The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Introduction

In this webquest you will discover more about the book The curious incident of the dog in the night-time, its author Mark Haddon and the developmental disorder autism.

Before you start on your webquest consider the following questions:

Have you ever read an English book before?
If so, did you enjoy it? If not, why?
What do you expect from this book (story, characters, genre, subject, themes, etc.)?
What do you already know about autism?

Task

You will study the book and find online resources that can help you answer any remaining questions. Afterwards you will create a book paper about The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. In this paper readers can find out what you've learnt from the book and how you've incorporated your own research.

Process

1. Read the book

discover the genre and most important themes

http://www.theguardian.com/books/list/booksgenres

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writingabookreport/a/theme.htm

analyse main characters

http://www.ttms.org/say_about_a_book/character_matters.htm

outline strengths and weaknesses

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/teenagers/writing-tips/tips-for-writi…

2. do research on the author

personal life
professional career

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Haddon

http://www.markhaddon.com/

3. do research on autism

What is autism?
How does it affect someone's life?
Can autism be treated or cured?

http://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/autism-and-asperger-syndrome-an-i…

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

4. create your book paper

You will receive the document from your teacher.
Fill out all the text columns.
Send in your book paper.

Evaluation

Your book paper will be assessed according to the following rubric:

understanding of the book	student has shown very good understanding of the story, themes and characters (4/5 points)	student has shown reasonable understanding of the story, themes and charachters (2/3 points)	student has shown poor understanding of the story, themes and charachters (0/1 point)	points:
research into the author	student has researched the author very well (4/5 points)	student has researched the author reasonably (2/3 points)	student has researched the author poorly (0/1 point)	points:
research into the topic of autism	student has researched the topic very well (4/5 points)	student has researched the topic reasonably (2/3 points)	student has researched the topic poorly (0/1 point)	points:
forming and arguing opinion	student has formed and argued his/her opinion very well (4/5 points)	student has formed and argued his/her opinion reasonably (2/3 points)	student has formed and argued his/her opinion poorly (0/1 point)	points:
TOTAL:				points:

The total amount of points will be devided by 2 to form your mark.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have read and analysed a book, done research on the author and autism and created your very own book paper. With this assignment you have worked independently and responsibly and you are now able to evaluate your work.

How did you feel about working on this assignment?
What do you think of the result?
What would you do differently next time?
What mark do you think you deserve?

Credits

The following links were used in the process of creating this webquest:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech011.shtml

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestrubric.html

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html

http://newspapertemplate.biz/free-microsoft-word-newspaper-template-for…

Teacher Page

Year and level: 3 VMBO-TL/HAVO

Description: young adult literature webquest

Objectives:

Students identify genre and themes in YAL
Students analyse characters
Students research people and topics independently
Students form and ague their opinion

The teacher's role:

During this webquest students work very independently. However, the teacher's role is essential in this process. The teacher needs to check if the students are on the right track, help students to reflect on their work and give the required feedback. Students should always be able to count on their teacher for guidance in order to learn in a safe and inspiring environment.