Building Background Knowledge

ESSENTIAL QUESTION How can the resources of http://mypodcast.com/ be used to teach characterization and visual literacy? STANDARDS New York City Technology Standards for Students Social Studies The Arts ELA DO NOW: Write down five ways that you believe an iPod may be used to enhance your learning experience. KEY CONCEPTS: Genocide, Racism, Stereotyping, Prejudice, Change,Belief System SS SKILLS: Getting, Using and Presenting Information; Participating in Interpersonal Group ELA SKILLS: Read, Write, Listen, Speak, Interpret, Research,Organize, Synthesize OVERVIEW The ability to activate schema is one of the most important contributors to reading comprehension. In order for a reader to truly comprehend what he/she has read, he must be able to activate schema or prior knowledge. Making connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world) is an effective way of activating schema. If the child’s prior knowledge is limited, the teacher has to create learning experience for the child that will serve to build his schema. Literature does not operate in a vacuum. All literary works have a setting which often times influence the other elements in that work. Writers too, are often times, directly or indirectly influenced by the context in which they work. Knowledge of these factors will help the reader to better understand choice of subject matter, choice of vocabulary, and much more. PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Research Note-taking Essay writing Writing for specific audience DEVELOPMENT RESEARCHING: Teacher will work with the Library Media Specialist to help students gather background information on the holocaust, Wiesel, Hitler, Judaism, World War II, and other relevant information. DISCUSSING: Students will return to their small group, where they will discuss the information gathered. BRAINSTORMING: Students will brainstorm possible ways of presenting their information. It could be in the form of a radio interview, role-play, panel discussion, and so forth. SYNTHESIZING: Students will compile their information to produce the transcript for their radio program. REVISE and EDIT for clarity: This will be done within the groups, but students may ask an outside group to give their work the final edit. RECORDING: Students will practice recording their voices on the CD Player provided. Once satisfied, students will go to the teacher’s station for assistance with uploading their program. If the class has enough computers, then the recording could be done directly to the computer. UPLOADING: Students will upload their final product to our Classroom Radio. PLAYBACK: Teacher will use a multimedia projector to playback student’s recording from the class’ site PEER EVALUATION: Students will use the attached rubric to evaluate each group’s performance. SUMMARY Students will share what they believe to be the main idea of the lesson. Additionally, they will highlight areas of strength in the lesson, and areas that they believe require more work. Teacher will close by explaining what is required for the following day’s homework. HOMEWORK Reflection on Wiesel's Night: Today you created Podcasts in your groups in order to Build Background Knowledge on Wiesel's Night. Visit the class’ blog and post your reflection on today's lesson. Your reflection may take the form of a poem, a drawing, or any other means you see fit. . RESOURCES Teacher-made charts Teacher Students Computer (laptop) Microphone CD Player with mike (optional) Multimedia Projector Speakers Rubric http://mypodcast.com/ Elie Wiesel Foundation Elie Wiesel’s Biography Classroom Radio Activating Schema Holocaust Memorial Museum The Complete Guide to the Holocaust The Holocaust CATEGORY 4 3 2 1 Content… Evidence of Research The information conveys an in-depth knowledge of the topic The information conveys a general knowledge of the topic The information shows that the students have a basic understanding of the topic The information shows that the students have very little knowledge of the topic Audience Appropriate Presentation of content demonstrates a keen awareness of the audience Presentation of content demonstrates an awareness of the audience Presentation of content occasionally demonstrates an awareness of the audience Audience are ignored for the most part Appropriate Language Use sophisticated language throughout the presentation. Presentation is free of careless errors Use sophisticated language for the most part. Presentation has very few errors Standard language used with minimal errors Presentation is riddled with syntactic and vocabulary errors. Speech Defects Presentation is free of pauses, and defects like (um, arm, like, aint, I be) Presentation as less than five pauses, and less than five defects like (um, arm, like, aint, I be) Presenters pause in excess of 8 times, and frequently display speech defects like (um, arm, like, aint, I be) Presentation is riddled with pauses, and defects like (um, arm, like, aint, I be) Intonation and Mannerism Excellent: Presentation is audible, respectful and coherent Very Good: Presentation is generally audible, respectful and coherent Fair: Presentation is sometimes audible, respectful and coherent Poor: Presentation is inaudible, lack of respect for listeners and lacks coherence This rubric will be used for peer evaluation at the end of activity six.