Unit Plan Basis and Critque

The original unit plan, was written by Emily Robinson from the University of Georgia in 2004. It can be found here: http://www.coe.uga.edu/~smago/VirtualLibrary/Robinson.pdf.

Original Unit Plan Critique

Although the Robinson Unit Plan covers many discussions and facets of the theme of Greed through the use of interesting and variant methods/ activities, we as a group find it did not do justice to the multitudinous and interrelated themes of The Hobbit. As our objective was to take this piece of canonical literature and work within the structure of the MCPS 8th Grade ELA Honors Inclusion curriculum, we offer these six key criteria as considerations and modifications needed to teach The Hobbit within national- and state-mandated Standards, expanding the scope of the original Robinson Unit Plan:

1. The Robinson Unit Plan does not have clearly delineated standards and objectives within any curricular or common-core learning goals-based structure. We have modified this to incorporate National, State, County, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and Technological Standards. Please refer to Unit Plan Header under “Curriculum Standards Addressed” to address specific Standards used.

2. The Robinson Unit Plan incorporates an overwhelming number of texts and videos that seem to have only a semblance of thematic connection to considerations of Greed. We have modified this view to include not only the the text itself, but the poem “I Dream a World” by Langston Hughes to expand on multiculturalism incipient in the study in The Hobbit, as well as incorporating informational texts that illuminate the Summative Assessments and overall understanding of The Hobbit as it relates to the themes of Culture, Greed, and Heroism in authentic applications. The idea of “dreaming a world” is consistent with Tolkien’s created world.

3. The Robinson Unit Plan utilized a group compilation guidebook as the Summative Assessment for The Hobbit portion of the Unit. Although we did like this idea, we felt that the culmination activity relied on lower-order thinking skills of applying and summarizing within a group context as a means to understand the plot, characters, and geography of the novel. We felt that we could prompt students into using higher-order thinking skills if we created Summative Assessments that celebrated and evaluated the culture of the delineated Clans of The Hobbit, as well as analyzed and synthesized the components of presentation/ public speaking, history, ethnography, and technology to present in the Challenge for the Gold Assessment as an alternative, student-decided mandate to the original text. The cultural representations also allow scope for differentiated assessments, which include skills such as drawing, music, poetry, crafting “armor” or heraldic insignia, sewing and/or costume design, and the exploration into Tolkien’s created languages.

4. The Robinson Unit Plan utilized a 90-minute class structure over a four-week period. To mimic more common and real-world time considerations, as well as stay within the confines of our stipulated and simulated class environment, class periods for our Unit were condensed to 50-minutes over a three-week period.

5. Although the Robinson Unit Plan relied on the benefits of group collaboration, in general, the groups are not highly defined. In order to capitalize on student strengths, we incorporated the “Learning Together” group model with “Expert” and “Peer” cooperative strategies and distinctions. This was accomplished by each student belonging to one of four groups including the Hobbits, the Dwarfs, the Elves, and the Men. Within these groups, students would either be a “Scholar” or “Artisan”. Please refer to the Unit Plan Header under “Backward-Mapping the Unit” for a full disclosure of group roles.

6. The Robinson Unit Plan did not have a clearly delineated structure whereby the teacher’s instructional strategy was easily decipherable. The elements of the unit do not seem to move from scaffolded instruction to independent practice as a means to have the students start and end in different learning stages- elements of the Unit seem not to be instructionally connected. We have modified these stages via:

• • Week One- Instruction provided is highly scaffolded to set the ground work in understanding plot, characters, and language in The Hobbit: students are given nightly reading assignments, and discussion opportunities to understand fictional elements.

  • Week Two- Instruction provided moves to guided practice through Introductory lessons to topics and break-outs into group work: students discuss, strategize, and decision-make on key elements in compiling data and resources towards culmination. The students continue to read, finishing the book at the end of the week.

  • Week Three- Instruction provided gauges how the students are moving into independent practice: students are responsible for moving more concretely into their assigned group roles to ensure that the final presentations are well-executed, collaborative, and successful.