idaho core teacher network unit plan template - sde.idaho.gov web viewthey will share their proposal...

Idaho Core Teacher Network Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: Out of the Ashes

Created By: Angela Harvey

Subject: Accelerated English

Grade: 8th grade

Estimated Length (days or weeks): 6 weeks

Unit Overview (including context): The students will be reading the dystopian novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry and will be analyzing societal conflicts that have existed in the past and in the present. This unit will follow an intense unit on the Holocaust and part of that unit looks at how people rebuild after an atrocity. The dystopian society in The Giver seems like an ideal place to live in the beginning, but the reader soon realizes that things that really make life worth living, like love, freedom, compassion, and adventure are missing from this community. Although things like war, famine, abuse and neglect, and poverty are avoided due to the laws, procedures, and systems put in play, every aspect of the community members’ lives are so carefully controlled and all decision making ability, including things like picking their own career paths, spouses, or even being able to have their own biological children has been withheld. As the students read the novel, they will be analyzing different structures cultures use in the formation and maintenance of a nation no matter how big or small. After reading the novel, students will sign up for a topic from The Giver that involves the structure of the community, such as the laws and an enforcement system, a governing system, an education system, a medical system, living arrangements and family structures, nutritional practices and food production, an economic system (including how to provide educational, law, and medical care), technological resources, and environmental practices concerning the Earth and animals. Each group will use the researching skills they have been developing this year to research the structures of our current system, systems other nations use, and systems cultures used in the past. Groups will compare the different systems all of these groups have employed and will find the aspects they like the best. They will combine structures from different groups to create an ideal system for a new community. They will use the argument writing skills they have been developing this year to write a proposal for their idea. They will share their proposal to the rest of the class through an oral presentation.

Unit Rationale: I will be focusing mainly on Key Shift number 4, which deals with effective collaboration for a variety of purposes. One important goal of our education system is to create informed citizens who can participate in the democratic system, but our system is very flawed due to a variety of factors. In our society, competition is often valued over collaboration, power is a highly sought after “prize,” and both of those things factor into some of the problems we have in all branches of our government system and real change is not possible in our society without systematic change in the government and legal system, and the systems that involve healthcare, education, the economy, our use of technology, and our treatment of the earth. It often feels like much needed systematic changes get stalled because the pride, the egos, and the fear of losing power or wealth of decisionmakers get in the way of people truly listening to the ideas of others, looking at systems other countries are and have used, and looking at systems

different cultures have used in the past.

Targeted Standards:L8.2 – Demonstrate commands or standard English.

L8.3 – Use correct conventions including active voice.

W8.4 – Produce clear and coherent writing.

W8.10 – Write routinely over differing time frames.

RI/RL8.3 – Analyze the events and connections in a text.

RI/RL8.6 – Determine author’s point of view or purpose

SL8.1 – Engage in a range of collaborative discussions withdiverse partners, building on other’s ideas and articulating their own ideas.

SL8.5 – Use visual aids in presentations.

Essential Question(s)/Enduring Understandings:How can we use knowledge of history and current events to restructure our society?

What qualities do strong community leaders possess?

Focus Questions

When is it better to stand alone and when is it better to conform?

Who should decide what rules/laws govern us?

What price should we be willing to pay for progress?

What is love and what is the purpose of love?

What is our responsibility to vulnerable human beings in our community?

Measurable OutcomesStudents will be able to identify which laws and rules from the community inThe Giver are an attempt to prevent modern day issues.

Students will be able to work collaboratively to create a utopia and will create and share their ideas for a utopia to the class.

Learning Goals:Student-Friendly Learning Targets:I understand how to use databases to conduct research. I know how to cite my sources. I know how to summarize information. I know how to compare and contrast ideas. I know how to participate in discussions by actively listening and building off of what others say to deepen or dispute their claims. I understand how to write a proposal that makes claims, makes counter claims, and provides text-based evidence. I understand the qualities of a strong visual aid. I understand the qualities of an effective oral presentation.

