Perkins+-+Step+4

//**A) Add 2-3 NC General Course of Study Competency Goals for English and SS:**//

8th Grade Language Arts Competency Goals:
 * Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives through analysis of personal, social, cultural and historical issues.
 * Goal 2: The learner will use and evaluate information from a variety of resources.
 * Goal 4: The learner will continue to refine critical thinking skills and create criteria to evaluate print and non-print materials.

8th Grade Social Studies Competency Goals:
 * Goal 1: The learner will analyze important geographic, political, economic, and social aspects of life in the region prior to the Revolutionary Period.
 * Goal 9: The learner will explore examples of and opportunities for active citizenship, past and present, at the local and state levels.


 * //B) Unit Map/Narrative Overview//**

**Day 1:** Students will come into the class and find The Eagles’ “Witchy Woman” being played in the background, and the lyrics displayed on a Glog with the projector screen. I will ask students how the song depicts witches – what do they picture in their minds as they listen to the lyrics? Do the lyrics describe the stereotypical witch? What do we know about witches? Where or when do we see images of witches? After this discussion, I will show pictures of some of the women accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. I will ask students who these women are, and if they look like the “traditional” witch that we just described. I will explain to students that in the 1600s, women in the New England area were accused of witchcraft, and hanged. These were ordinary women, who were accused of something and punished for it, even though it wasn’t true. Then, students will complete an anticipation guide for //The Crucible//. It will be explained to the students that there is no right or wrong answer; it is an opinion survey. I will split students into 8 groups and have them discuss their answers, and try to come up with a group consensus. Then we will go over the questions as a class, and discuss our reactions to the questions.

**Day 2:** Today’s class will focus on gossip and rumors, and I will begin the class by having students complete a short free-write entry in their journals about the impact that rumors/gossip can have on an individual. Students will be asked to think about a time that they spread a rumor and the consequences that it had on the individual, or about a time that a rumor was spread about them and how it made them feel. Then, as a class, we will discuss why rumors are started. Does revenge play a role in why rumors are started? A short game of telephone will be played in class following our class discussion. I will start off with a simple sentence, and whisper it into a student’s ear. Then, that student will whisper the sentence to the person sitting next to him, and so on. I will encourage students to whisper as quietly as possible, so others around them can’t hear. I will have the last student share what he heard, and then I will share my original sentence – hopefully they will be very different and it will make the students laugh. But then we will examine this simple game and how it relates to rumors or gossip. I will point out to students how the sentence changed as it was passed throughout the class, and that this is how rumors are started and spread. A simple fact can get twisted and turned and end up as something completely different then what it originally started as.

**Day 3:** Students will begin working on a WebQuest about the Salem Witch Trials. They will complete the WebQuest in groups, which have been formed already. There will be 8 groups, with 4 students in each group. Students will only have this period to work on their presentations, so they will be encouraged to work hard and use their time wisely. Completing the WebQuest will allow students to learn information about Salem, Massachusetts, and explore what Puritan life was like.


 * Day 4: ** Today, each group will have 5 minutes to present their WebQuest to the class. Students will be encouraged to take notes during the presentations, and I will probably provide some sort of feedback form for students to complete for each group. Students will also complete an exit slip, writing one thing that they learned from the presentations.

**Day 5:** Today, I will introduce the text to the class. For today’s lesson, we will spend some time learning about the author of //The Crucible//, Arthur Miller. We will explore Miller’s motives for writing the play. Arthur Miller wrote a piece called “Why I Wrote //The Crucible//: An Artist’s Answer to Politics” and we will look at excerpts from this selection. Copies of //The Crucible// will be handed out, and students will complete a short free-write entry in their journals about their first reaction. What does the cover make you think of? What information does reading the back cover give you? Can you make any hypothesis about the text yet? Expectations for the text will also be given, and I will explain to students that they will keep up with a vocabulary and character guide throughout the unit.

**Day 6:** //The Crucible is// a challenging text and I want to make sure that students have resources to help them along the way. I will pass out a character and vocabulary guide, and expect that students keep up with it while we read. I also want to spend some time discussing what a “crucible” is and how it relates to the play. I will also introduce a time-line to students that we will fill out while we read through the play. I haven’t decided it the time-line will be online or tangible yet, but I’m leaning towards online – so students can access it at home while they are reading. We will start reading the play out loud in class today. The last ten minutes of class will be spent filling out the time-line. If there is time, we will also begin filling out our character and vocabulary guides. Students will read the entire text during class, so there will be no reading assigned for homework. Instead, students will be asked to keep up with their character and vocabulary guides, which will be collected at the end of every week.

**Day** **7****:** Students will begin the class by completing a short free-write in their journals about what we read in class the previous day. We will spend a few minutes reviewing, and then begin reading out loud again. The last 15 minutes of class will be spent completing our class time line, vocabulary guide and character guide.

**Days 8-15** will be spent reading //The Crucible//. The en tire text will be read during class, so this will take up the majority of our class time. I know it will get boring simply reading the text each day, so I need to think of a few ways to "spice" it up... I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I also need to talk with my CT and find out how long it took students to read //The Crucible// last year. I am estimating that it will take about a week and a half to read it in class, but I could be way off. Students will complete journal entries at different points in the text and students will be asked to respond to certain quotations from the text. The last 15 minutes of every class period will be spent filling out the time line, vocabulary and character guides. It takes a large chunk out of our time together, but I believe it is extremely important that students keep up with this information. The guides will be taken up on days 10 and 15. I also want to incorporate Vokis or Pixton at some point, I just haven’t decided where/when yet.

