I am an instructional coach for literacy at Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School. The self-contained class of third-grade students to whom I will be teaching this unit (in small groups) are a heterogeneous group with varying abilities within the eight-to-nine-year-old age range and are primarily of African-American and Hispanic-American descent. Although I have designed this unit with them in mind, I am confident that it could easily be used by teachers in other intermediate grades as well.
My unit will be interdisciplinary in scope, including history, geography, social studies and computer technology. I have designed it to be used with students doing research on a variety of topics in a small group setting.
I have found some excellent websites on which students can further explore their chosen topics of interest related to the larger subject. The National Geographic Xpeditions website is rich in resources and is geared toward the abilities and interests of third-graders (and older). On this website (www.nationalgeographic.com/ xpeditions/lessons/10/g35/tgbattuta.html) there is an xpedition lesson plan on Ibn Battuta. Under the heading 'related links' is an wonderful online source entitled 'The Travels of Ibn Battuta--A Virtual Tour with the 14th Century Traveler'. This website, which was prepared by Nick Bartel, a middle school teacher in San Francisco, provides the viewer with a comprehensive tour of all of Ibn Battuta's travels, is accompanied by many interesting links relevant to the subject matter and includes an introduction to Africa and its varied geography and a close-up of Mali, its history and people. There is also a link for a mosque website which describes, through text and pictures, the appearance of a mosque inside and out, Muslim traditions practiced there and basic Muslim practices including the hajj, a highlight of my unit. This website will allow students to actually delve into the lives and travels of the two great African historical figures, Ibn Battuta and Mansa Musa, read further about their exploits and learn about the diverse societies in which they lived and moved.
The lessons in this unit will be introduced five times a week for a period of 30 minutes over a four-month period. I plan to divide my presentation of the material into 3 sections:
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Section I: Preparing for Our Nonfiction Study
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Section II: Traveling with Ibn Battuta
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Section III: Designing a Readers Theater play
Since the bulk of the reading will be nonfiction, this unit will begin with a brief discussion in Section I of how teachers can help their students navigate and get the most out of what they are reading both in books and on the web. I will suggest reading strategies that increase comprehension and that will help students to deepen their understanding of new information and concepts. In Section II we will follow Ibn Battuta on his final journey, listening to his writings taken from both a primary and secondary source and pausing to explore a plethora of related topics along the way. These topics, which I have placed at deliberate points throughout this unit, take the form of questions. In Section III I plan to lead the students through the reading and performance of a Readers Theatre play that I adapted from the story of Sundiata, the founder of the Mali empire, which was written by David Wisniewski. This play will serve as a culminating activity which will be performed for other classes in our school.
Objectives
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1 To gather and synthesize information when reading informational texts in both book-form and in online articles.
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2 To learn to read maps in order to trace trade and travel routes in North Africa in the 13-14th centuries.
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3 To learn about world history through the use of Ibn Battuta's travel narrative.
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4 To learn about the Muslim practice of the hajj as well as other customs as practiced by Muslims in the 14th century.
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5 To learn about the growth and development of the ancient Mali empire and two of its famous rulers, Sundiata and Mansa Musa.
Strategies
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1 To generate questions about one's readings through the use of inquiry notebooks.
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2 To learn how to use various features and tools found in informational texts through explicit instruction as well as by using such texts in one's research.
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3 To respond in note-form to specific questions related to one's reading through the use of discussion webs.
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4 To regularly participate in discussions about unit topics in order to create a better understanding of the information that has been gathered.
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5 To learn to skim informational texts for the specific information one is looking for.
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6 To learn to navigate website information on the computer.
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7 To perform a Readers Theater script adapted from the story of Sundiata.
Meeting New Haven's Literacy Standards
The New Haven school district's emphasis on literacy is targeted in all aspects of this unit. Students will demonstrate strategic reading skills before, during and after reading (Reading/Literature content standard 1.4) as they gather information, use their prior knowledge, develop self-generated questions about their readings and select relevant information to include in specific research topics. Students will demonstrate fluency when reading (Reading/Literature content standard 1.5) as evidenced in the reading of Readers Theater scripts. Students will demonstrate strategic viewing skills (Viewing content standard 5.0) by interpreting and constructing meaning from visual resources such as maps, charts, diagrams, online texts and photographs.