Student Work 1

ELA	Performance Task	^3-2^final
(Content Area)		(Grade Level-Task Number)

Standard(s):

E1c.3 Discussing Books:

By the end of the year, we expect third graders to:

· use information that is accurate, accessible and relevant;

· restate their own ideas with greater clarity when a listener indicates non-comprehension;

· ask other students questions requiring them to support their claims or arguments.

E2b.2-Informing Others: Report or Informational Writing:

By the end of the year, we expect third graders to:

· communicate big ideas, insights or theories that have been elaborated on or illustrated through facts, details, quotations, statistics and information.

E2b.4-Producing and responding to Literature:

By the end of the year, we expect third graders to:

· make connections between the text and their own ideas and lives.

The Task:

Based on Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg, Literacy Place, Unit 6.

This story is dedicated to the environment and what it provides us, how the environment is conditioned by the way people treat it, and how the future of the environment is determined by how we presently take care of it.

Think about your school community and what is being done by students, teachers, administrators and parents to keep the environment clean, safe, and stable for the future.

Your jobs

You and a partner will conduct an interview. One of you will pretend to be Chris Van Allsburg (Person B). Person B will conduct an interview with the Community Spokesperson (Person A). Mr. Van Allsburg (Person B) has heard about the Community Spokesperson’s (Person A’s) proposal on what the students, teachers, administrators, and parents might do to improve the quality of the environment. During the interview, the Community Representative will also ask Mr. Van Allsburg his opinions and suggestions for a school-wide initiative to protect the environment.

Becoming a Detective

Prior to engaging in the interview, Persons A and B will have to do some research on what is presently being done in your school to help the environment. Look at such things as: recycling in the lunchroom, conservation of heating and cooling, insulation of the building, the amount of plants, shrubs, and trees and how they contribute to a healthy environment, trash on the playground, what is being done to recycle copying paper and left-over worksheets, etc. What are the positive and negative actions that are being taken in your school regarding the environment?

Making a Plan

Analyze what is presently happening or not happening at the school and project what the school needs to do to help the environment.

Writing the Interview

Person A and B will have to work together to write an interview that:

-highlights what the Community Spokesperson presently sees happening both

positively and negatively in the school;

-the impact of these positive and negative behaviors upon the environment;

-make recommendations for actions that the school can engage in to protect the

environment;

-has Chris Van Allsburg suggesting or extending ways the school community can work together on improving the environment.

Videotape the interview:

If possible, Person A and B should videotape their interview.

Schedule the interview to be viewed by:

-The school principal or assistant principal

-The entire faculty during a faculty meeting

-School Open House

-During a school wide assembly

-Local paper or television station

During this scheduled interview, Person A and B will need to devise a way to collect feedback from the audience.

Summarize the feedback:

Person A and B will need to summarize their feedback and synthesize it with any other students’ findings on this same performance task.

Note: If submitting to DoDEA for written commentary, please submit:

*Evidence of research done on what school is doing to help the environment.

*Copy of interview conducted (Video if possible)

*Summary of feedback gathered during presentation

*Evidence that feedback was incorporated into students’ findings-example would be the an edited copy along with final copy.

Circumstances of Performance

The student work is produced under the following conditions:

	alone	X	in a group (with a partner)
X	in class	X	as homework (some)
X	with teacher feedback	X	with peer feedback
	timed	X	extended project
	no opportunity for revision	X	opportunity for revision

Criteria for Success:

· shows an understanding of the impact humans have upon the environment;

· writes and rewrites an interview taking on one of the roles of an assigned character---Chris Van Allsburg or the Community Spokesperson;

· identifies ways in which the school community can improve their role in protecting the environment;

· videotape of the interview (if possible);

if taped, schedules a public viewing of the videotaped interview;

· creates a format for feedback from the audience viewing the interview;