Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Assignment #2
August 1, 2008
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Materials
• Computers
• LCD projector
• Video Camera
• Digital Camera
• Class set of Number the Stars novels
Objectives
• To develop oral presentation skills
• To work cooperatively to collaborate on a related projects
• To be able to read between and beyond the lines of text to
interpret multiple perspectives of what is read
• Gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust
• Gain advanced computer skills to produce a multimedia
presentation
• Use technology to develop multi-facets of writing and reading
Pre-requisites
• Students would have completed reading the novel Number the
Stars by Lois Lowry in class – participating in offline and online
activities
• Students would be familiar with basic computer technology tasks
such as the ones being described in this lesson
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Lesson plan for 30 students. The students would be put into small
groups of three for Tasks 1 and 2. The final task will combine two
groups to form groups of six.
To launch the lesson and to engage the students the teacher will use a
computer with an LCD projector to play Character Jeopardy. The
students will be divided into two groups.
The teacher will use the Number the Stars Character Jeopardy
(TeacherVision, 2008) link to show the questions. Each team will
assign a score keeper and a question reader. The teacher will
determine a point value to each question and set the guidelines for the
game. The teacher will monitor the alternating of questions being
read between the two teams.
After the game the teacher will lead a whole group discussion to
collaboratively debate:
• similarities and differences of physical and personality attributes
of people in general and specifically the characters in the story
• what clues are given in a story that tell about the character’s
attributes – how those attributes relate to some of the themes
of the story (i.e. friendship, bravery, citizenship)
• how does an author develop a character – what techniques are
used to create the character
Students’ Task 1
The first task involves each group discussing and brainstorming face to
face the main characters of the novel. The group members are to
agree on one to three characters to analyze and describe the
character’s physical and personality attributes.
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Using the computer the students create a concept map for each of the
characters with the character’s name in the middle and the attributes
in the outer strands of the concept map; creating a descriptive
analysis of the character(s). The students are to reveal important and
different aspects of the character(s) and are to include page citations
that support the attributes being described.
Students’ Task 2
In this second task the students are to discuss and brainstorm face to
face some big ideas or themes that emerged from the novel. Themes
such as bravery, friendship, citizenship, war, peace, fear or sacrifice
are a few ideas to consider.
Using the computer the members of the group in this task are to agree
on one to three themes that reflect the overall sense of the story.
Each group is to develop one concept map for each theme similar to
the attribute webs – no more than three themes are required – one
theme is acceptable.
The group is to write the theme in the middle of each web and discuss
and add supportive explanations and page numbers from the text that
illustrate and justify the ideas of the theme.
Students’ Task 3
Two groups of three will combine to form groups of six for the final
task. To begin, each of the small groups of three will share their
character and theme concept maps with the other group of three. The
newly formed group of six will choose one character and one theme
from their concept maps to create a multimedia presentation that
describes their understanding of the novel’s character and theme.
For example the group of six could decide on depicting a scene from
the story and represent that scene from their chosen character’s
perspective based on the ideas from the concept maps. Since the
book is originally written from the main character, Annemarie’s
viewpoint, students are to predict and illustrate another character’s
perspective. Some examples of other character perspectives and
scenes are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Character Scene/Theme
Ellen’s point of view Arrival of German soldiers in
Johansen’s apartment when she
was pretending to be Annemarie’s
sister.
Peter’s point of view Arrival of soldiers at Auntie Berte’s
funeral when the coffin was
stuffed with blankets, food and
clothing to smuggle the Jewish
people.
Uncle Henrik’s point of view When the soldiers and their dogs
are searching the boats that have
Jewish people in the secret
compartment in Henrik’s fishing
boat.
(Cornish, 2002)
This final task is to be represented in a multimedia format - depicting a
character’s perspective of the story and to also reflect a main theme
that emerged. The final project is not restricted to a scene simulation.
Other ideas:
• news coverage that depicts the headlines and articles set in the
World War II era based on the story and other researched facts
• journalist interview of a character’s perspective of the Nazi
invasion events
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Multimedia Examples:
• Slideshow
• PowerPoint
• Short movie using Windows Movie Maker, Canadian Content -
Freeware Downloads OR SnapFiles
• Create a group Blog with Blogspot
• Create a group Wiki with Free Wiki by Wet Paint
Figure 2
Jewish Holocaust
Conclusion
Self-Evaluation
Group Work Skills
Name: _______________________
Date: ________________________
Criteria 4 3 2.5 2 1
Excellent Very Good Good Average Poor
I worked toward
the achievement
of the group’s
goals.
I contributed to
the group’s
progress.
I self-assessed
and monitored
my own behavior
to stay on task.
I communicated
well with group
members.
I listened to
other’s ideas.
I participated in
adding ideas with
a positive
attitude.
I consistently
reviewed the
criteria of the
final project to
assist the group.
I participated in
helping to
manage group
work time
effectively.
I knew how to
disagree with
ideas, not people.
I contributed
well to the
concept maps.
I contributed
technology skills
for the
multimedia
presentation.
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Reference List
http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/ceyt/ceyt
.htm
Cornish, J. (2002). The history behind the story in “Number the Stars”.
http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/ns_viewpoint.pdf
http://www.readinglonline.org/electronic/RT/constructivist.html
from
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/wollongong98/asc98-
pdf/lefoe00162.pdf
from
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/reading/activity/2536.html
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Posner, G.J. Strike, K.A. Hewson, P.W. & Gertzog, W.A. (1982).