Success Criteria:I can explain why the community in The Giver has certain laws and procedures.

I can make suggestions for laws and rules that could end modern conflicts in communities.

I can participate in discussions with people with different perspectives and actively listen to their claims and evidence.

Summative Assessment: Summative Assessment Description: Final Project – A group of people is dissatisfied with how things are going in their own country and, a

rich philanthropist owns a large island. He believes that a new community could be developed that is more compassionate, peaceful, and just and he is willing to donate the island to the group of concerned citizens He is very selfless, and insists that he doesn’t want to govern this new community, and says that he wants the group to have an equal say in the laws, rules, procedures, and structures the community lives by. He asks group members to research how different communities have lived in the past and live in the present and to write a proposal for how their new community should live. Small groups will sign up for one aspect to research and put a plan together. They will write up a formal proposal in the form of a written argument, making a claim about what laws/rules/structures will build a better community by providing evidence ofhow other groups of people have had success and failure. Their proposals will need to discuss the benefits of the ideas, and anticipate and

address possible problems. Each group will formally present their proposal to the class using a visual aid and providing a written outline for the group.

Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Explanation: The DOK of this summative assessment is a level 3, because level 3 is focused on having students use higher order thinking processes for short term use, including articulating one’s reasoning in using knowledge and skills from multiple sources to identify research questions and design investigations to solve a problem, to support ideas with details and examples in their proposals, and to use voice appropriate to the purpose and audience for their proposals and oral presentations.

Summative Assessment Guidelines:Individual Requirements

1. Each student will use databases to research the procedures/structures on his/her group’s chosen topic in at least one current or past country or society and will be required to take notes in the format of an annotated bibliography format.

2. Each student must create a process journal detailing what he/she accomplished each day, successes, obstacles/frustrations encountered, and goals for the following day of work.

Group Requirements1. Groups will create a backwards plan that shows who is in charge of what part of the project, including which group members are researching

which past or present society’s procedures/structures on their chosen topic, who will complete what part of the final project, and what small goals they will need to meet to meet the project requirements.

2. Groups will create an outline of a proposal that details the group’s ideas for their chosen topic (what their ideal community would look like with their chosen topic). Groups will conference with the teacher to share their ideas and get feedback of things they are doing well and things they need to consider to make the proposal stronger.

3. Groups will create a rough draft of their visual aid for their presentation. Groups must get this checked by the teacher before starting the final visual aid.

4. Groups will create a final draft of a proposal that details the group’s ideas for their chosen topic (what their ideal community would look like with their chosen topic). In the proposal, they must explain their proposed plans for their ideal community, justifying the benefits their ideas will bring to this ideal community. This must be typed.

5. Groups will create a strong visual aid to use during their oral presentation of their proposal that will enhance their presentation.6. Groups will compile a works cited page that includes all group members’ resources used. This must be typed.7. Groups will give a 4-5 minute oral presentation using the visual aid and all group members must participate in the oral presentation.

Central Text: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Text Complexity Analysis: Quantitative: 570 Lexile and grade band level range grades 6-8

Qualitative: The organization and conventionality are very complex because readers must be able to make sense of this unique society and their societal rules and procedures and keep track of stories from the present tense and many flashbacks into the past that offer pieces of a complex storyline puzzle, as well as be able to read between the lines with the euphemisms and vague terms to make inferences about what is

really going on beneath the surface. The knowledge demands of the experiences portrayed, are also very complex because issues like population control infanticide, euthanasia, artificial insemination, fertility procedures, and surrogate mothers will be uncommon to most readers.

