Quests

St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

Summary

Quests

Subject Year Start date Duration

English Grade 7 Week 3, October 17 weeks 44 hours

Description
This unit sets out to explore quests. Why, how, and when groups, individuals, or cultures embark on a quest. This concept will
be explored in relation to graphic novels, where students explore the arc of a quest as well as how details of the narrative are
expressed through both visual and literary strategies.

Key and Related Concepts

Key Concepts

Key
Concepts Definition

Aesthetics deals with the characteristics, creation, meaning and perception of beauty and taste. The study of
aesthetics develops skills for the critical appreciation and analysis of art, culture and nature.
Aesthetics

Change is a conversion, transformation, or movement from one form, state or value to another. Inquiry into the
concept of change involves understanding and evaluating causes, processes and consequences.
Change

Related Concept(s)

Phase 3 - Conventions, Empathy, Structure

Inquiry

Conceptual Understanding

Students will explore aesthetics as part of their study of graphic novels, and how visual and narrative strategies are used to
create a sense of aesthetics, both of beauty and pain, as part of a journey that a narrator or the student goes through and
experiences change as a result.

These stories follow certain structures and conventions (narrative arc, characters, setting etc.), and these elements are used to
build empathy and to get us to feel at one with the character.

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Quests
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St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

Global Context

Global Context Explorations to develop

Human nature and human dignity, Identity formation

Identities and
relationships

Identify a specific global context exploration.

It is important for students to understand how identify and the creation of self is usually the process of a journey or a quest,
which involves challenges to overcome along the way. Students will also understand that quests, like stories, follow a certain
narrative arc, and that certain strategies are used to achieve narrative effects and impacts on an audience.

Statement of Inquiry

The stories we tell of our lives are tales of change and transformation that follow structures and conventions. Through these
stories we can explore the realities of others and how we become who we are as a result of our journeys.

Curriculum

Aims

Enable the student to develop multiliteracy skills through the use of a range of learning tools, such as multimedia, in the
various modes of communication

Enable the student to develop an appreciation of a variety of literary and non-literary texts and to develop critical and creative
techniques for comprehension and construction of meaning

MYP subject group objective(s)

Phase

B Reading

Capable level (phase 3 and 4)

i.identify explicit and implicit information (facts, opinions, messages and supporting details)

ii.analyse conventions

iii.analyse connections

D Writing

Capable level (phase 3 and 4)

i.use a wide range of vocabulary

ii.use a wide range of grammatical structures generally accurately

iii.organize information effectively and coherently in an appropriate format using a wide range of simple and complex
cohesive devices

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St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

iv.communicate all the required information with a clear sense of audience and purpose to suit the context

Content (topics, knowledge, skills)

The structure of a story arc

The use of the direct and indirect speech (revision of simple past tense)

Conflict

Setting
Theme

Indirect characterisation (showing vs. telling)

Different perspectives

The genre of graphic novels (contextualisation)

Skills

How to use a graphic organiser to write their own story

How to incorporate illustrations to support and enhance their storytelling in order to add to the narrative

ATL Skills

ATL skills

Communication

- I. Communication skills

Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through interaction

Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences

Interpret and use effectively modes of non-verbal communication

Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information

Read critically and for comprehension

Thinking

- VIII. Critical thinking skills

Analysing and evaluating issues and ideas

Formulate factual, topical, conceptual and debatable questions

- IX. Creative thinking skills

Generating novel ideas and considering new perspectives

Create original works and ideas; use existing works and ideas in new ways

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St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

Developing IB Learners

IB Learner Profile

Knowledgeable

Communicators

Description
Students will communicate their understanding and their experiences using different modes of communication (graphic novel
form as well as a poster presentation of their understanding of the mentor text, and articulate their understanding of the concept
of quests using different forms of communication that connects to their own experience.

Students will use their knowledge to make connections between different subjects (Visual Arts and English) and how these two
disciplines connect in their storytelling. Students will also explore the stories of quests from different cultures and context and
look at how identities are formed as a result of a quest or journey.

Integration

International Mindedness

Students will explore the idea of journeys by looking at different rituals or stories that explore quests and how students their age
come of age through quests. This includes viewing films (such as Kung Fu panda), but some fairytales as well as coming-of-age
or manhood rituals will also be explored in order to better understand the concept of quest and its relationship with the concept
of change.

Academic Integrity

When students record their thoughts in the process journal they will record all sources, and their poster presentation of their
understanding of different aspects of storytelling will include a detailed reference list which will be their first foray into our chosen
citation system.

Connections

Language Development

This unit will be used to allow students to develop subject-specific terminology for literature analysis (characterisation, plot
development, narrative arc etc.) . Students will also learn how to use direct and indirect speech, both to use in their stories as
well as in their literary analysis of different forms of quests. This involves a study of the present and simple past tense form of
verbs, as well as the transformation of modal verbs between different tenses.

Information Communication Technology

Students will be able to use digital art in order to tell their stories, but they will also be able to use different forms of media as
part of their formative assessments in order to communicate characterisation and meaning (and this involves digital photography
and the use of social media to share this information and skills development).

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St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

Service as Action

The students' ability to understand the importance of perseverance in quests can help them develop this learning outcome
as part of service as action, but they could also use this ability to tell stories in order to communicate awareness to younger
audiences about specific causes including waste, environmental issues, or changes to habitat for animals for example.

