Christina+Mills

Students will read the book //Animal Farm// as a means to gain a deeper understanding of how to persuade and motivate others to help solve societal issues. Once completed, students will choose a current problem within their school, and they will attempt to create a solution. For instance, cell phone use, iPods, wearing hats during school hours, and dress code are some common issues students could address. This activity will meet students on a personal level and enable them to grapple with a problem to find a solution that is feasible for all parties involved (Laureate, 2009). 1. Through reading Orwell's Animal Farm, students will gain a better understanding of the structure of a society and the use and abuse of power. 2. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the text on four levels: factual, interpretive, critical and personal. 3. Students will study the theme of man's inhumanity to man. 4. Students will study the art of persuasion. 5. Students will study the roles of rules and individuals in society (LitPlans, 1989). 6. Students will use the information they learn from Animal Farm to help solve a problem in their school. 7. Students will study several historical figures in society who have overcome issues. 8. Students will create a public announcement by analyzing target audience and use appropriate appeals to communicate the message effectively.   **30 to 45 minutes: **  Teacher will begin class by introducing students to three historical figures: Martin Luther King, Walt Disney, and Albert Einstein. Students will then be divided into three groups where they will perform a web quest to study one of these figures. Their task will be to retrieve a brief historical background, and then their main focus will be on how their chosen individual overcame selected issues. They need to provide specific instances when their individual overcame a problem, and specific actions he took to solve that dilemma. Once students have completed their web quests, they will participate in a jigsaw activity to inform their classmates of their findings. In this case, one or two people from each group (depends on numbers) will act as “experts” and will travel to other groups to report the information they discovered regarding their character. Therefore, by the end of this activity every student will have a clear grasp on all three characters and their triumphs.
 * Lesson Title: ** Problem Solving with //Animal Farm// and other historical figures
 * Grade Level:** Freshmen
 * Subject:** Language Arts
 * Description:**
 * Content Standards:**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Introduction: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">30 to 45 minutes: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Lesson:

15 to 20 minutes: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Teacher will then hold a class discussion so that students can compare and contrast King, Disney, and Einstein. Next, they will compare and contrast their historical figures’ methods for solving problems with those characters in the book //Animal Farm// by using a Venn diagram that is projected onto the SMARTBoard. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Students will then hold a class discussion regarding problems that affect them in the school environment. In groups of three or less, students will choose which school-affiliated problem they want to address and they will begin developing methods for a solution based on what they have studied thus far. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Once students have created a solution to their problem, they will present their ideas by creating a public service announcement to the students. To help focus their announcements, students will listen and read to David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. Students’ task will be to present the solutions to their problems through a persuasive means. “By manipulating the media themselves rather than simply studying examples, they become active learners and combine both critical and creative higher-order thinking skills” (Christel & Sullivan, 2007, p. 225). Students will present their announcement through a podcast. By having students embrace this form of technology, “Meaning is made in ways that are increasingly multimodal—in which written-linguistic modes of meaning are part and parcel of visual, audio, and special patterns of meaning” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 196). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Students who need extra support will be given additional time as well as notes regarding the book and the three historical figures if needed. I may also place them in groups with other students that will support their needs. Furthermore, I will give students several technological devices to create their podcasts. They can use voicethread, cell phones, or the microphone and recording technology available in class. Also, students can have their speech pre-written to read from as well as use various editing devices. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Students will be assessed based on their web quest, jigsaw, and class discussion using the Venn diagram. For their web quest I will ask them to turn in their findings. They will need to have a brief biography as well as at least three examples illustrating how their figure overcame a specific problem. The jigsaw activity and class discussion with accompanying Venn diagram will be based on teacher observation. Their podcast will be graded based on a student-driven rubric. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">References <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). //Technology integration for meaningful classroom use//. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Christel, M.T., Sullivan, S. (2007). //Lesson plans for creating media-rich classrooms//. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Laureate, 2009. Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Part 1. Spotlight on technology: Problem- based learning. //Integrating technology across the content areas//. Baltimore: Author. LitPlans on CD. (1989) //Animal farm: A foundation of materials for teaching the book by george orwell//. Berlin, MD: Teacher’s Pet Publications, Inc.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">20 to 30 minutes: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">2 or 3 class periods: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Extensions/Adaptations: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Assessment: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">