Amelia Lost discussion

Amelia Lost:  The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart is about Amelia Earhart, but it's not like your standard biography.  In addition to tracking her story to her last flight, this book goes a little more in depth about her childhood including details about how she was a tomboy, and how her family battled her father's alcohol addiction.  It also talks about how she, along with her husband, promoted herself and her flights, and how she nearly died sledding as a child.  The book provides photos, maps, copies of handwritten notes, and random information about all things Amelia. 

For this project, I would use the book along with the actual Amelia Earhart website, ameliaearhart.comAfter reading the book, I would print out or show the article on the overhead.  The website also provides a biography page that can be used to compare and contrast different important events in her life.  We would discuss the story of Amelia, and then walk through a timeline of her life as a class. For comparing and contrasting of events, I like the idea of using a Venn Diagram. The outsides of the circles could be for events specific to the book or article, while the middle was a place for events that both covered.  I would have students work in small groups with chart paper and colored markers.  Each group could complete their own diagram, and then we could discuss group's findings.  As a teacher, I would create my own Venn Diagram, place it on the board, and fill it in as each group presents their information.  I would make sure to write down the differences in each group's findings, and ask questions at the end about any events that were missed.  

Scaffolding options would be vocabulary and sentence stems in their journals and on the board. Students would be discussing their findings, and I would float the room to listen, observe, and ask additional questions as needed.