Lesson 4

Lesson Question: How does a short book about the Arctic (such as Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak's NORTHERN LIGHTS: THE SOCCER TRAILS or his BASEBALL BATS FOR CHRISTMAS, both from Annick Press, Buffalo, NY) illustrate Inuit life, social interaction, and environments?

Standards Met:
Standard 4 from LEARNING STANDARDS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction. (Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.)

Performance Expectations for Middle Grades: Theme 1: Culture, from EXPECTATIONS OF EXCELLENCE: CURRICULUM STANDARDS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES, developed by the National Council for Social Studies.

The learner can:

.	compare similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns;
.	explain how information and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference;
.	explain and give examples of how language, literature, the arts, architecture, other artifacts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behaviors contribute to the development and transmission of culture;
.	explain why individuals and groups respond differently to their physical and social environments and/or changes to them on the basis of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs;
.	articulate the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups.

Students will be able to:

• craft a story that represents life in the Arctic from one Arctic resident's perspective;
• prepare questions to engage parents in a discussion of the stories written by the students;
• cooperate in small groups (pairs) on learning tasks;
• create a rubric for assessment and peer evaluation;
• give and receive peer evaluation;
• reflect on the learning experience for future improvement.

Set-up: (Assumes that the short book or story has been read in a previous class.) Play Inuit music as students enter. Tell a very brief story about Inuit life. For example, you might describe a skidoo ride.

Teaching and Learning Tasks: Working in pairs and drawing on insights from the short book or story read, prior research about Inuit culture, and the checklists created in lesson 3, students will each create a short story of their own.

Each student should briefly tell his or her partner what his or her main theme or plot will be. After listening, the partner will give a few suggestions for creating a well-written and interesting story. Then the two trade roles.

After writing their stories, students will peer-edit the stories with their partners, using a rubric they create (see example below). Be sure that peer editors keep in mind that criticisms must have a focus, and they should be specific about positive solutions to problems found.

Assessment:

Sample rubric (marking guide) for short story:

	.	Did the story show creative, imaginative language to move the story forward? _____
	.	Was the story interesting and exciting? _____
	.	Were characters, their worlds, and experiences believable? _____
	.	Was the story told through only one character's point of view? _____
	.	Was dialogue used to move the plot along and develop characters? _____
	.	Was the title appropriate? _____
	.	Did the story have a beginning, middle, and end? _____
	.	Did key events help to create suspense? _____
	.	Was cause and effect established? _____
	.	Did you show rather than tell? _____

Closure: Also in groups of two, students will prepare a few questions and discuss a strategy for engaging parents in their stories for the next lesson.

Reflection: This lesson should unleash the creative imagination. Did it? Students should be motivated to create narratives from the many ideas and concepts they have learned about Inuit and Arctic life. Were they? Why or why not?