• Essential Question
  How do my surroundings affect me?
• Unit Questions
  Can we live in jungle?
  Can animals take the place of family?
• Content Questions
  Why did mother wolf decide to keep Mowgli as her own child?
  Why did Sher Khan want to kill Mowgli?
  Why did the villagers not accept Mowgli?

Assessment Processes
View how a variety of student-centered assessments are used in the Unit Plan. These assessments help students and teachers set goals; monitor student progress; provide feedback; assess thinking, processes, performances, and products; and reflect on learning throughout the learning cycle.

Instructional Procedures
Before the Project Begins

• Prepare wondering tree cut out, leaves, fruits and flower patterns on chart paper.
• Give requisition for Jungle Book copies in the library.
• Prepare my favorite animal sheets, worksheets, book review and think-pair-share sheets.
• Prepare rubrics for:
  • Group dynamics
  • Oral presentation
  • Creative writing
  • Persuasive writing
  • Debate
• Prepare organizer sheet, character mapping and writing process check list.
• Browse and collect picture related to Mowgli’s life and save it in a folder on the desktop.
• Put up a requisition for video camera for use during project work.

The Beginning
Begin the unit with a 5–10 minute warm-up activity, which will encourage the students to brainstorm animal vocabulary. Ask the students to hold hands and stand in a circle. Explain to the students that you will start calling the alphabets a, b, c and so on and the students are to quickly think of an animal with a name beginning with the alphabet. The first example is done for them. The activity is kept as fast-moving as possible.

Once the animal names from a to z are called out, distribute My Favourite Animal sheets (DOC 49.5KB) among the students and ask them to draw and colour their favourite animal and write a paragraph about that animal. Pin-up these sheets on the soft board.

Understanding the Story:
Ask the students about the stories of animals and jungle that they have read, heard or seen. Make a list of these stories. Focus students’ attention to Jungle Book.

Then ask them whether they know about Jungle Book. Conduct a whole class discussion about –

• What they know about the story Jungle Book?
• How much content are they familiar with?
• What is the general trend of thoughts about Jungle Book?

Tell the students that they will be reading the Jungle Book story. Group the students into groups of four based on their interest, learning style and capability. Distribute copies of Jungle Book storybook to each group. Ask the students to read the story and discuss difficult words, phrases and content for comprehension.

As the students read through the chapters of the book, handover worksheets (DOC 83.5KB) to answer so that the students’ comprehension level is assessed. The chapter wise worksheets are handed over as they complete reading each chapter.

As the students read through the chapters, ask them to identify the words/adjectives describing jungle or nature. Ask the students to draw picture of a tree of different shapes and sizes. Write the word describing the jungle and it’s meaning by referring to the dictionary. Colour the tree and cut it into the shape of a tree. Pin it up on soft boards and on walls, giving the classroom the ambiance of a jungle. My favourite animal sheets can go between these trees.

Once the students have completed reading the Jungle Book story, guide them to create a timeline of events using Microsoft Excel*. Hand over the guidelines for preparing a timeline (DOC 55KB) to the students. Encourage and support the students to insert pictures in the timeline, which is kept in a folder on the Desktop of the computer. Once the timeline is prepared, take printouts of the timeline (XLS 669KB) and pin it up on the soft board.  

Wondering Tree
As the students read the story, work on the worksheets and timeline, they will comprehend the story well and may also come up with various questions and doubts. Encourage the students to ask questions. Put up a Wondering Tree on the wall. Prepare tree trunk with branches using chart paper. Write Wondering Tree on the trunk, colour it brown and paste it on the wall. Cut the green chart paper in to shapes of leaves and keep it in a box next to the wondering tree. When the students come up with a question, ask them to write their question on the leaf.  Encourage the students to start the question with I wonder ………? For example: I wonder how the animals could take care of Mowgli? Each question to be written on a separate leaf and pinned on the branch of the tree. The answers to these questions are given by teacher or by other students on a fruit or a flower and pasted next to the leaf. As the students progress through this unit and come up with questions, they keep adding on the leaves and build the wondering tree.

Distribute the book review sheets (DOC 61.5KB) and ask the students to fill in. This will help the students to reflect on their understanding of the story.

Once the students have read and reviewed the Jungle Book, ask the essential question, How do my surroundings affect me? Instruct the students to reflect on this question. Distribute the Think-Pair-Share sheets (DOC 25.5KB). Ask the students to discuss this question with their partner and then share it with the whole class. Give them time to visit the Wondering Tree and put up their questions. Tell students that they will continue to explore this question as they work through the unit.

Working with Visual Ranking Tool
Based on the book review sheets, encourage the groups to discuss Mowgli’s carefree life full of friends and play and reflect on unit question Can we live in a jungle? As the students discuss in their own groups, remind them to put up questions that come up during the discussion on the Wondering Tree. As they discuss, ask the students to make a list of good things that Mowgli enjoys while living in the jungle.

