St Aiden's - Helen Keller Lesson Plans

Helen Keller
Lesson Plans

Who is Helen Keller?

Overview: Includes Louisiana Grade Level Expectations for Unit

In this cross curriculum unit, a writing assignment will be integrated with a
Social Studies theme. (Usually done during the first six weeks of school.) In
the Harcourt Brace Social Studies Series, (on page 16), there is a short
biography of Helen Keller. From there, students and the teacher may begin the
process of researching information on Helen Keller.

Students are encouraged bring and share researched information with the
others. The teacher will then share a short paragraph with the students that
state important facts about her life. The Disney Version of the "The Miracle
Worker" will be viewed as discussed over the course of three days, to help the
students realise the difficulties of her struggles in life. While students are
viewing this movie, the computer stations will be set up in 10 minute intervals.
Students will look at Helen Keller photo gallery sites.

Open Activity:

Show an excerpt of the Helen Keller movie, showing her stumbling
around and searching for things with her hands. Ask the students why
was she doing this?

Read a story about Helen Keller

Read and discuss the story "I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf" with
them.

Show a sign language poster to explain their way of communication.

Talk about disabilities, have a guest speaker talk to the children who
suffer from hearing or sight disabilities.

Component: Whole Class around the teacher

Time: 45 minutes

Participants: Whole Class/Groups

Procedure: In the Harcourt Brace Social Studies Series, on page 16, there is a
short biography of Helen Keller. From there, students and the teachers may
begin researching information on Helen Keller. Students are encouraged to
share researched information with the others.

The teacher will then share a short paragraph with the students that state
important facts about her life. The teacher will then model for the students how
to locate and document key facts in writing a biographical sketch of someone.
(Example: birth, death, life lessons, etc.)

The Disney Version of the "The Miracle Worker" will be viewed as discussed
over the course of three or four days, to help the students realise the
difficulties of her struggles in life.

Internet research looking at pictures of Helen Keller during her life.

Sign Language Name Activity (optional) In Microsoft Word, the student may go
to new document, then in the top bar at the top, go to insert, then "picture".
Slide over to "clip art" section. In the search box, type in "SIGN LANGUAGE."
Scroll down until you can find sign language letters. Have each student go and
insert the letters to their names. To help move letters around, click on the
picture icon (looks like a dog). Then click on the sign language letter, and go to
"THROUGH". This is enable you to move the letters around. Have the students
spell their names with these symbols.

Expectation: Students will expected to look over information and locate the
birth and date of a person. Students will be expected to learn more about
disabilities and how they can overcome obstacles despite them.

Questions:

What does blind, deaf and mute mean?
How could it affect your life?
Do you know someone who has a disability?
How are they different? (How are they the same?)
What is braille and sight dogs? How do they help blind people?
What is sign language? How do they help deaf people?

Evaluation: Teacher observation during class discussion.

Close Act: Watching a portion of the "Disney Version of A Miracle Worker"

Hints/Tips: Have a discussion about the movie. Also how the reality in movies
may not be exact. List the things that happened in the movie and see if they
can found out if that was actually true. (Example: Was Anne Sullivan a real
person in Helen Keller's life? If it is yes, have them share where they located
that information.)

Web Addresses
Helen Keller Photographs
Can Do Helen Keller
Favourite North Stars
From Triumph to Tragedy
Finger Spelling

Handouts, Activity Sheets,SIGNLNAME.doc An example of Sign Language
Activity done in Microsoft Word. The student will go to a new document and
then the clip art section and find the sign language symbols. Then they will
insert and create their own name. DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON PLAN PDF

Looking for Helen Keller Information	This lesson will help students learn how to gather facts about Helen Keller in books and on the internet. The teacher will share a summary of Helen Keller and model how to look for the birth date, death date, and key factors in that person's life. Giving a hand out with information on Helen Keller, the students will then highlight five facts about her on that paper.
Helen Keller (Rough Draft)	Through the data gathered in the prior lesson, the students will take the information that they have gathered and fill in a web on Helen Keller's life. (HelenKellerWEB.doc). From the facts gathered, the students will begin writing a rough draft.
Writing About Helen Keller	Students will continue working on their Helen Keller research papers. Once the rough draft is corrected and rewritten, the students will type it on the computers. When they have finished typing that, using a highlighter, they will take their printed version and highlight all errors to correct at a later date. When time is available, students will correct all errors, choose an appropriate Helen Keller icon and print their final draft to be turned in. (RUBRIC INCLUDED IN THIS LESSON HKRUBRIC.doc)
Louisiana Grade Level Expectations	Targeting GLE'S for Helen Keller Unit

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