Assessment

Formative Assessment

Students will have the opportunity to develop their story through various submissions of their storyline and characterisation in
order to allow the teacher to collect feedback on their learning.

Secondly, students will take part in various reading comprehension exercises in order to understand all the concepts related to
the unit as part of their study of the story of Beowulf in graphic novel form. This includes character analysis, development of
conflict, plot development, but also their study of heroes and the change they undergo.

FEB Reading Formative

4 Formative Reading comprehension Friday at 3:30 PM

Summative Assessment

There will be two parts to the summative assessment of this unit:

Summative #1 (to assess Criterion B): Students will read an article about Beowulf that addresses the various concepts of the
unit, as well as the development of a hero, and they respond to questions relating to factual information, but also conceptual
connections as well as the purpose, genre, and audience of the text and its connection to the unit.

Summative #2 (to assess Criterion D): Students will develop a graphic novel based on their idea of a quest over a number
of lessons. This graphic novel should include all the concepts studied throughout the unit, as well as visual representations of
characterisation through perspectives, and how storytelling of change is communicated both through words as well as visuals.

FEB Graphic Novel

8 Summative Creative writing 4/19 Students Tuesday at 6:30 PM

Students will develop a graphic novel based on their idea of a quest over a number of lessons. This graphic novel
should include all the concepts studied throughout the unit, as well as visual representations of characterisation
through perspectives, and how storytelling of change is communicated both through words as well as visuals.

FEB Beowulf - Reading Comprehension

9 Summative Reading comprehension Wednesday at 3:30 PM

Students will read an article about Beowulf that addresses the various concepts of the unit, as well as the
development of a hero, and they respond to questions relating to factual information, but also conceptual connections
as well as the purpose, genre, and audience of the text and its connection to the unit.

MYP Assessment Criteria

N/A A: Listening 7/8 B: Reading

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St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

N/A C: Speaking 7/8 D: Writing

Description

Peer and Self-assessment

Students will be able to participate in peer assessment through discussions on their story proposals where the students have
to compare each other's work to a checklist provided that is based on the level descriptors. This activity will form the basis of
another activity where students study the story of Beowulf and create their own checklist for self- and peer evaluation of what a
good story should look like in order to make it attractive and readable for an audience.

Students will also be given opportunities to self-assess their reading through guided reading tasks where they will be guided
through each component of the reading taks in order to assess their readiness for the analysis of connections and conventions.

Standardization and Moderation

As this unit is done collaboratively with Visual Arts, teachers will work together to develop the level descriptors (even if they use
separate ones for each subject), and use cross-referencing in order to ensure that fair grades are awarded for the summative
assessments.

Formative assessments for the graphic novel will be done collaboratively in order to build a shared understanding of
expectations.

Learning Experiences

Prior Learning Experiences

Students will have had some experience with fictional stories and some forms of storytelling which should give them an
understanding of narrative arcs and characters. Students will also have some understanding of analysis that goes beyond the
surface as part of the language and literature classes, which will help with the analysis of the hero, as well as providing evidence
for their answers when discussing aspects of the story.

Learning Experiences and Teaching Strategies

Perspective/Aesthetics: Students will take part in a photography competition where they have to demonstrate elements of a
story such as dialogue, tension, emotion, setting establishment etc. as part of a group activity.

Change: Students will look at different stories and compare the change that takes place as the result of a quest for characters
(including Kung Fu Panda and Beowulf)

Identities and relationships (and empathy): Students will consider in detail how identities are shaped through STEAL (what a
character says, thinks, acts like, looks like, and their effect on other people), as part of analysing images of heroes in films
and stories (as well as Beowulf) in order to examine their visual representations, which will then be followed by a reading
comprehension activity in order to examine their literacy abilities in this regard. Their understanding of relationships will be
measured through their understanding of the connections between different characters in quest stories.

Structure: Students will map the story of Beowulf as well as that of Kung Fu panda (for comparison) in order to evaluate patterns

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St Nicholas School - Alphaville Guðrún Ingimundardóttir, Alexandre Velasquez

IB MYP English Phases 2, 3 (Grade 7)

in story structure, and create their own understanding of how a story is structured to communicate meaning.

Student Expectations

Students will work with models (including the graphic novel version of Beowulf), and they will also have an opportunity to discuss
the level descriptors in detail with their teacher. Furthermore, they will work on practice reading assessments so that no
questions come as a surprise as part of the final reading assessments.

Feedback

Feedback to the teacher will be gathered from both reading comprehension tasks as well as proposals for summative tasks in
order to ensure that all students have understood the concepts, process, and the learning objectives. Feedback to students
will then be given both in the form of comments on their Google Docs that they will then have to act on, as well as whole
class feedback to address the most common areas of misunderstanding. Lastly, feedback on their stories will be given on a
continuous individual basis as the students work on the final project in order to allow them to address all areas of the learning
outcomes.

Differentiation

Students will be able to use different resources in order to help them access the reading task, and they will be given considerable
freedom with developing the story (no requirements in terms of length other than number of words), and they will be given
scaffolded and differentiated support through questioning and tailored feedback in order to ensure equal access to the learning
objectives.

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