If you are a true crime lover who happens to teach juniors or seniors, then you MUST consider teaching Making a Murderer! I never even dreamed about this unit until Tracee Orman posted about her unit. Then my brain went berserk with ideas! I really wanted to purchase a complete unit because I recognized the amount of work that would go into something like this. I decided to purchase from Tracee Orman because I trust her products, and I'm so glad that I did. The unit is beautifully put together and detailed! (AND Common Core aligned!)
As I went through all of her materials, I realized that this is a perfect unit for second semester seniors. If you teach them, you know how it is! They are barely awake most of the time and they wait until the very last moment to do all work. It's incredibly frustrating. One good thing about them is that they are old enough to watch Making a Murderer in class! I'm moving to 8th next year, so I will definitely miss this unit!
I create a workbook for my students using Tracee's resources as well as more that I have created to accompany those. I love creating workbooks for my students because then they only have to bring one material to class, and sometimes, I'll even let them keep it in the classroom. They also can easily take them home to finish work, and they don't need their computers. I don't allow them to be on their computers for this unit because we are watching the show. They don't need those distractions!
I teach two levels of seniors, so I have two different culminating assessments. For my regular seniors, they will complete an argument essay debating either Brendan's or Steven's guilt. Click here to download evidence collection pages for both people for free. My seniors who are receiving college credit will complete an annotated bibliography. They will decide on something within the justice system that they feel should be changed and research that topic. They will also create two visuals that raise awareness about their topic.
I absolutely love the discussions that come out of this unit! Students get so into this story, and they end up yelling at the screen and each other as they fight over theories. It's an absolutely perfect unit to end senior year, and it still asks students to do a variety of required standards.
I hope that you ask your administration if you can add this to your curriculum! It has changed the end of the year for me!
--Amanda