Lesson Plan #1

This lesson would most likely be expanded into a unit plan. The lesson assumes students are familiar with blogging and that they have completed reading The Giver. The lesson could also be extended into a journaling activity with students imagining what it would be like to live a day to day life in the utopian society created in The Giver and writing about that day to day life.

Overview

After reading The Giver, students design their own utopian society, publishing the explanation of their ideal world on a blog. As they blog about their utopia, students establish the social structure and habits that citizens will follow in their utopian societies. They begin by brainstorming ideas about what a perfect society would be like and then, in groups, begin to plan their project. Over several class sessions, students work on their blogs comparing their work to a rubric. Finally, after students visit one another’s blogs and provide constructive and supportive feedback, they reflect on their own work.

Grade Level

6th grade

Materials

Computers

Blog hosting site (i.e. blogger, livejournal etc.)

Standards (from Iowa Core Curriculum)

Students use an effective writing process.

Students use knowledge of purpose, audience, format, and medium in developing written communication.

Students incorporate technology as a tool to enhance writing.

Students collaborate with peers, experts, and others using interactive technology.

Objectives

Students will create a utopian society with at least 3 established guidelines for the social structure of their society and habits (practices) that members of the society conform to.

Students will critically analyze and reflect on their peers' utopian society blogs and provide constructive feedback for their peers.

Students will reflect and blog about their own experiences and "ah-ha" moments throughout the experience.

Procedures

The topic of utopian societies will be introduced to the students through the reading of the book "The Giver" as students read the class will learn and discuss how the society in the book works.

Once the book is completed students will participate in a brainstorming activity to help them create their own utopian society using these questions:

• If you could live anywhere in the world where would you life? Why?
• Describe your perfect life...What kind of house would you have? What would you do everyday? How would you make money? What would you do for fun? What rules would you follow?

Using these questions, students will then break into their groups and have a group brainstorm about the society that they would like to create. The students will then be asked to create a 5 day plan for what they need to accomplish each day in order to finish their project. They will also be given a rubric so that they know what is expected for the final product.

Assessment

Students will be assessed from a rubric provided to them at the beginning of the project.

Adapted from this lesson on ReadWriteThink