Liz Ciminski
Engl 5922
Fall 2004
Unit:
Understanding Alien Worlds
Prefatory Statement:
This unit is essentially a unit on science fiction reading and writing. It is important for students to be presented with a wide variety of literary genres so that they can find literature that suits their individual interests. If a reader is interested in what he/she reads, he/she will be intrinsically motivated to complete assignments and participate in discussions. Science fiction reading and writing invites students to expand their mental horizons by imagining lives outside their own time and place, as an alien might like at their world. At the same time, students will be challenged to consider their own influence on the future of their planet and culture. When students are able to look at their lives objectively, they begin to become critically literate of their world. This unit is meant to blend with a following unit on multi-cultural literature, in which students use the skills and knowledge necessary in understanding alien worlds, to understand world cultures which may also seem “alien” to them. It is only after we show our students that there are inherent qualities that tie all living beings together that they can begin to truly value and empathize with each other.
Class Specifications:
The following unit is rather heavily weighted in reading and writing. The readings, while short, may not be particularly easy for all readers. I suggest that the unit be used for 11th-12th graders, possibly even advanced 9th-10th grade classes. The lessons are designed for 50-minute class periods. I do not find any aspects of the assignment which would be affected by the socio-economic, ethnic, or gender groups to which the unit is taught. This unit would have to be used in a school where the students have easy access to computers. Many of the lessons and assignments involve computer work, and I would not presume that all students have computers at home.
Significant Assumptions:
I designed this unit with the overall assumption that students learn best when they are intrinsically motivated by the material being taught. I believe intrinsic motivation can be instilled if the students have found relevance for the learning in their own lives. I also think that students perform best if they hold themselves accountable for their own work. In order to do the writing assignments, students must have understood and read the reading assignments. This requires quite a bit of accountability by the students themselves. When writing this unit, I assumed that the students would have practice working in cooperative learning groups and would be comfortable experimenting with different genres of writing. I think this type of unit would only work if the students were used to this kind of assignment schedule.
Desired Outcomes/Standards/Objectives to be Met:
By the end of the unit students will have:
Possible Whole-Class Activities:
Possible Small-Group Activities:
Possible Individual Activities:
Ongoing Activities:
Throughout the unit, students will be responsible for turning in journal entries addressing specific questions about the in-class readings to ascertain comprehension of the texts. The whole class discussions throughout the unit draw upon previous discussions and writing and reading assignments. The students are responsible for meeting due dates on both peer-edited drafts and final drafts of their writing assignments.
Student Resources:
Paper, pencils, word-processing and Internet access, copies of all in-class readings, costumes and art materials possibly needed for final project.
Teacher Resources:
Current Newspaper Clippings (Current, National, and World)
Clips of Science Fiction Films (Men in Black, Star Wars, I, Robot, Minority Report, Treasure Planet, E.T., Cocoon), TV and VCR access
Excerpts of Science Fiction Works from:
Alvermann, Donna et al. Future Directions. Heath Middle Level Literature. Lexington,
Massachusettes: D.C. Heath and Company, 1995.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York : HarperPerennial, 1998.
Miner, Horace. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”. American Anthropology 58:3, June
1956.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Knopf, 1992.
Unit Launch/Anticipatory Set/Set Induction:
On the first day of the unit, the students will watch a series of clips from past and current science fiction films. They will be asked to fill out a questionnaire related to the viewing and their individual experiences with science fiction. The class will discuss examples of science fiction in the media and the possible reasons for its prevalence. Discussion can include the students’ perceptions of science fiction, their like/dislike for it, etc. *The detailed lesson plan is attached for this lesson.
