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I. Unit of Study: Introduction to research and literature
(Beginning of the year)
II. Lesson Title/Length of Time: The Word in Travel, the World of Travel Literature
Two weeks
III. Author/County: Deborah Kole
St. Mary’s County, MD
IV. Grade Level/Subject Area(s): 12th Grade AP English
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V. Abstract
Everyone travels at some time during their life. It is one of the fundamental experiences that most humans share. Journeys are the subject of just about every literary genre in existence. A journey can be a metaphor for life itself. This lesson will encompass themes of self, culture, history, writing and travel, by addressing the universal questions: what do we learn about ourselves in writing abut our travels and journeys? What do we learn about other peoples and cultures in those writings? Are there creative relationships between writing, identity and history? We will place the texts in their historical context through the exploration of exotic places and cultures, and students will study the various perspectives within texts, including the author’s point of view. This lesson will enhance the students’ research skills and expose them to the resources available to them within the school, school system, public library system, databases, and the Internet, so regular visits to the media center will be imbedded in the lesson. The required nightly assignments and deadline postings on the wiki will help these AP students to prepare for college, where deadlines and Blackboard required postings are commonplace in this day and age. It will be collaboratively teacher(s)- and student-driven, to give the students the guided help they need to work more independently on later research and writing projects.
VI. Background
Students will be placed in groups and, using graphic organizers and/or large sheets of paper with sticky notes, will brainstorm what they know about the Portuguese, their travels along the Silk Road, and their colonies in the new world. They will write each thought on a separate sticky note and place on sheet of paper. The students will then come together and each group will post their findings. The teacher will lead the discussion of each sheet and a new list will be created of factual statements and the correct sticky note added to the new sheet. The teacher will show a short teacher-created PowerPoint on the Portuguese and their travels and subsequent colonization of Brazil. Students will be scheduled into the media center to research the topic and visit the lab to examine websites discussing these topics. The media specialist will give a refresher talk on available resources within their collection and how to search the county database and order materials from other schools and from the public library. He/she will also talk about reliable Internet sources and available online databases, to remind students of resources available to them.
VII. Materials:
- Copies for each student of Vieira’s letter to the King of Portugal about Brazil
- Sheets listing jump-off websites
- Examples of illustrated travel literature from the time period
- Teacher created PowerPoint including topics such as:
- Silk Road
- Chinese porcelain
- Progression of maps of the period
- Drawings of Brazil and natives by Portuguese artists
- Jesuit influence
- Beginning of a keyword list (to be added to by students)
- Drawing paper and markers and different colored sticky notes
- Pen and ink, glue, scissors, colored pencils, drawing paper
- LCD projector and computer
VIII. Resources
- Great Mills High School Media Center and St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s library and the Maryland Public Library System
- School and system databases
- Materials from Crossing Borders 2007 Program
IX. Standards
Goal 1: Reading Reviewing and Responding to Text
- Expectation 1.1: The student will use effective strategies before, during, and after reading, reviewing, and listening to self-selected and assigned materials.
- Indicators1.1.1; 1.1.2; 1.1.3; 1.1.4; 1.1.5
- Expectation 1.2: The student will construct, examine, and extend meaning of traditional and contemporary works recognized as having significant literary merit.
- Indicators1.2.1; 1.2.2; 1.2.3; 1.2.5; 1.2.6
- Expectation 1.3: The student will explain and give evidence to support perceptions of print and non-print works.
- Indicators1.3.1; 1.3.2; 1.3.3; 1.3.5; 1.3.6
Goal 2: Composing in a Variety of Modes
- Expectation 2.1: The student will compose oral, written, and visual presentations that inform, persuade, and express personal ideas.
Indicators: 2.1.2; 2.1.3; 2.1.4
- Expectation 2.2: The student will compose texts using prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing strategies of effective writers and speakers.
- Indicators: 2.2.1; 2.2.2; 2.2.3; 2.2.4; 2.2.5; 2.2.6
- Expectation 2.3: The student will locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose.
- Indicators: 2.3.1; 2.3.2; 2.3.3; 2.3.4; 2.3.5
Goal 3: Controlling Language
- Expectation 3.1: The student will demonstrate the ability to control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in writing and speaking.
- Indicators: 3.1.1; 3.1.2; 3.1.3; 3.1.4; 3.1.5; 3.1.6; 3.1.7; 3.1.8; 3.1.9
- Expectation 3.2: The student will identify how language choices in writing and speaking affect thoughts and feelings.
- Indicators: 3.2.1; 3.2.2; 3.2.3; 3.2.4; 3.2.5
- Expectation 3.3: The student will use capitalization, punctuation, and correct spelling appropriately.
Goal 4: Evaluating the Content, Organization, and Language Use in Texts
- Expectation 4.1: The student will describe the effect that a given text, heard or read, has on the listener or reader.
- Expectation 4.2: The student will assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language, and rhetorical devices.
- Indicators: 4.2.1; 4.2.2; 4.2.4
X. Keywords/Vocabulary:
To go along with the initial reading, “Letter of Pedro Vaz de Caminha to King Manual”
XI. Scope and Sequence
Day 1: The Colonization of Brazil by Portugal through a Primary Document
- Introduce the genre of Travel Literature.
- Brainstorm prior knowledge of Portugal and the colonization of Brazil in small groups.
