Assessment, Teaching Literature

Frankenstein

11 Comments

One thing I share with my department chair is a geeky love of planning assignments. I should probably have been grading papers today, but instead I finished my Frankenstein unit and created a performance task based on an out-of-date (and apparently no longer used/updated) WebQuest. I did think the ideas were sound, but I also thought that some of the websites in the WebQuest were somewhat biased, and I wanted to present a bit more of a neutral view. I think it’s a solid assignment, however, and I just wanted to tweak it.

You can view my UbD unit for Frankenstein here. The WebQuest, with some major overhaul, is located here.

Update, 12/29/09: I have created a Google Earth tour based on the travels of Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein that you can download. I am submitting it to Google Lit. Trips and will let you know if they decide to publish it as well.

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11 thoughts on “Frankenstein”

  1. I've also been doing more planning than grading–go figure! I'm thrilled to have time to browse through your incredible site. I'm so lucky to have you as a colleague.

  2. love your understandings and essential questions, and said, "oooohh…" when I saw the Google Earth "will be able to." 🙂

    A recurring question I asked when I taught F. to small group career tech students was, "Who is the monster?" What I would ask next is, "Who decides who the monster is?"

    In fact, I kind of suspect these could be underlying questions throughout the whole year of Brit Lit, since the issue of who had power to determine the label or value of an individual or group (essentially a class question) changed over time (or did it…?). The question about the identity of the monster was a great one for unmotivated kids, especially because they were operating under completely false assumptions about the plot and nature of the story, because of cultural references that are so distorted.

    Anyway, I love hearing your Brit Lit plans and results. I miss teaching it because I teach only math now.

    1. Adrienne, I found instructions for creating Google Earth Lit. Trips on the EC Ning. I plan to create one for Frankenstein and submit it to the Google Lit. Trips site (assuming they take submissions; I haven't checked!). I found that the geography is so all over the place in that novel, and students don't have a firm grasp of geography anyway. I know I studied a globe for hours as a kid, but I was a geography nerd and very curious about where things were. Still am.

  4. Dana, I spent a few hours yesterday planning my "Catcher in the Rye" unit, including poking through a few different Nings, making a new assignment template, drafting out lessons and sending emails back and forth with our tech coordinator. I was definitely in a groove! But I still have so much grading left to do, and am having a lot of trouble getting into that particular groove when there's so much exciting curriculum planning I could be doing!

  5. Hey! I am teaching Frankenstien to 12 and 11 year olds. I want to teach them about the themes in the story next lesson. I was thinking about linking the idea of creation to modern day and perhaps the idea of designer babies…Any suggestions!

    1. I think those are good ideas. Eleven and twelve seems fairly young for this novel given the language. You may need to do some scaffolding with them in order to help them understand it.

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