Influences Past or Present in the 21st Century Unit Portfolio Presentation Pamela Johnson-Mouallem

Unit Summary Students read a biography of a famous person and relate that person’s childhood experiences to their own. They research that person’s accomplishments to see how these accomplishments effect the betterment of the world around them. They will create a publication or presentation about their famous person and share it with an audience. http://www.usatoday.com/news/top25-influential.htm

CFQs Essential Question: Can anyone be an influence on the world around us ? Unit Question: What makes someone famous and not infamous? Content Questions: What is the difference between fact and opinion? Why is the person you chose famous? How does/did their fame influence the betterment of the world around us?

Vision for Unit By creating this unit, I want to Try out new methods to make informational text relevant to my students’ lives Think of ways to involve my students more in the community During this unit, I want my students to Learn ways to connect other’s experiences to their daily lives Use technology to communicate with different audiences

Project Approaches As my students work on this project, they Connect the biography to the real world and self Collaborate with peers and community members Create a product that shows what they’ve learned Share their learning with a real audience

21st Century Learning Students will develop higher-order and 21st century skills in this unit as they Use the Essential and Unit Questions to guide their research on the subject they chose. Communicate their ideas to a community audience Reflect on their reading, writing, research, and thinking strategies, and modify and adapt them as necessary Use project assessments to self-assess their work and give feedback to their peers

Gauging Student Needs Assessments Use CFQs to learn Students’ ideas about what a biography is and how the subject influenced the world Background knowledge of fact, opinion, and expository writing Assess 21st Century skills Ability to see common elements among subjects and themselves

Gauging Student Needs Assessments I can use the information from these assessments to: Focus on student’s understanding of what is fact and what is opinion Plan activities in which they will distinguish between fact and opinion Students can use the information from these assessments to: To self evaluate their own knowledge of what is fact and what is opinion Use this knowledge as they read their biographies to recognize the author’s elements of persuasive writing

Requests for Feedback Need ways to help students understand how to write a biography using factual information and their own words. Need help assessing students’ higher-order thinking skills