Big 6+ ELA Projects: 12th Grade GLE (Conflict)

This is a collaborative lesson taught by both the classroom teacher and the school librarian. Get in contact with your school librarian early to discuss scheduling and teaching responsibilities.

This lesson plan is a guideline. If you need to make minor adjustments or changes to best suit the needs of your students or the resources in your building, please do so. If you have questions about the curricular requirements, please contact Shelley Erickson or Julie Schik.

At the completion of this lesson, you will need to send two student examples each of a level 2, 3, and 4 project to your curriculum specialist or department head who will in turn submit them to your supervisor.  This can be electronically or as a hard copy.

Teacher—be sure to complete this before going to library/lab for research:

• Students and teacher define and explore different types of conflict. (Topic Selection Notes Sheet included).
• Students will learn to analyze causes and resolutions of conflict, as well as the social consequences for those affected (perpetrators, victims, bystanders, etc.)

[Notes: If a teacher prefers to center the paper on a supplemental text, he/she may choose to dictate the conflict students will research, i.e. if using The Book Thief, students will research WWII and a social issue affected by WWII.]

Teacher will introduce the requirements for the project. (See Synthesis & Sharing)

• Students reflect on & refine potential inquiry questions with a partner (Pair Share Protocol Organizer included).
• Students develop potential inquiry questions similar to, but more specific than:

*How has an invading or occupying presence change the cultural aspects of a society? 

*Has any person or group benefited from the conflict in terms of a specific social issue? 

*Did a specific social issue justify the conflict? 

[For example, in a paper examining the gender roles in Afghanistan, possible inquiry questions could be: How have women's rights evolved under the Russian, Mujahidin, Taliban, and ultimately US occupations of Afghanistan? OR Have women's rights improved as a result of US involvement in Afghanistan, and if so, does that justify the US military action?] 

Librarian—can introduce online resources if a pre-topic selection exploration activity is desired.

Formative Assessment: Verify all information is recorded on student handouts (visual check or graded assessment)

With direct instruction from the school librarian (with support from the classroom teacher) on search strategies and recommended resources, students will locate required information about their selected topic:

Possible Sources of information:

• Gale Global Issues in Context                  
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online                              
• Some sources should be student selected

Your librarian will use your school's direct links to the following district databases when working with students.

Formative Assessment: Consistent & frequent verbal & visual checks with student to assess if able to access quality resources.

Teacher will guide students through transferring information into a notes organizer. (TBD by teacher and/or self-selected by students, Annotated Bibliography Handout and Example included).

With direct instruction & support from the school librarian, students will create citations for their sources.  Recommendation to use district subscription to Noodle Tools.  Teacher will provide instruction on internal citations as needed.

Formative Assessment:  Visual checks for completion.  And/or, individual conferencing with students to determine if ready to move on to synthesis and sharing.

Teacher will review the requirements for the final project and assist students as necessary.

Required—Written

• Students will complete a written product to demonstrate their learning. 
• The written product will include a thesis which relates to their chosen inquiry question, the answer discovered during research including detailed evidence explaining how the student came to this conclusion, why others should be interested in or care about this topic, and how this topic relates to literature explored during this course.
• Paper should include information on the causes of the conflict, those affected by the conflict (perpetrators, victims, bystanders, etc.), and /or impacts of the conflict. 
• Students may choose the most effective way to organize these points in their paper. 
• The paper should include all required elements and have a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.  Source information should be cited through internal citations and a works cited page.

Optional—Visual and Verbal

• A powerful visual representation of the topic chosen.  The visual product should include limited text—students will have to choose the MOST important or relevant items to share through the visual product and provide a snapshot or overview of the topic. Format TBD by classroom teacher and student.
• 4-5 minute formal presentation for the class or for small groups of classmates

Formative Assessment: Rough draft feedback.

Summative Assessment: Use provided rubric to grade final product.

Teacher will guide students as they complete the self-evaluation form containing teacher selected items from the form included below.

The self-evaluation can be as brief (one question) or as long as the teacher deems necessary.  This can be a graded or non-graded activity.         

Noodletools provides a format for creating research papers.  It provides an area for notetaking, citation creation, and paper formation.

Guides for using Noodle Tools

This 20 minute video gives an overview on how to use NoodleTools.

This video shows how to create a new project.

This video shows how to check the format of your citation.

This video shows how to add a preformatted citation from a database or website.