A Significant Influence: Describing an Important Teacher in Your Life

Materials and Technology

Student Interactives

Printouts

Websites

Preparation

 

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom or a similar book or movie about a significant teacher

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

Printing Press

The interactive Printing Press is designed to assist students in creating newspapers, brochures, and flyers.

 

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PRINTOUTS

• Life Lessons from Tuesdays with Morrie
  
  
• Dear Teachers by Sonya Sones
  
  
• Sones’ Stanza Form
  
  
• Excerpt from “From sanctuary, to the Teachers” by Paul Zindel
  
  
• Teacher Tribute Rubric
  
  
• Books about Inspirational Teachers

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WEBSITES

• Commentary: Tribute to My Sixth-Grade Teacher
• Commentary: Ms. Patel, 3rd Grade Teacher Extraordinaire

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PREPARATION

• Gather copies of Tuesdays with Morrie or another book or movie that includes an inspirational teacher. For purposes of the lesson, the teacher does not have to be a teacher in the classroom. A book in which a family or community elder shares a life lesson with other characters (e.g., A Lesson Before Dying) will also work. Note also that the teacher-student relationship does not need to be the primary focus of the story (e.g., Mrs. Crowley in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things).
  
  
• Students should have read or viewed the work that you’ve chosen before this project begins. Students might read the book as a class, work in literature circles reading different books in each group, or read novels independently. If you have chosen a film for this activity, show the film in class and discuss basic literary elements and film analysis.
  
  
• Familiarize yourself with these additional resources on writing television news scripts so that you can provide hints and minilessons as students need more information: Picking Up the Pieces and Putting Them Back Together, Ten Techniques for Energizing Your Classroom Discussions, Broadcast writing style tips, and Television Newscasts.
  
  
• Make copies of handouts: “Dear Teachers” by Sonya Sones, Excerpt from “From sanctuary, to the Teachers,” by Paul Zindel, and Teacher Tribute Rubric.
  
  
• If desired, make an overhead transparency of Sones’ form.
  
  
• Test the ReadWriteThink Printing Press on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

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