Overview
Project NameWhat do you need?
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TeacherKjersti Withers
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Subject/Grade Level7th Grade ELA
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Duration1 Semester
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Project Idea
Part I: From the Ground Up - Students will work in groups as they compete to lead an expedition to an uninhabited planet that is identical to Earth. In order to win the job, students must write a proposal, including a project management plan, for colonizing a region of New Earth. Students will be tasked with using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to guide each phase of the civilization building. Each phase of the civilization will be a solution to one level of Maslow's pyramid.
Part II: What are They Thinking?! - Students will apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs to literary characters. Characters' actions and motives will be analyzed based on their relation to one of Maslow's levels of needs.
Part III: Help me Out Here - Students will research a local need and organize a service project to fulfill that need.
Part II: What are They Thinking?! - Students will apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs to literary characters. Characters' actions and motives will be analyzed based on their relation to one of Maslow's levels of needs.
Part III: Help me Out Here - Students will research a local need and organize a service project to fulfill that need.
Driving Question
How do my needs affect my choices?
Part I:
Part I:
- What are our needs as humans?
- How do our various needs interact?
- What resources are necessary in order to meet our basic needs?
- Once basic needs have been met, how does a civilization change in order to meet higher level needs?
- What need, or needs, is the character trying to meet through his or her, actions?
- How do the characters' attempts to meet their needs affect the conflict of the story?
- How does the setting affect the characters' ability to meet their needs?
- What universal themes can we discover from a literary work based on characters' attempts to resolve the conflict?
- Who in our community could use help to fulfill one of their basic needs?
- How can we help a person, or a group of people, in our community fill one of their basic needs?
California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
RL1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
RL2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
RL6 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
W1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
W2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
W4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
W6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
W7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
W8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
LS1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
LS4 Present claims and findings (e.g., argument, narrative, summary presentations), emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
LS5 Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.
RL2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
RL6 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
W1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
W2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
W4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
W6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
W7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
W8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
LS1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
LS4 Present claims and findings (e.g., argument, narrative, summary presentations), emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
LS5 Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.
21st Century Skills
- Civic Literacy
- Creativity and Innovation
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Communication and Collaboration
Entry Event
Part I
On day 1 a (fictional) visitor from Space X (a real company) will visit the students to issue a challenge. He or she will ask the students to apply for the opportunity to lead the first colonizing expedition to an uninhabited planet nearly identical to Earth. Working in groups, students will be required to choose a region which they would like to colonize, and prepare a proposal showing how they would build a civilization in their colony. They will utilize Maslow's hierarchy of needs to plan each phase of the civilization.
The visitor will inform students that colonizers will be limited to 3 changes of clothing that will not last for more than a couple of years, 3 months worth of food, and a computer with all the knowledge available digitally, or in print, on Earth. In addition to planning the work of colonizing, students must learn at least one of the skills colonizers will need to know in order to build their civilization. This may include a basic skill, or a more advanced skill for one of the later phases of civilization. Students demonstrate, on video or in person, that they can perform this skill. A Space X committee will visit in 3 months to hear each team's proposals and decide which teams will lead expeditions.
In his or her final comments, the Space X representative informs the students that their research must be documented so that all information can be verified. Space X does not want to be responsible for people dying in the colonization effort because the leaders used faulty, or incorrect, information. Once students have chosen their regions and begun work, they will receive a packet with all of Space X's requirements for each phase of a successful civilization.
On day 1 a (fictional) visitor from Space X (a real company) will visit the students to issue a challenge. He or she will ask the students to apply for the opportunity to lead the first colonizing expedition to an uninhabited planet nearly identical to Earth. Working in groups, students will be required to choose a region which they would like to colonize, and prepare a proposal showing how they would build a civilization in their colony. They will utilize Maslow's hierarchy of needs to plan each phase of the civilization.
The visitor will inform students that colonizers will be limited to 3 changes of clothing that will not last for more than a couple of years, 3 months worth of food, and a computer with all the knowledge available digitally, or in print, on Earth. In addition to planning the work of colonizing, students must learn at least one of the skills colonizers will need to know in order to build their civilization. This may include a basic skill, or a more advanced skill for one of the later phases of civilization. Students demonstrate, on video or in person, that they can perform this skill. A Space X committee will visit in 3 months to hear each team's proposals and decide which teams will lead expeditions.
In his or her final comments, the Space X representative informs the students that their research must be documented so that all information can be verified. Space X does not want to be responsible for people dying in the colonization effort because the leaders used faulty, or incorrect, information. Once students have chosen their regions and begun work, they will receive a packet with all of Space X's requirements for each phase of a successful civilization.