Reader-Task: After reading the text, I want students to be able to think critically about the rules and laws we have that govern our own society and if determine whether or not they help or hurt our country and to think outside the box, looking at the society the characters in The Giver designed to address our modern problems of over population, child neglect and neglect of the elderly and other vulnerable citizens, war, famine, problems caused by our obsession with physical appearance, inequity in our financial status, broken homes, etc. and looking at the laws and procedures of other countries to image ways that we could create a better country and perhaps even a better world. Books like this start deep discussions and foster curiosity that causes students to really look beyond themselves and take on more responsibility as active members of our society and, because students will have such different visions on how we could change things to make them better, if they can learn to actively listen to the points of view of their classmates and work together to devise a system that addresses the needs of all stakeholders, maybe when they are adults, they will be more able and willing to work together when this generation takes control of our governing system instead of participating in the “us vs. them” games we always seem to play and the agendas both sides come in with. TheGiver is a good choice for 8th graders because, developmentally, they are already at a stage that they are naturally challenging established systems and rules, so it makes sense to put these natural questioning/challenging strategies into solving real world issues. Because the curriculm they have had in their world studies/social studies classes has not got much into modern problems in American and other countries’societies, and because a large portion of students this age don’t pay much attention to national or world news, there will be a lot of topics that they don’t have previous knowledge about, so some of the research groups will be starting almost from scratch with creating background knowledge they will need when designing aspects of their utopian society.

Other materials/resources (including images and videos): the short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” articles on different modern day societal conflicts (population control laws, educational practices in different cultures, the benefits and opportunity costs of various new technology, different systems of governments, etc.), YouTube clip, “Shirley and Jenny: Two Elephants Reunited After More Than 20 Years”

Instructional SequenceFrontloading/Anticipatory SetLesson plan or outline:

- Silent discussion threads with the essential questions for this unit- Read the short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

a. Pre-reading chart – big problems facing our nation and the world today (independently fill out the chart, 4 corners activity with categories of issues, such as the economy, the legal system and politics, abuse and neglect, war)

Week One

To prepare students for reading the dystopian novel, The Giver, we will start with a whole class reading of “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.Some of synopsis from SparkNotes: It is the year 2081. Because of Amendments 211, 212, and 213 to the Constitution, every American is fully equal, meaning that no one is stupider, uglier, weaker, or slower than anyone else. The Handicapper General and a team of agents ensure that the laws of equality are enforced. 14 year old, Harrison Bergeron, tries to challenge the system and ends up losing his life in the process.Activity/Strategy Texts and Resources Sequencing and

ScaffoldingFormative Assessments Targeted

VocabularyInstructional Notes

Monday:Vocabulary activity

Silent discussion threads with essential questions for this unit

Anchor charts for essential questions Anticipatory set to

introduce the essential questions for the unit

Individual answers on the silent discussion threads and student responses to thethoughts of other students’ writings

Ideas shared by small groups on their anchor charts show depth of thought on the issues we will be examining in the unit (the starting point for their ideas)

Equality Diversity Freedom Family

Students receive a vocabulary template that requires them to create their own definitions of the vocabulary words, write at least two synonyms for each word, draw a visual representation of the word, and use the word in a sentence.To start the unit, students will move in small groups to tables with anchor charts with essential questions from the unit. They will rotate around to write an initial answer to each question, and then the second timerotating, they will respond to someone else’s comments. After they have gone around the second time, they will each go and stand beside the question they found the most interesting.In small groups with people who are also standing by the anchor chart they chose, they will share their ideas about the essential question and they will write down their responses on anchor charts. We will thenhave a class share out.

Tuesday:Word webs for the vocabulary we will encounter in “Harrison Bergeron”

Journal question

“Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Vocabulary prepWord webs – Can students create their own definitions of the vocabulary words, write at least two synonyms for each word, draw a visual representation of the word,and use the word in a sentence?

Calibrated Consternation Cower Hindrance Vigilance

Students will work in small groups to create words webs on the short story vocabulary words and they will share them out with the rest of the class to prepare the class forreading “Harrison Bergeron.”

As a pre-reading activity, the students will answer the journal question to prepare them

Begin whole class reading of “Harrison Bergeron.”

for reading “Harrison Bergeron.”

