Give Jonas A New Home!

A WebQuest - Ms. Finn's Classes

    Many people find themselves frustrated at the ending of The Giver because they want to know what happens to Jonas and the baby. This is your chance to help create an ending! The community that Jonas and his family live in is based on a concept called utopian communities. This term will be extremely important in helping you create Jonas' new home. 

    This is a web quest designed to help you understand this concept better. Be sure to go in order as you click on the following links to help you define your goals and complete your task. Each of the links will help you gather the necessary knowledge needed to finalize your task. BE SURE TO READ EVERYTHING ON THE SCREEN! This will allow you to keep mistakes to a minimum! Have fun.

                                                   The Task

First, it is important that everyone understand what utopian means. You will research this term in a team of five people. Once your team understands the basic aspects of a utopia, you will be responsible for creating a new community. You will be required to visualize a utopian lifestyle in which Jonas will thrive. Each teammate will choose a specific aspect to research and you must work together in order to create a new utopian community for Jonas that will combine all these aspects. 

For the assignment, it is important to remember that the roles assigned to you may be unnecessary in a utopian community, but in order to develop the community some organization is required. The roles will be as follows: leader, developer, planner, accountant, and recreation director. 

                                                        Resources

http://www.euro.net/mark-space/glosUtopia.html 
This site is helpful in defining UTOPIA 
http://www.usda.gov/nass/sso-rpts.htm 
This site will link you with farming information for individual states.
http://www.ic.org/acorn/ 
A utopian community located in Virginia.
http://www.thefarm.org/index.html 
Another utopian community located in Tennessee.
http://www.findhorn.org/ 
A community located in Scotland.
http://www.twinoaks.org/ 
A community located in Virginia.
http://www.uevn.org/ 
A community located in Ecuador.
http://eastwind.org/ 
A community located in Missouri.
http://www.new-utopia.com/ 
This site contains futuristic ideas, which you are welcome to use.

                                                        The Process

The Leader 
As the leader, you will decide on a name and where the community will be located. It is up to you how you finalize this information. You may let the group vote or you can use your power as leader to determine these aspects. Your members will come to you to ask for approval of their decisions. It is important that you share this information with your group so that they will have the information they need to do their own research. As leader, you will decide the form of government your community will use. Remember that this is a utopian community, and anarchy is most likely not an option. Use the sites of other communities to find what you think will work best. 

The Developer 

As the developer, you will work with the planner to decide what types of buildings will be necessary for the survival of your community. You will be entirely responsible for mapping out the community, making sure to include natural resources found on your land like lakes and farmland. Be sure to discuss decisions with your leader and ask for input because they will have chosen the land and should know about its size and resources. The accountant will need to know how much land you devote to farming so they can take that into account when determining income. 

The Planner 

As the planner, it is essential that you work closely with both the developer and the accountant. You will be responsible for deciding on issues such as education, medicine, religion, and housing. The developer will need to design and leave space for schools, hospitals and churches. The developer will also need to know if s/he should build houses or communal living spaces. The accountant will have to help you decide if you will be able to afford all the things you want to include. You will also have to help the accountant decide on how to have an income. You may have to plan to have your community hold outside jobs in order to support themselves financially. Always remember to discuss your decisions with your leader. 

The Accountant 

As the accountant, you will have to decide how your community will make its living. You can use other utopian communities for ideas and inspiration. Remember to consult your leader when making decisions. You will also have to decide if the monetary resources will be communal or how much people will contribute and how often. You and the planner will also have to determine if your community will house such necessities as doctors, your own medicines, how much of your food will be grown there, and how much will be purchased elsewhere. 

Recreation Director 

As the recreation director, you get to decide on the fun stuff! Using your groups' choices for your community you will decide what your members will do for fun. Research what other communities do and try to come up with some unique activities on your own. If you find that you need space on the property do not forget to consult with the developer. Also, you will need to keep in mind some of the choices the planner made. There are numerous religious activities to chose from, but if s/he decides not to have a religion in your community, you have to respect that. Don't forget to talk to your leader to get his/her input!

                                                    Learning Advice 

Remember to work together as you create your individual aspects of the community. If your planner decides to educate on the property and the developer did not design a schoolhouse, then it will be obvious that you did not consult each other. If the leader makes a decision you are unhappy with, you must respect his/her authority. You could always try to reach a compromise if you feel that strongly about something. It is your choice whether to include children in your community, but
remember that your task is to create an environment in which Jonas and the baby will thrive. Not taking children into account is a sign of losing track of your goals. 

                                                        Conclusion 

Hopefully, you have learned how to work as a team in the process of designing your own utopian community. Each person must write out their decisions neatly and share them with the rest of the group. Discuss things you don't agree with and if you decide to change something, write a new description, but turn in original draft. 

What did you learn about utopian communities? Did your community differ from the democracy of the United States? How?  What sort of things did you consider when creating your utopia? What was the hardest part of your task? Where do Jonas and
the baby fit into your new community? 

Be sure to discuss the last question thoroughly. Once you have discussed the questions, write a two-page account of how Jonas would spend the day in his new community. 

                                                      Assessment 

Your group will receive a group grade and each person will receive an individual participation grade. The group grade will be based on the overall description of the community. The individual grade will be based on attention to detail and the inclusion of specific aspects of each group member.