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Emily G. Phillips SLIS 671/ School Media Summer 2009 INSPIRE Lesson Plan

**__Unit__** **__ Description: __** Questioning is at the core of all inquiry. __The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy__ states, “The process of Information Inquiry involves the application of the ancient Socratic Method of teaching through self-posed and mentor-posed questions in order to gain meaning in today’s overwhelming Information Age” (Callison 171). This, in conjunction with Mary Dalbotten’s proposition that students need to acquire new information to respond to the need and demands of society and the workplace by reading a wide range of text to build an understanding of the cultures of the United States and the world (Callison 177), led to the design of this unit.
 * Current Events Unit - ****//Based on Dr. Annette Lamb’s 8W Inquiry Model //**
 * Lesson Plan for Step 2 **
 * Grade 8 **

8th grade students are victims of the “all about me” syndrome. Typically, kids of this age are primarily focused on friends and social circles. As a result, they are often blind to what is happening in the world around them. This unit encourages students to look beyond their personal issues and look at community, state, national or world events and issues. Once students become inquisitive about a particular current event, they will delve into learning the details of the event or issue and how this event impacts his or her life. Once they have wiggled through the information, students are expected to weave and wrap their knowledge into an informative presentation to share with their classmates. Students will have gained enough information to be able to answer some classmates’ questions about the topic.

Callison, Daniel, and Leslie Preddy. __The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy__. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006. 

__Information Age Inquiry__. EduScapes. 7 July 2009 []