- Using drawing paper, markers, and sticky notes for each group in KWL format, discuss ideas in large group lead by teacher. Move the sticky notes from what they know, want to know, what they have learned, as the students discuss their knowledge and answer each other’s questions.
- Hand out copy of “Letter” and, if time allows, allow students to scan, and then assign them to read for homework.
Day 2: The Colonization of Brazil by Portugal through a Primary Document
- Revisit the KWL chart and have the students write three new sticky notes on three things they learned from last night’s readings.
- Show teacher-made PowerPoint presentation and discuss with students the importance of their reading they did for homework and work through it with them to help them get the inferences within the text of the letter.
Day 3: Using the WIKI
- In media center lab, give introduction to the wiki created for this lesson.
- Have students sign-in and answer a question on the wiki from the reading they did for homework on Day 1 or other related thought provoking question:
- What did we learn about the natives and how did the Portuguese perceive them? Support your answer.
- What purpose would colonizing Brazil serve? Support your answer with readings from the text.
- Hand out sentence strips with the keywords on each one, and then sentence strips with definitions. The students must find the person who has the word that goes with their definition or vice versa. Then each pair will post the word and its definition on the wiki and use it appropriately in a sentence.
- Have media specialist give a talk on available resources, so they are ready to work on Day 4.
- Initiate discussion about the wiki or continue discussion from class (or other topics that may have come up) and have students respond for homework.
Day 4: The Arts-Integrated Project
- Explain options and expectations for each project, and have requirements for each project and grading rubric available at this time. Have everything posted on the wiki. Bonus points will be awarded every time a student makes an insightful and appropriate entry on the wiki using one of the keywords.
- Ideas for extended projects:
- Epic travel poem done alone or cooperatively, discuss possible different styles and ideas for getting started, with accompanying music, and costuming, as a troubadour would have, etc.
- Drama enacting the meeting of the two worlds, Portuguese and Brazilians, including appropriate costumes, scenery, voice, props, etc.
- Tableaus of the Portuguese/Brazilian colonization, or other appropriate topics, using costuming, scenery, and appropriate imagery, and props.
- PowerPoint presentation on related topic, incorporating streaming video, appropriate music of the period, photos, illuminations, period drawings, primary source materials, etc.
- Travel brochure done as it might have been in the sixteenth century.
Example: Hand-lettered or using appropriate fonts, hand colored, maps of the time, pictures of indigenous peoples, descriptions of the area, warnings, apparel needed, weather, housing, entertainment and recreation available, travel arrangements, etc.
- Another project of your choice on topic must be approved by teacher in advance and incorporates one of the arts. Boring old reports will not be accepted.
- For homework have students required to use the wiki to discuss ideas and decide if they want to work in small groups or individually and make final decision on projects, so they are ready for next day.
Day 5: Discovering the Past
- Research and lab time in media center, and individual or group discussion with teacher on project.
- Students required to post ideas and progress on project on wiki for homework.
Weekend:
- Each student will be required to comment on at least 2 of the projects and give suggestions.
- Students will be required to post an outline of project (means some research done over weekend) by Sunday evening.
Day 6: Researching the Past
- Continue research in media center, if needed, or begin working on actual individual or group presentation.
Day 7: Researching the Past
- Continue research in media center, if needed, or begin working on actual individual or group presentation.
Day 8: Complete projects and prepare oral presentation
Day 9: Presentations
Each audience member will be required to evaluate each presentation and project as a whole, and post comments and ideas on wiki by Saturday morning.
Day 10: Presentations
Each audience member will be required to evaluate each presentation and project as a whole, and post comments and ideas on wiki by Saturday morning.
Weekend:
Students will need to read comments and suggestions on their presentations and projects, and make adjustments and revisions as they see fit.
Day 11: Final Projects
All finished projects are due at the beginning of class in print and on jump drive. The final project must have some way to be recorded, scanned, filmed, etc., and put on the school website. Student(s) must include an introduction to the project, their objects and outcomes, and their reflections on the assignment and project.
XII. Assessment
- Students will be assessed on their:
- Classroom participation
- Wiki participation
- Audience assessment sheets
- Teacher will grade each project using rubric presented to students for each specific project, keeping in mind comments and suggestions made by audience and the subsequent revisions made to each project.
XIII. Reflection
Students will be required to make a final entry on the wiki discussing what they have learned and how it can be applied to other research papers in English and other subject areas. The final reflection will be to write a short how-to manual on the use of the wiki and tricks-of-the-trade, etc., that other students just beginning to use a wiki should know.
Listing of books that can be used as follow-ups to this introductory project for a paper on comparing and contrasting of text, style, and point-of-view:
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- Great Railroad Bazaar by Paul Theroux
- An Area of Darkness by V. S. Naipaul
- Letters from Constantinople by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
- Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
- Travels through France and Italy by Tobias Smollett
- Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne
- Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens
- Italian Hours by Henry James
- Sea and Sardinia by D. H. Lawrence
- Letters from the Island of Teneriffe, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies by Jemima Kindersley
- Narrative of Two Voyages by Anna Maria Falconbridge
- A Voyage Round the World by Mary Ann Parker
- Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary
- Wollstonecraft
- A Journal of a Voyage by Lady Maria Nugent
- Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
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