Assessment of Unit:
Questionnaire (2 points)
Summary and Questions from Newspaper Clipping (2 points)
Journal Entries (7 total: 1 per story, 1 for “Nacirema”) (21 points total)
Overall Participation in Class Discussions (5 points)
=30 points
Writing Assignment #1—Story about a character not living on earth
Peer-Edited Draft (5 points)
Final Draft (15 points)
Writing Assignment #2—Story about a character living on a future earth
Peer-Edited Draft (5 points)
Final Draft (15 points)
Writing Assignment #3—Ritual seen through alien’s eyes
Final Draft (10 points)
=50 points
Completion of WebQuest (20 points)
=20 points
Presentation of “Alien” Culture (50 points)
Group receives equal points for addressing:
Group receives equal points for:
Individuals receive points for:
=50 points
Possible Points for Entire Unit=150 points
A 135-150
B 120-134
C 119-105
D 104-90
F 89-0
Unit Outline by Week
Includes Individual Lesson Plans
Week One:
The first two days of the unit will be devoted to tapping the students’ prior knowledge of science fiction texts and tying the unit to their lives. Monday will be a set induction using film clips from various past and current science fiction movies. (*Detailed lesson plan attached)
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Lesson Plan: Introducing Science Fiction through Film
Objectives: By the end of the lesson students will have
Methods:
-Begin by announcing that today we will be watching movies—but it won’t be their typical movie watching experience.
-Do not initially tell the point of watching the clips, just tell them to pay attention.
-Show 1 minute or shorter clips from Men in Black, Star Wars, I, Robot, Minority Report, Treasure Planet, E.T., Cocoon. Choose whatever length and type of clip they prefer. Have the tapes cued to the parts you want to show if you can’t put together a montage of the clips on one tape. This part should be practiced so students don’t get too distracted by wait time . (15-20 minutes)
-Pass out questionnaire and ask students to fill them out before discussing with their neighbors what they saw (*attached). (5 minutes)
-Begin whole class discussion (25 minutes total). Start by asking for volunteers to the first question. Validate or correct their guesses on the names of the movies. Fill in those that were not mentioned.
-Move down the list of questions, asking for comments throughout.
-After going through questionnaire, lead students into a more in-depth discussion by asking such questions as: Why do you think science fiction movies are so popular? Why would anyone be interested in them? What is the purpose of science fiction? Is science fiction more science or more fiction? Why do they think that? Is science fiction believable? Why/Why not? In your life, has a new technology developed that amazed you? In your grandparents’ lives? Have these advances solved or created problems in society?
-Students should be able to engage in this topic as most of them have probably seen these movies or have some predisposed opinion of science fiction. Make sure to end the discussion by asking the students to please set aside any preconceived biases they might have about science fiction.
Assessment:
-Students should have realized the prevalence of science fiction in modern day media. There is not much assessment involved in this lesson as it is an introductory anticipatory set. Students should hand in their filled out questionnaires at the end of class. They will receive full credit if they attempted to answer each question. The questionnaire should give you an idea of the students’ attitudes toward the upcoming unit.
Film Clip Questionnaire (2 points)
Name_____________________
Which films did you recognize? Can you name them?
Do you particularly like/dislike any of the films shown?
What did the film clips have in common?
What do you think of when you hear the phrase science fiction?
Have you read any science fiction novels? (Write down examples even if you’re not sure what exactly makes up science fiction).
Could you name any characteristics that are specific to science fiction writing?
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Tuesday will involve small groups of students reading recent newspaper and magazine clippings regarding real world progress in space travel. Each group will be responsible to turn in a written summary of their article with two discussion questions. Each group will present their article to the class, followed by a whole class discussion of the issues mentioned.
Wednesday through Friday will involve the first round of readings. We will cover three excerpts of science fiction short stories over Wednesday and Thursday (Bradbury’s “The Naming of Names”, Arthur C. Clarke’s “If I Forget Thee, O Earth”, and Stephen David’s “Homecoming” from Future Directions, listed under Teacher Resources). Students will turn in journal entries after each story, addressing specific questions: Who are the main characters? Where does the story take place? When? Why are the characters in the situation? What would you do in their situation?, etc. After the last reading students will write a specific journal entry trying to identify what the stories had in common (all of the stories were written about humans living on other planets). The whole class will then discuss the similarities between the stories working toward a list of common characteristics of science fiction. The teacher should ask such questions as: Looking back on your final journal entries, what similarities did you find? How were the settings similar? Were there similarities in the plots? If so, what aspects? Why would an author want to write about a human being living on another planet? What kind of descriptions were most clear in the readings?
