#3323. The Perfect Society

Literature, level: Senior
Posted Fri Jan 7 23:25:58 PST 2005 by Nellie Deutsch (nelliemuller@yahoo.com).
The Perfect Society
Materials Required: Internet access
Activity Time: 4-5 hours
Concepts Taught: Utopia, WebQuest,The Giver,a perfect community

The Perfect Society!
A WebQuest on The Giver: A Novel by Lois Lowry
Student

Introduction
Lois Lowry wrote a novel about a community that seems to function perfectly. The Giver appears to describe a perfect society. What makes this community flawless? How has this society managed to keep things organized and under perfect control? It seems that man has finally found the ideal way to live until one member of the community starts to uncover flaws.
You have been assigned by the elders of the community to investigate why Jonas, a promising young man chose to leave the community. What made this gifted individual, chosen to be the next Giver rebel against the norms? What went wrong? What flaws did he reveal in this seemingly perfect community?

Task
The Team will uncover what Jonas found impossible to live with and fix the flaws in the community.
The committee will keep track of all the information they disclose from observations and interviews in a journal:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.asp
The members will present their findings and suggestions on a big screen for the whole community to view in the main auditorium. This will be done by either PowerPoint, video or play.

Process
The following guidelines will help you and your team:
1. Organize yourselves in teams of four. Find out about team organization and work on the following page: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Task_and_group_work.htm
2. Make sure everyone on the team has read The Giver by Lois Lowry. You should refer to the story as you work on the project.
3. Read the Task and divide your work among the team members. Each member will interview another member of the community and find out what happened to Jonas. This can be his parents, sister, friends, The Giver or any other member of the community you feel would offer relevant clues as to what happened.
4. Write your individual reports and add them to the committee's journal: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.asp
5. Each member will be evaluated for both team http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.evaluationofthecommitteesreport.htm and individual work: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.individualreports.htm
6. Edit your written observations and the results of your interviews as a team. Check the team evaluation rubrics: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.evaluationofthecommitteesreport.htm to find out how you will be graded for team work.
7. Plan your presentation http://www.nelliemuller.com/Oral_Presentation.htm
8. You are encouraged to present your work in a creative way. You can use visual aids and other multimedia techniques like video, audio or PowerPoint presentations.
9. Make sure that each member of the committee is ready to present one aspect of the findings. Check the team evaluation rubric for your presentation: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.presentation.htm
10. The grade is out of 100: 25 points for the individual work, 25 for the team presentation and 50 points for the team collaborative writing report.
11. Do not hesitate to ask questions throughout the project. Your teacher and I will be available. Please use the following page to send questions to me: http://www.nelliemuller.com/Write_nelliemuller.htm

Resources
Utopia: A perfect society
Utopia by Thomas Moore:
http://www.d-holliday.com/tmore/utopia.htm
Definition and other material on the subject of utopia:
http://users.erols.com/jonwill/utopialist.htm
Utopian Studies:
http://www.utoronto.ca/utopia/links.html
PowerPoint assistance:
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointlinks.htm
http://www.bcschools.net/staff/PowerPointHelp.htm

Journal guides:
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.committeejournal.asp
Graphics:
http://www.bellsnwhistles.com/

Evaluation
Your grade will based on the following criteria:
1. Individual interview and report of one of the members of the community (25 points).
2. Team final written report of the committee's findings (50 points).
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.evaluationofthecommitteesreport.htm

3. The team presentation of the committee's final conclusion (25 points).
http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.presentation.htm

Conclusion
How perfect was the society in The Giver? Did Jonas do the right thing by leaving his community?

WebQuest template adapted from Spartanburg County School District Three
Last updated January 5, 2005 by Nellie Deutsch