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Short Story Treasure Hunt and Blog Party
Description:
Eighth grade students will locate and read short stories and essays and will share evaluations with their fellow students using a blog. Students will learn about fair use and copyright as it pertains to online resources, and will learn to use Creative Commons-licensed visual media in presentations.
Goals & Objectives:

Instructional Goals:

  • Students will become familiar with the short story and essay collection/anthology genre of literature.
  • Students will appreciate the usefulness of social media technology (blogging) for discussing literature and social communication.
  • Students will understand the concepts of fair use, copyright, and Creative Commons.
  • Students will refresh their MLA citation skills.

 


Learning objectives:

  • Students will locate, read, analyze, and discuss at least three different short stories or essays over the course of the project. Students will write one blog entry per story or essay.
  • Students will comment on at least three other blog entries written by their fellow students during the project. Students will demonstrate respect and etiquette when commenting on other students’ blog entries.
  • Students will include at least one multimedia element (photo, video, animation, etc.) in each blog entry. Each multimedia element must meet fair use, permission, or Creative Commons-licensing guidelines.
  • Students will prepare proper MLA citations for the stories or essays in their blog entries.

 

Motivational objectives:

  • Students will learn to appreciate a new form of literature.
  • Students will gain confidence in their ability to evaluate and discuss literature.
  • Students will understand the value of social networking technology and will be motivated to apply the technology for their own purposes.
  • Students will respect the rights of others to protect their creative works.
Materials & Sources:

Materials:

 

Short story and essay collections and anthologies – enough copies for each student and several extra. If needed, inexpensive, used paperback short story or essay collections could be purchased or borrowed for the project.

 

 

Special bookmarks (see attached template) will be placed in each book, identifying them as part of the Short Story Treasure Hunt.

 

BuILder designed for this lesson: http://www.informationliteracy.org/builder/1848

Procedures:
See attached lesson plan
Assessment:
The learning assessment will be a determination of whether or not the students met the learning objective goals. The students will receive a grading rubric at the beginning of the lesson that will present the learning objectives and grading criteria (see attached). The rubric will be used by the classroom teacher and TL to assess learning.
Collaborators:
The classroom ELA teacher would be included as a collaborator. Depending on interest, a classroom Social Studies or Technology teacher could also be included. The classroom teacher and the Teacher-Librarian will work together to identify and hide books, as well as moderate blog postings and comments.
Sources:
Print this Lesson Plan
Presented By: Rebecca Buerkett
Collaborative: The classroom ELA teacher would be included as a collaborator. Depending on interest, a classroom Social Studies or Technology teacher could also be included. The classroom teacher and the Teacher-Librarian will work together to identify and hide books, as well as moderate blog postings and comments.
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