On Friday, students will receive their first writing assignment. They will write a one and a half to two page story (doubled-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt. Font) following the style of the stories we’ve read thus far. The students will have to utilize the list of characteristics we’ve come up with in class in order to write the story. They will have writing time in class and are responsible for bringing in a rough draft on Monday for peer-review.
Week Two:
On Monday the students will get into groups of three to peer-review their first writing assignment. Each student must write at least two comments on the others’ papers. When peer editing students should consider, in addition to grammar and spelling errors: What did you like about the piece? What parts confused you? Can you visualize the descriptions of setting, character? Can you follow the plot? Does the title work for you? (This should take no more than half of the class period). The final draft is due on Wednesday. The rest of the class period and the following two days will be similar to the previous week. By the end of Wednesday, three more excerpts will be read in class (Orwell’s “1984”, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Huxley’s “Brave New World”). Journal entries will mimic the previous week. After the last reading, students will again try to identify the similarities between these three excerpts (All of the stories were written about humans living on future Earth). The whole class will come together to add these characteristics to the existing list of science fiction characteristics.
On Thursday, the students will receive their second writing assignment. This assignment is also one and a half to two double-spaced pages, but this time the students will write a story following the characteristics of the second wave of excerpts we read. They will need to have a rough draft of this paper by Monday for peer-review.
Friday we’ll switch gears a bit. We will read parts of the article, “Nacirema” in class. (*Detailed lesson plan attached).
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Lesson Plan: “Nacirema” Read-Aloud
Objectives: By the end of the lesson students will have:
Methods:
-Begin by placing the students in groups of five. (3 minutes)
-Announce that today we will be reading an article about the personal hygeience customs of a current day people who live somewhere in the world and whose customs might seem alien-like to them.
-Tell the class that they will receive the article in increments so that they can follow along with the particular sections being read. After each section the group will be asked to consider a series of questions. The goal is to try to visualize what is going on in the excerpt. Entice the kids by telling them that the activity is challenging and only the sharpest groups might get the point. (2 minutes)
-Hand out copies of the first section to each group (make it so that people will have to share).
-Read the excerpt aloud. Acknowledge the high difficulty of the words but challenge the group to try to pick out what the author is really saying. Read the questions aloud and allow time for the group to discuss. (3 minutes), continue with this pattern until all the excerpts have been read.(about 20 minutes total)
-The groups will probably be pretty confused by now. Tell them that they’ve been fooled. Tell them to look again at the name of the people. Is there anything weird about it? Finally, tell them to spell the name backward…what does it spell? Explain that all of these strange seeming customs are in fact American customs. The author simply explained them as if he were an outsider looking in. Ask them to go back and try to figure out what exactly it is he is explaining. (1st excerpt: bathrooms, 2nd excerpt: doctors, medicines, and prescriptions, 3rd excerpt: brushing teeth). (10 minutes) If the students “got it” earlier than you had anticipated, feel free to modify the procedure a bit. Ask them how they knew so quickly? What specific parts tipped them off?
-Move onto a discussion about the oddities of American culture. Bring up such customs as grocery shopping, going to school, eating dinner, etc. Ask the students to think about what those actions might look like to an alien bystander. (Continue until the end of class)
Assessment:
There really isn’t much formal assessment in today’s lesson. The teacher should monitor the groups by walking around during discussion to see if all members are participating. Remind those off task that they may be losing points from their overall participation grade. The activity is leading up to their next writing assignment which will be to choose a ritual from their everyday lives and describe it as if they were an alien.
First excerpt:
The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.
While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. I was able, however, to establish sufficient rapport with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me.
Questions to discuss:
What do you think the “shrine” looks like?
Why do you think the richer families have more of them?
What do you think it means by “during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries?”