“Of the following qualities or talents, which do you think our society values the most: physical appearance, athletic talent, or intelligence?Explain why. Which quality do you think is the most valuable? Explain why.”

We will begin reading “Harrison Bergeron” together as a whole class.

Activity/Strategy Texts and Resources Sequencing and Scaffolding

Formative Assessments Targeted Vocabulary

Instructional Notes

Thursday:Reading and text marking of articles on examples of civil disobedience

Anchor chart information

Short articles on people and organizations who have participated in civil disobedience (Gandhi, Malala, Harvey Milk, Arthur Ashe, RyanWhite, Dalai Lama, etc.)

In small groups, students will read examples of civil disobedience (people and movements) and will mark the text. In their small groups, students will compare their notes and will create an anchor chart that details the person or movement.

Friday:

“Stay and Stray” activity

Define civil disobedience

Ties with definition of civil disobedience and text examples that were shared from the articles

Independent journal tying back to “HarrisonBergeron”

Transition from small group work to individual share out of information

Transition from whole class instruction on civil disobedience with group share outs to individual claims about Harrison Bergeron

Anchor chart presentations – Did they find the most important parts and present it well?

Civil disobedience

We will hang our anchor charts and students will participate in a “Stay and Stray” activity where one group member stays at his/her group’s poster and shares the information with other class members. There will be five group members, and each group member will present to one small group and will listen to the other presentations.Students will write the definition of civil disobedience and we will connect the information shared in the “Stay and Stray” to the definition looking at what the motivations were for the activists.Individual journal – “What was Harrison’s goal at the end? Were his actions civil disobedience or was he rebelling in an attempt to take control himself and better his own situation? Defend your answer.”

Week 2

As we read, The Giver, there will be times that we do whole class activities, times they will work in literature circle groups, and times they will work independently. When they work in literature circles, each group member will have a separate task, which will depend on what is going on with the passage we are focusing on at the time.Monday:

Opinionnaire

4 Corners

Activate prior knowledge and build background

Collaborative work

These activities will show me where the students are in their awareness of current societal issues.

Because our culminating project will be for students to work in groups to research laws, structures, and procedures from other countries both past and present and to write a proposal for a new community, these activities will get students to start considering the modern day problems we arefacing in our nation and in the world.

Tuesday:

Pre-reading journal questions

Read aloud

Illustrated tracking of the community’s laws, rules, structures and procedures

“First I think . . . Now I think . . .” chart for the vocabulary term,“release”

Class set of The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Packets for the students with their TDQs and reflective journal questions

TDQ = text- dependent questions

Students acquire vocabulary easier by connecting new words to times they would see the word in everyday life.

Modeling of “think- aloud” to help students see how to actively read the novel.

Teacher read aloud of chapter 1 aloud frees up students to focus on tracking the unique features of the community.

The journals will expose the world perceptions the students are starting the unit with, which will help us see how much their perceptions get strengthened or changed during the unit.

The illustrated tracking will show their understanding of the unique systems in the community.

The “First I think . . .” chart will show me how well they can pick up on context clues

Utopia

Dystopia

Release

Students will have four journal topics to choose from in their packets, and they need to choose two out of the four to respond to.

I will read chapter 1 aloud to the students and, as I am reading, I will be modeling a “think-aloud” and they will be taking illustrated notes on the laws, structures, and procedures that make the community in The Giver unique. This illustrated tracking is one of the literature circle jobs, so I want everyone to have experience with it before they have to do it independently.

Chapter 1 introduces the term, “release” and, although it is not obvious what the term means, some examples are provided about what situations would lead to a release. Students will start tracking what they think the word means as we see itused in different sections of the book.

Wednesday:Read-alouds

“First I think . . .” chart for release

Illustrated tracking


Acquisition of necessary vocabulary

Modeling of “think- alouds” and guidedpractice through journals and TDQs

The illustrated tracking will show their understanding of the unique systems in the community.

“First I think . . .” will

Aptitude (p 2) Continue reading chapter 1 aloud andcontinue “First I think ” chart for release.

