creating - woub public media · following the viewing, have the students brainstorm to create a...

AFRICAN PEN PALSUNIT 2 1

UNIT 2

African Pen Pals

CREATING YOUR OWN STORY • Overview • Unit Goals • Grade Level Indicators • Time Needed • Materials Needed • Prepare to Learn • Activities

CLUSTER MAP

HIERARCHY

STORYBOARD

CURRICULUM GUIDE

CREATING YOUR OWN

STORY

www.woub.org/africanpenpals


CREATING YOUR OWN STORY

OVERVIEW

Even though the United States has been called a melting pot of many cultures, the result of the mix-ture creates something new and unique in its own environment. Telling our individual stories can provide a valuable opportunity to reflect on our own unique self as well as the culture that has helped shape us. The process of looking at ourselves and at our culture paves the way for looking at and beginning to understand other peoples and cultures. Understanding leads to caring and empathy.

In Unit Two, students will put themselves in the role of a pen pal and script their own day – based on the framework of one of more African Pen Pal series episodes. The script may be in a variety of formats and depends on the desires of the teacher and/or the materials available.

UNIT GOALS

By the conclusion of this unit students will be able to:• Define “typical” and give examples.• Explain how statistics can help them draw logical conclusions.• Identify the main ideas or major events of a typical African Pen Pals series episode.• Create a flowchart of the events of a typical day in their lives.• Create a project with narrative text. The student will relate information about themselves to others.

GRADE LEVEL INDICATORS

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Demonstrate active listening strategies.• Recall the main ideas, including relevant and supporting details.• Draw logical inferences from presentations and visual media.• Deliver formal and informal presentations that convey relevant information.• Use organizational strategies to plan writing.• Write narratives.• Use available technology to compose text.WORK AND FAMILY LIFE

• Create strategies for relating to people of different ages, abilities, genders and cultures.• Communicate effectively.• Express personal feelings, needs and ideas constructively.• Seek help when needed.• Use planning to establish and achieve individual and group goals.

UNIT 2


TIME FRAME Preparing to Learn: 5 to 15 minutes

Activities • 1...........5 to 30 minutes (Frequency: What is typical?) • 2 & 3....20 to 40 minutes (Set Purpose & View Episode) • 4...........20 to 45 minutes (Finding a Framework) • 5...........20 to 30 minutes (Your Day – Alternative Outline) • 6...........45 minutes to 2 weeks (Create & Share Your Day) • 7...........20 to 40 minutes (Increase Understanding by Sharing)

MATERIALS

African Pen Pal Episode (your choice): DVD player and TV – or Computer with DVD player and presentation systemPaper and pencil/penOptional materials

• Handouts: —Graphic Organizer: Cluster Map, Christopher Carter —Graphic Organizer: Hierarchy, Christopher Carter —Graphic Organizer: Hierarchy – Blank —Storyboard • Chart paper and markers • Calculator(s) • Envelopes and stamps • Still camera or digital still camera • Scissors and glue • Camcorder/VHS cassettes or digital camcorder/digital cassettes • Scanner • Computer(s) with word processing applications such as Microsoft Word or Works, Appleworks, Open Office, etc. • Computer(s) with presentation creating software such as Microsoft Office PowerPoint, Apple Computerʼs Keynote or Appleworks; or Open Officeʼs slideshow creation module, etc. • Computer(s) with digital movie editing software such as iMovie, MovieMaker2, Pinnacle Studio, etc.

PREPARE TO LEARN:

Explain to the students that they will be creating their own pen pal project. Like the African Pen Pals, the students will share their finished projects with others. You and/or your students may decide the nature of the final project. Project decisions will depend on the resources available to your students and the amount of time available for the project.


PEN PAL PROJECT IDEAS: • Write a letter to a pen pal. See the African Pen Pals Hot List in the appendix for pen pal web sites if you would like your students to locate and correspond with international students. • Write a script for a pen pal video project. • Create a storyboard for a pen pal video project. A storyboard template can be found at the close of this unit. • Create a multi-media pen pal project with still images. • Create a booklet or pamphlet with photographs attached and handwritten text. • Create a slideshow presentation with digital images, a computer, and presentation software such as Apple Computerʼs Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Open Offices ̓ Slide Show module, etc. • Create a multimedia pen pal project with a camcorder and VSH cassettes. • Create a multimedia pen pal project with a digital camcorder, a computer, and movie editing software such as iMovie, Movie Maker2, Pinnacle Studio8, etc.

ACTIVITIES

Frequency: What is Typical?

