / The poem
effectively uses
two‐voice format, having some lines said separately,
others together. / The poem does
use the proper
two‐voice format, but does not have lines that are separate and together. / The poem is not in a proper two‐voice format.

Day Two

Read Chapters 5-8

Job Assignements - Search For Your Role
1.Which role would you like best, based on your interests, abilities and personality? Refer to chapter 7 for a list of the assignments from the ceremony.

2.Make a list of specific things (10-12) you would need to be able to do to have this job (play games, organize groups, care for others, etc.). Also, how do you act (calm, quiet, caring, nosy - include 3-4 things). What kinds of activities do you like to do (run around at recess, help feed the fish, discuss the news, etc. - include 3-4 things.

3. What role would you assign your friends? Choose 3 friends and tell which roles you would assign them and why they fit into these roles best. Do they like the roles you chose for them? Do you like the roles others chose for you?

4. Write a one page response to this activity, referring back to the text when necessary, in your reading response journal.

Excellent 3pts. / Good 2pts. / Needs Improvement 1pt.
Organization / Well thought-out, clear, carefully planned - sequential paper. / Clear, easy to follow, and logical. / Difficult to understand and follow while reading.
Content / Student openly engages in the activity, based on past experiences, interacting with the text and internal beliefs. / Content accurately reflects student's beliefs and experiences, and interacts with the text. / Content does not reflect student beliefs or does not correspond with The Giver.
Writing Mechanics / Less than 3 errors in grammar and spelling. / Between 3 and 6 errors in grammar and spelling. / More than 6 errors in grammar and spelling.

Day Three

Read Chapters 9-12

Create a Cartoon

After reading the assigned chapters, create a cartoon, a representation of any scene including dialogue. You may choose to create an electronic cartoon using or draw your own cartoon. Include at least two slides in your cartoon. Print out your finished cartoon and glue into your reading response journals.

Excellent 3pts. / Good 2pts. / Needs Improvement 1pt.
Organization / Well thought-out, clear, carefully planned - sequential structure. / Clear, easy to follow, and logical. / Difficult to understand and follow when reviewing project.
Creativity / Project displays creativity at the peak of an 8th grade level student. / Project is presented in an interesting manner. / Project does not display creativity expected at an 8th grade level.
Neatness / Exceptional artwork and handwriting displayed on project. / Easy to read, colorful artwork. / Illegible handwriting, poorly prepared artwork.

Day Four

Read Chapters 13-16

Design and Print a Wordle Poem

  1. To create a wordle poem, you start by selecting at least 10 words and emotions relevent to the section. If a particular word is very important to the section, you can use the word multiple times.
  2. Go to and create the poem. I will demonstrate an example in class.
  3. Print your poem and glue into your reading response journal.

Excellent 3pts. / Good 2pts. / Needs Improvement 1pt.
Content / Content thoroughly and accurately reflects characters or ideas fromThe Giver. / Content reflects characters or ideas fromThe Giver. / Content does not reflect characters or ideas fromThe Giver.
Creativity / Project displays creativity at the peak of an 8th grade level student. / Project is presented in an interesting manner. / Project does not display creativity expected at an 8th grade level.
Organization / More than 10 words used. / 10 words used in the poem. / Less than 10 words used.

Day Five

Read Chapters 17-20

Sketch to Stretch

  1. Choose a scene or passage from chapters 17-20 and draw, create, or locate an electronic picture that represents your interpretation of it. DO NOT draw an illustration, or a picture of what is described in the text; rather, create a scene that symbolizes or represents the feeling, emotion, or meaning related to a scene.Example: the scene where the Giver transmits a memory of sailing to Jonas. Do not find a picture of someone sailing, rather search for a picture that has a calming effect.
  2. Write a description of the scene or passage.
  3. Write an explanation of your picture and how it relates to the scene or passage you have selected.
  4. Then glue the picture and your written assignment in your reader’s response notebooks.

Excellent 3pts. / Good 2pts. / Needs Improvement 1pt.
Content / Student openly engages in the activity, picture totally relates to emotions within the scene. / Picture is somewhat related to the text, but student didn’t make the connection. / Picture does not related to the text, and student didn’t make the connection.
Creativity / Project displays creativity at the peak of an 8th grade level student. / Project is presented in an interesting manner. / Project does not display creativity expected at an 8th grade level.
Neatness / Exceptional artwork and handwriting displayed on project. / Easy to read, colorful artwork. / Illegible handwriting, poorly prepared artwork.
Writing Mechanics / Less than 3 errors in grammar and spelling. / Between 3 and 6 errors in grammar and spelling. / More than 6 errors in grammar and spelling.

Day Six-Eight – This is not an original idea, but something I have used for years because it is so effective and engaging.

Read Chapters 21-23

Working together in groups of four, create your own society.

Use the following guidelines for completing your project:

1. Government (you must have one)

  • Who will make the rules and how will they be enforced?
  • How will you decide on leadership? (vote? competition? royal family?)
  • What are some of the rules that your country will have?
  • What will happen to someone if they break the rules?

2. Education (must be some form)

  • What subjects will be required? (What skills do you want to emphasize in your community? Think about the jobs you want to prepare them for.)
  • What ages will attend?
  • How will your education system be different from our current one?
  • What special features will school have to help students?

