Yuhong Sun
Content Table:
I. Cover page
· Summary
· Link to content standard
· Unit design package
II. Stage 1
· Enduring understandings
· Essential questions
· Knowledge and skills
III. Stage 2
· Performance tasks
· Assessments
· Resources
IV. Stage 3
· Sequence of teaching and learning experiences
Grade Level: Freshman in College
Subject/Topic: Literature, Language Arts
Key Words: literature, comprehension, writing, PowerPoint, Internet research and videotaping
Time Frame: Four weeks/ six hours per week/ 50 minutes per class period
Number of students: 30 per class
Unit Designer: Yuhong Sun
I. 1. Brief Summary of Unit: "Integrating Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter with the Internet is a college freshman’s interdisciplinary unit on Puritanism in the 17th century New England and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter for English as a second language, literature, and computer classes. The goals of the unit is to:
I. 2. Link to Content Standards:
ISTE Technology Foundation Standards for Students
Technology productivity tools
· Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
· Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.
Technology communications tools
· Students use telecommunications to collaborate, and interact with peers, and other audiences.
· Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.
· Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.
Technology research tools
· Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
· Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.
Maine Learning Results
· Develop an appropriate strategy for finding information on a particular topic.
· Use referencing while doing research.
· Record significant information from events attended and interviews conducted.
· Identify and use library information services.
· Identify and use a variety of news sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, broadcast and recorded media, artifacts), informants, and other likely sources for research purposes.
· Use search engines and other Internet resources to do research.
· Make extensive use of primary sources when researching a topic and carefully evaluate the motives and perspectives of the authors.
· Analyze the validity and weigh the reliability of primary information sources and make appropriate use of such information for research purposes.
· Evaluate information for accuracy, currency, and possible bias.
· Report orally, using a variety of technological resources to present the results of a research project.
· Develop skills in oral and written presentation for one-way communication with an individual or a group.
· Develop communication skills for direct conversation and written correspondence.
· Cooperate with others in the group work and share with each other their point of view.
I. 3. Unit Design
Packet
Contents:
· Completed template pages
· Completed blueprint for each performance task
· Competed blueprint for other evidence
· List of materials and resources
· Suggested extensions
· Assessment / Evaluation (rubrics)
· Resources
o Text
o Software
o C. Internet Resources
Status
· Initial draft (November 4, 2000)
· Revised draft (November 12, 2000)
· Peer reviewed
· Content reviewed
· Field-tested
· Validated
Student will understand:
· Historical events in a country greatly influence literature and art
·
THAT conflicts ARISE between human beings’ personal
behaviors and the laws that regulate the society
· How did Puritanism affect the people’s lives in the 17th century in the New England?
· How did Puritanism affect the author and the characters in The Scarlet Letter?
· How would the characters be different in the modern-day United States?
· The skills of doing research on the Internet.
· How to read and appreciate a literature classic.
· The basic knowledge to videotape their best efforts.
· The basic skills of writing expository essays to demonstrate their complete understanding of a piece of literature.
· The PROCESS OF peer editing and revising of their rough drafts.
· The technology of composing multimedia presentations in PowerPoint to illustrate their essays.
· How to evaluate PowerPoint projects.
·
Conduct Internet research on background (Puritanism) of
the author and the novel, the 17th century New England, and identify
a modern parallel;
· Express their Internet findings through summaries of the topics.
· Read and comprehend Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
· Discuss plot, characterization, and themes;
· Act out selected scenes and videotape their best efforts.
· Comprehend, discuss, and analyze characterization and conflicts in the novel.
· Compose expository essays to demonstrate their complete understanding of the overarching questions.
· Type their essays in Microsoft Word 2000.
· Perform peer editing and revising of their rough drafts.
· Compose multimedia presentations in PowerPoint to illustrate their essays.
· Evaluate each other's work and choose the best presentations.
Perquisites for this unit:
· The peer editing and revising of their rough drafts.
· The skills of doing research on the Internet.
· The basic skills of writing expository essays to demonstrate their complete understanding of a piece of literature.