Do you see any similarities between this culture and ours?
Second excerpt:
The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm.
Questions to discuss:
Can magic really exist? What do you think the potions are actually made of?
How do you picture the medicine men?
What sort of substantial gifts do they receive?
What is the difference between a medicine man and an herbalist?
Do you see any similarities between this culture and ours?
Third excerpt:
In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, and below the medicine men in prestige, are specialists whose designation is best translated as "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics.
The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.[6]
Questions to discuss:
How do you picture the “holy-mouth-men”?
What do you think of their “bundle of hog-hair” custom?
Why do you think this culture is obsessed with the mouth?
Are there any similarities between this culture and ours?
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Week Three:
The students will once again peer-review their papers on Monday. The final drafts are due on Wednesday. The rest of the class period will refer back to the previous class discussion on American culture.
On Tuesday, the students will be introduced to the WebQuest assignment for the class. They will have the rest of the class period to work in the computer lab. The WebQuest is due on Wednesday along with the final draft of Writing Assignment Two.
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WebQuest Assignment (20 pts):
Task One: Choose one author from EACH category listed below:
Category One:
Ray Bradbury
Arthur C. Clarke
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
George Orwell
Aldous Huxley
Category Two:
Orson Scott Card
Ursula Le Guin
Madeline L’Engle
Isaac Asimov
You will notice that the first category consists of science fiction authors we’ve read in class. The second category consists of science fiction authors we have not read. You must choose one from each category.
Task Two: Use the Internet to research your chosen authors. Make sure the sites you find are credible (we’ve discussed this criteria in class). You must find and cite at least one credible website for each author.
Task Three: Turn in a typed response to the following questions:
In order to receive full credit, all of the questions must be answered. I have researched each author myself and have found answers to all of the questions provided. A good place to start is google.com. Keep in mind, you must have typed responses for BOTH authors.
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Wednesday we meet again to talk about the last of their writing assignments. The unit may have seemed heavily weighted in writing, but this assignment should be easy and fun for them. They will choose one of their daily rituals and write about it as if they were an alien viewing the act (similar to the Nacirema article). The paper should only be at least one page, no longer than two and will not be peer-reviewed. They will receive writing time for the rest of the day. It is due on Friday.
The rest of Week 3 and all of Week 4 are devoted to the final project. This project will involve the class splitting into small groups (*the detailed lesson plan is attached).
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Lesson Plan: Introduction to Final Project and Group Work Day
Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will have learned:
Method:
-This activity would work well in classes where students work well in groups of their own choosing. If this is possible let them split into groups of four; otherwise split them up yourself.
-Explain that today they will receive the requirements for the final project and will begin working in their groups.
-Distribute the handout of requirements.
-Tell the group to decide on group roles and report to you within the next five minutes. Log the group roles.
-The class should be familiar with cooperative learning groups but have a quick discussion reminding them of effective group work strategies (keeping each other on task, listening to each other’s ideas, editing each other’s work,etc.)
-Go over the handout point by point, explaining and specifying where needed. Work with student objections, but don’t stray too far from your original plan.
-When students are clear about the instructions, give them the rest of the class period to get started. Monitor the groups to make sure they are on-task. The presentations will start next Monday and the order of groups will be chosen randomly.
Final Project Handout
Welcome to the end of the science fiction unit! This final project will tie in everything you’ve learned so far about science fiction as a genre and will also allow you to be creative and have fun. The aim of the project is to design your own alien culture. Each of you will focus on a certain aspect of the culture, but you will work together to tie the piece together.
Together the group should come up with:
Each group member should choose one part of the culture to describe in-depth:
(If you really want to focus on another section, come talk to me for approval)
Your group will present your alien culture to the class. The presentation will be assessed as follows:
Each group member will receive equal credit for:
= 20 points total
You will also get points for individually completing a group role and presentation reflection worth 10 points. This will be completed after you have presented. You will need to answer:
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They will have work time on Thursday in the computer labs, and Friday in class.
Week 4: Presentations