The April Big Ideas Spotlight highlights a creative biographical research unit developed by three Indian Springs Middle School (Columbia City, IN) 7th grade teachers--Jann Johnson, Karen Hedrick, and Katie Waterfall.
At the beginning of the unit, students read and listened to the lyrics of Tim McGraw's song "Southern Voice." After listening to the song, students listed the famous people mentioned and how their actions made a difference using the Song Dissection graphic organizer. (A quick-reference Answer Key is provided.) Students then selected a single person from the song lyrics to research further. (NOTE: You may want to eliminate Jack Daniels as one of the choices.)
Beyond finding the typical biographical facts, the teachers encouraged students to determine the character traits of their subjects. And specifically how these qualities affected their accomplishments. To aid in this kind of research, students gathered answers to some key questions within their Biography Notes.
- What were the person's ties to the South?
- What is this person's most memorable accomplishment?
- How did this person's ties to the South influence his/her accomplishments?
- What are the two or three most important lessons you or any other young person might learn from the way this person lived?
- How did this person give "voice" to his/her accomplishment? How did this person use his/her accomplishments for the greater good?
Using researched information, visual images, and optional music, students first prepared PowerPoint presentations consisting of 5-8 slides each. While delivering their individual slideshows to the class, students were assessed by the teacher and their peers (Oral Presentation Peer Feedback form).
Per the deadline schedule, students' PowerPoints were due before the research papers, giving them a couple more days to add finishing touches to their writing.
Jann mentioned that this short-term research option has been a perfect end-of-the-year project. What a creative combination of research writing, technology, and music! Ladies, this is outstanding! Thanks for sharing!