(Summarized) There are four performance tasks including the activities as Internet inquiry, Jigsaw activity, group work, role play, discussion, video taping, essays and PowerPoint presentations are performed in the four-week performances.
Performance One: Internet Inquiry and Jigsaw activity (first week)
The goal of this performance is to let students be
familiar with the background knowledge of The
Scarlet Letter and acquire the skills of Internet search, reading
comprehension and communication.
The following are the four topics in the first unit
·
The religious beliefs of
Puritanism
· The laws and the moralities in the Puritan times in the 17th century
· The taboos and the punishments in the Puritan times
· The great influence Puritanism exercised in American history.
Performance
Two:
Group work and discussion (second week)
The goal in this performance is for students to
really understand how Puritanism affected the characters’ lives in The Scarlet Letter. The skill involved
is thinking skill.
Several facets of
understanding are involved in this performance: Interpretation, Application,
Perspective and Self-knowledge. Students are divided into four groups. Each
group deals with different facets.
The goal in this performance is for students to better understand the characters by putting themselves into the characters’ shoes. The skill used is the critical thinking skill and evaluation of the critical thinking skill.
Students are required to participate in cooperative learning groups to act out selected characters from the novel and then videotaping their efforts.
Performance Four: Essay and PowerPoint presentations( fourth week)
Students
compose five paragraph expository essays regarding Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Students are
required to work in pairs to edit and revise their compositions. The teacher
provides the rubric used for grading the essays as a guide for the students
editing and revising teams. Then students creatively illustrate their essays in
PowerPoint.
Week One: Unit One (Performance tasks in details)
Phrased as a Topic:
Background of The Scarlet Letter
Phrased as a more focused topic:
The influence that Puritanism exercised over the characters’ lives
· The religious beliefs of Puritanism
· The laws and the moralities in the Puritan times in the 17th century
· The taboos and the punishments in the Puritan times
· The great influence Puritanism exercised in American history.
Goal:
·
The
goal is to be familiar with the four topics in the first unit and skills
involved are the basic skills and communication.
Activities:
· Students are divided into 4 groups by the same number they draw. Each group is assigned a number (from 1 to 4). Each number is a topic. Number One is The religious beliefs of Puritanism; Number Two is The laws and the moralities in the Puritan times in the 17th century; Number Three is The taboos and the punishments in the Puritan times; Number Four is The great influence Puritanism exercised in American history.
· Students are required to explore and research information on the Internet of the topic they are assigned. After each group investigates and understands the topic they are assigned, they are regrouped so each group contains a 1,2,3, and 4. Each student is to be the teacher of his or her topic and his or her task is to teach others the topic he/she is familiar with.
Role:
· The student’s role is to be a teacher whose task is to make others in his or her group or in another group understand and explain the topic he or she is assigned.
Audience:
· The audiences are other members in the same group and another group.
· The context he finds himself in is to make others understand the topic that he is familiar with.
· He needs to investigate and explore from Internet the topic he is assigned.
· Work with other members in the same and another group and share his or her knowledge with others.
· Investigate and understand very well the four topics.
o The religious beliefs of Puritanism
o The laws and the moralities in the Puritan times in the 17th century
o The taboos and the punishments in the Puritan times
o The great influence Puritanism exercised in American history.
· Use the materials collected from Internet to clearly describe the topic that is assigned.
· Ensure others in another group fully understand and clearly express the topics as well.
· The relationship between the civil law and the divine law
Phrased as a more focused topic:
· What are the real causes of the tragic destiny of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, especially that of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmedale?
· The ability to understand and interpret the harmony between human beings and the society when human beings conform to the established laws and regulations
· The ability to understand and detect the conflicts between human beings and the society when human beings disobey the established rules and moralities.
Goal:
·
The
goal in this unit is for students to really understand how Puritanism affected
the characters’ lives in The Scarlet Letter. The skill involved in the unit is
thinking skill.
