Harry Potter Lesson Plans

Objective: Using the Timeliner Program (Tom Snyder Productions), students will be able to put the events from Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone in order from the first chapters to the last chapters.

Anticipatory Set: This activity will help the students to sequence events based upon their comprehension of a story. It will similarly help them to enhance their memorization skills as well as their organization skills.

Pre-skill:

• Students have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

• The students have been taught basic sequencing skills (i.e., beginning, middle, end) and have practiced using it on short stories from their readers.

The students have completed a worksheet where they have put their ideas about the beginning, middle, and end of the Harry Potter book. See Example

Materials: computer (1 per student if available) w/ access to a CD-ROM drive; CD-ROM program Timeliner (by Tom Snyder Productions); copy of completed worksheet on Harry Potter events (see above); 1 copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone per student (for reference)

Delivering Instruction/ Model and Lead: Procedures:

1. The teacher will go over the students’ ideas of the sequence of events in the students’ worksheets. He/she will make comments to encourage the correct sequence of the story as well as point out the most significant events and de-emphasize events that are not significant to the plot.
2. The teacher will introduce the sequencing via software activity by escorting them to the computer where the program is already set up for them. The students are presented with a sequencing time line: several events from the story are already highlighted on the time line by chapter. For instance, chapter one (horizontal axis) is highlighted with "Harry Potter is born and is sent to live with the Dursleys due to the death of his parents." The sequence-line presented to the students will have various events depicted on it from various chapters, but it will also have blank boxes for the students to enter information.
3. The teacher will demonstrate and practice with the students how to use the program to insert events into the sequence from the chapters where information is needed (the boxes). Example: Chapt. 6 has a blank box-The teacher will demonstrate how to insert information such as "Harry catches the train to Hogwarts on platform 9 and3/4."

Guided Practice/ Lead and Test:

4. The teachers will direct the students to try to insert events into the blank boxes. The teacher will help the students to use the book and their completed worksheets as references.
5. The teacher will assist the students with the activity and also go around to guide them to input more significant events.

Independent Practice:

6. The teacher will have the students work independently (or in groups, depending

upon the number of computers) inserting events into the blank boxes.

7. The teacher will help the students to work with the program but (fade help) allow them to choose the events that correspond with the chapters on their own.

Formative Evaluation: The teacher will ask that the students print out their timelines. The timeline will be reviewed periodically to make sure the students are progressing. The students will use their timelines to study the story as well as a reference for a final computer-generated report.

Extension Activity: Have the students create their own timeline for the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, except their timeline will be of one chapter. The students will compare their chapter timelines (each student is assigned a different chapter(s)) and the class will discuss the most relevant events from each chapter to alter the timeline they did in this lesson. See Appendix D

Accommodations: The students will be given written directions for the activity. The teacher will provide several pre-made timelines with blank spaces for the students who have trouble accessing the keys on the program although an adaptive keyboard will be available. If available, a word prediction program, such as Co: Writer by Don Johnston, may be used simultaneously with this program.