Crucible Library Web Quest

Enduring Understanding/Essential Questions:
How does a student evaluate valid secondary source material to determine relevance to topic?
How do students access, view, evaluate, and respond to print, non-print, new literacy, and electronic resources?
Listening is an active process to gain understanding. Effective listeners are able to interpret and evaluate increasingly complex messages. High school graduates will depend heavily on their ability to listen attentively to others so that they are able to evaluate and build on others' ideas while expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Students will work with various forms of media and in different structures for academic discussion, including both formal and informal settings and collaborative situations.How can discussion increase our knowledge and understanding of an idea?
How do speakers express their thoughts and feelings with clarity?
How does a speaker communicate so others will listen to and understand the message?
How do active listeners interpret and evaluate increasingly complex messages?
How do active listeners build on others' ideas while expressing their own clearly and persuasively?
Learning Objective/s: Students will be
listening to/viewing/participating in an informational session given by the school librarian about how to effectively utilize research and library tools
utilizing library tools to conduct group research/webquest to identify relevant background information before beginning to read The Crucible
presenting group-gathered research on assigned topic to class

CCS and NJCCC Standards: W.9-10.7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
W.9-10.8. Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
Learning Activities(What you will do/what students will do):
Students will be take to the library to participate in an information session led by the school librarian about how to effectively utilize the library for conducting research, as well as for other activities. The librarian will spend 15-20 minutes walking students through various media center tools that can help students be more efficient learners.
After the informational session, students will be broken into groups and assigned a topic related to the study of The Crucible. Topics include: Mccarthyism & the Red Scare, Mass Hysteria & Paranoia, Arthur Miller (author), and the Salem Witch Trials.
Students will be given 15 minutes to work as a group gathering information about the assigned topic.
Students will then be instructed to organize a mini-presentation, where they will share research gathered with the class.
Before mini-presentations begin, students are instructed to write down 1 important piece of information from each topic presented on. This paper will be collected as an exit slip.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING (guided practice/formative assessment/closure):
Students will utilize tools that were demonstrated by the librarian.
Students will gather and share research
Students will submit exit slips with one relevant piece of information about each topic