The+Westing+Game+Rationale

What is a mystery? The very term puzzles the imagination for most 7th graders who are unfamiliar with the genre. The mystery genre is meant to challenge and puzzle the reader by giving stubble clues, hidden paths, exploring the unknown, and above all, exploring the truth and outcomes within the given text. Although the mystery genre might be new to some students, by the end of the unit students will be able to analyze the structure, elements and style within the mystery genre. Students will learn how to analyze the role of antagonists and protagonists, and how their internal and external conflicts correlate to the theme by reading the novel //The Westing Game// by Ellen Raskin. Lastly, students will be able to identify characteristics within plots and themes by solving mysteries with the supporting information. By the time we reach the end of the unit, students will have enough knowledge and information to become mystery writers as they creatively writing their own mystery story for the class Mystery Book for the cumulative project.
 * Mystery Genre Rationale **

The target population for this unit is 7th grade. All students, no matter what color, ethnicity, gender, or disability will able to successfully fulfill completion of this each lesson. I will take into consideration that each student learning style is different, with this being said, assignments, homework, vocabulary, projects and so forth will be able to be modified if needed to fit each student’s individual need. Reading comprehension and progression during the unit will be monitored and evaluated weekly (**R.MT.07.02**) by students handing in Detective Notes (worksheet) and journal writings (notebooks) of topics we have covered within the book at the end of each week to be graded and handed back. This unit is designed to be educational, resourceful and most importantly, fun for students.

The main text students will use during this unit will be Ellen Raskin’s 1979 Newbery Medal winning novel //The Westing Game//. //The Westing Game// is about the unexplained death of an eccentric millionaire who brings together 16 unlikely heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. Using //The Westing Game//, students will learn how to “analyze the role of antagonists, protagonists, internal and external conﬂicts, and abstract themes,” (**R.NT.07.03**) as well as analyze multiple author’s “craft including the use of theme, antagonists, protagonists, overstatement, understatement, and exaggeration” **(R.NT.07.04)** such as Sherlock Holmes “Silver Blaze”, Sahar Sabati’s “The Bus Ride” and various student publicized short story mysteries in the book, “The American Teen Writer Series: White Knuckles, Thrillers and other stories”. By using these specific content expectations, where students will be asked to “write a cohesive narrative piece that includes the appropriate conventions to the genre employing literary and plot devices,” (**W.GN.07.01**) at the end of the unit for the culminating activity.

For the summative assessment, students will create a travel brochure for “WestingTown.” Within this brochure, students will be asked to site: locations mentioned within the book, all clues and where they have taken place, and which families were in possession of the certain clues (**R.IT.07.0**). Students will be asked to include a detailed log of the information they have gathered to be turned in with the brochure. By the end of this unit, students will be able to successfully read a mystery novel, understand the themes in which are included in a mystery story, and lastly creatively write their own mystery.