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Greek Mythology
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In this lesson, students review the specifications of the performance task, for which they will create and deliver a multimedia presentation explaining their narrative choices: choice of Greek god (or a character from another traditional story), new character choices, choice of scene from The Lightning Thief to revise, and how and why they revised that scene. Students present to a live audience, including reading their revised scene aloud.
Opportunities to Extend Learning
Challenge students to learn new presentation programs, such as PowToons, or try their hand at the more advanced features of slideshow software of which they are already familiar.
Demonstratetherelevanceofnarrativewritingwithinsightfromaprofessionalstoryteller. Have students view an excerpt (1:19–2:53) of Pixar filmmaker Andrew Stanton’s TED Talk, “The Clues to a Great Story” (http://eled.org/0157) (the related infographic also o ers students insight on the magic of great storytelling: http://eled.org/0136).
How It Builds on Previous Work
In the second half of this unit, students have been reimagining a scene from The Lightning Thief and rewriting it to incorporate a new character. In the previous lesson, students used their research, planning, and narrative writing checklist to write their original narrative scene. Students will now prepare to showcase their learning in a multimedia presentation as a culmination to this unit and this module.
Support All Students
Remember that students who were uncomfortable with the original premise of the rewritten narrative (with themselves as a child of a Greek god or goddess) may also be uncomfortable hearing their peers’ presentations on this topic. Be prepared with an alternative option for students in this situation, allowing them to work in a di erent location on a di erent, but related, task.
Encourage students to incorporate many visual components into their slideshow presentations. This will provide a more manageable workload for some ELLs, for whom writing is especially challenging. Point students toward free resources that provide high-quality images, such as Unsplash or Pixabay, for students who are not inclined toward original illustrations. Remind students that it is the thinking and presentation skills that are being practiced; students are not being assessed on their artistic talents.
Assessment Guidance
The performance tasks at the end of every module are neither formative nor summative assessments. They are not formative since they come at the end of the module, concluding students’ learning about the module topic and the literacy skills they have built over eight or nine weeks. However, they are also not summative because they are heavily sca olded to help students create high-quality work, and so are not a strong measure of what students can do independently. For these reasons, we do not recommend analyzing performance tasks with the same lens used to analyze assessments. Look at students’ performance tasks through the lens of the attributes of high-quality student work (authenticity, complexity, craftsmanship).
ADVANCE COPY NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
Unit 3: Lessons 10–11
