NDubois

Nicole Dubois EDC 448 Diverse text set March 2011
 * Diverse Text Set for 10th Grade English: Reading Connections **
 * Context for using text set: ** This diverse text set will be used within a tenth grade classroom. Throughout all age groups, reading levels can vary greatly, some reading a few years below their level and some a few years above. Because of these developmental differences, this text set offers a diversity of texts to accommodate all learners. The text set includes video clips, audio clips, interactive websites, articles and books. These texts vary on a variety of levels, as well as their types of texts. These texts can be worked on within small group, larger groups, or as a whole class. The groups will be separated into groups, for a jigsaw assignment, each reading or viewing a different text before coming together and comparing and contrasting the themes of each text. All of the students will be reading //The Hatchet// by Gary Paulson and analyzing the theme and author’s motives.


 * A. Print Resources **
 * Text #1 **
 * Citation: ** Paulson, G. (1996)). //The hatchet//. Aladdin Paperbacks. NY: New York.
 * Text summary: ** Hatchet is the story of a boy named Brian. On a trip to the Canadian oilfields to spend the summer with his dad, the pilot of the Cessna he is traveling in suffers a heart attack and dies. Brian must land the plane in the forest. Brian learns to exist in in this wilderness. He faces many dangers including hunger, animal attacks, and even a tornado. This book gives the reader a better understanding of what it is like to survive in an untamed land.
 * Rationale: ** This text is the primary tool of this set. With this novel, the students will be exploring the major themes and the character of Brian Robeson. They will be exploring the character’s dynamics.
 * Use of text: ** This text will be read first by the students at the beginning of the unit and then, after viewing the other texts, the text will return for further analysis.
 * Attachment: ** No attachment. Text provided in class

** Text #2 ** ** Citation: ** Paulson, G. (1998). //Brian’s winter//. Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers. NY: New York. ** Rationale: ** This text uses more exploration of the themes as mentioned in //The Hatchet//. ** Attachment: ** No attachment. Text provided in class.
 * Text summary: ** Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake. Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present. The novel chronicles in gritty detail Brian's mistakes, setbacks, and small triumphs as, with the help of the hatchet, he manages to survive the 54 days alone in the wilderness. Paulsen effectively shows readers how Brian learns patienceto watch, listen, and think before he actsas he attempts to build a fire, to fish and hunt, and to make his home under a rock overhang safe and comfortable. An epilogue discussing the lasting effects of Brian's stay in the wilderness and his dim chance of survival had winter come upon him before rescue adds credibility to the story.
 * Use of text: ** The students will be reading this novel after they have read //The Hatchet//. They will not be doing as in depth of an analysis but mostly comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities between the two novels.

** Text #3 ** ** Citation: ** Kupetz, J. (2008). //Catching up with Aron Ralston.// Retrieved March 3, 2010 from disaboom website at __ [] __. ** Text summary: ** Aron Lee Ralston is an American mountain climber and public speaker. He gained fame in May 2003 when, while canonizing in Utah, he was forced to amputate his right arm with a dull knife in order to free himself after his arm became trapped by a boulder. ** Rationale: ** This article is a real life example of the emotions that the character Brian would have faced. These stories share a common theme of Man verses self. ** Use of text: ** This text will be one of the texts used in the jigsaw assignment. The students will explores the common theme of man verses self. They will discuss the obstacles that characters can face and the difficulties of being in situations such as these. ** Attachment: ** No attachment. Text provided through website URL ** Text #4 ** ** Citation: ** Markle, S. (2006). //The little lost bat.// Charlesbridge. MA: Watertown. ** Rationale: ** Although the baby bat’s situation is different, for he has lost his mother and is still in a familiar environment, the bat still faces many of the same life and death perils. The bat is alone and his environment his very dangerous to him. ** Use of text: ** This text is mostly used for comparing the themes of danger but ultimately contrasting the stories. The students should be able to identify the differences between “man verses self” and “man verses nature”. ** Attachment: ** No attachment. Text provided in class.
 * Text Summary: ** A little bat is born in a cave with millions of other female bats and their young. The fight for survival is apparent from his first moments of life–predators threaten the powerless infant from all sides. Drama ensues over a week later when his mother dies at the claws of a barn owl, and the baby goes hungry for several days. However, he is ultimately saved by a mother bat who has lost her baby and is searching for a new mouth to feed.