Have each group present its list with the whole class. As the list is being shared, collapse any items that are similar. As a class, ask students to agree on 7-12 good things that Mowgli enjoys while living in the jungle. If needed, add items to the list to assist students with items for discussion. The participation, discussion and team ship of the student groups will be assessed based on the group dynamics rubric (DOC 68.5KB), which is handed over prior to the discussion.

Before the students start working on the Visual Ranking tool, guide the students to log on to the demo space of visual ranking tool at http://educate.intel.com/workspace/tryit/VRTryIt.aspx?LID=en and let them practice the visual ranking tool. Give enough time for the students to explore the tool and practice.

Ask the students to prioritise and rank the good things in the order of their importance using Visual Ranking tool. Ask student teams to respond to the prompt: Rank the good things that Mowgli enjoys while living in the jungle based on their importance? And Why have you chosen to rank the elements in this order?

As teams work, remind them to use the comment feature of the tool to add explanations about why they have ranked the items in that order. Ask the students to click on the Compare button to compare their list with another group’s list. Also encourage them to compare with the class average.

Encourage the students to discuss with another group about their list and know the reason for their ranking. Ask questions to foster discussion and help students formulate their rationale:

• Why have you chosen to put the items in the order you have?
• Why do you think these items bring happiness to Mowgli while living in jungle?
• How important are these factors in determining reasons for living in jungle?
• Why do people like to live where they live?

As the students discuss within their groups and also with their peer groups, encourage them to put up their questions on the wondering tree.

Examine the Visual Ranking Activity
The space below represents one team's ranking using the Visual Ranking Tool.




In the next class, students will discuss in their groups about humans staying in jungle and reflect the unit questions - Can we live in jungle? And Can animals take the place of family? Compare their views about the different movies they have seen or books they have read about similar stories. The students will compare to see similarities, contrast to see differences and give their own comments. They will record this in an organizer sheet (DOC 24KB). Then they will orally present their thoughts by coming up in front of the class. An oral presentation rubric (DOC 39.5KB) will be given beforehand to the students to prepare for class oral presentation. The students are asked to keep the following points in mind while presenting their talk in front of the class.

• The concept that a person lives a different kind of life.
• How the characters in the story support the idea?
• What is expected from these characters and what happens because they are the way they are. How a story develops from it?
• Why such stories are interesting?
• Can a person really live in the Jungle, what will happen to him when he comes back, should he come back?
• Can animals really take place of family?

A video journal is maintained to capture the visual documentation of progress, reactions, and reflections of the student groups and assessed using the presentation rubric.
Give time for the students to go through the questions asked by other students that are put up on the Wondering Tree and the answers given by the teacher and other students. Encourage them to visit the tree during their leisure time, put up questions and also go through the answers.

Working with Seeing Reason Tool
Once the students discuss about the reasons for Mowgli’s carefree life in the jungle, they analyse every character in the story using character map (DOC 25KB) sheets. In their groups, the students analyse the story plot and discuss about how the characters in the story influence Mowgli's safety in forest. They discuss the unit question: Can animals really take place of family? with respect to the Jungle Book story. As they discuss the unit question, encourage the students to put up their questions on the wondering tree.

Before proceeding with the next activity, use the seeing reason tool demo space to introduce Seeing Reason to your class. Log on to http://educate.intel.com/workspace/tryit/SRTryIt.aspx?LID=en and let the students practice the seeing reason tool. Give enough time for the students to explore the tool and practice.

Reflect on the unit question: Can we live in jungle? Refer to the answers given on the Wondering Tree and the discussions conducted during the use of Visual Ranking tool. Lead the discussion to-

• Can Mowgli live in the jungle?
• Is he safe there?
• What factors affect Mowgli’s safety in the forest?

Have students use Seeing Reason tool to express how traits of different characters influence their actions and the plot of the story. Direct their attention to the question above the mapping space: What factors affect Mowgli’s safety in the forest? While working on the seeing reason tool encourage the students to refer to the character mapping sheets to add the factors and establish relationships. The tool is used to show the cause and effect relationship of how these factors are inter-related and how they influence each other. The students are assessed on group dynamics using the rubric.

Examine the Seeing Reason Activity
The Seeing Reason Tool workspace below represents one team's investigation in this project.



As students create their maps, look for opportunities to gauge understanding and guide learning. Look at maps, listen to conversations, and ask students to describe their maps. Prompt deeper metacognitive thinking about the intricacies of the topic. Ask questions and encouraging them to ask their own questions as well. Use this opportunity as an informal assessment of student understanding of the concept.

Discuss and Refine
Encourage the students to view another group’s maps and discuss the cause and effect relationships and explanation or evidence for the factor and relationship. Encourage teams to describe the thinking behind their maps. Outside of class time, review maps and use the teacher comment feature to probe student thinking and informally assess the cause-and-effect relationships on each map. Give each team time to go back to their causal maps and modify them based on what they learned from others.

