Element 2: Integration

Standard 3.1       Strand: Communication and Multimodal Literacies     Grade Level 3

 Learning Experience

Students will be informed that after they are done reading the book of their choice for their silent sustained reading time, they will be presenting the book to their peers. 

Students will  be expected to provide a short summary of the story including: the exposition, conflict, rising action, and climax. However, they would refrain from sharing the resolution with their peers. They would share who their favorite character was and why, along with their personal review. Did they like the book? Why or why not? They will need to explain what they made for their visual representation of the book, and why it was a good reflection of the book.

Visual representations might include any one of the following:

a poster showing their favorite part of the book

a home made video where they act out their favorite scene in the book

a 3D sculpture of one of the characters or settings

a food they made that might have been something that the characters ate. 

The Teacher will provide a demonstration of this project for the class including both the oral presentation and the visual representation. After the teacher demonstrates the presentation the class will engage in a classroom discussion where the teacher will review the rubric with the class and students will apply the rubric to share what the teacher did well, or how the presentation could have improved. 

Once students finish reading their books they will receive a rubric for their project. The teacher will demonstrate the use of a graphic organizer to identify the plot summary they will share. Students will then apply this to their own book, and use the graphic organizer for their book’s plot.

The teacher will model how to use cue cards to write what will be said in the presentation. The teacher will again demonstrate and draw attention to the following skills: Making eye contact with the audience, speaking clearly at an appropriate volume, using a good rate of speech. 

Students will make their own cue cards. 

Time will be given in class to work on their visuals, and to practice giving their presentations in groups of three or four. Within their groups students will use the rubric to give each other feedback before practicing again. 

Once all students have practiced at least twice the teacher will review respectful audience behavior and expectations. Finally, students will present their oral presentations to the whole class. 

Learning Evidence

Evidence of learning will be seen throughout the project. The teacher will check for understanding of expectations through the class feedback on the teacher’s presentation. The graphic organizer and cue cards will provide insight to the student’s ability to organize their thoughts. As students present in small groups the teacher will be able to provide feedback to students one on one. The oral presentation to the whole class will be the culminating evidence of what has been learned.