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Shh! Don't talk too loudly. We're at a crime scene! The only way to solve "whodunnit" is by applying your finely-honed skills collecting evidence, and coming up with insightful explanations to support a reasonable claim. Did I say "reasonable claim?" I meant, to solve a murder and make the streets safe again.
Take a moment to peruse the crime scene photographs that will serve as the cornerstone of our "close read" materials. 
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Week 1: Learning how to Observe and Infer |
5/17/2021-5/21/2021
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For this first week, we're starting with the basics. Watching some top detectives on NCIS solve a mystery using some evidence-based claims, and at home, students will learn the lingo so that they can talk the talk.
Asynchronous work at home: You've Gotta Talk the Talk before you can Solve the Crime
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As with all learning, there are just some words you need to be able to know, and easily use before any unit can start. The words to the right are sometimes easy for students (those tend to be the students who watch crime shows) and are completely random nonsense for other students (who don't watch crime shows.) We'll start by using a modified digital vocabulary technique piloted by a coworker, and then doing a response-card activity with the murder mystery words. We won't cross a word out until EVERYONE in class can identify it.
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NextGen Learning Standards: 8R4, 8R7, 8L4
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Synchronous Learning in School: NCIS Season 3, Episode 9: "Frame Up"
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Day 1:
We'll start out by reviewing exactly what it means to observe and infer. We'll present a Slides presentation describing the difference between the two skills, and then watch a Sherlock Holmes clip to see what he observes, and watch his precise reasoning come to incredibly logical inferences.
After watching Sherlock show us how it's done, we'll take a quick assessment to make sure everyone understands the two skills before starting to watch our NCIS episode. |
NextGen Learning Standards: 8R1, 8R3, 8W7, 8SL5
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Day 2:
We'll spend the remainder of the two in-person days learning forensics from the best in the business: Abby Sciuto. In this television episode, you'll see her carefully collect evidence that only supports a claim she's unwilling to make! But eventually, through careful observation and inference, she's able to put together all the pieces to tell a story that makes sense, and inevitably reflects the truth. We'll start by learning how to observe and infer, and how to use our observation and inference graphic organizer, before watching the episode in 8:00-12:00 increments, annotating our observations and inferences together.
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NextGen Learning Standards: 8R1, 8R3, 8W2, 8W7, 8SL5
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Week 2: Evidence Analysis |
5/24/2021 - 5/28/2021
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This week is dedicated to analyzing our crime scene! Students will visit six different stations and observe some important details and make some inferences about the crime based on that evidence.
Asynchronous Work: Putting together the Pieces into an Evidence-Based Summary
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This is the easy part! Abby and DiNozzo wrapped everything up in a nice, complete bow for you. All you need to do today is take what you've observed and explain the reasoning through the eyes of the detective. It's like a summary, but a supercharged summary. The first day, we'll take what we have on our observation / inference graphic organizer and apply it to our standard evidence-based claim graphic organizer. Then, the second day, we'll take that graphic organizer and turn it into a beautiful paragraph. As always, video directions are provided to the right, and also will be linked in student's Google Classrooms.
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NextGen Learning Standards: 8R1, 8R3, 8W2, 8W7
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Synchronous Work: Evidence Analysis
NextGen Learning Standards: 8R1, 8R3, 8R6, 8R8, 8R9, 8W1, 8W6, 8W7, 8SL1, 8SL4, 8SL5
On these two days, students will perform their gallery walk, and finish their observation / inference graphic organizer. Everyone will start by closely reading the murder scenario to the left, and then spend about ten minutes at each station to collect as much information as possible.
Week 3: Solve the Mystery! |
5/31/2021-6/4/2021
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This week is when we're doing the heavy lifting of crafting our evidence-based claim. We'll devote a single day to discussion of the suspect alternatives, and a second day to turning our observation / inference graphic organizer into a well-explained evidence-based claim in which students will decide who committed the crime.
Asynchronous Work:
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NextGen Learning Standards: 8R2
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Synchronous Work: Organize an Evidence-Based Claim
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We'll start our work this week with a half day of discussion during which students can verbally think through all the evidence they've collected. We'll hear different theories about who the culprit could be, and take some notes to round out our Observation / Inference graphic organizer.
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NextGen Learning Standards: 8SL1, 8SL4, 8SL5
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We'll finish our work this week by publishing our Evidence-Based Claims into a Google Slides format to aid in our oral presentations next week. As with all the work we do together during 8th grade ELA, the better students Observation / Inference sheet, the easier the discussion. The more engaged the discussion, the easier the EBC graphic organizer. The better the writing on the EBC graphic organizer, the easier and better the beautiful Slides presentation they create, and the better the Slides, the easier it is to present an oral presentation.
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NextGen Learning Standards: 8R1, 8R3, 8R6, 8R8, 8R9, 8W1, 8W6, 8W7, 8SL1, 8SL4, 8SL5
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Week 4: Present Your Case! |
6/7/2021-6/11/2021
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In the final week of our unit, our students will orally present their claim about who committed the murder in class, to be subject to the cross-interrogation of their peers! Strap in tight and hold on. This is going to get intense!
Asynchronous Work: Make up all back work from the marking period!To the right, you'll see a breakdown of all the work we've done for our entire marking period, with explanations about which work should be prioritized, about how much time each assignment will take, and the relative value of each. Our major writing projects are worth the most, followed by in-class work, followed by work done asynchronously at home.
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Synchronous Work: Oral Presentations!Our first day this week will be spent finishing up, or in some cases, improving and refining our Slides presentations and rehearsing for our oral presentations tomorrow. While it's not writing in the traditional sense, our Slides presentation and the oral presentation are the final, major writing grade of the marking period, and the entire school year! We made it!
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During our second day in person, students will spend their time presenting their finding to their peers! I get to sit back and enjoy while students do all the heavy lifting today.
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Murder Mystery Project
You've watched the experts do it. You've observed, you've inferred, you've summarized. It's time to set you free to examine a crime scene of your own! Use all the skills you've learned to objectively collect the evidence. Decide what's important to know, and what information is useless. Use the vocabulary you've practiced to focus on what matters most, and of course, be prepared to write some amazing crime-scene analysis to present to your classmates.
Project Description:In this project, students will complete a gallery walk with six stations describing a heinous crime. They'll need to use all the skills they've practiced this unit to complete a second observation / inference sheet, and then to organize those annotations into an evidence-based claim in which they'll prove who committed the murder! Final work will be published as a Google Slides to accompany their presentation.
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Success Skills
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Additional Resources:For a one-day, crime solving extravaganza, click the image to the right, and use in conjunction with this writing prompt! This activity works best as a station activity, but it works as a teacher-led activity as well. It is not related to the murder mystery above, but it was the material that inspired me to delve into the realm of the macabre!
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