Creative Writing
Based on their analysis of characters and story plot, encourage the student reflect on How safe is the jungle for human living?. Give time for students to add up leaves to the Wondering Tree. Allocate some time for the students to spend with the Wondering Tree going through the queries and the answers.

After analyzing the factors affecting Mowgli’s safety in jungle, students come up with a creative writing piece called Lost in the Jungle. They would think about a situation or a plot and write how they would fend for themselves if they were suddenly lost in a jungle - would they try to come back or would they be happy to go on living there alone. A creative-writing rubric (DOC 33.5KB) is given beforehand so that the students are clear with what is expected of them. Encourage the students to use the words describing forest, which they had identified and written on their tree cutouts. On completion, get the students to read out their creative writing pieces (PDF 274KB) to the rest of the class.

Working with Showing Evidence Tool
Once the students are familiar with Showing Evidence Tool, they further explore the essential question – Why do we live where we live? They reflect on the Jungle Book story and debate on where Mowgli should live. They use Showing Evidence Tool (simplified version) to analyze evidences and make conclusions.

Before actually working on the Showing Evidence Tool, the demo space on the link http://educate.intel.com/workspace/tryit/SEtryit.aspx?LID=en is used to demonstrate the working of Showing Evidence Tool. A simple workspace with simplified version is also setup for the students to work on the tool and practice it.

A claim Mowgli should continue living in the jungle is created in the claim workspace. The evidence bin is filled in with evidences for and against the claim, as the students are young and new to Showing Evidence Tool. The students are guided to view the evidences given in the evidence bin and then drag it to the claim workspace to either support or weaken the claim. A handout (DOC 588KB) is distributed on steps to work on Showing Evidence Tool.

The students can also create their own evidences if needed with the support from teacher or the gifted students can do by themselves. Depending on the supporting or weakening evidences, students conclude whether Mowgli should live in the forest or not. While analysing the evidences, students are guided to rely on facts rather than feelings.

Project Name: Mowgli's Future
Prompt: Where should Mowgli live?



Once the students decide on where Mowgli should live, they write a letter to the village sarpanch (head), convincing him to allow Mowgli to live normally in the village or not forcing him to live in a village if he does not want to, depending on their point of view. The students will be shown the format and given examples of formal persuasive letters and then they will individually write a letter to the village sarpanch. They will be assessed individually according the persuasive letter scoring rubric (DOC 43.5KB).

Have students print their project work from Showing Evidence and use the hard copy as an outline to write their letter. Pose the prompt: Where should Mowgli live? to students again. Tell students that they will draft a persuasive letter in which their claims become their thesis statements. Remind students to use the writing process, which includes prewriting, rough drafts, peer editing, revising, and publishing. Explain to students that they need to meet with the teacher to get their drafts approved before they begin each step in the writing process. Describe to students that the most important features of creating a persuasive writing piece are:

• Make a claim. The claim is central to the argument—what a writer wants to convince a reader is true.
• Support the claim with reasons and evidence. The evidence in this case consists of text used to prove a point.
• Analyze the evidence. Review the evidence and explain how the evidence backs up the point and helps readers understand why the evidence supports the claim. Persuasive language should be used to persuade the audience to support the claim.
• Anticipate counterarguments. Acknowledge and refute counterarguments. Explain why the counterarguments are not as strongly supported as the claim.

Distribute the persuasive letter-scoring guide before students begin writing and go over the criteria so students know what is expected of them. Give students the writing process checklist (DOC 46KB) to help them document each step. The student letter (PDF 261KB) should use the support collected while using Showing Evidence to back up their argument.

The Culmination:
A class exhibition is held where the students from other classes are invited to the Jungle Book Show. A class debate is held as what Mowgli’s future should be. Each student presents his viewpoints supporting it with evidences. Students are given debate rubric (DOC 110KB) based on which they will be assessed. The creative writing sheets on My Favorite Animal, book review sheets, character mapping sheets, creative writing pieces and persuasive writing letters are all put up on the class soft boards and walls and shared with the rest of the school.

Pose the essential question again, How do my surroundings affect me? In small groups, have students discuss the question in relation to what they have learned from reading Jungle Book and their experiences with using the thinking tools. Allow students to record their thoughts in their journals. Bring the discussion back to the whole group and give students an opportunity to share what they talked about. Give students an opportunity to share real-life experiences as well.

Prerequisite Skills

• Ability to read and write
• Basic use of computers

Differentiated Instruction
Resource Student

• Pair the student with a stronger reader during reading activities.
• Supply a copy of the book on CD.
• Support the students while working on the Showing Evidence Tool.

Gifted Student

• Offer the student similar jungle related stories like Tarzan and have the student compare and contrast the differences using a Venn diagram.
• Have the student reflect on Is jungle safe for human living? Relate it to Mowgli and write a persuasive letter.
• Require the student to find more evidence to both support and weaken the claim.
• Have the student orchestrate a Jungle Book Show and take a lead role during debate and present his views.

Credits
This Unit Plan is adopted from the project idea implemented by Ms. Neela Tatu, Teacher, Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore.