Final Assessments for The Giver It’s going to be a BIG week

A brief note…  I would like to apologize for loading you up with all of these assessments during the last week of school.  Due to circumstances outside of our control, namely the timing of the district writing test, the original calendar for this unit was drastically changed.  However, please note that you have been aware of most of these assignments and, with the exception of the Socratic Seminar questions, the majority of the “heavy lifting” should already be done!

Final Due Dates & Deadlines  Monday, 6/3: Final vocab quiz for The Giver  Tuesday, 6/4: Revised version of Reflection & Socratic Seminar  Wednesday, 6/5: FINAL VOCAB QUIZ FOR THE YEAR! SEE THE NEXT SLIDES FOR SOCRATIC SEMINAR QUESTIONS & THE DIRECTIONS FOR THE REVISED JOURNAL W/RUBRIC!

Directions for Socratic Seminar  Make sure that you open this presentation in Keynote so that you can view all of the text!  You are going to prepare your notes ON PAPER since you will not have the use of your iPad on Wednesday.  For our final discussion on this book, you will need to spend some time prepare critical ideas to share in tomorrow’s fishbowl discussion.  Bullet points are fine, but make sure that they are adequate enough to guide and demonstrate your thinking  It will not be enough to simply talk; your ideas must add depth to the discussion!  Make sure that you come up with several ideas for each question so that way you will have something to share, even if somebody takes your first idea.  Remember: Thoughtful preparation now means effective participation (aka: success!) later.

Socratic Seminar Questions 1 & 2 1.The community in The Giver has attempted to be a Utopia, but we know that they were not able to achieve this. Why do think that this did not happen, meaning why did this attempt fail? Do you think that it is ever possible for a Utopia to exist? Explain your thoughts on both of these ideas. 2.Prior to this unit, we spent some time exploring the concept of irony (think back to our reading and discussion over “The Lottery”). What examples of irony do you see in this novel? Support with specific examples.

Socratic Seminar Questions 3 & 4 3.We know that Lois Lowry ended the book ambiguously. What would be the point of doing this? Consider why she didn’t simply end the book with a concrete ending (and please do not say it was to make more money by allowing her to start a series!). What would be her message in doing this? Explain your ideas. 4.We have spent some time discussing “sameness,” “utilitarianism” and their priority over individual choice/freedom. Which do you think has the higher value in OUR society? What evidence/examples do you have to support your thinking?

Reflection rewrite instructions  Read through the 3 reflections you wrote for this book.  Consider:  Which reflection caused you to think most deeply?  Which reflection are you most passionate about?  Which reflection reveals your best H.O.T.S.  Re-write this reflection in final draft form. This is the last writing assignment of the year, so I should be seeing your best writing ability as far as:  H.O.T.S.  Paragraph structure  Relationship or connection to the text  Conventions.  Reflection may NOT exceed 300 words.

Writing Rubric that will be used to grade: POINT VALUECRITERIA Exceeds Expectations 10 – 9 – 9.5  Informative and original response demonstrates a high level of critical thinking.  The connections between the book and real life shows “scuba diving” thinking and goes well beyond the obvious.  Relationship to the text is relevant, clear, and important. 5 – 4.5  Paragraph is well structured with topic and concluding sentences as well as transitional phrases.  Sentence structure is nearly perfect. There are no run-ons or fragments.  Spelling and punctuation are nearly perfect.