Victoria's+Project

** __Ghost of Thornton Hall__ **
 * __Nancy Drew__ **


 * This is the latest game that has recently been released in the Nancy Drew game series. It deals with the disappearance of a woman who was at her families ruined plantation for a bachelorette party. There is a legend of a ghostly female apparition who often comes along to scare people and shows up as an ominous warning to future problems for the people who see her. Along with the ghost there is a whole bunch of dead and living relatives who have done many wrong things in the past and in the present. Nancy must discover what is true, what is someone playing an awful trick on the family, and what has happened to the future bride? **
 * I choose this particular game because it actually has a lot to do with history since the game is set around an old Louisiana plantation. In particular it talks about the Civil War and female spies from the era. I would use this game to enhance students understanding of this time period and this game also gives them information about a topic not typically covered in class. **
 * The lesson plan will be set around this goals and the two objectives. **
 * __//Goals//__: Evaluate the impact of different factors, including gender, age, ethnicity and class on groups and individuals during this time period and the impact these groups and individuals have on events of the time.(8HS 4). **
 * Students can choose from three topics to talk about, but they only have to choose two. **
 * //Objectives:// SWBAT to identify and explain two out of three references to female spies in the Civil War, featured in Ghost of Thornton Hall, in a well written paragraph with no punctuation or grammar mistakes. **
 * SWBAT to create a genealogy chart featuring at least ten of the family members mentioned in the game. Students will include a one sentence summary for each person featured in the below to explain the significance of each character. **


 * Lesson Plan **

Lesson Title : ND AND the Ghost of Thornton Hall

Lesson # : 18

Time : 5 Class Periods

Goals : See Above

Objectives : See Above

Pre-requisite skills or knowledge - Students must understand how to use a computer, students must understand how to keep notes about what is going on in the story, students must be able to understand and how to design a family tree.

Supplies- For this assignment students will need- an invividual computer, a piece of paper, something to write with, markers, colored pencils, and a piece of computer paper.

Procedures

Anticipatory Guide - I will remind students what we have previously been talking about in terms of the Civil War and how females became involved in the war during this time.

Teaching - I will go through a tutorial to show students how to use tools in the game. I will show students how to press open the cell phone so that Nancy can call people for information or to get assistance. I will show students how to right click on something so that they can move puzzle pieces around.

Independent Application - Students will be asked to gather information about ten of the family members from the game as they have been playing the game. One of the easiest ways they can do this is by looking through the graveyard. Once they have completed this they will be asked to create a genealogy chart connecting the ten characters together. The genealogy chart can be done in anyway that they want. Students can do the traditional notch chart or they can be more creative and draw a tree with the different branches of the family exc. Their objective will help them later on when they must use the names of the characters to open puzzles near the end.

Assessment - The assessment for this particular lesson will be the first objective which asks the player to write about two out of the three discoveries that they made which related to female spies from the Civil War era. They can either write about the locket, the secret staircase with spy holes, or the book which contains information about local female spies who helped both the North and the South.

Closure - Students will be reminded about what they learned about female spies who served during the Civil War. I will preview the next day's assignment of a review game to help students prepare for the end of unit test that they will be having in two days.

Meeting Various Needs - Students who are having a hard time with completing the tasks to meet the objective can receive hints from their journal. Students can also use a player guides with cheats in it if they need. If students need the writing portion modified it can also be shortened to meet their needs as well.

The principle of learning featured in this game is the active learning principle. As you are playing the game you have to be actively participating in the conversations with the other characters and reading all of the material that comes your way or your might miss a clue. Students also must play an active role in this game because if you are not thinking correctly you as Nancy can have your game end and you have to start again from the begining of the challenge. If you are having a hard time with a challenge the gamer should also be active so that they can make note of what works and what does not.
 * Example of headstone where students can get genealogical information from. **

A good source of information for teachers is HERINTERACTIVE. There is a message board that provides techanical as well as game advice to register users. It also has various pieces of information avaliable about the game such as character descriptions and photos.


 * One of the examp **** les of the involvement of **** women as Female Spies. A locket with a secret **
 * combination that can hide paper. **