Teacher Resources
Amazing Places

Research Scenario

amazing word cloud

You have been reading about some amazing places in Language class. There are hundreds of places around the world that could be considered "amazing." Unfortunately, many of us never get an opportunity to visit them in person. We can, however, experience these places "virtually" through photos, video, and other media.

To begin thinking about what can make a place amazing, consider the synonyms for the word "amazing" in the word cloud on the left.

  • What does the word "amazing" mean to you?
    • Why would something seem "amazing" to you?
    • Why do are things in the Guiness Book of World Records or Ripley's Believe it or Not amazing?
  • Complete a vocabulary entry for the word "amazing"

View this brief online video of some sites designated as World Heritage sites by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). These are places which are considered to be "irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration" which are "of outstanding value to humanity." As you watch the video, make a list of everything you see; try to list at least one item per photo. We will use an Inspiration web to classify these examples into several broad categories. This will help us to identify and define some general characteristics of amazing places.

  • Add terms to your vocabulary sheet

Read a brief article about the World Heritage List. What is UNESCO's purpose for identifying places around the world as World Heritage sites?

Task and Product

You will be working with a partner to research one World Heritage site in order to answer the essential question:

Why is this place amazing?

You and your partner will gather evidence to draw conclusions about why your chosen site is an amazing place. You will then use Photo Story software to create a multimedia presentation to illustrate and explain your conclusions. Each group's Photo Story will be linked to this Virtual Tour of the World's Amazing Places webpage for others to experience.

  • To see an example of the multimedia project you'll be creating, view and listen to the Photo Story created by Mr. Wagner and Ms. Ray about an amazing place, Venice.
  • After viewing, discuss the definition and characteristics of multimedia; what kinds of media were included in the Photo Story?

With your partner, visit the UNESCO World Heritage website to preview the places on this topic list, which contains 30 of the 800+ sites from the World Heritage list.

  • As you preview these places, rate them with 1-4 stars according to interest level
  • With your partner, number your research topic choices in order of preference (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) and submit this to your teacher.
Assessments

This scoring tool will be used to evaluate your research and media production process and product.

Questions
Essential Question:

Why is this place amazing?

  • Re-read the brief description of your place to help you generate some specific questions to guide your research; try using the 5 W's/How as question starters.
  • Use this Inspiration web to record and classify your questions. You may decide to add, eliminate, or change questions as you conduct your research. You will be adding notes to this web as you find information to answer your questions. See the Inspiration Web for the Venice model project as an example.
  • Save your Inspiration file to your class Group Projects folder:
    • Open: My Computer > Students L:/ drive > Language & Reading > Teacher > Group Projects
    • Click on Make a New Folder; name the folder with the name of your place
    • Name your Inspiration file: location name_ notes and save it your partner folder.
Gather and Sort

Use these resources and search tools to locate and gather information about your place:

Add notes to your Inspiration web, connecting these to the questions they help to answer.

Avoid plagiarism by citing your sources:
Organize

Work with your partner to analyze your research notes.

  • Draw conclusions about what kind of characteristics make this place amazing (historical, cultural, and/or natural); color-code your questions to correspond with one of the three types of characteristics
  • You may want to print out your Inspiration web in Outline form
  • Review facts on your Inspiration web to select those which provide the best evidence to support your conclusions

Organize your information and plan your Photo Story by completing a
Story Board in PowerPoint

  • Examine a model Story Board for the Venice Photo Story. Consider how the pictures illustrate the information in the narration notes below.
  • Open the Story Board template in PowerPoint
  • Locate public domain or freely-licensed images to illustrate the information you want to include in your narration
    • Search for images on the Wikimedia Commons website.
    • Save images to your Group Projects folder.
    • Insert the pictures onto slides in your Story Board; copy & paste the URL for each picture onto the slide
  • Using relevant information from your notes, type your narration for each picture; decide who will narrate each picture.
  • Save your Story Board to your partner folder in Group Projects; name the file with the name of your place
  • Complete a Digital Image source card for each image you used. Add these to your bibliography in EasyBib.com

Take digital photos of each partner, to be overlayed onto a photo of your place

  • Select two photos of your place-- one for your opening slide and one for your closing slide
  • Examine the photos to decide where you want each partner to "be" in the scene
  • Decide how you should pose to make it appear as though you are really "there" at your place
  • Use the Cut Out > By Drawing feature in PhotoDraw to crop your image from the background
  • Save partner pictures to your partner folder in Group Work
  • Open your place pictures and your partner cut-out pictures in PhotoDraw
  • Copy partner pictures onto the place pictures and then Group them
  • Save Selection in JPEG format to your partner folder in Group Work

Follow your Story Board plan to create your Photo Story. Remember to click SAVE PROJECT at the end of each class as you are working on the project!

  • Import pictures
  • Add text where appropriate
  • Narrate your pictures
  • Add background music (optional, as appropriate)
  • When completely finished, save for playback on a computer
    • Browse to your partner folder in Group Work
    • Name your Photo Story with the name of your place

Refer to the scoring tool to evaluate your finished product.
Conclusion

Publication/Presentation - TBA

Reflection - TBA

Extension - TBA