Society Building

Introduction

This unit was designed by two student teachers working collaboratively at Morse High School in San Diego, CA.

Content Areas and Grades

This unit will encompass language arts and world history. It is designed for ninth grade students but could be used in other grade levels as well.

Curriculum Standards

Students will demonstrate their comprehensive knowledge of key terms and ideas that have been studied throughout the school year. Students will draw on their knowledge of various forms of governments and demonstrate their understanding of literary terms and devices such as symbolism, theme, character, setting and point of view. They will work both individually and collaboratively in producing visual, written, oral presentations.

Organizing Theme and Guiding Questions

The theme of the unit will be designing a society. The students will use guiding questions such as: 

Guiding Question	Knowledge	Comprehension	Application	Analysis	Synthesis	Evaluation
What is the best form of government?	Define different forms of government.		Make a constitution.		Explain the reasons for their choice of government.	Does the constitution create a workable and stable society?
What groups in society should have political power?	Identify what groups get to participate in government.		same as above		same as above	same as above
What are the characteristics of a Utopian Society?	Define Utopian Societies	Explain the characteristics of a Utopian society.	This will be an integral portion of the organization of their government.	Compare and Contrast between different Utopian Societies.	Explain the differences and similarities	Evaluation will be in the form of a cohesive essay.
What character traits do effective leaders need to possess?	Define the literary term: character	Display knowledge of character by indentifying traits.	Take notes on leaders from The Sound of Waves, Romeo and Juliet and Animal Farm.	Analyze dominant characteristics of leaders.	Understand and explain the failures of the leaders.	same as above

Implementation Overview

This is an interdisciplinary unit which will be taught two periods in English and in World History. The unit will last approximately nine days. The students will work in and out of class, as well as spend time in the computer lab.

Material Resources Needed

Describe what's needed to implement this lesson. Some of the possibilities:

• Class sets of books
• internet access
• art supplies
• Video materials

Human Resources Needed

Two teachers will plan and work collaboratively on this lesson.

Entry Level Skills and Knowledge

Based on information accumulated by the students throughout the year. They will rely on class notes and discussion. Students will also need a basic knowledge of computers.

Outline of Activities

Day	Language Arts	Social Studies
1	Discuss literary term: character. Discuss leadership qualities in characters that have been studied throughout the semester. Do a journal entry on the discussion. Begin discussion of the essay assignment.	Review forms of government that have been covered throughout the year: oligarchy, democracy,monarchy, communism. Explain projects to students and set up groups.
2	Read excerpts from The Sound of Waves . Discuss the leaders in the story and discuss how their leadership qualities are exhibited. Do a journal entry on the discussion. Begin formulating ideas for the essay.	Students will spend the period in the computer lab reading the Introduction Page and working on Choosing A Leader. They will answer qustions about leadership in their journal.
3	Do a journal entry discussing the findings from the previous day in the computer lab. Students will find particular excerpts from Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet, Sound of Waves where leadership qualities are presented. Class will begin discussing the term Utopia. Do a journal entry in preparation for the essay.	Students will spend the period in the computer lab working on Investigating Utopian Societies and creating a Coat of Arms. They will answer Utopia and Coat of Arms questions in their journals.
4	Each group will use art supplies in class to create a Coat of Arms. Do a journal entry to discuss what they have chosen as their project.	Students will spend the period in the computer lab working on the constitution assignment in groups.
5	Continue working on Coat of Arms projects.	Students will spend the period in the computer lab working on the constitution assignment in groups.
6	Work on rough draft for the summation essay. Class will work in Peer Editing groups.	Have groups draw a map of their island. They should include government buildings, business districts housing areas. The students should refer back to what they learned about Greek and Roman city planning
7	Use Dream Writers to type out final drafts of summation essays.	Continue working on map projects
8	Continue working on final draft essays.	Students will do group presentations of their constitutions and maps.
9	Group Presentations of Coat of Arms projects.	Students will do group presentations of their constitutions and maps.

Evaluation

The evaluation will be based on the projects which will display knowledge of terms and a understanding of ideas. The projects will include a Utopian writing assignment, constitution, coat of arms, and map of the island. Students will also be asked to present their total project to the whole class.

Conclusion

The importance of this project is to show a comprehensive knowledge of terms and ideas that were gained throughout the year