**Day 16:** Today I will introduce the final project for the unit, and there will be multiple projects for students to choose from. I have not decided what the final projects will be – but I will make sure that there is a writing activity, an artsy/creative activity, a musical activity, a video activity, and so on. I want to make sure that there is a project that appeals to almost every student. We will go over the rubric for the final project, and students will have opportunities to ask any questions. Students will have time to brainstorm ideas for their final project. As an exit slip, students will write down what they would like to do for their project. The exit slip will jut allow me to see what projects students are interested in, and students will not be tied to the decision that they write down today.

**Day 17:** Today’s lesson will be spent focusing on the characters that we read about in //The Crucible//. Students will use their character guides to complete a character map for a character that they pick. They are to outline his/her traits and characteristics, family members, history, conflict, etc. Then they are to create a poster (either on poster board or printer paper) or they can create an electronic poster using Glogster about their chosen character. The posters will be hung up around the classroom. Students will complete this assignment for homework, if it is not completed in class.


 * Day 18: ** Continuing our focus on characters, today students will write a diary entry from their character’s perspective about an event that occurred in the play (event TBD). Students spent the previous day completing a character map, so have the necessary information available to them to complete the entry. Students will be encouraged to use the text while they write their diary entry, and try to make it as realistic and believable as possible. The diary entry will be taken up at the end of class, and will be graded and given back the next day.

**Day 19:** Workshop day for students to begin working on their final projects for the unit.

**Day 20:** Workshop day for students to begin working on their final projects for the unit.

**Day 21:** Presentation day!

**Day 22:** Presentation day!

**Day 23:** Presentation day/movie day. A worksheet will be passed out and students will fill it out while watching the movie, to ensure that they are staying on task and paying attention. The questions will be very basic. We will go over the questions before the movie begins, so students are aware of what they need to be on the look-out for.

**Day 24:** Movie day

**Day 25:** Today we will finish watching the movie. As a class, we will compare and contrast the movie to the text – what are the similarities and differences? We will create a Venn diagram or a double bubble map to compare and contrast the print and the film. Why did the producer choose to add/remove certain parts of the play? What changes would //you// make to the movie? We will also spend some time reflecting on the unit, what we have learned, and why it was important that we learn about the Salem Witch Trials and read //The Crucible//.


 * //C) Draft a lesson plan for the opening of your unit (Day 1)//**

//Lesson Title:// Beyond Hogwarts – A Look at Real “Witches”

//Subject:// 8th grade Language Arts

//Class Period:// 50 minutes

//Introduction/Context:// //The Crucible// can be a very challenging text and is usually read in the 11th grade. I know I am going to have my hands full and want to make sure that my students understand the material and the context that the play was written in. This lesson is important because it sets the stage for the play, provides some necessary background information, and hopefully grabs students’ attention. I will use the first lesson to hook students into our upcoming unit on //The Crucible//, even though we won’t actually look at the text today.

//Plan Number:// Day 1 in a series of 25

//NC Standard Course of Study Objective:// · //1.03- Interact in group activities and/or seminars in which the student clarifies, illustrates or expands on a response when asked to do so, and asks classmates for similar expansion// · //2.01 – Analyze and evaluate informational materials that are read, heard and/or viewed by…//

//Objectives:// As a result of today’s lesson, students will be able to: · Analyze song lyrics that relate to a specific theme · Compare and contrast modern witches to witches from the 1600s · Engage in a meaningful class discussion · Work collaboratively with peers

//Materials/Technology Resources Required:// · One laptop · Projector · Glog with The Eagles’ “Witchy Woman” lyrics · MP3 of “Witchy Woman” · 32 copies of anticipation guide for //The Crucible// · Power Point presentation

//Procedures:// 1. //Bell Ringer// (5 minutes) a. “Witchy Woman” by The Eagles will be playing as students come into class and the lyrics will be displayed on a Glog on the projector.

2. //Hook// (10 minutes) a. We will then have a short class discussion on the lyrics shown on the projector screen. I will ask students the following questions: i. What do you picture in your mind as you listen to the song/read the lyrics? ii. How do the lyrics depict witches? Do they describe the stereotypical witch? iii. What do we know about witches? iv. Where or when do we see witches?

3. //Introduction// (10 minutes) a. A very short PowerPoint will be shown to the class. It will features images of “popular” witches (Wicked Witch of the West, the evil witch in “Snow White,” Maleficent from “Sleeping Beauty,” witches from “Hocus Pocus,” etc) and I will ask students who these people are, and if they “witches.” How do we know they are witches? What features do they have that distinguish them as witches? The PowerPoint will also feature images of Rebecca Greensmith, Elizabeth Howe, and Susanna Martin. I will ask students the same questions about these women. Do they look like the “traditional” witch? How do they differ from the images we just saw? b. We will transition into talking about the Salem Witch Trials. In the late 1600s, hysteria was created in the New England area and many women were accused of witchcraft. Some women were acquitted, but many innocent women were hanged for crimes they didn’t commit. They were ordinary women who were accused of something and punished for it.

4. //Anticipation Guide// (5 minutes) a. An anticipation guide will be handed out to each student b. Questions will deal with issues such as gossip, innocence, law, etc. c. I will explain to students that there are no right or wrong answers and encourage them to answer it as honestly as possible

5. //Group Work/Discussion// (15 minutes) a. Students will be divided into 8 heterogeneous groups, which I have created ahead of time (there will be 4 students in each group) b. Each group will discuss the anticipation guide, and be required to come to a group consensus about each question c. If time allows, we will go over the questions as a class and discuss our individual reactions to the questions

6. //Closure// (5 minutes) a. I will briefly introduce share with students that everything we did today ties in with our upcoming unit, but they will have to wait to see how it will all work out :)