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Running head: “AMIGO BROTHERS” BY PIRI THOMAS: LESSON PLAN 1

“Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas: Lesson Plan

Cristina Turbatu

OTL502 – Learning Theories and Models of Instruction

Colorado State University – Global Campus

Dr. Melanie Shaw

March 20, 2016

“AMIGO BROTHERS” BY PIRI THOMAS: LESSON PLAN2

“Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas: Lesson Plan

Desired Results

Content Standard(s): Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) contend that teachers should use standards and curriculum guides as “guideposts” in order to be demanding and maintain high expectations of students (p. 7). This lesson uses the Language Arts Florida Standards for Grade 8 (Miami-Dade Public Schools Office of Academics & Transformation, 2015). These are closely aligned to the Common Core Standards.

LAFS.8.RL.1.1

Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Cognitive Complexity: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts

LAFS.8.RL.1.2

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text. Cognitive Complexity: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning

LAFS.8.RL.1.3

Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. Cognitive Complexity: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning

Unpacked Standard(s):

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) assert that teachers should unpack standards to determine declarative knowledge (concepts) and procedural knowledge or procedures (p. 8). The above standards have been unpacked and encompass the following declarative knowledge: theme, inferences, textual evidence, setting, plot, characters, internal/external conflict, and development. In terms of procedural knowledge, the following are covered: analyze, cite, determine, and support. These are the unpacked standards:

Students will be able to analyze a text to determine theme or main idea.

Students will be able to cite strong textual evidence to support their analysis.

Students will be able to identify both explicit and inferred meaning in a text.

Students will be able to identify setting, plot, characters, and internal/external conflict in a text.


Students will be able to determine how the author uses setting, plot, characterization, and conflict to highlight the theme.

Students will be able to determine how the author develops characters in a text, providing textual evidence or details.

Essential Questions:

According to Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), essential questions solicit deep thought and require students to analyze new information and make evaluations and personal decisions (p. 9).

Why do individuals change over the course of a relationship?

How can conflict lead to both positive and negative changes in individuals?

Students will set their own personal goals by: Personal Goal Setting Worksheets; Teacher will ensure students know that goals have to be specific, measurable, attainable, measurable, and timely.

Progress on students’ personalized goals will be monitored by:

Students will complete worksheet and monitor progression. Students will collect evidence to show results and fill out last column that inquires “How did I do” after unit completion. Teacher will meet with students in individual conferences upon initial goal setting, mid-way in unit, and after final assessment.

Rules and Procedures: PLEASE SEE BELOW GOAL SETTING WORKSHEET

Personal Learning Goals

Review your pre-assessment results for “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas based on the three rubric categories. Complete the following goal setting worksheet with your personal learning goals. Think of specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely goals that can help you improve your mastery of the three rubric categories: Identify literary elements, Use Textual Evidence in Analysis, Determine theme and its development.

GOAL ACTION STEPS

WHERE AM I NOW?

TARGET DATES

HOW DID I DO?

(EVIDENCE)


PLEASE SEE BELOW GOAL SETTING WORKSHEET COMPLETED BY STUDENT


Stage 2: Assessment Evidence Directly Aligned to Content Standard

Pre-Assessment, including analysis of pre-assessment results:

Pre-Assessment: “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas

A theme is the central idea or message in a story or text. Themes can communicate universal ideas about life.

Directions: Read the story. As you read, complete columns 1, 2, and 3 of the following diagram. Then, answer the open-ended question regarding theme and the author’s development of the theme.

Literary Element Example from Text What can be inferred from the example?

Plot (Describe the action or main events in the story):

Setting (Where and when the story takes place):

Characterization (Describe main protagonists, including their personal qualities, actions, and responses):

Conflict (Identify the main external and internal conflicts in the story and how they are resolved):

What is the theme of the story? How does the author communicate the theme of the story? Provide examples from the story, including literary elements from the diagram above, as well as the most important and effective textual evidence you identified.


