Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results
Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results
Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results
Unit Summary
This unit is designed to help students realize that nonfiction comes in a variety of forms and can be
enjoyable to read. It provides students with opportunities to research historical information and to gain
an insight into the Titanic disaster. This unit also emphasizes the importance of the sequence of events.
The events that led up to the sinking of the Titanic took place very quickly and the time sequence is
important to the understanding of the disaster.
Materials Needed
Text: The Language of Literature (McDougal Littell Inc.)
Technology: Vocabulary PowerPoint, Background Building PowerPoint, Exploring the Titanic recording,
Titanic DVD, Computers (for various uses)
Other: KWL chart, word wheels, paper fasteners, passenger tickets, index cards, graphic organizers,
rubrics, jeopardy handouts, tests
Learner Analysis: There are twenty students in my class. Sixteen of the students are Caucasian and four
are African American. There are thirteen males and seven females. The students come from low to
middle income families. The behavior f the students is typical middle school student behavior. The
students are talkative and like to wander around the room if not actively engaged. Several of the
students have low motivation and often fall asleep in class. Others are likely to get up out of their desks
at least three times per class period. The group’s overall academic achievement level is average. Most
students have an A or B in the class with only a few failing. Most of the students are visual learners.
Some are auditory learners and others are kinesthetic. Throughout the unit, directions will be written as
well as spoken and there are many hands-on activities to reach all students.
H – The unit will begin with the teacher asking the class what it would have been like to be a passenger
on the Titanic to get students thinking.
R – Daily blog journal on given passenger from day of boarding the ship to the day it sank.
E – Complete a KWL chart to determine what students already know about the Titanic.
T – Students will take notes and research their given passenger and compile what they have learned into
a journal and presentation at the end of the unit.
Students will complete graphic organizers of the kinds of people that were on the ship.
O – Students will create a KWL chart on day one and add to it as the unit progresses.
Students will take on the role of a passenger on the Titanic.
Students will complete a journal from the perspective of their chosen passenger.
Day One Students will take a pre test.
Introduce first two vocabulary words and make foldable
Have students fill out KWL chart in groups
Watch power point on background information
Teacher will give booktalk on an excerpt from Exploring the Titanic
Allow students to choose a passenger from a list and hand out Titanic
tickets
Read excerpt from Exploring the Titanic and discuss
Day Two Review previous vocabulary words and add next two to foldable
Review story from yesterday and have students write whether they think
the belief that the Titanic was “unsinkable” affected the reaction people
on board had after it struck the iceberg and explain their answers
Show video over Titanic, its passengers, and its discovery and discuss
Day Three Review previous vocabulary words and add next two to foldable
Students will work in pairs to create a timeline of events from the story.
They will be given the events and times.
In their pairs, students will go online and add their timelines to
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline/.
In computer lab, students will research their passenger from day one.
They will be given a list of things they need to find out about their person.
Day Four Students will use the information they gathered yesterday to create a
glog about their given passenger.
One requirement will be to link to a blog that is the passenger’s journal
written by the student from the passenger’s perspective.
Day Five Students will play a jeopardy game to review the story for the test
Students will complete the L section of their KWL charts in groups.
Day Six Students will take a post test.