** Text #5 ** ** Citation: ** Dickinson, E. (1988). Book of poems: //Will there really be a morning?// Gramercy Books. New York. ** Text Summary: ** This is a nature poem where the narrator is searching for “morning”. The narrator is searching for day but is loosing hope on finding it on their own and begins asking anyone who will listen if they can help. ** Rationale: ** Like the other texts, this poem displays a sense of helplessness and nature. ** Use of text: ** Along with the other texts, the students will compare with the themes of helplessness amongst the other texts. They will also note what category this narrative falls under, be it “man verses self” or “man verses nature”. ** Attachment: ** Poem provided. 101 Will there really be a "Morning"? Is there such a thing as "Day"? Could I see it from the mountains If I were as tall as they?
 * Will there really be a "Morning"? **

Has it feet like Water lilies? Has it feathers like a Bird? Is it brought from famous countries Of which I have never heard?

Oh some Scholar! Oh some Sailor! Oh some Wise Men from the skies! Please to tell a little Pilgrim Where the place called "Morning" lies!

Emily Dickinson
 * B. Media Resources **
 * Text #6: **
 * Citation: ** Dafidd. (2009, June 29). //Survivorman plane crash S1E8 part 1.// Retrieved March 6, 2011 from __ [] __
 * Text summary: ** Survivorman follows outdoor enthusiast and survival expert Les Stroud as he is abandoned for a week in a remote location with little supplies (The supplies he is given to use depend on the scenario he is playing out. Sometimes he will play the scenario of a stranded scuba diver on an island and… More other he will play a broken down car in the middle of the desert. However, he always carries his Leatherman Multi-Tool and his trusty harmonica.) While stranded in the middle of nowhere Les must document his experience by himself using 50 pounds of cameras and equipment that ranges from tripods, body strap stands, to film all the way to the cameras and the cases that hold them. Each new location presents a new set of obstacles for Les with such diverse climates as the dense, humid Costa Rican Rainforest all the way to the dry, arid environment of the Kalahari Desert in Africa. No matter where he goes he is always alone, always in danger, and always Survivorman. In this episode, Lee plays out the scenario of being stranded in the Canadian wilderness after surviving a small plane crash.
 * Rationale: ** This episode explores an extremely similar scenario as that of the character Brian in //The Hatchet//. This, only being part one of the episode, displays the environmental obstacles that a person would face in that situation.
 * Use of text: ** Students will note the environmental stresses and explore the situation of being stranded. Using this video, they will create their own plans for survival in the wilderness. This activity, while being apart of jigsaw, is mostly for developing the students creativity and informally assessing their analyzing abilities.
 * Attachment: ** No Attachment. Text provided through URL


