YOU ARE ALL AUTHORS AND VISUAL ARTISTS!

You All Are
Authors & Visual Artists!

Author(s): Andrew Wilson

Grade Level: 12th Grade (Seniors)

Timeframe: 8 Class Periods / 3 Weeks 90 minute class periods


Lesson Description or Explanation

Students will have recently just finished reading a collection of creative nonfiction works by various authors; I thought it might be interesting if each of the students were to choose an author that we have read. Upon choosing their author they would write a creative nonfiction piece of their own in which they will imitate the style that the author they chose uses in their particular piece. The piece that the students write must be an original, there shall be no copying of what the author has or any attempts to try jumbling it up. Students need to create a piece of nonfiction focused upon their passion for something. Whether that is films, music, cooking, drawing, etc. I don’t want students to just be obvious about it though, I want them to really attempt to delve into this project. Take hints from the author they have chosen, by looking at how they set up their piece. And students remember to imitate the style in which they go about writing their piece. Along with writing a creative nonfiction piece, students will be responsible for creating an artistic representation of the piece they wrote. Examples of artistic representation that they could use include the following: making a collage of photos (or maybe one photo could capture the written words), a drawing/painting, a short film in which they could use scenery or something else to create the feeling that is coming from their written words. If student do a drawing, perhaps they could have it set up in a book format, and the illustrations display what is occurring. There are countless possibilities in regards to the avenue they could take towards creating an artistic representation. Each greatly incorporating the use of technology and furthering students’ knowledge.


Indiana Curricular Standards
Standard 4: Writing- Process:
12.4.9- Research and Technology:
· Use technology for all aspects of creating, revising, editing, and publishing.

Standard 5: Writing- Applications:
12.5.8 – Deliver multimedia presentations that:
· Combine text, images, and sound and draw information from many sources, including television broadcasts, videos, films, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, the Internet, and electronic media-generated images.
· Select an appropriate medium for each element of the presentation.
· Use the selected media skillfully, editing appropriately, and monitoring for quality.
· Test the audience’s response and revise the presentation accordingly.

ISTE Standards
Standard 2: Social, Ethical, and Human Issues:
· Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.

Standard 3: Technology Productivity Tools:
· Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

http://eev2.liu.edu/westburyII/JG/assignments/iste_chart.htm

Assessments
Formative/Summative

Formative Assessment: Free Write/Peer Group Work: Students will complete a free write during class, and have several opportunities to work with peers upon revising and re-working their ideas with respect to their Creative Non-Fiction pieces. I will assess them on whether or not they actually completed the free write during the class time allotted. As well as assess students upon their work completed through their peer group work sessions. By assessing both of these sets of work, I will be able to get a sense of how the students are progressing along the way with their pieces, and hopefully have the chance to see how they are coming along with their artistic representations as well. These both would be considered to be forms of formative assessment, because they are taking place throughout the actual process of the assignment and overall lesson plan.

Summative Assessment: Creative Non-Fiction Piece/Artistic Representation: Students will turn in at the end of the 2-3 week unit plan period, a creative non-fiction piece that imitates the style of the author that they have chosen to use. Students will also turn in an actual artistic representation of their creative non-fiction piece. I will assess the students on whether or not they had chosen an author to imitate and how closely they imitated the author’s style. Of course students will need to have created an authentic piece and the originality of the piece will play a factor. I will also assess students upon how well their artistic representation captures and displays the meaning behind their creative non-fiction piece. When it comes to the artistic representation students will also be assessed upon their use of technology, which will be a key factor in their final grade for this portion. By assessing both of these pieces of work, I will be able to determine how well the students understood the intent, knowledge and overlying theme of the unit plan. Both of these would be considered to be forms of summative assessment, because they take place at the conclusion of the unit plan. It’s an assessment of their overall understandings from the unit plan itself.


Prior Knowledge

Curricular Knowledge or Skills: Students should have prior knowledge of the mechanics that are vital to the process of writing, as well as how to write in various styles, including being able to imitate a style that has been implemented by an author. Students also need to be able to write in a rather creative manner, or at least have a foundation that will enable them to write in such a manner. In order to ensure that students have this prior knowledge or skills before delving into the lesson plan, I will conduct a pre-assessment by having the students complete a free write during a fifteen minute portion of the initial class period. Students will conduct the free write much in the same manner that they would the actual creative non-fiction piece. By the end of the period the students will have completed their free writes and have had the opportunity to talk with several of their peers about their free writes; obtaining a better idea of what things they may want to keep in mind when working on the final draft. Simply put students should have a good grasp on the writing process, language and how they can be used to effective to communicate one’s ideas and purpose.

Technology Knowledge: Students should have prior knowledge of working with Microsoft Word in order to type up their final creative non-fiction piece. Students also need to be familiar with other programs that they wish to use in order to create their artistic representation of the piece they have written. Such programs may include PowerPoint, Publisher, Movie Maker, etc. Thus a basic understanding of how to use a computer and some rather common programs would be ideal to have before beginning work upon this project.

Technology

Internet Resources: N/A (Can’t think of any specific sites essential to the completion of this project)

Hardware: A computer with the programs mentioned below, (the rest are possibilities) - Video Camera, Art Supplies, Poster Board/Canvas, etc. (anything else that the students may find beneficial to make use of in order to complete their artistic representation of the assignment.

Software: Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Movie Maker, any other programs that would be beneficial to the students for creating an artistic representation of their creative non-fiction piece. Microsoft Word must be used when writing the creative non-fiction piece, while any of the other programs may be implemented to assist in creating the artistic representation portion of the project.


