Collaborative+unit+plan

Please click here for
 * Collaborative Unit Plan Lesson Sequence (CUPLS) assignment
 * Collaborative Unit Possibilities (choosing a focus)
 * Gatsby Unit Rationale
 * Gatsby Unit Goals/Assessments
 * Gatsby Unit Lessons



Collaborative Unit Plan: //The Great Gatsby//
(back to top) Audience: 11th grade Big Question: What is success? Rationale(s): __Relevance- (Jess, Jessica, Talia, Bob)__ We saw the ability for a connection between our unit on The Great Gatsby and many of the Pa standards. To name a few... 1. The first standard requires "(s)tudents read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States...Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works." The Great Gatsby fits this perfectly. It is one type of writing, a classic, realistic fiction, that the students should be introduced to. Also, the novel is commenting on the era of the 1920's in America, which could be used to teach some of American history. 2. The second standard requires students to read literature that will teach about the human condition. We can do a character study of Gatsby and decide what drives him and if this driving force is something that is common. We can also see how Gatsby's motives effect his life. 3. The Great Gatsby also comments on the difference in language between social classes and the different social roles. This is another goal of the PA standards. Basically, after looking over the list of standards, our group came to the conclusion that The Great Gatsby works well in a high school classroom because it can be a medium to address many different standards. We could even use it to do research on the 1920's if we wanted to go that direction with a lesson. This book is very relevant to a 10th-11th grade classroom and has enough educational value to support a solid rationale to fight off any parent or principal -Bob

__Diversity (Abby, Steve, Shelly, Blair)__ We compiled a list of different activites we could possibly generate to reach many different types of learners in our classrooms: 1. Watching a movie clip and compare the two different mediums (visual learners) 2. Create a skit to portray a certain aspect of the novel (bodily-kinesthetic) 3. Reading outloud (auditory learners) 4. Writing journals that personally respond to a certain part of the text (intrapersonal?) 5. Draw a picture of a character or a specific scene and possibly label the parts that could be symbolic (visual/spatial) 6. Assign a homework assignment that has the whole class read the next three chapters in the book, split the class up into three groups where each group will do an in-depth analysis of the chapter they were assigned to. The next day we would have them collaborate as a group and bring their ideas together and then present to the class what they think they should concentrate on in that chapter (kind of like a jigsaw approach, but every student would be responsible for reading all of the chapters). Students would get a mini, two-question quiz on the chapters that they were not assigned to analyze in-depth just to assess their reading/comprehension. (group-work/interpersonal) 7. Multicultural aspects (learning about the different social classes that may be present in the novel) 8. Have them create character maps (logical)

__Diversity (Megan, Keryn, Ashlie, Ali...?)__ This is what a had in my notes for our group, I didn't realize it hadn't been posted until this afternoon..

Student Lives -cliques -demographics -socioeconomic diversity

Tracking/Learning -speed -focus of different aspects -depth of different aspects

Learning Styles -media -movies -webquest/netquests -lecture -writing -internet -mixed resources and excerpts

Diversity(Rachel, Jeremy,Brie,Erica,Nick)- sorry i just noticed our group had not posted yet! - we said that there was diversity with standards because Gatsby is one of the classic book of the english cannon. With a little flexability all of the standards could be put in this unit, the hard part is choosing wich ones to narrow it down too. - we decided that it has diversity for students because it deals with so many topics and issues. - We realized that there is a potential for diversity of material and technology and that incorporating that is essential to effectively teaching the unit.

Relevence: - there is relevance to the students because many of the things that they are dealing with in there lives can be addressed through Gatsby, also it address issue that are not commonly thought of in the Media. The Media tells kids that what makes people happy is money and great looks, the perfect car or the perfect figure, Gatsby clearly shows that that idea is not true. - there is relevance to our discipline because it is a part of the cannon of classical literature, and it is the second most read book in high school throughout america so our students would be on the same page as the rest of the nation.

Alignment: - The Great Gatsby can easily be molded to align with the standards. - Being the second most read book among high schools nation wide it aligns with the rest of the nation. - it can align with history and other classes if the teachers wanted to do a colaborative thing. The history teacher could teach on the 20's and the english teacher could teach symbolism, the art teacher could teach the importance of color in a text...ect.

Unity: - there are many things that can be gotten out of Gatsby, we decided the fact that it was a focus on one book was the unity. It is unified because it is all from the same text, The Great Gatsby.



