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Teaching
Guide
produced by
Bryan
Wilson
Web Institute for
Teachers,
Summer, 2003
To the
Student
Page Implementation
Plan
Introduction
The Gary Soto Author Background webquest was developed
through participation in the Web Institute for
Teachers during Summer, 2003, in the section for teachers from magnet
programs.
Aim
The purposes of the Gary Soto Author Background webquest
is to provide students an opportunity in writing biography as an expository
writing form, give students the opportunity to infer meaning
and the author's intent, and check a prediction based on the three ideas.
Students are asked to research and learn about Gary Soto before reading
Barbie, then make a statement about why the author wrote the
story, based on reading the online resources available.
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Rationale
The short story Barbie is used as part of Junior Great
Books, level 5. The Junior Great Books regimen requires reading, asking questions
and discussing literary works. The Gary Soto Author Background webquest
seeks to combine these ideas with completing an author background to help
further the discussion.
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Goals and Objectives
The Gary Soto Author Background WebQuest
is intended to be used in conjunction with the Junior Great Books process
of shared inquiry. Shared Inquiry is described by the Great Books Foundation
like this:
"The success
of shared inquiry depends on a special relationship between the leader and
the group. As a shared
inquiry leader, you do not impart information or present
your own opinions, but guide participants in reaching their own
interpretations. You do this by posing thought-provoking
questions and by following up purposefully on what participants
say. In doing so, you help them develop both the flexibility
of mind to consider problems from many angles, and the
discipline to analyze ideas critically. " Read
more about Junior Great Books Shared Inquiry
The WebQuest is also intended
to meet Illinois State Goals
and Standards:
1.B.2a
Establish purposes for reading; survey materials; ask questions; make
predictions; connect, clarify and extend ideas.
1.C.2a Use information
to form and refine questions and predictions.
2.B.2a Respond to literary material by making inferences,
drawing conclusions and comparing it to their own experience,
prior knowledge and other texts.
3.C.2a
Write for a variety of purposes and for specified audiences in a variety
of forms including narrative (e.g., fiction, autobiography), expository
(e.g., reports, essays) and persuasive writings (e.g., editorials,
advertisements).
3.C.2b Produce and format compositions for specified audiences
using available technology.
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Audience
The intended audience for Gary Soto Author Background webquest
are students in 5th and sixth who are preparing to read Gary
Soto's short story Barbie.
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Prerequisites
To
complete the project, students need fundamental knowledge of expository writing for biographies,
the writing process and Illinois State (ISAT). Familiarity with Junior Great Books
practices is helpful.
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Subject-Matter
The
subject matter for Gary Soto Author Background is Language Arts, 5th or 6th
grade. The webquest is intended to work with practices from Junior Great Books.
See reference
for the selection in Materials
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Instructional Plan
The
instructional plan follows a forty minute class period format.
Period
1: Introduction to the WebQuest. Students become familiar with the student
page and begin to review the biography links for Gary Soto.
Period 2: Students continue reviewing the biography selections to gather
information and formulate their opinions about the theme question:
Why would Gary Soto write Barbie?
Period 3: Writing and finalizing the biography of Gary Soto.
Further periods are required for reading
Barbie. An additional period may be used for revising students'
responses to the theme question.
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Materials
Barbie
is a story written by Gary Soto
published in Baseball in April and Other Stories
New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1990.
Barbie is included in
Junior Great Series 5; Second Semester Anthology
Chicago: Great Books Foundation,
1992.
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Assessment and Evaluation
The student page includes one evaluation.
Writing in the project is also evaluated using the ISAT Expository
Student-Friendly Writing Rubric for Late Elementary.
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Resources
Questions from "Consider these questions" includes
questions from Author's Hot Seat (http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/marston/authorshotseat/),
a webquest by Deanne Currigan.
Biography
and Literary Analysis, a Gary Soto biography webquest (written
for 9th grade)
can be found at http://parks.sandi.net/Pages/Student_Teacher/WebQuests/Joe,%20Nick,%20and%20Leslie/Document1.html.
The webquest is designed by Joe Hererra, Leslie
Hardiman, and Nick Kounalis.
Another similar page for students to write author biographies,
Who writes the books that make the whole world read?
A Reading for Information Author Study for
6th grade is found at
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/montgomery/author_study/
Barbie is a story written by Gary Soto
published in Baseball in April and Other Stories
New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1990.
Barbie is included in
Junior Great Series 5; Second Semester Anthology
Chicago: Great Books Foundation,
1992.
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Glossary
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Updated August 1, 2003.
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Based on a template developed
by Janet Gray-McKennis based on previous versions created by
Craig Cunningham, Mecca Murphy, Nenette Luarca, Nicole Zumpano,
and Linda Dernbach.
Last updated on May 10, 2003.
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