A webquest based on Lois Lowry's The Giver by Melanie Dillard, Stacy Symborski, Mike Powell, Mike Seagle, and Sherry Shewmaker
Everything is under
control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is
assigned a role in the community. The climate is carefully monitored, and competition
has been eliminated in favor of a society in which everyone works only for the
common good.
In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, Jonas lives in a world very different from our society today. Or is it so different? There are groups in the United States that actively seek to maintain an identity outside mainstream American culture: the Amish, the Hutterian Brethern, the Hasidic Jews, and the Sabbath Day Lake Shakers. How are these groups different from mainstream America?
This Webquest challenges you to investigate such cultures. As a member of a team of four, it will be your job to read and analyze a list of sources. What do these resources reveal about beliefs, traditions, and way of life? You will determine how your assigned culture is similar or different from mainstream American culture. Once you have analyzed your information and completed a handout about your selected cultural group, you will report back to your team members to teach what you have learned. As a group, you will select a culture to report on. Your group will create a pamphlet that highlights various aspects of the culture you have chosen. You will also have an opportunity to write about your culture and The Giver comparing their similarities and differences.
Once your teacher has revealed the cultural group you are to investigate, your work begins. You will be assigned to a team of four. Each team member will be assigned a different cultural group to study by using pre-selected websites. Reading the information carefully, you will document important details on your student handout and report what you have learned to your group.
1. Each student should print the student handout.
2. Individually, read and analyze the following sites below for your assigned cultural group. Take notes on the chart found on the student handout.
3. Compare what you have learned with your group members. Each member should read aloud the information included on the handout. As a group, complete one Venn diagram for each culture (comparing each one to mainstream American culture).
4. Using the Venn diagrams and your handouts, determine as a group which culture - the Amish, the Hutterian Brethern, the Hasidic Jews, or the Sabbath Day Lake Shakers, you want to select.
5. With your group, you will then create a pamphlet that highlights the various aspects of the culture your group has chosen and share this pamphlet with the class.
6. As a group, using the Venn diagrams and your handouts, compare and contrast your assigned culture to the culture in the setting of The Giver and mainstream America.
Final Project and Grading Rubric
The Amish
Amish Teens Usually Choose Life in the Slow Lane
Frequently Asked Questions About the Amish
Should Amish Children Be Allowed to Work
The Shaker Community
Explanation of Shakers Beliefs
Seeing and Understanding Sabbath Day Lake
Hutterian Brethren
Smithsonian Magazine Article and Pictures
A Day with the Hutterian Brethrens
Hutterian Brethren in North American
Hasidic Jews
Religious Movement - Hasidic Jews
A Day in the Life of a Modern Orthodox Jew
Facts About Hasidic Jewish Community
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
Congratulations!
You are now finished with “Cultural
Clashes” – a WebQuest based on
themes from the book The Giver by Lois Lowry.
As connected to the rest of the world as we are – thanks mainly to the
Internet and television – it is still fascinating to see and learn about
entire communities of people in our country that have very different cultures.
Cultural Clashes!
Cultures that look different, act different and dress different. Cultural Clashes! Cultures with
strange foods, strange customs and strange accents.
Cultural Clashes!
Yet these cultures that you have just studied have one thing in
common – these communities are not in foreign lands, they are right here in
our country – they are Americans – living here in the United States.
Reflection
Questions: These questions do
not have to be answered for a grade, but should be thought about in reflection:
2. Think about what it would
be like to be born and raised in one of the cultures we just studied.
Do you think you would feel different?
3. Were you surprised that
the cultures that we studied exist in this country?
4. What would you do if
someone from one of these cultures moved into your neighborhood and came to your
school? What if that child was
Jonas? Would you be his friend? Would
you try to change him to be more like you?