Continue laws, structures, and systems illustrated tracking and students answer the TDQ questions from chapter 1.

TDQ questionsshow how well they canpick up on context clues

Read chapter 2, continue “First I think”and TDQs and journal questions for ch 2.

Activity/Strategy Texts and Resources Sequencing and Scaffolding

Formative Assessments Targeted Vocabulary

Instructional Notes

Thursday:

TDQs and reflective journals

Vocabulary

Read aloud

TDQs

Student generated higher- level discussion questions (students will have had much practice withCosta’s 3 Levels of Learning/Questioning and will have a handout to remind them of what level2 and 3 questions look like)




Horded (p 3)

Solemn (p 3)

Read chapter 3 as a whole class.

Literature circle work – vocabulary mapping for chapter 1, illustrated laws, structures and systems, and create their own higher-level discussion questions for chapters 1-3.

Students answer questions about chapters 1 and 2 combine that require a combination of TDQs, inferences, and connections.

Students answer chapter 3 TDQ

Friday:

Whole class reading

Literature circle reading and tasks

Reflective journal questions




Teacher modeled critical thinking and making inferences - “I do” and now we move on to “We do.”

Answers to TDQs and reflective journal questions for chapter 5 and 6 show how well students are comprehending the novel and how well they can make connections between the events in the novel and real life situations.

Disquieting (5)

Infraction (5)

Interdependence (6)

Reprieve (6)

Pair reading of chapter 4 with students taking turns reading

Literature circle groups – some do illustrated tracking from chapter 4, others define chapter 5 and 6 vocabulary words.

Read chapter 5 and 6 in lit. circle groups and, independently, answer the reflective journal question.

Week ThreeActivity/Strategy Texts and

ResourcesSequencing and Scaffolding

Formative Assessments

Targeted Vocabulary

Instructional Notes

Monday:

Reading in literature circle groups

TDQs


Teacher modeled critical thinking, making inferences, lookingclosely in the text (“I do”) and small group work takes them to the “You do” strategy.

Answers to TDQs for chapter 8 and 9 show how well students comprehend the novel.

Read chapter 7, 8, and 9 in literature circle groups.

TDQs for chapters 8 and 9.

Tuesday:

Vocabulary

Reading in literature circles

Reflective journal question


Packets for the students with their TDQs and reflective journal questions.


Assessment of vocabulary acquisition – can they use the words in a real life context?

Conspicuous (10)

Admonition (12)

Fleeting (12)

Relinquished (12)

Literature circle vocabulary maps for chapter 10-12.

Read chapter 10 and 11 in literature circles.

Answer reflective journal question for chapter 11 independently.

Begin reading chapter 12 in literature circles.

Wednesday:

Whole class reads

TDQ and reflective journal

Word choice analysis for a descriptive and emotionally- charged passage

Text marking

Brainstorm list of writer’s techniques used to evoke emotion



Copies of passage for text marking


The embedded instruction activity for the passage in chapter 13 will help me see how well students can analyze word choice and identify the techniques the writer uses to evoke strong emotion from the reader.

Sinuous (13)

Indifferent (13)

Successor (13)

Assimilated (13)

Finish reading chapter 12 as a whole class and answer the TDQ and reflective journal about chapter 12.

Define chapter 13 vocabulary and start embedded instruction activity for chapter 13. Read the first part of chapter 13 together, and will stop right after we finish the passage about the elephant slaughter. Each student gets a copy of that passage to reread and underline powerful words/phrases. In small groups, students will have five minutes to brainstorm things the author did to evoke emotion fromthem in their composition books (techniques). Whole class share out.

Thursday:

YouTube clip

Free write journal response

TDQs for chapter 13


“Shirley and Jenny: Two Elephants Reunited After More Than 20Years.”


The YouTube clip will help students generate stronger word choice and make their rewriting of the passage from chapter 13 more engaging because they will be more invested in it after seeing the example from the video. The video breathes life into the words in the passage and gives it movement, which will help them also breathe more life into their re-written passage.