Identify

literar

y elem

ents

Use tex

tual evid

ence

in analy

sis

Determ

ine them

e and its

developmen

t0

1

2

3Student Pre-Assessment Scores on "Amigo Brothers"

JonathanZachCynthia

Rubric Categories

Scores

Analysis of Pre-Assessment Results: Describe the processes you took in steps above and analyze the results. Do you think students will experience success through these touchstones? Explain.

In order to develop a suitable formative pre-assessment for this lesson, I reviewed the standards I listed in the prior module and the unpacked versions of the standards. Based on these, I realized that the students needed to identify the literary elements of setting, plot, characters, and conflict in the story and provide evidence for their analysis before determining the theme of the story. In other words, this identification would then lead to higher-order thinking as students must determine how the literary elements connect to one another and lead to the theme or main idea.

I created the pre-assessment using a diagram/chart that would provide students with opportunities to select important quotations from the text and make inferences. Afterward, I asked students an open-ended response question. According to Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), open-ended responses are more challenging to students because they call for deep comprehension and higher-order thinking (p. 55). This fulfills the be demanding imperative.

Before administering the pre-assessment, I created the rubric. It was easier for me to think like a student and take the assessment myself. I deemed my answers to be “above proficiency” or advanced and created a basic rubric with three categories and three possible scores (3 would mean advanced, 2 would mean proficiency, and 1 would mean below proficiency). The three categories were based on the standards or objectives of the lesson unit.

Students then completed the pre-assessment. I scored the pre-assessments using a score for each


component of the rubric and feedback on each of those components. So, rather than giving out percentages or grades, I focused on what needs to be done concretely to achieve at a higher level. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), state, “By omitting the grade from the feedback, students can focus on what needs to be done so that their project meets more sophisticated criteria” (p. 39). Once they received their feedback, the students were surprised to see no grades and needed some time to review the feedback and connect it to the rubric which I had given to them. I explained to them the categories of the rubric in student-friendly language. With both the rubric and their pre-assessment in front of them, they thought about what they needed to work on to improve their understanding.

The graph of the pre-assessment results, which I included above, shows that the students are not proficient in most categories. I realized we need to start working on identifying literary elements, then progress toward selecting effective and important evidence from the text, draw inferences, and connect the literary elements/evidence/inferences to determine the theme. The pre-assessment informed me of what we need to focus on and in what order. I realize, now, how essential it is to develop a pre-assessment and have students complete it.

After students reviewed their pre-assessment results, I passed out the Personal Goal Worksheet and explained to the students that they should specify personal learning goals based on their pre-assessment results and the rubric. I mentioned that goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. I also gave an example of how to start completing the worksheet. I think many of them were not used to self-assessing themselves and their strengths/weaknesses as a type of meta-analysis, so I spent more time than I planned during this phase of the lesson. Indeed, Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), proclaim that teachers should peel back the curtain and make performance expectations clear (p. 31). This touchstone means that providing samples and examples for students helps them understand what is expected of them.

I observed that the students spent significant amount of time and concentration on the Personal Goal Worksheet. They seemed thrilled to be able to track their own progress and think about what they needed to do to progress. I think they felt more autonomous and in control. Goodwin & Hubbell (2013) state that teachers should measure understanding against high expectations. This fourth touchstone of good teaching is in line with the activity of having students set their own personal learning goals because they can begin to see the connection between effort and success. In other words, they will have higher expectations of themselves through these touchstones and demand more of themselves. As an educator, I will also maintain high standards of my students as I develop detailed lesson plans based on the objectives we must achieve.

Rubric:


Rubric: Analyzing Theme in “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas

Below Proficiency Proficient AdvancedIdentify literary

elementsStudent does not identify or insufficiently describes literary elements that the author uses to convey the theme of the story.

Student correctly identifies and describes relevant literary elements that the author uses to convey the theme of the story.

Student correctly identifies and describes literary elements, including plot, setting, characterization, and conflict (to include internal/external conflict discussion).

