Objective: Using a laserdisc (with specific scenes already chosen), the students will write adjectives that describe the pictures that they see and how they may or may not relate to Harry Potter if The Sorcerer’s Stone could happen in real life. This activity is designed to introduce the students as well as engage their interests to the technology-based unit on Harry Potter. Students will begin to use their imaginations to describe images, pictures, and objects. The students will be clued to locating adjectives that describe persons, places, or things in the book.

Anticipatory Set: This activity will help to engage the students to learn through technology. It will also help them to start thinking creatively about writing about Harry Potter. Using the Salamandre Laserdisc, students can begin to use their imaginations about castles. Other visual images could help create mental models for the characters or the time period. Students will understand how adjectives can assist others in creating mental models through text. With the premier of the movie, many students will only be able to describe images based on what they have seen. Discuss the importance of forming many mental models for characters and images in text.

Pre-skill: Students have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Students have learned the definition of an adjective.

Materials:

• Laserdisc player to accompany TV screen large enough for the class to see;
• copy of laserdisc Salamandre;
• pencils and paper for students;
• 1 copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone per student for reference
• Note: If the laserdisc is not available then an alternative would be to show students movies from a videotape, photos from a CD-Rom, DVD or the Web. Links to castle on line See http://www.castleontheweb.com

Delivering Instruction/ Model and Lead: Procedures

• The teacher will introduce the activity by showing the first laserdisc scene. The teacher will quickly remind students about what adjectives are and then give examples of adjectives he/she would use to describe the first picture. Example: The first picture is a castle and the teacher would write large, dark in color, scary looking, and pointy.

• The teacher will assist the students in comprising adjectives about the castle. Next, the teacher will ask the students how this castle could be related to the Harry Potter book (Hogwarts, for example). The teacher will give examples of ways that the castle pictured reminds him/her of Harry Potter and will write them down for all students to see.
• The teacher will demonstrate and practice with the students in writing down their related thoughts on Harry Potter.
• Students will take turns describing images while the other students have their eyes closed. This would allow everyone to create a mental model and then check it with the verbal description.

Guided Practice/ Lead and Test:

• The teachers will conduct the students in writing adjectives about the remainder of the pictures and similarly writing how the pictures could take a part in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone if the story happened in real life.
• The teacher will assist the students with the activity and also ensure that the adjectives used are true adjectives.

The students don’t have to see what the teacher sees, but can be creative as to how Harry’s world may be related to the pictures.

Independent Practice:

• The teacher will have the students work independently to complete the exercise with the pictures. When the activity is completed, the teacher will allow the students to get into assigned groups to compare adjectives and thoughts about the pictures.
• The teacher will start folders for each of the students so that they will be able to keep all their completed activities for the Harry Potter thematic unit. The teacher will instruct the students to put their completed work (adjectives, thoughts, etc.) into their new folders.

Formative Evaluation: The students will eventually refer back to the adjectives and thoughts to create complete sentences, paragraphs, and eventually a computer-generated report. This activity will be the first in a series of completed activities used to generate creative thoughts about a Harry Potter report.

Extension Activities: Show the same pictures to the students near the end of the conclusion of the unit. Have the students use the adjectives and thoughts collected previously to write whole sentences. Suggest that the students use some of these sentences in their final report.

Accommodations: Students with visual difficulties will be allowed to sit closer to the screen to examine the pictures more thoroughly. For students with difficulty writing, the teacher will allow the students to record their adjectives and thoughts via a tape recorder and save the tape into their folder. For students who have trouble creating the adjectives, the teacher will have several pre-made suggestion sheets.