Mrs. McClure : Unit Lessons

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Mr. Martin and I worked together on the 8th Grade Body Systems and Drug Abuse projects. We incorporated Inspiration templates for note-taking and showed them how to add pictures and record their voice within the program! We also provided an electronic version of Cornell Notes for note-taking. Finally they will save their assignments to a shared folder on our server so that Mr. Martin can grade the assignments without wasting paper. Palmer Middle is going green! :)

We also provided safe websites for pictures and images, including World Book Online and Grolier from the Cobb Virtual Library, and www.picsearch.com.

Download body_systems_web.isf (You will need Inspiration 8 to open this.)

Download cornell_notes.doc

It has been my experience that eighth graders (and, well, middle schoolers in general) do not always paraphrase their research but instead, copy word for word or cut and paste from their sources. In an attempt to emphasize the seriousness of this offense and to teach better note-taking skills, we created the Plagiarism Pirates, modeled after the Disney World ride "Pirates of the Caribbean." Essentially, students are sailing on a voyage to the Island of Academic Honesty. After a brief exercise, they are led through a room where we have set up "pirates" (skeletons in Halloween costumes - see pics below) who are plagiarizing. Meanwhile, the Disney CD that has the voice from the ride warning them not to go in the direction of the pirates is playing in the background. They totally think it's corny but they always remember it!

During this lesson, students will:

Define and compare/contrast summarize, paraphrase, quote, plagiarism, and piracy
Recognize acceptable examples of paraphrasing and summarizing and be able to explain why other examples are unacceptable
Summarize an article on Blackbeard using Cornell notes (www.timeforkids.com)

Download slide_on_note_taking.ppt

Download treasure_map_with_note_steps.doc