Individual students will:
1. Enhance and support the learning community by keeping up with the reading schedule and making valuable contributions to round table conversations and litspiration challenges using supporting details from the novel. As a corollary, students will ensure they are actively reading and taking notes along the way.
2. Come prepared to wonder and inquire about the novel.
3. Create blog entries that will demonstrate unique ideas, thoughtful connections, prompts, questions, discoveries etc.
1. Enhance and support the learning community by keeping up with the reading schedule and making valuable contributions to round table conversations and litspiration challenges using supporting details from the novel. As a corollary, students will ensure they are actively reading and taking notes along the way.
2. Come prepared to wonder and inquire about the novel.
3. Create blog entries that will demonstrate unique ideas, thoughtful connections, prompts, questions, discoveries etc.
- INDIVIDUAL BLOG POSTS: each individual group member is responsible for writing one post per topic. Entries should be 300-400 words and demonstrate academic excellence. (The posts will explore the following topics, and we will inform you via the main page of this blog when that post is due! We have given you these to ensure you are thinking about them as you are actively reading.) Individual posts must be published to each member's personal litspiration blog.
1. Welcome to the Scorpion Project
2. Thoughts on the first 100 pages
3. One of the following, your choice:
-What does it mean to be a caregiver/mother/father?
-What is education and how do people learn about their world? In what ways can someone “get educated?”
-How do you justify the idea that a person can be both good and evil at the same time?
4. Which elements of worldview are most influential in Matt's life?
5. Real life farm patrol? Issues of border patrol & connections to real world issues.
6. Film Study: Compare and contrast the protagonists in The House of the Scorpion and Gattaca.
- Individual posts will be assessed based on your demonstration of KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS. It is also expected that posts include specific SUPPORTING DETAILS and show evidence of CRITICAL THINKING.
- INDIVIDUAL TASKS: each individual group member is responsible for completing certain tasks throughout the project. These are not posts on your blog, but things that you need to do, such as commenting on other blog posts.
5. Submit a final response detailing what they have learned through this project, and how they personally enhanced and supported their learning community.
Teams will:
1. Record and actively participate in "Harkness Discussions": in order to ensure that literary analysis is thoughtful and insightful, groups will meet to discuss each topic. Each group is responsible for completing five roundtables (topics listed below). (As with the individual posts, we will tell you when and how to complete these via the main page.)
2. Complete the assigned litspiration challenges creatively and in a way that demonstrates a thoughtful consideration of the novel.
Ms. Groeller will:
1. Record and actively participate in "Harkness Discussions": in order to ensure that literary analysis is thoughtful and insightful, groups will meet to discuss each topic. Each group is responsible for completing five roundtables (topics listed below). (As with the individual posts, we will tell you when and how to complete these via the main page.)
- Conversations may be recorded with your laptop, orchestrated using Sound Cloud, or recorded in some other fashion that will allow you to document, post, and refer back to your conversations.
- For each discussion, the following roles must be filled, and should be rotated to ensure that each group member fills each role at least once.
- Moderator: you will be responsible for ensuring that the discussion remains focused. The moderator will also be responsible for posting the discussion, reflection, and map to the blog.
- Cartographer: you will be responsible for completing the discussion map for the discussion.
- Contributor: you will fill this role multiple times; you will be responsible for asking and answering good questions, and respectfully discussing the ideas with your teamates.
- Your goal as a team is to help each other develop your ideas and take your analysis deeper. Ask questions, listen and consider.
- The topics for the Harkness Discussions are:
1. Author's Choices
2. General Discussion on "Youth"
3. General Discussion on first half of "Middle Age"
4. Making Connections & Becoming Litspired
5. Empathy or Sympathy
6. General Discussion on last half of "Middle Age" and all of "Old Age"
7. Connections to Worldview
8. Final Thoughts
8. Final Thoughts
2. Complete the assigned litspiration challenges creatively and in a way that demonstrates a thoughtful consideration of the novel.
- Litspiration Challenges: each group is responsible for completing three litspiration challenges: setting, & theme, characterization. (As with the individual posts and roundtables, we will inform you when these roundtable should be recorded and posted on the main page.) Challenges should be rigorous, thoughtful, demonstrate close reading through the incorporation of supporting details, and be a product of true collaboration.
- For example: Character Playlist & Cast the Novel challenges would both enable you to explore characterization.
- Create a unique name and look for the blog by the end of the project (without it becoming a distraction in terms of the quality / analysis of content that is published)
- Maintain a vocabulary page (Google doc) that includes words, definitions, sentences, and page numbers
Ms. Groeller will:
- Create a working website to house the project (the one that you are at now)
- Create a manageable reading calendar
- Create a classroom / work environment that will allow students to successfully work as teams and complete the overall project
- Provide behind-the-scenes technology support (and advice)
- Share the student-groups’ work / projects with professional educators and related colleagues