Use textual evidence in analysis

Student does not develop the topic sufficiently, choosing quotations that that do not provide clear support for analysis.

Student develops the topic thoroughly by selecting the most important quotations from the text and drawing inferences to support analysis.

Student develops the topic thoroughly by selecting the most important and effective quotations from the text and drawing inferences to support analysis.

Determine theme and its development

Student insufficiently describes the theme of the story and/or does not provide textual support or literary analysis.

Student determines the theme through analysis of literary elements, including setting, plot, characterization, and conflict.

Student determines the theme and analyzes its development in a text through discussion of literary elements, including plot, setting, characterization, and conflict (both internal/external).

Self or Peer Assessments:

Learning Plan – Directly Aligned to Content Standard AND Assessments

Learning Activities (It is anticipated that this unit will encompass 2-3 hours of class time):

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) suggest that teachers should grab student interest right at the beginning of the lesson. This can be done by asking a question or issuing a challenge. This suggestion is incorporate in the following:

Previewing Text/Making Prediction


Students are asked to look at the text, captions, and pictures in the story. Then, they have to write in their class journal what they think the story is about in 3-5 sentences. As the pictures and captions reference boxing, teacher will ask students what they know about the game of boxing, including famous boxers. Afterward, teacher will share brief history of boxing and will ask if any students are fans of the sport. Students may also predict that they story involves friendship and is set in New York City, since the captions and pictures refer to the setting.

Real World Relevancy

Teacher will ask students if they are fans of other sports and what sports/competition means to them. The purpose of this is to relate to the characters in the story by talking about the significance of the story. This also gives students a background into the story and allows students to connect to the story in that it represents a love for sports and competition, which many students may also share (sports or other hobbies). Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) purport that creating opportunities for students to share their interests helps teachers form positive student-teacher relationships by getting to know their students.

KWL Chart

Based on their previewing, predictions, and class discussion, students will fill out a KWL chart. At the end of the lesson, they will fill out the last column with what they have learned.

What I KNOW What I WANT to Learn What I have LEARNED

Guided Practice: Plot and Setting

Teacher will post open-ended comprehension questions on the board. This is important during the guided practice as students delve into the plot and dissect the text. Setting will also be discussed.

What is the setting of the story?

What is the goal of each boy?

Discuss the similarities and differences between Felix and Antonio.

What conflicts do the boys face?

How do you think their friendship will be impacted by the fight?


What happens at the end of the story? Why do you think the author left the ending open-ended?

Teacher will begin reading text, modeling fluency and introducing new vocabulary words. Reading of the text will include choral reading, oral cloze technique, and students each reading a paragraph out loud. Alternating reading methods is important to encourage active listening.

Think-Pair-Share

Class will pause reading periodically to complete questions 1 and 2. Each student will be paired with another student to share ideas. Teacher will walk around the classroom during this time to talk about student responses and reflections. Each pair will share a brief answer delineating their ideas.

Defining: Characterization

Teacher will define and explain characterization, including direct/indirect, protagonist/antagonist, and dialogue. Students will write terms in their journal. Teacher will ask students the following question: How does dialogue help shape characters? Class will discuss.

Venn Diagram

Students will complete a Venn Diagram with a partner to answer question # 3: Discuss the similarities and differences between Felix and Antonio. Students must provide direct quotes from the text for any item they write in the Venn Diagram. In this manner, they will become acquainted with providing textual support/evidence in relation to a literary term and citing with page numbers. Teacher will circle around the room during this time to help students with providing textual support and will challenge students to think of both direct and indirect characterization in their Venn Diagram. By including indirect characterization, students will learn how to make inferences.