 * Text #7 **
 * Citation: ** Xlizix. (2009, June 18). //Lost and found senses fail.// Retrieved March 6, 2010 from __ [] __
 * Text Summary: ** This song is a narrative about a person being lost at sea. The song describes the hopelessness of the situation, as well as the physical and emotional tolls the situation has on a person’s wellbeing.
 * Rationale: ** These lyrics will be compared to the other texts via the themes of “man verses self” and “man verses nature”. However, these song lyrics, depending on point of view, can be taken as either in sense of theme.
 * Use of text: ** The students will hold a discussion and debate on which category they feel the song can be placed in. This will develop their cognitive and persuasion skills, as well as serve as a communicative exercise.
 * Attachment: ** No Attachment. Video can be found through URL
 * C. Online interactive resources **
 * Text #8: **
 * Citation: ** Falk, E. C. (2011). //Take the wilderness survival quiz and test your knowledge.// Retrieved March 5, 2011 from Wilderness survival skills for safe wilderness travel website at __ [] __
 * Text Summary: ** The quiz is a test of your knowledge to handle different situation in the wilderness. Even not a real "survivor" challenge the quiz can help you to check if you are on the right track while being funny and instructive. There are two different parts. The Basic Quiz contains 15 fundamental questions about survival. The Advanced Quiz contains 30 further questions covering many different aspects of survival.
 * Rationale: ** This quiz helps the students better imagine what sort of situation Brian from //The Hatchet// was in and therefore better empathize and relate to the story.
 * Use of Text: ** This quiz, while not being used as a form of assessment, is simply a tool to be used by the students to analyze the story and the character. They will rationalize what sort of knowledge Brian had to learn or know in order to survive.
 * Attachment: ** No Attachment. Activity can be found through URL
 * Text #9: **
 * Citation: ** Ritter D. (1994-2011). //Stay alive.// Retrieved March 4, 2011 from Equipped to Survive website at __ [] __
 * Text Summary: ** Stay Alive is an online simulation that first teaches you the knowledge needed to know (First aid, Navigation, Survival skills, etc.) in order to survive in desperate situations. The simulation is a fun and safe way to test your knowledge, after having studied the information given.
 * Rationale: ** Like the quiz, the student will have further comprehension on knowledge needed to know in such situations and better understand characters rational in desperate situations.
 * Use of text: ** Similar to the quiz, students will infer details from the novels with the information given from the simulation and compare the realistic, or not so realistic, details of the novel.
 * Attachment: ** No Attachment. Activity can be found through URL
 * D. Instructional Resources **
 * Text #10: **
 * Citation: ** Chandler, J. (1996-2011). //Hatchet Lesson Plan.// Retrieved March 7, 2011 from Scholastic website at __ [] __
 * Text Summary: ** This is a great online resource which helps develop a lesson plan based off of themes of novels, particularly Gary Paulson’s //The Hatchet//. This lesson and assessment is based on journal writing.
 * Rationale: ** This lesson plan gives a good suggestion as what can be done with a novel such as //The Hatchet.// These lesson plans can be used and modified if needed to fit any reading material. The journal writing can be done through basic modeling instruction and help enhance students writing and reading skills.
 * Use of text: ** This text can be modified into a lesson that incorporates modeling and clarifying so that the students can better themselves as writers by modifying their own strategies, or completely learn new strategies. Reading and writing can greatly effect each other and this lesson can be modified to be used for either small quick write journals or more extensive essay or paper writing.
 * Attachment: ** Not attached. Website posted in provided URL

I will initiate the lesson by reading aloud the children’s book //The Little Lost Bat//. After which, the class will discuss come of the important themes of this story, “Man verses nature”, fear, survival, loneliness, etc. After which we will then continue by reading through the interview with the hiker Aron Ralston, and have the students suggest themes, hopefully analyzing the differences between “Man verses Self” and “Man verses Nature”. Following this, the students will read //The Hatchet// and further investigate the previous themes. After which they will explore through the websites; the quizzes for information that would pertain to the analysis of character development and the song lyrics and poem for further theme analysis. The class will be separated into groups and asked to think of common and corresponding, along with some contrasting, themes from the texts. This will increase their analytical and comprehension skills.
 * Use these texts together in the classroom: **
 * Core Standard 2: ** Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * Core Standard 3 ** : Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to analyze themes of texts and infer knowledge of a text with another text through basic compare and contrast strategies. In addition to basic understanding of theme, students will be more aware to character development through the usage of the additional texts. They will be able to support their ideas through specific citations of the texts.
 * RIPTS 4: ** Teachers create instructional opportunities that reflect a respect for the diversity of learners and an understanding of how students differ in their approaches to learning.
 * Learning Objectives: **

Comments:

I liked the use of Text #7 because it really depicts a strong mood packed full of feelings. I think this would help students realize certain moods different writings, and poems have. I agree that a discussion about what kind of theme is being set up will encourage students to notice certain clues, as well as gain communication and persuasion skills. I also like the use of Text # 8 and how it is fun, while allowing the students to see how it would be in a certain situation if they were ever stranded. I think this website raises points that they wouldn't have otherwise realize as something they might have to overcome, which gives them a sense of the vast unknown the character was experiencing in "The Hatchet". -Kathryn Capone