Gatsby Unit Goals/Assessments
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 * Goals (//In order to...//) || Assessment(s) (//...students will...//) ||
 * 1. Explore success in their own lives || 4 ||
 * 2. Trace how the pursuit of success affects characters || 3 ||
 * 3. Make an argument using textual evidence || 1, 2 ||
 * 4. Use multiple modes to create responses to text || 1 ||
 * 5. Comprehend basics of plot, character, time period || 5 ||

Overview: 1. Students will make a representation (poster, slideshow) of a character from the novel and how s/he changes as a result of his/her pursuit of success. 2. Students will write an accompanying explanation (using textual evidence) of their decisions in representing the character's evolution. 3. Students will give an oral presentation, with others who have been assigned the same character, using their representations 4. Students will journal regularly throughout the course of the unit, gathering textual evidence about their assigned character and reflecting on success in their own lives. 5. Students will identify basic elements of the novel, including plot events, characters, etc. on multiple choice/short answer test(s)

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Assessment: Assignment sheet Rubric for the projects/presentations Observation task for presentations



Gatsby Unit Lessons
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 * Lesson || Objectives ||
 * 1 - Bob B., Bri, Blair, Keryn || Introduce unit/goals. Divide students into groups. Begin defining success. ||
 * 2 - Blair, Keryn, Erica, Steve || Small group discussion; economic class differences ||
 * 3 - Erica, Steve, Ashlie, Rachel || Focus on picking quotes, PPT game, Chpt 2-3discussion, short essay ||
 * 4 - Ashlie, Rachel, Jess L., Ali || Writing workshop, topic sentence essay, Chpt 4 discussion ||
 * 5 - Jess L., Ali, Jeremy, Jess R. || Mini discussion, foldable, foldable presentations, mini quiz ||
 * 6 - Jeremy, Jess R., Shelly, Nick || Discuss using contextual evidence; trace characters' progress ||
 * 7 - Shelly, Nick, Rob S., Abby || Discuss key points; go over final project criteria ||
 * 8 - Rob S., Abby, Megan, Tali || Character representation presentations; peer evaluation; discussion ||
 * 9 - Megan, Tali, Bob B., Bri || Character representation presentations; peer evaluation; discussion ||



Unit Possibilities
(back to top) Options: "What is a hero?" Unit (11th grade) - Analyzing archetypes in different texts, culminating in personalized project on different texts (novels, movies, etc.) --Ashlie: We could use this to address multiple texts --Jeremy: Based on this, address other texts, mini-lessons --Nick: Find a hero you relate to, tie into individuality, see in others' examples what you didn't at first. --Rachel: Multimodal stations (e.g., artwork portrays the hero; movie archetypes, etc.) --Rob: One text for hero's journey; begin with essay, relate to main character, etc. --Bob: Seems like we're on board with heros, but on the fence about how many books? More student engagement with choice? Different viewpoints? --Rob: Outsiders and Gatsby--two stories that //aren't// the hero's journey

//The Outsiders// (Hinton) Unit (middle school)- Themes: Loss of innocence, coming of age, peer pressure/violence, w/Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and Wonder's "Stay Gold" and film; compare/contrast essay --Erica: Lots of different characters; saving/killing/caring for other people--what qualities make a hero? --Tali: Pair Gatsby with Outsiders? --Rachel: Length --Steve: Different literature styles

Holocaust Unit (11th grade) - different styles/genres possible (stories, graphic novels, informational texts); tie in w/history; a chance to narrow a larger topic, use resources; tie in to current events. --Abby: We could tie these in; should we try something harder?

Theme-based Unit (multiple books)///The Great Gatsby// (Fitzgerald) - Use a variety of pieces related to theme (or Gatsby) to encourage different viewpoints (on e.g., individuality, growth, coming of age) and increase interest. --Erica: How do you organize around a theme? --Jess: I'd like to see how this could be run, challenge for us --Ali: Would we work with a list? How to maintain coherence? --Steve: Gatsby and the (failed) hero's journey? --Megan: Different ways to compare hero (and anti-hero) archetypes in Gatsby. --Ashlie: Pair Gatsby with other texts? --Keryn: Hero as theme with several books would give students a lot --Jess: two novels for students a lot? --Bri: practical to have everyone read different books? "Why would I care?" --Ashlie: more work with multiple books? multiple lessons from different books? --Rachel: One book-->groups branch off --Ali: Teach a classic for practice? --Rob: Central story, theme, bring in other stories by choice --Jeremy: Students //should// read classics and pair them --Bri: Since we have to, why not teach the classics? --Keryn: What Rachel said: let students do sides of it, choice to create interest.



**Collaborative Unit Plan Assignment** (Click here for model)
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Addendum
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