Kurt Vonnegut Webquest

Introduction

Use this webquest to learn about Kurt Vonnegut's life and interpret how his experiences influenced his writing.

Task

Use the link and video to learn about Kurt Vonnegut's life and philosophy and use this information to create the "shape" of Slaughterhouse 5 and Vonnegut's life and compare them.

Process

1) Write a brief summary of Kurt Vonnegut's life, highlighting major events and events that may be reflected in Slaughterhouse 5.

https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/kurt-biography/

2) Try drawing what you think the shape of Slaughterhouse 5 AND of Kurt Vonnegut's life is. It can be in a graph form, like the video shows, or another artistic rendition that you think represents the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwwK7NmfF9w

3) Taking both of the images you have created, think about how they reflect each other. Below your summary of Vonnegut's life, write at least a paragraph analyzing the two. Use the following questions to guide your analysis: Why did you draw the stories the way you did?Do you see a lot of themes in common? How do you think the fictional aspects of Slaughterhouse 5 function to tell Vonnegut's story? Be creative with your analysis!

Evaluation

  4 3 2 1
Quality of Writing

Student's writing is 

completely error free

Student's writing has

a few errors

Student's writing has 

many errors

Student's writing is 

unable to be understood

Creativity

Student shows understanding 

in a creative and interesting

way by showing a unique project 

Student's work is creative 

and somewhat unique

Student's work is not creative but is unique

Student's project is not creative 

or unique; copied from another 

Effort Student has shown that they put a great amount of effort into their work

Student has shown that they put an acceptable amount of effort into their work

Student has shown little effort in their work Student put no effort into their work

 

Conclusion

When they finish this webquest, students should show that they understand the connection between authors and their work throughout the class

Credits

Teacher Page

Hannah Dietrick