Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?l

Greg English
OAK PARK MIDDLE MIDDLE 

Overview:
Students will be engaged across the curriculum in researching seven dinner guests from various aspects of history. Through social studies, students will interact with their power point template to research historical figures and input data including:

1)biographical information,

2) an appropriate quote from this dinner guest,

3) a photograph or artists rendering of this individual. Students will then explain why they chose to invite this person, who they will seat them next to, and appropriate topics of dinner conversation and after dinner entertainment for this and all the other dinner guests. Students will design a menu using math for the budget and science for the nutritional content. Through language arts, students will write bios for their dinner guests and dialogue for dinner conversation. Students who are currently involved in the Art enrichment, will work on a quilt to document their dinner using artistic expression.

To link to Multicultural Awareness and Black history Month, students will view through Language Arts excerpts from the groundbreaking Sidney Poitier film of 1964, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. SPED students will participate with accommodations. Assessment rubrics will be used to evaluate the individual student created power points.
Approximate Duration:  10 - 90 minute class periods
Content Standards:
  • History: Time, Continuity, and Change
         Students develop a sense of historical time and historical perspective as they study the history of their community, state, nation, and world.
Benchmarks:
  • H-1A-M4
         analyzing historical data using primary and secondary sources;
  • H-1A-M6
         conducting research in efforts to answer historical questions;
  • H-1D-M1
         describing the contributions of people, events, movements, and ideas that have been significant in the history of Louisiana;
Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs):
  • Historical Thinking Skills
    Grade 7

    50. Conduct historical research using a variety of resources, and evaluate those resources for reliability and bias, to answer historical questions related to U.S. history

    (H-1A-M6)
    Grade 8

    70. Conduct historical research using a variety of resources, and evaluate those resources, to answer historical questions related to Louisiana history

    (H-1A-M6)
  • Louisiana History

    75. Describe the contributions of ethnic groups significant in Louisiana history

    (H-1D-M1)
Interdisciplinary Connections:  
  • Mathematics : Measurement
         In problem-solving investigations, students demonstrate an understanding of the concepts, processes, and real-life applications of measurement.
  • English/Language Arts : Standard 1
         Students read, comprehend, and respond to a range of materials, using a variety of strategies for different purposes.
  • English/Language Arts : Standard 2
         Students write competently for a variety of purposes and audiences.
  • Science : Life Science
         The students will become aware of the characteristics and life cycles of organisms and understand their relationships to each other and to their environment.
Educational Technology Standards:  
  • Compose and edit a multi-page document with appropriate formatting using word-processing skills. (e.g., menu, tool bars, dialog boxes, spell check, thesaurus, page layout, headers and footers, word count, margins, tabs, spacing, columns, page orientation)
  • Use information, media, and technology in a responsible manner which includes following the school's acceptable use policy, adhering to copyright laws, respecting the rights of others, and employing proper etiquette in all forms of communication.
  • Use multimedia tools and desktop publishing to develop and present computer-generated projects for directed and independent learning activities.
  • Use technology tools (e.g., multimedia authoring, writing tools, digital cameras, drawing tools, web tools) to gather information for problem solving, communication, collaborative writing and publishing to create products for various audiences.
  • Communicate information using spreadsheets and databases to visually represent data and integrate into other documents (e.g., entering data, formatting using formulas, analyzing data, and sorting).
Objectives:
The learner will research, create and design a multi-page Power Point detailing, across the curriculum, all aspects of planning and implementation of their 8 person historical dinner party.
Lesson Materials and Resources:
IIM research notefact sheets
School Library
Weekly grocery store ads
Social Studies text books
Technology Tools and Materials:

Hardware:
3.5 floppy disk with Power-point template included

Software:
MS Power-Point
MS Word
MS Excel

Websites:
•Guess Who's Coming To Dinner PPt Template
      www.louisiana101.com/GuessWhosComingToDinner.ppt

Other:
Assorted weblinks pre-compiled on last slide of PowerPoint
Background Information:
Within the social studies framework of this assignment, students will select a well-known Louisiana figure to invite to their dinner party. The student will then research this individual and locate: 1) biographical information, 2) an appropriate quote, and 3) a photograph or artist drawing of this individual. Students will then explain why they chose this person; who they will seat them next to; and what might be appropriate dinner conversation and entertainment for this and other selected guests.

Through Science, students should have already covered the digestive system so their working knowledge of nutrition will help them design a well balanced menu, also scientific inquiry benchmarks for data gathering and data analysis should be old hat.

Mathematical skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, graphic organizers will all be employed.