Activities:
The following facets of
understanding are involved in order to achieve the goal. Students are divided
into four groups. Group one deals with the Interpretation. Group two is devoted
to Application. Group three addresses Perspective and Group four focuses on
Self-knowledge. And then each group chooses one reprehensive to demonstrate to
the whole class their answers to the questions assigned to them. Finally
students compose summaries of the topics they are assigned.
1. Interpretation
·
Interpret the symbol of A from the point of view
of Pearl or Hester or Dimmesdale.
2. Application
· Hester Prynne’s adultery was viewed as a threat to the pious Puritan community in which she lived. Ask students to brainstorm some actions that might be considered a threat to the cohesiveness of their school. For example, plagiarism. Hester was punished for her threat to the Puritan community, ask students to think of suitable ways to deal with plagiarism or some other acts that they think are threatening their school.
3. Perspective
· Provide IDENTIFY a Chinese novel whose theme is similar to that of The Scarlet Letter and then compare the Chinese novel with The Scarlet Letter to see how the historical events affected the characters’ lives through they lived in different countries. They might be more similar than they are different. They both probably refuse to accept their fate or they have the same pursuit of love and want to fight for a better life for themselves.
4. Self Knowledge
·
If your religious belief is different from
Puritanism, could you recognize your prejudice against Puritanism?
·
Could you explain how you came to understand that
people with different religious beliefs shouldn’t be regarded as heathens?
·
What group of people would think our own beliefs
are too puritanical?
· Students clearly make an oral report on what they focus on to the whole class.
·
Students
are required to compose their summaries of the historical research related to
the novel and explain according to their understanding the real causes of the
tragic destiny of the characters in the novel.
· Participate actively the group discussion on the topic he is assigned.
· Compose the summaries logically and clearly.
Goal:
· The goal in this unit is for students to better understand the characters by putting themselves into the characters’ shoes. The skill used is the critical thinking skill and evaluation of the critical thinking skill.
Students participate in cooperative learning groups to act out selected characters from the novel.
· First, part of the novel is read aloud in class and also assigned for homework in order to understand the subtle feelings of the characters.
· Second, warm-up questions to lead to the better understanding of the characters’ personality.
1. If Hester Prynne is the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, who is the antagonist?
2. Which of these characters do you believe serves as the villain in the novel?
3. Which character is the most tragic one and why?
4. How would the characters be different in the modern-day United States?
5. What do we learn about Pearl from her appearance, from the way she talks and the way she acts?
6. What role could Pearl play in a new community_ witch? Religious leader who dispenses mercy and punishment? Mystery woman?
7. What really make Dimmesdale live dual lives?
8. Is Chillingworth a villain or a wronged human being?
· Then students are divided into four groups. Two groups are girls and two groups are boys. Each group chooses one character to act on. And the activities are videotaped.
1. (Group 1) Imagine you are Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter and consider your terrible first trial. How do you face the townspeople and what are you thinking and feeling?
2. (Group 2) Imagine you are Auther Dimmedale and prepare your final confession of your sin before the community.
3. (Group 3) Imagine you are Pearl and grow up and have child of your own. What would you tell your child about Hester Prynne, Auther Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth.
4. (Group 4) Imagine you are Roger Chillingworth in Chapter 10 The Leech and the Patient. How do you try to destroy your enemy Dimmesdale physically and psychologically?
Midway through the unit, students judge one another's scene performances using a class-designed rubric. They are evaluating the best and worst elements of interpretation of the scarlet letter used in the video interpretation.
· Students act on the selected characters emotionally and express their inner feelings and struggles clearly and correctly.
Students compose a five paragraph expository essay on Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. The essay should focus on the development of themes or the conflicts between characters’ human nature and the established laws and moralities or topic related to the overarching understanding questions. Rough drafts are composed in Microsoft Word. Students then work in pairs to edit and revise their compositions. The teacher provides the rubric used for grading the essays as a guide for the students editing and revising teams. Students correct final products based upon the feedback provided in students editing and revising sessions.
Then students creatively illustrate their essays in PowerPoint.