3. Employment

  • What kind of businesses will you have in your society?
  • How will students be trained for their employment?
  • Think about the society in The Giver and how they train for and assign jobs. How will your society be similar or different?

4. Money

  • How will people be paid?
  • What type of monetary unit will your society use? How does it compare to our dollar?
  • How will you provide for those who are unemployed?

5. Outside Influences (Those from other communities)

  • Will you be a self-supporting community (provide your own food, waste disposal, etc.) or will you need to get some things from outside the community?
  • If you will be self-supporting, what are all the things that your community will need that you will need to provide for?
  • If you will trade with other countries, what will be your policies about trade?
  • What kind of things or services will you need to get outside of your community?
  • How does your community feel about allowing visitors or letting members of your community visit other places?

6. Responsibilities

  • Think about the society in The Giver and the different responsibilities they had there. What will be the responsibilities of the children? At what age do children start having adult responsibilities?
  • What will adults' responsibilities be? What about the responsibilities of the elderly? At what point do you consider someone elderly?
  • What will happen to the elderly when they begin to go senile? How will you provide for them?

7. Transportation

  • What type of transportation will your community use?
  • Think about pollution. What type of public transportation will you provide?
  • Will you have any special means of transportation other than roads? (subways, air shuttle, trolley, etc.)

8. Recreation/ Entertainment

  • What will people in your community have to do for entertainment?
  • How do you plan to maintain cleanliness and keep up the environment?
  • What types of entertainment will you provide for you children? Teenagers? Adults? Elderly?
  • What types of clothing styles will be popular?

Conclusion

Projects will be presented to the class. You need to explain all areas of your community. Posterboard will be available for you to design your community. You may create and wear costumes and write a national anthem for extra points.

Create Your Own Society Rubric

Government-15 points

  • 3-Group states who makes the rules and who enforces them
  • 3-At least one type of discipline/punishment is clearly stated
  • 3-Created an emblem or flag
  • 3-Created a motto
  • 3-Society has some type of government and is clearly stated

Education- 15 points

  • 5- A certain type of education is listed
  • 5- Tell who goes to school and what kind of school
  • 3- Describes the education system
  • 2- Describes subjects taught

Employment- 10 points

  • 5- Clearly states five different jobs/careers
  • 5- Tells how people are trained for their jobs/careers

Money- 10 points

  • 5- Creates a monetary system
  • 5- Explains how the currency works as compared to ours

Outside Influences- 15 points

  • 5- Explains where food for society will come from
  • 5- Shows a trade policy
  • 5- Describes how community members feel about allowing others to visit

Responsibilities- 5 points

  • 5- Clearly states five responsibilities of children and adults

Transportation- 5 points

  • 5- Describes 5 modes of transportation (1 point each)

Recreation/Entertainment- 10 points

  • 3- Lists 3 recreational activities (1 point each)
  • 5- Separates at least one recreational activity for each age group (children, teenagers, adults, and elderly
  • 2- Compares and Contrasts recreation/entertainment of our society and fictional society

Presentation of Project- 20 points

  • 5- Each group member is involved
  • 5- Practices good speaking skills (eye contact, practiced, volume, gestures, etc.)
  • 5- Address all nine of the sections assigned
  • 5- Group displays compromising skills, work well as a group, peer helping, peer questioning

1. Meet the Author – a site with biographical information on Lois Lowery, the author of The Giver.

2. What is the Newberry Award? This site will give students background information on the reason the medal is awarded and will provide them with a look at past winners.

3. Prior to reading show the book trailer. – This video is very well done. It gives the student just a little background information on the book without revealing the ending.

4. Backgound on Utopia – These three websites are part of the webquest that the students will use to search for background information on a perfect society.

7. Utopia

by Jishi Santos

Well, tis an imaginary place
where peace and tranquility reign
supreme.
It really is an abstract thought
where all that happens is like a
dream.
You can go outside and feel at peace
because here the notion of war is
a foreign thought.
Here there is no money or greed
and everything is free, so nothing
is bought.
Utopia sounds like paradise to me
and that's just how it should be

This poem describes a perfect society. Students typically think that a Utopian society sounds like a great idea until they see the dark side of the story.

8. Euphemisms – This site could be shown on the screen as the discussion of euphemisms was taking place. Students could then work throught the sheet and compare their answers with a partner.

9. Euthanasia – Certain slides from this show can be use to help explain the concept of euthanasia and how it relates to the story.

10.

The Giverby Donny Jackson

After being chosen as the next giver, the rules said that I could lie.
Up until now, I could not tell you why.

The giver showed me the way on the table upon which I lay.
He showed me warmth of the sun, and many ways to have fun.

Also, I have the memories of sorrow, war, and pain.
With these attributes I am sure I can gain.

The Giver's daughter asked for release
So she could have a mindof tranquility and peace.

Since the ceremony of twelve, it has been almost a year.
All the things I have wondered about (like the wierdness of the apple)
Have become abundantly clear.

The planes search for Gabriel and me from the sky above.|
But I am hoping to reach our destination of warmness and love.

We seek a life not without pain, suffering, and thinking I am dumb.
Gabriel and I have reached our destination knowing not what we will become...

This poem would be a great conclusion to the story.