UbD Lesson Plan: Personal
Odyssey Scrapbook – An
Interactive Rough Draft
Created by
Terri D. Williams, High school English teacher, 18+ years of teaching, 10+
years of learning technology
VITAL INFORMATION
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Subject: Literature and Composition (on-line course)
Topic: The Odyssey, The Hero’s Journey
(Humanities)
Grade Level: Ninth/Tenth grades – all levels of
learners
Task: Learners will prepare to create a multimedia scrapbook
by completing a Session 1 task.
Students will graphically represent important life events
making use of one of two web tools (Interactive timeline,
graphic map) offered at ReadWriteThink.com.
STANDARDS
NETS for Students 2007
Creativity and Innovation
~Students demonstrate creative thinking,
construct knowledge, and develop
innovative products and processes
using technology. Students:
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apply existing knowledge to
generate new ideas, products, or
processes.
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create original works as a
means of personal or group
expression.
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use models and simulations to
explore complex systems and
issues.
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Learners have analyzed The
Odyssey for its presentation of
archetypes as well as its delivery of
the hero’s journey.
Learners are to make a connection
to The Odyssey by categorizing
their life experiences with 18
designated references to the hero’s
journey in The Odyssey.
STANDARDS
Georgia/District
ELA9W2 The student
demonstrates competence
in a variety of genres.
CC4.The student produces
technical writing that
reports technical
information and/or conveys
ideas clearly, logically, and
purposefully to a particular
audience…
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NCTE/IRA
NATIONAL
STANDARDS FOR
THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE ARTS
8. Students use a variety of
technological and
information resources (e.g.,
libraries, databases,
computer networks, video)
to gather and synthesize
information and to create
and communicate
knowledge.
Established Goals
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Learners will make personal
connections to The Odyssey.
Learners will chronicle the details
and discoveries of their life (like
those encountered by Odyssey) and
label their events according to the
stages of the hero’s journey.
Learners will create a timeline or
graphic map of their personal hero
journey to be used as a guide to later
create a PowerPoint scrapbook that
will synthesize their understanding
of the hero journey and demonstrate
use of multimedia aids (pictures,
graphics, symbols, design,
poetry/lyrics, drawings, photo
montages, etc.).
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Learners will interpret and make
connections through literary
analysis, evaluation, and
comparison.
Learners will organize material
effectively.
Use available technology to plan and
compose.
Understandings
Learners will successfully use a web tool to help create
a timeline for themselves in which they view
Odysseus as an archetype for today as his journey
home to Ithaca represents our own adventures and
discoveries.
Desired Results
Essential Question
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Students are to reflect on
important events in their lives:
How is my life like an odyssey?
Knowledge
DOK: Analysis, Synthesis, Create,
Design, Connect, Apply
Concepts
Skills
Use of computer, PowerPoint, use of
web tools, Understanding
chronological order,
understanding how to use an
organizer for sequence of events,
make connections between
literature and life
Experience
Featured Resources
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Graphic Map: This online tool
allows students to graphically
map the high and low points
related to a particular item or
group of items, such as life
events.
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Interactive Timeline: Using this
online tool, students can
generate descriptive timelines
that can be plotted with their
choice of units of measure (date,
time, event, entry, or other).
@ReadWriteThink.com
Rationale:
Learners get to use a web tool that
engages them as they type in
information and choose symbols
for their life experiences ad draft
those experience according to
the hero’s journey. Students are
analyzing as well as making
comparisons. Students make
evaluations as they decide which
life event fits with the
description of Odysseus’s
situations. This activity is
engaging and calls for the
learner to utilize higher order
thinking skills.
Assessment
This assignment is the beginning of a larger
assignment and is used as a motivational
strategy to engage the learner to create using
web tools on the Internet. The finished
graphic organizer will be a blueprint to later
create a scrapbook, so a formal grade would
not be applied here and neither would a rubric
be used. Such assessment would be applied to
the larger project.