This lesson serves as a review of all four conflicts discussed in previous lessons. Since students enjoy watching the movie clips and requested to see it again, I obliged. We watched the trailer with a different purpose this time. Prior to showing students the Charlotte's Web Trailer video, we reviewed what we learned from our Conflict lessons.
In order to chart what students have learned, I brought out our original KWL chart with prefilled sections K (What we Know-at the time of our first lesson) and W (What we wanted to learn). Now, it is time to fill out the L (What we learned) section. I ask students to text me their responses using our technology responders. I take a picture of it and project it from my computer. We review all the topics we have learned about and reflect about our past learning on conflict.
Now, it is time to follow the KWL Chart guidelines under L: What we learned and watch the movie clip for the purpose of identifying which types of conflicts are played out in the movie trailer. I remind students to pay careful attention to details, as I will be asking them for a response afterwards, which requires them to cite examples from the movie clip.
Building on prior knowledge lets students scaffold from where they are to more complex and rigorous tasks. Assessing prior knowledge via informal assessments such as a KWL chart lets teachers know students' entry points so that differentiation of instruction can guide students to achieve their goal of mastering the common core standards.
As we wrap up this lesson on conflict, I divide students into groups of four to six. They have assigned roles and given group norms. I ask students to work together to create a The 4 Door Foldable (one door for each conflict learned) on a short story that I give each group. I distribute one short story per group (no more than two typed written pages long). I make sure that each story has at least one example of each of the four conflicts taught. Students are given Examples of Conflicts Chart to use as guidelines. I hand the manager (whose role is to collect and distribute materials) the following items:
I ask them to collaborate with their teams to create a representation of their knowledge of the four types of character conflict using these materials. At this point, students know what is expected of them during independent work. Some review may be necessary, but overall students should have practiced and have clear understanding of expectations. Using the sheet with Cooperative Group Roles, Rubrics & Rules displayed at each table will also guide the learning process.
I ask each team leader to present their culminating projects, using the four door foldable as their visual aide. As each team presents, I take my flip camera and record their presentations. After all teams share out their projects, we view their presentations that I taped on our Promethean board.
I ask the team leaders to meet with me and to rate themselves using the Oral Presentation Rubric. Then, I ask the leaders what they would have changed about their presentations. I also ask the team leaders to rate their group's collaboration using the Literacy Project Rubric. We discuss leadership strategies that will improve our collaborative groups for future lessons.