Quantum Learning Lesson Plan

EELDRC: This lesson plan is for my 11^th grade class unit on “To Kill a Mocking Bird”

Enroll: (novelty) “Before starting to read To Kill a Mockingbird, ask students to read “The Sneetches” by Dr. Suess or, better yet, show the video.  “The Sneetches” is the tale of how the Star Belly Sneetches discriminate against the Plain-Belly Sneetches, excluding them from games and weenie roasts, and how Sylvester McMonkey McBean bilks the town out of all of its money by putting on and/or removing stars on the persons of Sneetches to the point that no one can any longer tell who’s who.  Ask students to do a quick write in reaction to the story.  They may be reminded of the holocaust, write about prejudice in general, or focus on who the Star-Bellies are at their school.  Have students share in small groups and then discuss the themes of the story as a whole class.” I found this activity online at http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/133/136269/activities.pdf

Experience: (VAK) To gather background information students will be divided into five groups to do a webquest (https://sites.google.com/site/tokillamockingbirdwebquest/home) students will summarize the information found on their webquests in a brief PowerPoint presentation. We will then have a group discussion on the information.

Label: (less lecturing) Students will be doing literary circles for the content of the novel. An example of the literary circles that I will be using is Jim Burke’s from his English Companion site (http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/litcirclepacket.pdf)

Demonstrate: (model) We will read the first few chapters together so that I can model how to use the literature circle roles and introduce the main characters. Then the students will attempt on their own while I supervise to make sure that they understand what they are doing.

Review: (10/24/7) After each chapter students will present the information that they found during that chapter to the rest of the group. The group will decide what the most important information from the chapter was and present that to the class.

To end the novel we will review by making a movie trailer and movie poster. Here are the directions on this project that I created. This project takes 4-5 days to complete.

Steps:

1.     Class discusses what they think the five most important scenes/events that happen in the novel. Students recall what happened in these scenes. We discuss what makes them want to go see a movie based on a trailer (action, romance, comedy, etc.) and they choose their scenes off of what they think an audience would want to see. These are the scenes that will be used in the movie trailer.  Write these on the board.

2.     Class recalls which characters are in each of these five scenes and we write them next to the scenes.

3.     Students nominated and second students from the class to play the characters needed for these scenes. Students may nominate themselves for the parts. Students put heads down on desks to vote. I erase how many voted for each person and then I say heads up. Elected person for the role is announced. We also vote in a cameraperson who will videotape the scenes. If a person is not in a specific role, they are still in the movie trailer as an extra.

4.     I have Popsicle sticks with student’s names on them. These are used to call on people for answers in class or choose groups. I draw sticks for five groups. Each group is given one scene to write a script for and direct. I remind the students that this isn’t a movie but a trailer and so it has to be short and concise. They need to make it short but still get the content across.

5.     Groups may bring costumes or props if they wish. Each person in the group has a job. Example: Props, setting, costumes, script, taskmaster, etc.

6.     We set up the scenes either in the classroom or in the setting of our choosing.

7.     Each group directs their scene while the cameraperson shoots. They usually run through the scene a few times before actually taping. They may need to have a couple of takes.

8.     When all scenes are shot everyone helps clean up.

9.     I usually produce the trailers on iMovie & iDVD. I have had students in the past with an interest in this area who have wanted to help. I do this by class period and include credits at the end. I usually make it a contest between classes to see who can create the best trailer. I put background music in and choose pictures from the internet that I find to put in that may be important to convey, but impossible to act out in the classroom.

10. When production is complete we play the trailers for the classes and they vote on the best. I will let students purchase a copy of the DVD for a couple of bucks (to cover material costs).

11. Students will create a movie poster to compliment their trailer.

Celebrate: (acknowledge effort) We will display movie posters in the hall and share with the principal. Students will also have credits displaying their parts in the trailer. We will watch the trailers and have a viewing party. I also include outtakes so we can have a laugh.