Lesson Plans

Standards-Based Outcomes (MDE):

English Language Arts:

VI. Genre And Craft of Language

Content Standard VI, 8: All students will explore and use the characteristics of different types of texts, aesthetic elements, and mechanics- including text structure, figurative and descriptive language, spelling, punctuation, and grammar- to construct and convey meaning.

3. Describe and use characteristics of informational genre (e.g., manuals, briefings, documentaries, and research presentations) and complex elements of expository texts (e.g., thesis statement, supporting ideas, and authoritative and/or statistical evidence) to convey ideas.

IX. Inquiry and Research

Content Standard IX, 11: All students will define and investigate important issues and problems using a variety of resources, including technology, to explore and create texts.

2. Determine, evaluate, and use resources that are most appropriate and readily available for investigating a particular question or topic. Examples include knowledgeable people, field trips, prefaces, appendices, icons/headings, hypertext, menus and addresses, Internet and electronic mail, CD-ROM/laser disks, microfiche, and library and interlibrary catalog databases.

3. Synthesize and evaluate information to draw conclusions and implications based on their investigation of an issue or problem.

Prior Knowledge

Students can explain the components of the writing process: plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish.
Students can explain the requirements as they are listed on the rubric they have used all semester.
Students have read, viewed, and studied many pieces of nonfiction writing and documentaries about the Titanic.
Students know how to use the computer and a variety of programs such as Media Weaver, ClarisWorks, Claris Impact, and Book Shelf ‘98.
Students have experience in using the Internet as a research tool, and know how to use the library.

Cue Set:

Dressed as a crew member of a ship and holding a can filled with different colored shapes, the teacher has each student choose a circle, a square, or a triangle. The class then separates into three groups identified by the shapes. With the recording of the now famous ballad “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion playing in the background, the students discover whether their group represents first, second, or third class passengers on the Titanic.
The teacher takes students back to the year 1912 by assigning them names of famous people on this doomed ship. They then learn the person's history and the part he/she played in the world's greatest maritime disaster.

Best Shot Instruction:

Using the KWL reading strategy, the students brainstorm what they already know about the Titanic disaster and write it onto a poster board in the room. After they have exhausted their prior knowledge, they use a second poster board to list questions they want answered about the Titanic.
Students then search the Internet and the library for information to share with one another. They continue to explore many facets of the event through newspaper clippings, fact sheets, guest lists, ship designs, interviews, plays, and letters written both before and after the tragedy. After three to four days of reading the materials, students view a few video clips of the ship when it was built and before it sailed from England.
Students then begin one of the following projects:

1) Letters: You are one of the teenage children aboard the fabulous new luxury liner writing to a friend just before you leave for the U.S.A. What are your observations and thoughts?

2) Journals: It is the day after you, a surviving passenger, reach New York on the Carpathia. You want to write down the dramatic incidents which occurred as the ship sank and during the time you spent on the lifeboat. What do you write?

3) Television or Radio Broadcast: You are a reporter for a major network and have been assigned the task of meeting the Carpathia in New York. Design a video in which you present on-the-spot interviews of the survivors, a portrayal of the tragedy as it occurs, or a documentary about the great ship.

4) Advertisements: You are an ad designer and have been hired by the White Star Line to create the billboards and advertisements for the new ship's maiden voyage. Using the facts you know about the Titanic, design an advertising campaign.

5) Editorials: You are the editor of a New York newspaper and, through studying eyewitness reports, have an understanding of the confusion and lack of planned safety measures revealed by the Titanic's sinking. You are outraged. What do you write?

6) Interviews: One year after the sinking, you have arranged an exclusive interview with Bruce Ismay, the bitterly criticized director of the White Star Line. This interview is his chance to tell his side of the story. What are your questions? What are his answers?

7) News Articles: You are the managing editor of the New York Herald when the facts of the Titanic disaster reach you. How do you announce the sinking? What do you write for your main headline and your subheadings? How do you lead into the story in a way that will grab readers? Design the front page of the newspaper and include pictures from the Internet.

8) Plays: You are in one of the Titanic's lifeboats along with twenty other people. In the distance, you can hear the frantic cries for help from passengers struggling in the frigid water after the great ship has sunk. You know your father is one of the people in the ocean. Imagine the scene in the lifeboat and then write it in dramatic form, involving four or five people from the boat as participants.
Students then work singly or in pairs in the computer lab to create their projects. They use the software program ClarisWorks along with its spellcheck and thesaurus features for word processing. Depending upon the project type chosen, students can import their work to Media Weaver or use Claris Impact. They can use the Internet as a resource for information as well as graphics. Students use self-edit and peer-edit rubrics with at least two different peer-editors as they revise and edit their projects.
They must save their projects on disks and then present them to the class from the classroom computer and TV monitor. The students discuss the projects after each is presented to further expand their understanding.

Reteaching and Enrichment:

Students are encouraged to have their projects critiqued before the class for additional feedback.
Students requiring more assistance can meet with the teacher or advanced students. They man revise and resubmit their projects for a higher grade.

Review and Closure:

Students complete the third KWL poster board in the room with lists of what they have learned.
Each student's work goes into his/her classroom writing portfolio along with a focus area or writing goal he/she plans to concentrate on during the next assignment.

Assessment:

I. Formative Assessment:

The teacher makes several observations:

1. Students are more motivated and try to add sophistication to their writing through the multimedia software.

2. Students are successful in gathering information to increase their understanding as well as complete their projects.
The students make self-assessments:

1. Students enjoy having a choice of project type. It allows for diversity within the assignment and covers more than one writing genre.

2. They like working with partners to create impressive finished projects.

II. Summative Assessment:

The teacher evaluates and approves the brainstormed plan of the project.
The teacher evaluates and approves the method in which the self-editing and peer-editing sheets are used.
The teacher uses the scoring guide for the MEAP Writing Assessment with the students’ final drafts.

East Detroit Public Schools Lesson Design

East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design