TITLE: Lord of Flies Survival Activity
TASK DEVELOPER: K.L. Wade
GRADE AND CONTENT AREA: 12th Grade English
TARGET TEACHING DATE: April 20, 2006
SCHOOL: Harbor City High School - East Campus
STANDARDS:

Maryland Core Learning Goals, Expectations, and Indicators
English: Grades 9-12

Goal 1: The student will demonstrate the ability to respond to a text by employing personal experiences and critical analysis.

Expectation 1.1: The student will use effective strategies before, during, and after reading, viewing, and listening to self-selected and assigned materials.

Indicator 1.1.1: The student will use pre-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by surveying the text, accessing prior knowledge, formulating questions, setting purpose(s), and making predictions.

Assessment Limits:
  1. Recognizing the implications of text features.
  2. Linking appropriate experiences and prior knowledge about the topic, author, or type of material to the text.
  3. Identifying appropriate purpose for reading the text.
  4. Identifying questions a reader would expect to be answered by reading the text.
  5. Identifying topics of discussion that may enhance a reader's understanding of a text.

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PERFORMANCES:
  1. The students will explore how working as a group might be instrumental in survival through collaborative discussion.
  2. The students will expand on the meaning of "civilization" by vocalizing what attributes they have as individuals that mark them as civilized.
  3. The students will vocalize their group's interpretation of "civilization" to society as a whole.

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SETTING:

Real World Setting: Environment

You are a student going on a field trip with your teacher. Suddenly, you are faced with a major problem, the plane that you are traveling in has crashed and your teacher has died. You must make an inventory of what you have in your pockets and determine the number of survivors. Once you have completed your assessment you must get together with the other survivors to decide how you will gather basic necessitites and meet survival needs such as food, water, and shelter. You will create a society and report back to the teacher.

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INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Segment One: Mini-Lesson - Estimated Time: 20% of allocated time

During this segment of the lesson:

Warm-up
Complete the personality test.

Put the following 5 animals in the order of your preference.

  1. Cow
  2. Tiger
  3. Sheep
  4. Horse
  5. Pig

Write one word that describes each one of the following:

  1. Dog
  2. Cat
  3. Rat
  4. Coffee
  5. Sea

Think of someone (who also knows you and is important to you that you can relate them to the following colors. (Please do not repeat your answer twice. Name just one person for each color.)

  1. Yellow
  2. Orange
  3. Red
  4. White
  5. Green

Look at the interpretations below:

This will define your priorities in your life.

Cow Signifies CAREER
Tiger Signifies PRIDE
Sheep Signifies LOVE
Horse Signifies FAMILY
Pig Signifies MONEY

Your description of dog implies YOUR OWN PERSONALITY.
Your description of cat implies the personality of your partner.
Your description of rat implies the personality of your enemies.
Your description of coffee is how you interpret LOVE.
Your description of the Sea implies your own life.

Yellow Some one you will never forget.
Orange Some one you consider your true friend.
Red Someone that you really love.
White Your soulmate.
Green Someone that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Source: Courtesy of http://www.journey-to-self.com/Humor/personality%20test.htm

Activity 1 - Civilization
  1. Using one of the personality tests, place students in groups related to their personality test inerpretations..
  2. This grouping should result in no more than 4 students being placed in a group.
  3. In these groups, students will create define, and articulate their meaning of "civilization". What does it mean to be civilized?
  4. Students will write their discoveries on chart paper and post in the front of the room.
  5. After all charts are posted, we will reconvene into a whole class discussion to share ideas.

Activity 2 - Abandoned

You and your classmates are going to Florida at spring-break time. The plane is hijacked. Without allowing the pilot to radio for instructions, the hijackers direct the plane to Australia. At the first refueling stop, the hijackers release everyone over thirty which leaves only you and your friends. During the flight over the Pacific, the crew attempts to subdue the hijackers. In the ensuing battle, all are killed but the pilot, who has been mortally wounded, and the passengers who were on the floor of the plane during the gunfight. Holding the plane on course as long as he can, the pilot crashes just off the shore of an island. When the plane cracks open on a coral reef, you and your friends successfully swim to shore. As all of you stand ashore watching the plane sink, you realize that no one knows where you are, that you have nothing with you, and that you might be on the island for quite some time, perhaps forever. The climate is tropical; the island is covered with fruit trees and is apparently uninhabited except by the twelve of you.

Answer the following questions based on this simulation:

  1. List the things in your present life that you will miss the most.
  2. Try to decide whether the possession of some of these things would mark you as a civilized person.
  3. What are some of the long-range plans that you would have to implement to create a new life for yourself on the island?
  4. How would your group handle the inevitable personality clashes that would occur?
  5. What would be the biggest problem you would face?
  6. Using our class discussion as a starting point, define the term civilized.

Activity borrowed from
http://www.d.umn.edu/~lmillerc/TeachingEnglishHomePage/TeachingUnits/cfrost.htm

Materials for this segment: pen, paper, "Personality Quiz worksheet," "Abandoned woksheet," chart paper, and markers
Student product or performance for this segment: Completed personality quiz and active discussion of the interpretations. Additionally, students will display their group's discussion of civilization.
Scoring tool for this segment: Students will be given the interpretations of their personality quiz.

Segment Two: Practice - Estimated Time: 60% of allocated time
Brief Constructed Response (BCR) - 1 - High School English

Based on the activity completed in class today, what strengths and weaknesses would you bring to a deserted island. Be sure to give specific examples from today's activity as support.

Materials for this segment: BCR rubric and worksheet with the question
Student product or performance for this segment: Completed brief constructed response
Scoring tool for this segment: HSA Brief Constructed Response Rubric

Segment Three: Feedback - Estimated Time 20% of allocated time

  1. Review key information regarding the BCR rubric. Using the rbric as a guide, explain to students what is expected of their writing.
  2. Grade compleed BCR's and higlight the students' strength's and weaknesses if any.

Materials for this segment: pen, BCR worksheet, and BCR rubric
Student product or performance for this segment: Completed BCR
Scoring tool for this segment: HSA Bief Constructed Respons Rubric

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SCORING:
Maryland High School English Rubric: Brief Constructed Response
LEVELS
DESCRIPTION OF PERFORMANCE
3

This response demonstrates an understanding of the complexities of the text.

  • Addresses the demands of the question
  • Uses expressed and implied information from the text
  • Clarifies and extends understanding beyond the literal
2

This response demonstrates a partial or literal understanding of the text.

  • Addresses the demands of the question, although may not develop all parts equally
  • Uses some expressed or implied information from the text to demonstrate understanding
  • May not fully connect the support to a conclusion or assertion made about the text(s)
1

This response shows evidence of a minimal understanding of the text.

  • May show evidence that some meaning has been derived from the text
  • May indicate a misreading of the text or the question
  • May lack information or explanation to support an understanding of the text in relation to the question
0

The response is completely irrelevant or incorrect.

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RESULTS:

Student's Writing

Rubric Level
4's - 0
3's - 0
2's - 6
1's - 7 Did not follow directions
0's

Summarize: This was an inclusion education class with one teacher and a special educator working with 13 children who attended class on that day. Student performance was surprisingly low. Students were actively engaged in the classroom discussion and previous lessons worked on students comfortability level in writing. Students who received a rubric score point of 1 lacked enough elaboration and explanation of ideas. Students who received a rubric score point of 2 made references to the classroom activities, but did not adequately explain those connections.

Reteaching: Instead of assuming that students were ready to write without using some sort of graphic organizer to organize their thougths was a mistake. Next time, allow students the opportunity to choose if they would like to use a graphic organizer or not.