The Entry Event:
Students will be immediately hooked into the Choose Your Own Adventure PBL Unit by getting a taste of what their own final product will entail.
To introduce students to the concept of a Choose Your Own Adventure story, the teacher will conduct the following activity:
To introduce students to the concept of a Choose Your Own Adventure story, the teacher will conduct the following activity:
- Preparation:
- Choose from either Westward Expansion or Oregon Trail books to create scenarios
- Make copies of all of the different choices (and background readings) that could possibly be made in one adventure book.
- Take each set of readings and put them into individual envelopes with the first page of the section written on the outside. For example, if the first choice students make leads them to either page 13 or 16 in the book, there should be envelopes with 13 and 16 written on them and then inside should be the passage associated with those choices.
- Envelopes should be organized around the room by LAST number (which will keep students more spread out than if the envelopes are organized by first number).
- Lesson:
- After all preparations have been made, read the introduction to students, who each get to make their first choice.
- From there, students continue making choices, based on the outcomes of each previous decision, until they reach their ultimate fate (fortune, family, death, illness, etc.).
- Most students will take different paths, depending on their choices. Some will die early or get sick and their adventure will end.
- To reflect on the activity, students should draw a flow chart of each of the choices they make. This can be done by hand, or by using Bubbl.us
- Reflection
- Have students reflect on their outcomes and choices along the way.
- What was the fate of your adventure?
- Why did you take the risks you did?
- If you could redo any of your decisions, would you? Explain.
- As a class, talk about the motives behind each decision and why different students took different risks. Possible motivations that students may give are:
- The pursuit of money
- The protection of family
- Finding adventure
- Tips:
- It is best if one student volunteers at each station to read the passage aloud.
- Monitor the stations closely
- Have a few extra copies of the book or each passage on hand.
- Scaffolding:
- Students can rotate through with a partner if needed
- Students can use a copy of the book instead of walking around
- Students can create their flow chart by hand
- Reflection
- Have students reflect on their outcomes and choices along the way.
- What was the fate of your adventure?
- Why did you take the risks you did?
- If you could redo any of your decisions, would you? Explain.
- As a class, talk about the motives behind each decision and why different students took different risks. Possible motivations that students may give are:
- The pursuit of money
- The protection of family
- Finding adventure