I will collect the composition books and assess the free writes, focusing on sensory details, figurative language, and the use of specific words to create a mood.

Continue embedded instruction activity for chapter 13 by watching the YouTube clip, “Shirley and Jenny: Two Elephants Reunited After More Than 20 Years.” Students do a ten minute free write journal response putting the YouTube clip characters into the passage from chapter 13 to personalize it more and practice using the writer’s powerful word choice techniques

Complete the TDQs for chapter 13.

Friday:

Look at strong student examples of descriptive writing.

Collaborative work brainstorming qualities that make each student example strong

Different vocabulary word map

Copies of the best student examples fromyesterday’s descriptive write.

Packets for the students with their TDQs and reflective journal questions,


Teacher modeled critical thinking, making inferences, lookingclosely in the text (“I do”) and small group work takes them to the “You do” strategy.

Assuage (14)

Ominous (14)

Provide small groups with photo copies of the best student examples fromyesterday’s descriptive write.

I will put the students into groups and will give each group a packet with four or five student examples. The groups will read the free writes together and will brainstorm qualities that make each example strong.

Go through chapter 14’s vocabulary words independently with a different, more simplified word map.

Week FourActivity/Strategy Texts and



Targeted Vocabulary

Instructional Notes

Monday:

“Notices Wonderings” activity with pictures of homelessness and famine

Whole class reading

TDQs and reflective journal questions

Vocabulary

“Notices Wonderings” activity with pictures of war



We have gonethrough “I do” and “We do” so they should be ready for “You do.”


Contorted (15)

Carnage (15)

Immobilized (15)

Because this section of the book gets into real world issues like homelessness and famine as well as war, and because I want students to continue to critically think about why the community has some of the seemingly strange laws and procedures (including ones that are extreme but are trying to prevent things like war, famine, homelessness, etc.) I will give each student a “Notices andWonderings” handout and show them some pictures of homelessness and famine. Without speaking, students will write down what they observe and what they are wondering about.

We will read chapter 14 independently and will answer the two TDQs.

Students will add to their “First I think . .. Now I think . . .” chart for the mention of release on page 114.

Go through vocabulary for chapter 15 with the word maps independently.

Students will flip their “Notices andWonderings” handouts over to the back and I will show them some pictures of war. Without speaking, students will write down what they observe and whatthey are wondering about.

Tuesday:

Independent reading

TDQs and reflective journal questions

Vocabulary


Packets for the students with their TDQs, reflective journal questions and

We have gone through “I do” and “We do” so they should be ready for “You do.”


Pervaded (16)

Permeated (17)

Students will read chapter 15 independently and will answer the TDQ and the reflective journal question.

Students independently complete the vocabulary maps for chapter 16 and 17 vocabulary, and.

reading vocabulary Read chapter 16 and 17 independently and answer the TDQ and reflective journal questions.

Activity/Strategy Texts and Resources

Sequencing and Scaffolding


Targeted Vocabulary

Instructional Notes

Wednesday:

Vocabulary

Whole class reading and TDQs

Close read and “First I think . . . Now I think . ..” chart



“First I think . . . Now I think . . .” chart

Students have had modeling and guided practice of TDQs, so they should be prepared to tackle a close read activity with a small amount to assistance.


The close read assignment will assess their attention to detail and their ability to make connections between the events throughout the novel.

Dejected (18)

Luminous (18)

Release (19) – add final definition

Students do the vocabulary map for chapter 18.

Read chapter 18 as a class and answer the TDQ.

The students will get their “First I think .. . Now I think . . .” chart out because they will be finding out the real meaning of release. We will start on the close read activity, which should take the rest of today and most of tomorrow (see attached notes for detailed description ofstopping points, TDQs, etc.).

Thursday:

Close read activity

Reflective journal question and TDQ

Vocabulary


Packets for the students with their TDQs, reflective journal questions and reading vocabulary


The close read assignment will assess their attention to detail and their ability to make connections between the events throughout the novel.