ELA-Literacy skills will be key to forming interesting biographies and dialogue for the dinner guests.
Lesson Procedures:
Social Studies Class time
Pre-Lab Time – A) Students will be introduced to the GWCTD Project through Social Studies by way of a preview power-point and discussion about what is expected. They will be given a printout of the slide presentation as a worksheet. B) They will choose their dinner guests based on the criteria on the power point template which has been downsized and printed as a working copy.

Pre-Lab Time - Day 2 – A) Students will be taken to the library to begin researching information for biographies, quotes and conversation through Social Studies class period. B) Students will engage in prewriting brainstorming activities, then begin the writing and edition process so their data is ready to enter onto their power point when they go to the computer lab.

Science Class time
Pre-Lab Time – A) Students will design a nutritious and complete ***** restaurant style menu and work up caloric nutritional information in Science Class. This data will then be input into Power Point. B) Students will research costs for their proposed menu and work up an individualized budget. Microsoft Excel will display the cost per person, for each course.

Math Class time
Pre-Lab Time – A) Students will begin looking through weekly grocery store sale papers collectiong prices for tehir selected dinner menu items. B) Students will continue research costs for their proposed menu and work up an individualized budget that they began in science. Microsoft Excel will display the cost per person, for each course.

Tech Lab Class Time
Day 1-2 Social Studies
As students enter the lab the will pick up their own personal 3.5 floppy disk copy of the Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Power-Point template. They will be instructed as to how to insert disk and open their copy. Teacher will instruct them on which pages to complete together as a class such as personal bio page, opening title page, etc. From there they will be instructed to work independently and raise their hands for teacher assistance if needed. They will begin to type in information that they have collected through previous IIM research. They will also spend some time using Google’s image search for pictures of their guests. Students needing photos scanned of relatives or ancestors will be assisted in the scanning process. Teacher will also hand out rubric for presentation and explain grading.

Day 3-4 Science
As students enter the lab the will pick up their own personal 3.5 floppy disk copy of the GWCTD template. The science teacher will quickly go over what students will be working on today concerning menu selections, how to input information in template graphs and set up seating place cards. Students will then work independently on those areas needing completion.

Day 5-6 Math
As students enter the lab the will pick up their own personal 3.5 floppy disk copy of the GWCTD template. The math teachers will help students figure costs per dinner settings and meal ingredients. They will also help students complete nutritional and cost bar graphs as needed.

Day 7-8 ELA
As students enter the lab the will pick up their own personal 3.5 floppy disk copy of the GWCTD template. The ELA teachers will help students finalize the grammatical portion of the power point and help answer questions on how to write a complete, well structured paragraph, annotate quotes, and document bibliographical sources.

Day 9-10 Social Studies
As students enter the lab the will pick up their own personal 3.5 floppy disk copy of the GWCTD template. The social studies teacher will assist students to wrap up all lose ends both research and technical in nature. Photos will be scanned, sources for guest photos located, and quotes completed. Teacher will also hand out rubric for presentation, explain grading again, and have students self grade their work before turning it in.

NOTE: Students will present their finished Powerpoints in each curriculum so appropriate rubrics can be used to evaluate.
Assessment Procedures:
Students will first self grade their work using a rubric provided at the beginning and at the end of the project. They will be instructed as to what to look for and what each teacher will be looking for. A final teacher rubric will be used to complete final evaluation of the task. Grades will be used across all disciplines.
Accommodations/Modifications:
Accommodations will be handled on an as needed basis with each student. Since this is an individual project modifications will be handled per student with as little outside attention as possible. Many resource students do not take all core classes therefore may miss days in the lab working on this assignment. Some special needs students and handicapped students take part in limited activities in only some classes. With these students we will encourage particial participation.
          ----- written by Greg English  
Explorations and Extensions:
Whenever possible during the two weeks of this project, the tech lab will be open for students to use for extra work time on the project. Students will make arrangements ahead of time for extra time due to absences.

Explorations and Extentions may also include: Recipes and cookbooks created from each student’s favorite dinner recipe, musical theme songs, theatrical “reenactments”, portraits of guests painted during art class, etc.
Lesson Development Resources:
The original idea for this lesson came during a Calcasieu Parish Schools in-service called "Infusing Technology into Classroom Management" The Science teacher suggested that we should look at an interdisciplinary lesson based on the 1964 Film “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” with Sidney Poitier. The social studies teacher figured it might make a great technology lesson and within in 24 hours the basic PPt template was constructed. Within days the whole seventh grade team was involved.
Reflections:
The assignment was greatly received by both the administration and parents during our open house where studens presented their work. It turned out to be a great bonding assignment with students and parents. Each child went home with a CD of their work to be looked at over and over. It is fair to say that it has been well recieved by all our team teachers and the tech staff at CPSB

 

  

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