ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

THE STORY OF COMMUNICATION

Planning Points

Approximate Time Needed: 2 weeks
Correlation to English I SCS 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 6.01, 6.02
Correlation to NC High School Exit Exam Competencies: C1, C2, C4, PI11, PS15

Lesson Objectives:

Students will research forms of communication and their impacts on culture. Students will then use this information to create a children's book and a website for high school students.

Materials Needed:

• Wide variety of children's nonfiction books
• Computer access
• Poster board and materials for books (glue, scissors, cloth, glitter, pictures, etc.)
• An audience of young children (optional)

Description:

• Begin with a brainstorming and reflective thinking opportunity, asking students to think of ways that people communicate now versus the beginning of time. (Sample topic list: hieroglyphics, cave drawings, body language, sign language, newspapers, magazines, cryptology, sign language, film, newsreels, telephone, telegraph, Morse code, semaphore, Braille, television, radio, Pony Express, mail, electronic mail, Internet.) Have students select the forms of communication that most interest them to help form their groups.
• After reviewing documentation formats, have student groups research in the media center, while you move from table to table to offer assistance and reinforcement. Students should prepare notes and bibliography cards as they research. This is also an excellent opportunity to explain the use of direct quotations, paraphrasing, and plagiarism.
• In groups of two or three, students will spend two days reading children's nonfiction books while analyzing the author's purpose, style, tone, word choice, audience, illustrations, diagrams, etc. Model this analysis with a popular children's nonfiction book before asking the groups to complete this step on their own. Also have students examine "creative non-fiction" children's books, where a fictional story provides the frame for the researched information.
• Have students share information as a whole class about their communication form. Make a class timeline that illustrates the progress of communication through time.
• Since each group will use research to create a children's book and a website for high school students, discuss the differences in audiences and styles. Ask students what they will need to consider for each product and how they will address the issues that arise. Discuss how they can include their conclusions about the impact of this communication form on culture (through using a story frame, for example, or through pictures or cause-effect charts on-line) in their books and websites.
• Groups write original children's books and websites. (Students may subdivide into two groups, one for each product.) Groups should complete a plan (an outline, a web, a story-board, a story map, etc.). Remind groups that each product should include researched information, with citations where appropriate as well as a bibliography.
• After drafting, the students edit their books and websites for mechanics, sentence formation, spelling, and other grammatical errors. Peer editing among groups works well with this activity.
• Students go to the computer lab and type their stories and create their websites. While in the lab, the students can use the Internet or graphics programs for diagrams and illustration ideas. Students can glue the typed story in the book (poster board folded in half) and then illustrate the story with various mediums (paint, markers, cloth, glitter) or computer-generated art.

Assessment:

In addition to the rubric, informal assessment is also needed as the groups prepare the books and websites. For example, allowing other groups to evaluate the groups' progress is a great way to help the students stay on task and compare their work with others. For deadline purposes, set a checklist of activities that should be completed in the day so that students could assess their group's work.

Additional Notes:

After practiced reading sessions, the students could read children's books to a selected class of younger children.

Teacher's Notes:

The Story of Communication

____/40 Quality of Information and Content

• Accurate
• Informative
• Documented properly
• Includes thoughtful reflection about cultural impact of means of communication

____/30 Appropriate to Audience and Context

• Word choice, syntax, illustrations, etc. appropriate to audience (children/high school students)
• Children's book (story and illustrations) engaging
• Website interesting (text and graphics) and easy to use

____/30 Presentation

• Grammar correct (no errors, non-standard use only if appropriate to context)
• Mechanics correct
• Product neatly completed

____/100 TOTAL

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