Procedure
Day One: I will begin with an opening hook, such as: Have you ever wanted to write like your favorite author? Ever felt like you would like to show how visual art can help enhance your own written word? (These will be rhetorical questions asked at the beginning of class to peak students’ interest). I will then proceed to introduce the assignment, and pass out the specific assignment sheet. Allowing about 10 minutes for any questions that the students may have. The students will then be asked to look within their textbooks for an author(s) they feel they would like to imitate with their own writing. The students will have about 15 minutes to look throughout the textbook over the various authors that we have read up to that point in the semester, and if they choose so, they may use an author we haven’t read yet. Upon having chosen an author (for the time being) to focus up, the students will then have a fifteen minute free write in which they will imitate the style that the author has implemented in their specific writing. Students will then split up into groups of four and share their free writes with their peers; this should take between 5 and 10 minutes. Students will be given the opportunity to share their free writes with the entire class if they so choose. I will then review the lesson plan with the students once more and ensure that they know to bring in a rough draft of their creative nonfiction piece by the next class period. The remainder of the class will be then devoted to watching the film “Dead Poets Society”, this will be a continuation of the film from the previous day.

Day Two: Students will need to have brought in rough drafts of their creative non-fiction pieces. For those students who haven’t brought in a rough draft for whatever reason, they will need to be working on their rough draft throughout the class period. And it must be handed in by the next period (or more points will be deducted from their project grade). I will split the students up into pre-arranged groups that they will conduct a peer editing workshop in. The remainder of the class time will be devoted to the peer editing workshop, students will be handed evaluation sheets which they will need to refer to when reading one of their peers’ texts. The evaluation sheets will be turned in at the end of the period to ensure that they were indeed completed (and will be returned before they are dismissed so that they can use the advice in order to work on their second draft of the assignment). *The students will complete a peer editing workshop evaluation sheet once the final projects are collected, in which they will inform me of how helpful their peers’ comments were to their drafting process, etc. Before the class is dismissed I will make sure that the students know that a second draft of the piece needs to be done before they come to their one-on-one conferences with me concerning their creative non-fiction pieces. The students will already have a calendar with the dates of the unit’s intended outline, which will include the due dates for the draft, along with the one-on-one conference dates (these will be conducted during their 90 minute study hall periods, each student getting 15 minutes to share with me any questions, concerns, etc. as well as a second draft of their piece).

Day Three: Some reading/writing activities. Students will have some time in class to work on their unit projects. Students who would like to go to the library to use a computer to work upon their artistic representation for the assignment may, but they must solely work on their artistic representation. The first day of the one-on-one conferences during the study hall period. Students must have their second draft of the creative non-fiction piece or they will have to reschedule their time.

Day Four: Some reading/writing activities. Students will have some time in class to work on their unit projects. Students who would like to go to the library to use a computer to work upon their artistic representation for the assignment may, but they must solely work on their artistic representation. The second day of the one-on-one conferences during the study hall period. Students must have their second draft of the creative non-fiction piece or they will have to reschedule their time.

Day Five: Some reading/writing activities. Students will have some time in class to work on their unit projects. Students who would like to go to the library to use a computer to work upon their artistic representation for the assignment may, but they must solely work on their artistic representation. The third day of the one-on-one conferences during the study hall period. Students must have their second draft of the creative non-fiction piece or they will have to reschedule their time.

Day Six: Some reading/writing activities. Students will have some time in class to work on their unit projects. Students who would like to go to the library to use a computer to work upon their artistic representation for the assignment may, but they must solely work on their artistic representation. The fourth day of the one-on-one conferences during the study hall period. Students must have their second draft of the creative non-fiction piece or they will have to reschedule their time.

Day Seven: Some reading/writing activities. Students will have some time in class to work on their unit projects. Students who would like to go to the library to use a computer to work upon their artistic representation for the assignment may, but they must solely work on their artistic representation. The fifth and final day of the one-on-one conferences during the study hall period. Students must have their second draft of the creative non-fiction piece.

Day Eighth: Students will turn in their final creative non-fiction pieces, along with their artistic representations. Each student will be given the chance to present both their piece and the artistic representation that corresponds with it. This is to be a completely stress-free environment for the students. Each of them will have worked hard upon their projects, and will be given the fair chance to present their work with nothing, but respect being shown by their fellow peers. This will conclude the unit plan, and the way I have it planned out Thanksgiving Break will begin the following day!


Differentiated Instruction
ESL
Students whose native language isn’t English will be given the opportunity to choose an author that has written in their native language or from their native country. Hopefully this will peak their interest with respect to the assignment. The handouts for the assignment will be given in both English as well as their native language, and I will make sure to contact their parents to ensure they know what their child is doing for the particular assignment. That way they may be able to help out in some aspects if need be. I will also make use of the translator in Google’s language tools. As well as the following websites: http://babelfish.altavista.com/, http://translation.paralink.com/, www.worldlingo.com. I will ensure that the students have the opportunity to achieve just like every other student in the classroom.


Challenge/Extend
Students, who feel they need to be truly challenged or extended within my classroom, could approach this particular assignment and unit from a truly artistic side. This assignment allows students to creatively express themselves through both writing and artistic representations of their writings. Thus it is kind of already directed towards those students who feel they aren’t challenged enough in school. And students who still feel the need to be challenged further can complete two creative non-fiction pieces along with artistic representations for both if they wish. I believe that by having the artistic representation portion of this assignment it truly is calling out to those who wouldn’t simply find the challenge in writing a piece. If the students still felt that doing another project would be challenging enough, perhaps I could work with them on some more challenging ideas for creating the artistic representation portion of the assignment.

Special Needs
Students will be given every resource available in order to ensure that they are equipped to achieve when it comes to this project. I will spend extra time with any students who feel they need assistance with either the writing portion or the artistic portion of this assignment. Accommodations will be made throughout the unit as often as is necessary.