Introduction
Have you ever read a book that you absolutely loved? On the flip side, have you ever read a book that you hated? Chances are, you understood and were invested in the book that you loved, and didn't really know what was going on in the book you hated.
The goal of this WebQuest is to develop an understanding of the parts of a book. Our end goal is to be able to pick out certain parts of a book and understand how each of those parts contributes to the story. By the end of this, you'll be an expert on reading analysis and will never hate a book again... Hopefully!
Task
You and your group will be assigned an element of literature and carry out research on it. You will use the articles and videos I provide in this WebQuest to carry out your research and to develop a greater understanding of your assigned elements. As you do research, each group will complete a PowerPoint presentation about their element of literature and prepare to present it to the class. At the end of the research time, we will get together as a class to present and to further discuss what we have learned!
Process
1. You and your group will find out which literature element you have been assigned to by Miss Brumleve. I will use a rubric to grade your research and presentation.
2. You will then begin looking at the designated websites and videos for your particular element.
- Character
- Plot
- Message vs. Theme
- Theme
- Setting
3. As you read through this, take short notes about key points your group wants to include in your PowerPoint.
4. After you have all your information, begin creating your PowerPoint using your laptops. You will want to make your presentation visually appealing to the audience, while still including all the needed information to accurately explain your term.
5. After the PowerPoint is made, create presentation plans among the group (who will speak when, what each person will speak about, what visual aids you will use, etc.). Practice your presentation and prepare to present in front of the class.
6. After every group has presented, we will have a student-led class discussion over all the terms, and talk about how they fit together as a whole in literature.
After the presentations and class discussion, you will understand what each literary term means, how it contributes to a piece of literature, and the effects it has on other parts of literature.
Evaluation
This rubric is used to evaluate your understanding of your group's assigned literary term, as well as your explanation of it to the class.
| CATEGORY | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Explanation | Group researched the subject a great amount thoroughly explained it to the class using great detail. | Group researched the subject and clearly explained it to the class but left out important information. | Group researched the subject very little and left out most valuable information. | Either no or very minimal research was done and the group failed to explain the term. | |||
| Understanding | The group demonstrated a great, in-depth understanding of the term. | The group demonstrated a fair understanding of the term. | The group demonstrated a very minimal understanding on the term. | The group demonstrated little to no understanding of the term. | |||
| Presentation | The PowerPoint accurately displays all information in a highly organized manner, is very visually appealing, and displays great effort. | The PowerPoint displays information in an organized manner, is easy to follow, and displays good effort. | The PowerPoint displays information in a sporadic way, is difficult to follow along, and displays minimal effort. | The PowerPoint does not include organization, is a challenge to follow along with, and displays little to no effort. | |||
|
|
The group functioned pretty well. Most members listened to, shared with and supported the efforts of others. The group (all members) was almost always on task! | The group functioned fairly well but was dominated by one or two members. The group (all members) was almost always on task! | Some members of the group were often off-task AND/OR were overtly disrespectful to others in the group AND/OR were typically disregarded by other group members. |
Each member of the group will receive the same overall score; there will be no exceptions or changes.
Conclusion
You have completed the Elements of Literature Webquest -- Good work. Thanks for your cooperation and participation; you're a rockstar.
You're an expert on literary terms now. You should now be able to correctly identify parts of a book and understand how they contribute to the book, which are skills you can use when completing your book project! Your PowerPoint can be added to your end-of-the-year portfolio if you please.
Credits
A big thank you to this class and professor for introducing me to Webquests, and showing me how to use them in my future classroom!
Sources:
- https://literaryterms.net/character/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKBnD-AYNq4
- https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/plot
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBjt2qhl7es
- https://learn.rumie.org/jR/bytes/what-s-the-difference-between-a-message-and-a-theme
- https://literarydevices.net/theme/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2XYTlnfjgA
- https://www.supersummary.com/setting/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZFfAlLtkpQ
Teacher Page
I created this WebQuest in order to deepen students' understanding of literary terms. So many times, students don't enjoy reading solely because they don't understand what they are reading. My hope is that this WebQuest will help students become familiar with parts of a book, resulting in an understanding and enjoyment of reading.