Since all days are not are alike, how are students to decide what is typical and what is not? Ask the students, “What is a ʻtypical ̓day?” One way to decide what is typical or usual is to use frequency of occurrence. Provide the students with (or ask them to develop on their own) the following statistics:

Fact: 71% of our days are weekdays

• Weekdays: 52 weeks x 5 days = 260 days • 260 divided by 365.25 (days in a year) = .7118412 • .7118412 rounded to the nearest hundredth .71 or 71% Fact: 28% of our days are weekend days

• Weekends: 52 weeks x 2 days = 104 days • 104/365.25 = .2847365 • .2847365 rounded to the nearest hundredth is. 28 or 28% (Depending on how you round the numbers, you may vary from 100%.)Conclusion based on facts: Weekdays (71%) are more common/typical than weekend days (28%)

Fact: 69% of weekdays are school days

• 180 weekdays/260 weekdays = .6923077 • .6923077 rounded to the nearest hundredth is .69 = 69%Fact: 31% of weekdays are not school days

• 80/260 = .3076923 • .3076923 rounded to the nearest hundredth is .31 or 31%Conclusion based on fact: School weekdays (69%) are more common/typical than weekdays when there is no school (31%)

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The African Pen Pals Hot List is a list of web resources.

Headings include:• Pen Pals & Global Projects • Critical Thinking• Culture• Teaching Africa • Virtual Field Trips • Other Resources • Religion• Service Leaning • Research Projects • How To• Firdoze Bulbulia


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3

Based on the conclusions in the previous activity, a school day is a typical day for students. Explain that the African Pen Pals seem to agree that frequency of occurrence is one way to decide what is typical as each episode in the series tells about school experiences as part of the Pen Palʼs typical day. Tell the students that they will view one – or more - episodes to determine what else is included in the typical day of a young person who lives in Egypt (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania). They will find many other similarities between the Pen Pals and themselves. Lead the students to see that the Pen Pal episode will make a good framework for developing their own individual Pen Pal episodes.

Identify Main Ideas: Set the Purpose for Viewing

Tell the students that the purpose for viewing the African Pen Palʼs episode is to identify the framework. Tell them to note the main ideas of the video – the major divisions and/or events of the Pen Palʼs day. Have the students look for non-typical events, too – things that may occur regularly yet not every day, and events that occur more rarely but are special or important. The students may decide if they also wish to include non-typical events in their own pen pal projects.

View an episode from the African Pen Pal series

Select one of the ten African Pen Pals episodes for your students to view. Use the African Pen Pal Synopses to help you make your selection. You may choose to watch an entire episode (about 25 minutes) including the “wrap-around” – the producerʼs commentary section following the Pen Palʼs day. You may choose to view only the Pen Palʼs segment (about 15 minutes). Preview the episode before using it with your students. Some episodes have more mature content.

Remind students that most of the narrators speak English as a second, or even third language and that they need to use both their active listening and visual clues skills.

Prior to viewing, introduce the episode, making sure that students know the name of the Pen Pal and the Pen Palʼs country. There is a tendency among Americans to refer to “Africa” as if it is one country. In fact, there are 54 distinct, independent countries on the African continent.

Finding the African Pen Pal Framework: Web or Cluster Mapping

Following the viewing, have the students brainstorm to create a web/cluster map/mind map of the major elements of the hostʼs typical day. At this point, order does not matter. The following is the typical framework of each African Pen Pal episode:Preparations for the day

• Introduction of Pen Pal, his or her hometown and family

School Day: • Classes • Non-academic school activities • Interpersonal relationships at schoolAfter School: • Home/family life and activities • Leisure activitiesSpecial Activities – repeated on a regular basis, but not daily • Trip(s) to location(s) chosen as special or important to the Pen Pal

4

OTHERTHINGS

BEFORESCHOOL

Shares bedwith her sister

Brushes teethand washes

AFTERSCHOOL

Puts onschool clothes

ATSCHOOL

Warda

Prays


If the students are able to identify discrete events but they cannot identify unifying themes, use a step-by-step procedure.

1 LIST EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES Let the students list each event as they come to mind and connect each directly to the center of the cluster.

2 GROUP RELATED ITEMS

Have the students look for items or events that seem to be closely related to one another. If they need help getting started, ask them to group school-related events/items. a. Blackboard: • Use colored chalk to circle closely related events/items in a single color. Pick a new color each time the students want to begin a new category or theme. b. Chart Paper: • Use scissors to cut each item from the original cluster map and paste it onto a fresh piece of paper. Leave empty space so that a title may be added in the next step. • OR use colored markers. Circle closely related events/items in a single color. • Pick a new color each time the students want to begin a new category or theme. c. Word Processing computer software: • Drag and drop the closely related event or item so that they are physically near one another. Leave some empty space so that a title for each group may be added in the next step. d. Graphic Organizer computer software: • Drag and drop the closely related events or items so that are physically near one another. • Leave some empty space so that a title for each group may be added in the next step.

