Teacher(s) Name: Mrs. Dickey
School: Deep Run HS
Grade Level(s): Grade 10
Content Area(s): English
Lesson Summary
While reading Elie Wiesel’s Night, students are asked to explore events related both to WWII and the cultural and social aspects of the time period. They also utilize Ancestry.com and parental/ family interviews to discover what was happening in their family during the same time period. After reading the entire text, students create a Story Map that connects all of these ideas and draw connections, comparisons, and differences.
TIPC Ratings
Research & Information Fluency
Rating:Approaching – Explanation: Through collaboration with the ITRT we facilitate student research by suggesting certain resources for research and the construction of information. Students encounter roadblocks and are able to press through by supporting innovative research techniques (i.e. what are other ways you can find familial information without using ancestry like family interviews, pictures, documents, websites, etc.) Students choose which research methods benefit their personal project purpose. Because students are able to research their own families, the entire task is more authentic and engaging.
Communication & Collaboration
Rating: Developing – Explanation: The teacher and ITRT model how to utilize each other’s knowledge of certain aspects of this project to one’s own benefit. Although students are creating their own final products, many students help each other in overcoming obstacles with the various websites and engage in discussions about the novel and themes.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Rating: Ideal – Explanation: Finding information is not always simple for each student, especially when using ancestry.com, and the students have to analyse the materials they find critically to look for new pieces of information or clues they can use to find more specific information. When research does not yield the results necessary, students have to look for alternate ways to obtain information, such as personal interviews with family members. They also to think deeply about the text of Night and what themes are important or perhaps have similarities to their families’ stories.
Creativity & Innovation
Rating: Approaching – Explanation: Students are given the opportunity to create the Story Map, and to also analyze the different elements of the text and look for commonalities of the text, timeframe and their family. Some are able to make connections between their families, the novel, and the facts they find, while others comment on how life could be so different depending on where one lived or whether or not his family had any connection to WWII. Finally the students “dream,” as they finalize their map with a prediction about their future goals and the state of the world.
Student Artifact
Lesson Materials