Emphatically (20)

Augmented (20)

Haphazard (20)

Finish the close read activity of chapter 19.

Students answer the reflective journal question.

Students turn in the “First I think . . . Now I think . . .” finished assignment.

Complete the vocabulary for chapter 20 in literature circles and write 2-3 higher level discussion questions for chapter19.

Friday:

Reading in literature circle groups

TDQs


Packets for the students with their TDQs, reflective journal questions and reading vocabulary

Teacher modeled critical thinking, making inferences, looking closely in the text (“I do”) and small group work takes them to the “You do” strategy.

Read chapter 20 and 21 in literature circle groups and answer the two TDQs independently.

Week Five – Start Summative AssessmentActivity/Strategy Texts and



Targeted Vocabulary

Instructional Notes

Monday:Finish reading The Giver

Individual TDQs and reflective journals and literaturecircle work

Whole class reading of chapter 22-23 (the last part of the book).

Tuesday:

Go through: summative assessment and rubric

Process journal requirements

Topic sign up

Backward plan Model

Modeling of expectations through rubrics and detailed requirement sheet

Annotated bibliography

Backward planning

Explain summative assessment and show rubric. Explain process journals that each student will complete as they work through the summative assessment.Students sign up for topics and backward plan, dividing up responsibilities to make sure they meet deadlines. Explain annotated bibliographies each student will create as they conduct database research.

Wednesday - Thursday: Database research

Write summaries and annotated bibliographies (each person responsible for his/her own annotated bibliography)

Process Journals (purpose – metacognitive activity to help them see what strategies work, don’t work, what progress has been made, and still needs to be made)

Databases

I will provide ideas for countries and time periods to research that will provide the groups with a variety of systems, which should help them narrow in on good sources. By working in small groups and dividing up the responsibilities, the work should be more evenly distributed than is typical of group work.

Annotated bibliography

Process journal

Each group will be assigned countries and/or time periods to research that tie into their topics and they need to search the databases to look at each counties’ system and create an annotated bibliography. Each student will also spend five minutes at the end of each period writing his/her process journal, detailing the progress, successes and obstacles he/she faced that day.

Activity/Strategy Texts and Resources Sequencing andScaffolding

FormativeAssessments

TargetedVocabulary

Instructional Notes

Friday-Monday of Week 6:Create rough draft of laws, rules, procedures, and structures

Modeling of strong visual

Rough draft of visual

Modeling of strong visuals and rough draft created to make sure students are on the right track.

Groups practice creating proposal with a rough draft to make sure they have all the required components.

Rough draft of visual

Rough draft of proposal

Groups meet, share findings from other communities, make up their own laws, rules, procedures, structures, and start an outline of their proposal.As a class, we go through components of a strong visual, create rough draft of visual, and get visual rough draft checked off (before starting the final).Groups will conference with the teacher about their outline so that feedback can be given about the strengths and things that need to be considered before the final proposal.

Responsibilities need to be split up with some group members creating the outline and the other groupmembers creating the visual aid rough draft.

Week SixTuesday- Wednesday: Type proposal and create works cited

Create visual

Practice presentation

computers Step by step completion of project to make it more manageable

Students will be in the computer lab typing their proposal for their topic, typing a works cited page with all of the group’s sources, and will create their visual. If the visual is computer generated, students will print out an outline to help them practice giving the presentation.

Thursday- Friday:

Group presentations

Groups take turns giving their presentations. After all presentations have been given, students will individual complete self and group assessments on loose leaf paper, explaining the grade each groupmember deserves and why.

Integrated Literacy Mini-LessonWhen will the mini-lesson occur in the unit? :In chapter 13 of The Giver, there is a dramatic scene where the giver passes a memory to Jonas of an elephant being slaughtered for its tusks, and the ceremony of mourning his companions go through. In a small passage, Lois Lowry is able to transmit such a vivid, emotional picture through carefully chosen descriptions.

