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= = =Welcome to the "This We Believe" Project =

2011 Schedule
Essential Question: What do you Believe?

Specific questions:
 * In what forms to people express their beliefs?
 * How can we look at these different forms and determine what people believe?
 * What might some of the book characters with whom we are familiar say about their beliefs?
 * Finally, what do we as individuals believe?

Skill goals:
 * writing persuasively
 * inferring beliefs of others
 * ability to focus writing to single idea

Materials:
 * “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.
 * “Ask not. . .” inaugural address by President Kennedy
 * variety of podcasts and essays from “this I believe” website (need to carefully choose for age appropriateness)
 * songs (lyrics and audio) (examples “all you need is love”, “from my front porch looking in” and “new shoes”)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Process
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as students read, listen, evaluate the beliefs of others they start to think about their own ideas
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">analyze what makes these strong statements
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">how does presentation change impact
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">think about a book character and a belief that character might have
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">write from point of view of character, record as podcast
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">finally write for self and record as podcast

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How would it work with Edmodo?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">it would be a side project, not an entire LA take-over-everything unit
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">several groups within Edmodo so that each group will have some students from each class (20+/- kids per group)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">have a single essay/song/speech added as a link each week
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">students could comment in the group, work in class etc.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">after say 6 or so examples, students would work on writing and recording and sharing piece as a book character
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">commenting all around, feedback, etc
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">then a few more “professional” examples perhaps
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">finally students write, share, own statements of belief
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ta-da!

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Time Frame:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">begin after Thanksgiving
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">first draft of book character essay end of Jan
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">personal essay end of Feb

Wiki created by Wendy Eiteljorg November, 2011. Find me on Twitter: @WendyE40