3 ASSIGN TITLES FOR EACH GROUP After the items have been grouped, have the students choose a title ortheme for each group. a. Blackboard: • Match the chalk color of the theme/title to the color used for the group. b. Chart Paper: • Write the theme/title in the space left empty in the previous step. • OR match the marker color to the theme/title to the color used for the group and write it in a convenient location on the chart paper. c. Word processing software: • Create a new symbol, type a title into the symbol, and change any links between symbols to reflect the new organization of the cluster map. d. Graphic Organizer software: • Create a new symbol, type the title into the symbol, and change any links between symbols to reflect the new organization of the cluster map.

Students should be able to see that the African Pen Palʼs life has many parallels to their own lives. If the students cannot see these similarities, help them to do so. See Lesson 1, Setting the Tone: “We are all the Same; we are all different.”

After the class has agreed on the themes or major elements of the African Pen Pal framework, either turn the web into a hierarchical representation or show them the two samples (Cluster Map and Hierarchy) for African Pen Pal Christopher Carter found at end of this unit. Explain to the students that each of them will be creating a hierarchy of their own typical day using the framework of the African Pen Pal episode.

See a completed cluster map for African Pen Pal Christopher Carter at the end of the unit.

See a completed hierarchy for African Pen Pal Christopher Carter at the end of the unit.


What is Your Typical Day Like? An Alternative Outline

Have each student create a graphic organizer outlining the parts of his or her day, special activities and special places that they will share with others. A hierarchical graphic organizer is suggested. Use any of the following materials to create the chart: • Paper and pencil. Use the handout “Hierarchy” found at the end of the unit or have the student create their own organizers from scratch. • Have the student write his or her name in the shape at the top of the graphic organizer. • List the main ideas or themes across first full rows of shape below the name. • In the shapes below each theme or main idea, list events and ideas for that theme. • Word processing software. Use text boxes and line or arrow tools to create your own graphic organizer or have the students create their own organizers from scratch. • Graphic organizing software was created to be able to make all types of graphic organizers quickly and easily.

Project: Share Your Day With Others

Students will use their graphic organizer as an outline to create a final project to share a typi-cal day in their lives with others. See the list below for some ideas for the final project. Project ideas could be used alone or several ideas could be combined. • Write a narrative of at least 15 sentences describing your typical day. • Share your narrative with others. • Write a letter to a pen pal. See the African Pen Pals Hot List in the Appendix. • Share your letter with others. • Write a script for a pen pal video project. Share your script with others. • Create a storyboard for a pen pal video project. Share the completed storyboard with others. There is a storyboard template at the end of the unit. • Create a multi-media pen pal project with still images. Share the presentation with others. —A booklet or pamphlet with photographs attached and handwritten text. —A slideshow presentation with digital images, a computer, and presentation software such as Apple Computerʼs Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Open Officeʼs Slide Show module, etc. • Create a multimedia pen pal project with a camcorder and VSH cassettes. Share the project with others. • Create a multimedia pen pal project with a digital camcorder, a computer, and movie editing software such as iMovie, Movie Maker2, Pinnacle Studio, etc. Share the video with others.

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6

OTHERTHINGS

BEFORESCHOOL

Shares bedwith her sister

Brushes teethand washes

AFTERSCHOOL

Puts onschool clothes

ATSCHOOL

Warda

Prays


We would like to know how you have used this project to encourage learning. If your class creates an exceptional pen pals project, send it to:

WOUB – TV Attn: Pen Pals Project 9 South College Street Athens, Ohio 45701

Or send us an email at [email protected] with the subject: Pen Pals Project.

Extension Activity: “We are all the same; we are all different” – A Classroom Perspective.

Remind the students that there are many similarities among the people of the same culture. How-ever, there are also may differences. Tell them that there are two episodes from each African Pen Pal country. Ask them if they would expect both of the young people from the same country to have a similar way of life. They can develop some perspective on likenesses and differences within a single county by thinking about the projects of their classmates.

Have the students take some time to think about the similarities and differences among the members of the class. Ask the students to share their observations in writing or orally. Focus questions for the students might include: • What events, behaviors, beliefs and/or activities do the majority of the class members have in common? • Are the similarities among classmates helpful or beneficial in any way? • Are the similarities unifying in any way? • Are the similarities in any way negative? • What events, behaviors, beliefs and/or activities are unique to one or very few class members? • Are any of the differences interesting or thought provoking? • Does the class have its own unique culture?

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Directions: • Sketch the main action in the box on the left. Write what will happen during the scene in the script area. • Use the page number area and scene number area to keep track of the order in which things happen. • Use as many pages as needed. Attach paper with matching page and scene numbers if you need more space.

Project Name: Name: Date: Page:

Scene Number: Script:




STORYBOARD

creating - woub public media · following the viewing, have the students brainstorm to create a...

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