Mini-lesson focus (academic vocabulary, word study, grammar in context, etc.):I will focus this mini lesson on sensory details and strategically using word choice to create mood.

Mini-lesson outline or lesson plan:1. We will read the first part of chapter 13 together, and will stop right after we finish the passage about the elephant slaughter.2. I will give each student a copy of that section of the book and they will reread it and underline words and phrases that stick out to them.3. In small groups, students will brainstorm things the author did to evoke emotion from them in their composition books (techniques). I

will give them five minutes to do this, and then we will have a whole class share out.4. The students will now watch a short YouTube video, “Shirley and Jenny: Two Elephants Reunited after More Than 20 Years.” As

Anderson suggested in chapter 3 of Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer’s Workshop, students will free write for ten minutes rewriting the story of the elephant slaughter from The Giver putting the characters of Jenny and Shirley in the story to make it more personal.

5. I will collect the composition books and assess the free writes, focusing on sensory details, figurative language, and the use of specific words to create a mood.

6. Before class the next day, I will photo copy the best student examples.7. I will put the students into groups and will give each group a packet with four or five student examples. The groups will read the free

writes together and will brainstorm qualities that make each example strong.

Mini-assessment:The formative assessment will consist of students being able to identify the techniques the author used to evoke emotion, their rewrite of the elephant slaughter passage in the first part of chapter 13 after watching the YouTube clip, and their brainstorm lists of the qualities that made each student example so strong.

Close Reading Activity

When will the close reading activity occur in the unit? During chapter 19 of The Giver.Text ExcerptThe passage I will be focusing on is chapter 19 of The Giver on page 146-151. In this section, the protagonist, Jonas realize that “release” means killing someone in the community and witnesses his father kill a “newchild” because he was an identical twin and identical twins are prohibited in their community. When identical twins are born, they assess the twins to determine which one is stronger, which might come down to which twin weighs more. The twin that Jonas’ father kills is considered the weaker twin because he weighed a few ounces less than his twin. I know that, in the past when I have taught this novel, the kids are horrified when they realize that the community murders people so deliberately and emotionlessly. This is such a turning point of the story because everything Jonas believed about his life, his family, and his community is shattered and, this once fully obedient boyis now willing to abandon nearly every aspect of existence.Close Reading Strategy and Text-Dependent Questions for This Passage

Before we start reading the passage, the students will create the following chart in their interactive notebooks and will fill the chart out.

Brainstorm three times earlier in the book when the narrator has mentioned that people have been released. What has the community’s response been to those releases?

After they have had a few minutes to fill in their charts, we will break the chapter into three parts and will number each part. The first part goes from the start of the chapter until just before the recording is played. They will then answer the question, “Explain at least three specific examples from earlier in the book that show Jonas’ community lacks a strong emotional connection to each other.”

The second part goes from the video recording playing until the middle of page 151 when the screen goes blank. They will then answer the following questions:

1. What is the Giver’s attitude during the playing of the release video and give specific details about the Giver’s behavior that led you to your conclusion.

2. Explain exactly what the twin does after he is injected that reminds Jonas of the memory of the soldier.

3. Describe, in detail, Jonas’ father’s actions and comments as he performs the ceremony of release. What does that reveal about the emotional state his father is in during the release?

The third part goes from when the screen goes blank on page 151 to the end of the chapter at the bottom of that page. They then answer the following question, “Describe the type of person Rosemary is citing specific things the Giver has told Jonas about her before and at the end of chapter 19 to support your opinions.”

These questions will ensure the students are reading closely because they will have to make connections between so many parts in the earlier chapters to answer question #1 to provide examples of the lack of emotional connections. Questions 2, 3, and 4 require them to put information together to form a conclusion. Question 3 deals with recall of a short phrase that is actually very significant.

Times When People Have Been Released Response From the Community

idaho core teacher network unit plan template - sde.idaho.gov web viewthey will share their proposal...

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