Extension:
Outcast Discussion
The Scarlet Letter can be seen as a story of the conflict between a law or a sentence, on the one hand, and a personal pursuit of freedom, on the other. Hester Prynne, for her objection to her community's laws against adultery, becomes an outcast, separated from regular social interaction. Have students discuss other cases in which a law or a legal sentence conflicts with a person's morality. Examples might range from lawbreakers to revolutionaries. They cannot sit on a criminal trial because they object to the punishment that would be inflicted on them. Then ask students to consider potential dramatic moments in which law or sentence and morality conflict. When students have developed a list of possibilities, divide the class into groups, and ask each group to write a small dramatic scene featuring a hero or heroine who morally objects to a law or sentence. When their scenes are complete, they can perform them for the rest of the class.
What other
assessment evidence will be collected during this unit?
What will be assessed?
· Knowledge
· Skill
· Understanding
What will evidence be collected?
· Data from students concerning comprehension through assignment, group work and daily activities.
What type of assessment will be used?
· Selected response
· Brief constructed response
· Observation
What is the assessment’s purpose?
· Formative
· Unprompted evidence
· Dialogues during conferencing
· Observation of reading
· Routine check-in
· Student self-assessment
· Student rubric
· Self reflection
Four rubrics: writing, group participation and PowerPoint presentation.
Content - Writing
· (10) All the information is well researched, well written, well organized.
· (5) All flaws pointed out by the instructor and /or peers in drafts have been corrected.
· (10) Material shows strong comprehension of the main ideas of The Scarlet Letter and demonstrates relationships between the ideas.
· (5) Presentation has an introduction slide and a conclusion slide.
Content - Technical
· (5) The presentation includes a minimum of 10 slides.
· (5) The presentation includes a consistency in text fields, graphics and transitions..
· (5) The graphics and the sound don’t distract the audience’s attention FROM THE INFORMATION.
· (5) Each slide uses text, graphics and transitions that communicate and compliment information being shared.
· (5) The presentation visually depicts material and appeals to audience.
Communication
· (10) Use a different form to communicate to the class during the presentation other than simply screen reading?
· (10) Use each slide as lead for the additional information you have on the topic.
· (5) Maintain eye contact with the class and adjust your voice in addition to your visual onscreen sharing.
· (5) At conclusion of the presentation check for understanding through questions.
· (5) Use the allotted time effectively.
Technical Organization
· (5) Save your presentation in your personal folder. You have also made a backup copy of your presentation.
· (5) Use transitions, sounds, downloaded art and animation.
Total Points = 100
· Content Writing 30
· Content Technical 25
· Communication 45
· Technical Organization 10
· (10) Search three or four pieces of information that is assigned to the group.
· (10) Information is complete and accurate. Clear evidence of research on the Internet.
· (10) Handout(s) attractive, well organized and includes relevant information.
· (5) Appropriate length.
· (10) Participate the group activities actively.
· (5) Share the findings and the point of view with other group members willingly.
· (5) Speak in a clear voice and show the ability of communicating with the group members.
· (5) Make eye contact with everyone in the group and has no nervous habits. Physical and facial expressions are appropriate
· (5) Group presentation involves audience, giving enough time for group members to think and respond.
· (10) Group presentation is well organized with a beginning, middle and end.
· (5) There is a strong organizing theme, with clear main ideas.
· (10) Use the materials collected to clearly express the main idea in groups
· (10) Make others in another group fully understand and describe the main idea of the topic as well
Total Points = 100
Internet Inquiry 35
Group work 65
Grading Rubric for Expository Essays
Structure:
· (10) Composed of five paragraphs
· (10) Begins with introductory paragraph
· (10) Thesis statement at end of introductory paragraph
· (5) Contains three subtopic paragraphs
· (10) Topic sentences opens subtopic paragraphs
· (10) Conclusion sentences end subtopic paragraphs
· (5) Ends with conclusion paragraph
· (10) Documentation used for examples & quotes
Grammar and Language Mechanics
· (1) Sentences begin with capital letters
· (1) Proper nouns begin with capital letters
· (1) Appropriate use of commas & semi-colons
· (1) Appropriate use of quotation marks
· (1) Correct use of grammar
Content:
· (5) Accuracy of statements
· (5) Accuracy of examples & quotations
· (5) Expression & creativity
· (5) Lack of repetition / originality
· (5) Prose smooth
(100 possible) Total
Structure: 70
Grammar and Language Mechanics: 5
Content: 25
Facility:
· Pentium computer lab with Windows 98;
· Microsoft Office 2000;
· Internet, network, Netscape;
· PowerPoint software;
· Traditional English classroom with the original The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
· Connection to the Internet.
