The Perfect Society!
A WebQuest on The Giver: A Novel by Lois Lowry
Presentation Instructions | Instructional Plan
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Journal | Student | Results
Assure Lesson Plan | Teacher Notes
Lois Lowry wrote a novel about a community that seems to function perfectly. "The Giver" appears to describe a perfect society. What makes this community flawless? How has this society managed to keep things organized and under perfect control? It seems that man has finally found the ideal way to live until one member of the community starts to uncover flaws.
The students are assigned by the elders of the community to investigate why Jonas, a promising young man chose to leave the community. What made this gifted individual, chosen to be the next Giver rebel against the norms? What went wrong? What flaws did he reveal in this seemingly perfect community?
The Team will uncover what Jonas found impossible to live with and fix the flaws in the community.
The committee will keep track of all the information they disclose from observations and interviews in a journal:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.asp
The members will present their findings and suggestions on a big screen for the whole community to view in the main auditorium. This will be done by either PowerPoint, video or play.
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Journal | Student | Results
Assure Lesson Plan | Teacher Notes
The teams will follow the instructions as stated in the student process.
The following guidelines will help you and your team:
1. Organize yourselves in teams of four. Find out about team organization and work on the following page: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Task_and_group_work.htm
2. Make sure everyone on the team has read The Giver by Lois Lowry. You should refer to the story as you work on the project.
3. Read the Task and divide your work among the team members. Each member will interview another member of the community and find out what happened to Jonas. This can be his parents, sister, friends, The Giver or any other member of the community you feel would offer relevant clues as to what happened.
4. Write your individual interview reports http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.htm
5. The final product is a collaborative writing report that sums up the four interviews. The interviews are added to the appendix. The writing report consists of seven parts. http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.writtenreports.htm
6. Each member will be evaluated for both team http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.evaluationofthecommitteesreport.htm and individual work: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.individualreports.htm
7. Edit your written observations and the results of your interviews as a team. Check the team evaluation rubrics: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.evaluationofthecommitteesreport.htm to find out how you will be graded for team work.
8. Plan your presentation http://www.nelliemuller.com/Oral_Presentation.htm
9. You are encouraged to present your work in a creative way. You can use visual aids and other multimedia techniques like video, audio or PowerPoint presentations.
10. Make sure that each member of the committee is ready to present one aspect of the findings. Check the team evaluation rubric for your presentation: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.presentation.htm
11. The grade is out of 100: 25 points for the individual work, 25 for the team presentation and 50 points for the team collaborative writing report.
12. Do not hesitate to ask questions throughout the project. Your teacher and I will be available. Please use the following page to send questions to me: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Write_nelliemuller.htm
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Journal | Student | Results
Assure Lesson Plan | Teacher Notes
The Giver: Notes on the book
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/giver/summary.html
Utopia: A perfect society
Utopia by Thomas Moore:
http://www.d-holliday.com/tmore/utopia.htm
Definition and other material on the subject of utopia:
http://users.erols.com/jonwill/utopialist.htm
Utopian Studies:
PowerPoint assistance:
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointlinks.htm
Free templates:
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/freesample-ok.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT011323751033.aspx
Journal guides:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.htm
Graphics:
http://www.bellsnwhistles.com/
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Journal | Student | Results
Assure Lesson Plan | Teacher Notes
The students grades will based on the following criteria:
1. Individual interview and report of one of the members of the community (25 points). http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.individualreports.htm 2. Team final written report of the committee's findings (50 points). http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.evaluationofthecommitteesreport.htm
and http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.writtenreports.htm
3. The team presentation of the committee's final conclusion (25 points). http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.presentation.htm
The team will present their findings to the class by audio and visual means.
The team presentation will be at least 5 minutes long.
One member will introduce the topic.
Each member of the team will speak about their individual work.
Another member will add the conclusion.
The presentation will include both audio and visual effects.
You may present your work by means of: PowerPoint, video, movie, art, poster work, music, or dance.
The team will be graded for structure and content:
Structure:
- Did the presentation have an effective introduction?
- Were the major points illustrated, explained and summarized?
- Was there an effective transition between the main points?
- Did it have an effective conclusion?
Content:
- Was the content accurate?
- Did the presentation hold the class' interest?
- Were presentation media used effectively?
Students will reflect on the following questions:
How perfect was the society in The Giver? Did Jonas do the right thing by leaving his community?
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Journal | Student | Results
Assure Lesson Plan | Teacher Notes
Lesson Title: The Perfect Society
Curricular Area: Literature
Grade Level: 9-12
Goal/Purpose:
Students will investigate and uncover the flaws in the community as presented in The Giver. They will keep track of all the information they disclose from observations and interviews in a journal: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.htm
The final team written report will follow the following guidelines: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.writtenreports.htm
The members will present their findings and suggestions on a big screen for the whole community to view in the main auditorium. This will be done by either PowerPoint, video or play: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.presentation.htm
Length of Lesson: approximately 2 weeks
Materials: Computers, MS Office applications, Projector and Internet access
Interdisciplinary Connections: Language Arts
Teacher Resources: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Prerequisite Learning:
1. MS PowerPoint, MS Word and use of projector
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Computer_Technology_Tutorials_for_Teachers.htm
2. Reading and full understanding of The Giver by Lois Lowry
3. Plagiarism, copyright issues and citing resources
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Copyright_Fair_Use_Education.htm
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Copyright_Fair_Use_and_Plagiarism.htm
4. How to summarize resource material and ideas from the Internet.
http://www.nelliemuller.com/summary_march30.htm
Suggestions:
1. Deliver instruction by PowerPoint presentation:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/ThePerfectSociety.WebQuest.Instructions.Assure.Final.ppt
2. Print out student part of the WebQuest and journal for reference when working offline.
3. Hold class or group discussions throughout the process to discuss information and issues that may arise:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Student.Assure.Project.htm
4. Ask for team work progress throughout the process. This can be done in a team journal:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/English_project_weekly_progress_report_page9.htm
5. Discuss plagiarism and copyright issues and how to give credit by citing resources.
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Journal | Student | Results
Assure Lesson Plan | Teacher Notes
WebQuest template adapted from Spartanburg County School District ThreeLast updated January 23, 2006 by Nellie Deutsch