A Literature Circle Unit allows students to develop certain performance tasks and also allows teachers to modify their instruction.
Context
This activity was created during my fall Block in my Language Arts class. We used Netscape Composer to link it into our web page after we had typed all 5 lessons on Netscape Composer.
Impact
This activity can be used in a Language Arts class. For in the classroom, the class will be divided into different reading levels. The purpose is to assess the student’s comprehension of the book in a fun and creative manner, instead of a pop quiz or a test after each chapter. The discussion questions are asked in a similar manner as those asked on the EOG. Not only does it assess the student’s comprehension, it prepares them for the question format on the EOG.
Alignment
This assignment meets the technology competency goal 10.4 because the students meet the goals of the computer skills curriculum by accessing the computer to complete jobs within the Literature Circle Unit. For example, one of the jobs is “Artful Artist”. In this jog the students are asked to draw a picture dealing with an important event in the story. The students can use a paint program on the computer to illustrate their drawing. This artifact also satisfies technology competency goal 12.1 because the students have to locate information using the web to show information on the web, the students can communicate their results clearly by having a visual to show to the class and by providing them with a helpful web address. This artifact meets INTASC standard 2 because the different jobs within the Literature Circle Unit give the students learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development. This artifact also meets INTASC standard 4 because the teacher uses the different jobs to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. INTASC standard 5 is also met by this artifact because the different jobs of the Literature Circles Unit gives an individual or group motivation and creates a positive learning environment through an active engagement in learning. This artifact also meets the INTASC standard 8 because the Literature Circles Unit gives the students a chance to show their contributions to each job. This activity insures the continuous intellectual, social and physical development by giving so many options to be creative in presenting their assigned jobs.