“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity.”

Describe your audience: Franklin Community School Corporation is located in rural Franklin, Indiana (population 21,201); approximately 20 minutes south of Indianapolis, Indiana and 90 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. Our current school corporation population totals 4779, with approximately 770 students attending Custer Baker Intermediate School. This is a year of new beginnings for CBIS; fifth graders entered our building to join sixth graders for the first time to alleviate overcrowding in our five elementary buildings. Seventh graders and eighth graders left Custer Baker to attend the newly renovated middle school building (which was originally a high school).

Fifty percent of our students are on free and reduced lunches and with our current economic crisis this number is on the rise. In past years, I have surveyed my classroom and found that approximately 50% of the students do not have access to computers at home; creating a digital divide that we need to conquer. Although students learn how to manipulate a computer quickly (after all they carry mini computers in the form of cell phones), they lack the ability to find quality information in books, magazines, newspapers, and electronic databases. NWEA Map Test[1] data reports and Istep results show that students in our building are not efficient in finding information. They do not understand the importance of an index, table of contents, glossary, dictionaries, bibliographies, and using resources beyond Google; in fact, they frequently try to cite Google as resource. If they are able to find the information, they struggle to cite their sources and organize their information for a finished project.

I think the students in and outside of our community take more ownership in projects and assignments if they receive the gift of choice; it fuels their motivation to complete their project. Unfortunately, in my experience, I’ve found too many students who seldom feel the satisfaction of completing a project. It is my hope that this project will not only lead students to learn more about influential people who once had a dream, but that they are able to find a reason to dream. Many of our students do not know the possibilities beyond receiving welfare, working in fast food restaurants, and living paycheck to paycheck. Several years ago, I took a group of students to the radio and television studios located at the University of Indianapolis to record commercials and newscasts. At the close of our adventure, one of the students said to me, “Thank you for bringing us here. I didn’t know you could go to college to do something as fun as this.” This statement haunts me today and is the force behind my mission to give students the tools, motivation, and knowledge they need to become successful in life. I once had a professor who taught me that memorizing facts is not as important as knowing how to find them.

Finally, but most importantly, I want students of Custer Baker Intermediate School to mature into “information literate student possesses five qualities of mind and skill:

An Organized Investigator
A Critical Thinker
A Creative Thinker
An Effective Communicator
A Responsible Information User” (Loertscher, 2002)

Information Inquiry Role: "Chance favors only the mind that is prepared." ~ Louis Pasteur

The beautifully illustrated book Dream, was written by Susan V. Bosak and illustrated by 15
“world top” illustrators. After reading it, I became determined to utilize it to the fullest. Each illustration has a strong message behind it along with a quote from those before us who have achieved great things (such as the Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur-quotes seen above).  I’ve always enjoyed doing biography research projects with my students. I believe that it interests me the most because students can always find one person that interests them; whether they are a race car driver, scientist, singer, movie star, or president it is doable.  Assigning students this task has a meaning beyond my selfishness. It is my goal that students will learn about others and think about the significance that person has played in history. Through the legacy project and books such as Dream, Susan encourages people to not only believe in themselves, but to believe that they can accomplish the goal. She encourages them to do more than dream; but to believe, think, and then do.  

The two page spread from her book Dream that I am focusing on for this particular project is the one titled “Historical Heroes.” Bosak encourages students to join the Club of Dreamers ; a group of “Historical Heroes” who are pictured in her book. A coloring page is linked on the legacy webpage for students to color and add their picture; signifying that they too can be successful. In reference to this activity, Bosak says “Research shows that having a mentor can make a huge difference in the degree of success a young person achieves. One form of a mentor experience is to have students choose a role model from history and find out everything they can about that person. Students can share stories about their mentors.”

6^th grade Language Arts Academic Standards Covered in this Unit

6.2.1 Identify the structural features of popular media (newspapers, magazines, online information) and use the features to obtain information)

6.2.3 Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate nonfiction and informational text; connect and clarify main ideas by identifying their relationships to multiple sources and related topics.

6.2.4 Clarify an understanding of texts by creating outlines, notes, diagrams, summaries, or reports.

6.2.7 Make reasonable statements and conclusions about a text, supporting them with evidence from the text.

6.4.3 Write informational pieces of several paragraphs that: engage the interest of the reader, state a clear purpose, develop the topic with supporting details and precise language, and conclude with a detailed summary linked to the purpose of the composition.

6.4.5 Research process and technology: use note-taking skills when completing research for writing.

6.4.6 Use organizational feature of electronic text on computers, such as bulletin boards, databases, keyword searches, and e-mail addresses, to locate information.

6.4.7 Use a computer to compose documents with appropriate formatting by using word-processing skills and principles of design, include margins, tabs, spacing, columns, and page orientation.

6.7.17 Make descriptive presentation that uses concrete sensory details to set forth and support unified impressions of people, places, things, or experiences.

Storyboard- multimedia : Biography Newscast Script
Student Name:     ________________________________________
CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Content	All content is in the students' own words and is accurate.	Almost all content is in the students' own words and is accurate.	At least half of the content is in the students' own words and is accurate.	Less than half of the content is in the students' own words and/or is accurate.
Cooperation	Worked cooperatively with partner all the time with no need for adult intervention.	Worked cooperatively with partner most of time but had a few problems that the team resolved themselves.	Worked cooperatively with partner most of the time, but had one problem that required adult intervention.	Worked cooperatively with partners some of the time, but had several problems that required adult intervention.
Required Elements	Storyboard included all information about Early Life, Young Adult Life, Career, and Acomplishments as well a few additional elements.	Storyboard included all required elements and one additional element.	Storyboard included all required elements.	One or more required elements was missing from the storyboard.
Use of Time	Used time well during each class period (as shown by observation by teacher, and documentation of progress in journal) with no adult reminders.	Used time well during most class periods (as shown by observation by teacher, and documentation of progress in journal) with no adult reminders.	Used time well (as shown by observation by teacher and documentation of progress in journal), but required adult reminders on one or more occasions to do so.	Used time poorly (as shown by observation by teacher and/or documentation of progress in journal) in spite of several adult reminders to do so.
Spelling & Grammar	No spelling or grammatical mistakes on a storyboard with lots of text.	No spelling or grammatical mistakes on a storyboard with little text.	One spelling or grammatical error on the storyboard.	Several spelling and/or grammatical errors on the storyboard.

 

Teaching and Learning Materials:

Resources and References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2007). Standards for the 21st century learner. Chicago: American Association of School Librarians.

Grimes, N., & Collier, B. (2008). Barack Obama: Son of promise, child of hope. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Loertscher, D. V., & Champlin, C. (2002). Indiana learns: Increasing Indiana's student academic achievement through

school library media and technology programs. [San Jose, Calif.?]: Hi Willow Research.

---