All sorts of information about The Scarlet Letter. Available:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=the+scarlet+letter
Heyman, C. L. (2000). Puritanism and Predestination. Department of History, University of Delaware [Online]. Available:
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/puritan.htm
Atkins. S. (2000). The American Sense of Puritan. Available:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/puritan/purmain.html
american studies @ virginia
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators. (2000). A categorized list of sites for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. Available:
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
Apple Learning Interchange. Available:
http://henson.austin.apple.com/edres/curric.shtml
Stage 3
IV. 1. Summary of
Integrating Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter
with the Internet
Integrating Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter with the Internet is an interdisciplinary unit that challenges students to use Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter as a springboard to implement the following skills: reading comprehension, writing, communication, inquiry, problem solving, synthesis and critical thinking.
The skills of reading comprehension, writing and comprehension are developed through reading, writing, and history. Initially, students read and make notes on Internet information as they do research on the topical questions such as:
“How did Puritanism affect the people’s lives in the 17th century in the New England?”
“How did Puritanism affect the author and the characters in The Scarlet Letter?”
“How would the characters be different in the modern-day United States?”
Students write summaries of these topics. Later, they read the full text version of The Scarlet Letter and compose five-paragraph expository essays in Microsoft Word to demonstrate their complete understanding of the overarching questions such as:
“How do historical events in a country influence literature and art?”
“What are the conflicts between human beings’ personal behaviors and the laws that regulated the society?”
Students also act out a scene from the novel for videotaping. Finally, they convert their essays into PowerPoint.
The basic skills of reading comprehension, writing and communication are foundation skills for this unit. Inquiry is applied when students conduct research on the historical aspects relating to The Scarlet Letter, the 17th century New England period, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Inquiry is also used during the segment of the unit in which students are required to read the text, share what they explore on the Internet and their understanding of the novel. The pieces of information extracted during the inquiry segment become important sources for students to write their essays and compose their PowerPoint presentations.
Problem Solving skill presents itself in different kinds of tasks. During the first week students solve the problem of using various search engines to find web sites about their historical topics. Later, they search into the issues of reading comprehension and how to best prepare themselves for their final PowerPoint presentation. As students read and discuss the conflicts in The Scarlet Letter they eventually acquire the overarching understanding of the novel.
Finally, as they embark on their final projects - the essay and PowerPoint presentation- students perform problem solving as they determine which examples from the text best illustrate their points, the best vocabulary and diction with which to express these thoughts, and how to creatively present their essays in PowerPoint.
Synthesis is a higher level thinking skill that is used as students compose their summaries of the historical research related to the novel. Students will explain the main ideas as well as the important details and express them clearly and logically. Synthesis is necessary in making the final projects -- the essay in Word and the PowerPoint presentation. These projects are then videotaped.
The highest level thinking skill, evaluation or critical thinking is employed first throughout class discussions of the novel. As the unit draws to a conclusion, students perform peer editing and revising of their essays and again for the PowerPoint presentations. Peer editing and revising is performed using the same rubric with which the teacher grades the projects. In the final activity, students choose the best two multimedia presentations, and these presentations then receive special recognition. Critical thinking is the most important skill which people should pay close attention to in their study and life.
The variety of activities, the implementation of technology, and the use of cooperative learning in this unit will improve different levels of reading and writing skills. Although it is time consuming, this unit will help students create an interesting and memorable experience.