Persistence, Determination and the Love

Thematic Exploration

Persistence, Determination and the Love

and Support of Others Can Help One

Overcome Great Obstacles

RE 5140

Margaret Greene

Purpose:

1) To help students understand that disabilities and other obstacles do not have to limit their success but can often be overcome with hard work and persistence.

2) To help students become sensitive to the difficulties others are facing and look for the ways to provide the love and support.

Persistence, Determination and the Love and Support of

Others can Help One Overcome Great Difficulties

Literature Based Activities:

Launch Activity

The Patricia Polacco author study will lead into the Thematic Exploration. After we have read Thank You Mr. Faulker and Firetalking, we will brainstorm about possible obstacles people could experience and what things that could help them overcome these obstacles. We will list these on chart paper.

Small Group Activities

Students will use web quest and find famous people who have experienced disabilities or other obstacles in life and write a paragraph about them. They will either print out a picture of the person or find one.

Students will also do paired reading of books from the bibliography and write about the person, the barrier in his life and how he overcame it. They will illustrate the books.

Students’ stories and accompanying pictures will be put on the large bulletin board in the room.

Individual Activities

Students will interview parents and other family. They will record someone they know telling about a disability, difficult circumstance or obstacle and how they overcame it.

I will read one of the chapter books from the bibliography aloud and students will keep a journal.

Whole Class Activity

We will watch the movie about Helen Keller’s life and discuss what might have happened to her if Anne Sullivan had not come into her life.

Culminating Activity

Students will choose their favorite person we have studied and will come to class in costume. The students will give clues about their person, and we will try to guess their identity.