Defining: Conflict

Teacher will define and discuss external conflict and internal conflict. Students will be asked to think of examples of internal conflict and examples of external conflict. In this manner, students will be compelled to connect the subject matter to their own personal lives. (Real-Life Connections)

Literary Circle and Reflections

Students will be asked to reflect on the story they have read and write their responses to questions # 5 and 6 by referring to the text, their notes, Venn diagram, and all activities they completed for this unit. Students will form a circle and each student in the circle will provide an answer to the questions. Since these questions provide for higher-order thinking and critical


thinking, students will appreciate hearing different perspectives and sharing ideas. Students will show respect, courtesy, and cooperation by being quiet and reflective while a student shares his/her thoughts. Students will have two minutes to respond to a students’ answer and contribute further ideas to develop the plot or ask other questions. The literary circle will expose students to open dialogue and contribute to a supportive classroom environment. It will also help students delve into the main ideas in the story and come closer to discussing theme.

Real-World Relevancy

During the literary circle, teacher will ask students to reflect on their own personal friendships and how their friendships can be affected by external or internal conflict. Students will be asked to share with the class. This will compel students to connect to the text in a practical, real-world manner. At the same time, they will grasp the literary element of conflict and delve into the plot and theme of the story.

Student Freedom of Choice: Project-Based Learning

Teacher will define literary term: theme. Students will write definition in their journals. Teacher will ask students what they think the main message of the story “Amigo Brothers” is. Teacher will emphasize that readers can grasp difference messages or themes, but strong textual support must be provided to support one’s analysis. Teacher will allow students to express what they think the theme of “Amigo Brothers” is through a project that they will complete as homework and showcase to the class during 3-5 minute individual presentations. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) suggest that teachers ought to provide students with choices in completing activities, since freedom of choice is connected to an increase in intrinsic motivation (p. 73). In this sense, this project activity will provide students with a choice in representing the theme of the story. Students will choose one project to complete depending on their personal interests/inclinations.

Create a short movie clip to show one scene from the story. You can enlist friends to help

you. Explain how the scene highlights the theme of the story.

Create a poster that showcases the theme of the story. You must include pictures and

caption the pictures to relate to plot, setting, characterization, conflict, and theme.

Create a piece of artwork to represent the theme of the story: painting, sculpture,

diorama, etc.

Write an analytical essay explaining the theme of the story. Provide strong textual

evidence and citations from the story. Include page numbers in your direct quotations.

Explain how the author highlights the theme of the story. Your answer should include a

discussion of several literary elements, including setting, characterization, and conflict.

Create a book log to include your observations about the story, including plot, setting,


characterization, internal conflict, external conflict, and theme.

Finish KWL Chart and Goal-Setting Reflection: Students will complete the “L” element of their KWL chart in their journals. Teacher will walk around the room and address each student’s chart, asking students if they accomplished what they wanted to learn (the “W” element).

Critical Thinking Assignment

Students will answer the following critical thinking assignment:

Why does Piri Thomas make the ending ambiguous? How does this relate to the theme of the story? Provide specific textual evidence to make your argument, as well as a discussion of plot, setting, characterization, and internal/external conflict.

Teacher will collect assignment and provide individualized feedback. Teacher will use aforementioned rubric to rate the student’s progress.

Personal Goal-Setting, Student Engagement, and Coaching: Individual Student-Teacher Conferences

After passing out the graded critical thinking assignment with personalized constructive feedback, students will be asked to complete their goal-setting worksheet based on their progress. Teacher will hold five minute individual student-teacher conferences with each student to discuss how they think they did on the assignment and how they can improve. Student and teacher will discuss personal goal worksheets and students will make an additional goal and list action steps for it based on the feedback they received on the critical thinking assignment.

Rules, Procedures, Feedback, and Mastery of the Standards

In reading Goodwin and Hubbell’s (2013) book about effective teaching, I was surprised to find out that students can only remember about seven rules (p. 108). Thus, teachers should focus on ground rules, rather than listing a plethora of major and minor rules. This is different from what I expected, since I was taught to believe that teachers should enumerate every single rule that may be broken. I always thought it was better to include all of the items, rather than focus on generalities. It does make sense, however, that rules should be simple enough so students can internalize them. I also appreciate how Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) make it clear that rules should be grounded in positivity. The idea that rules should be grounded in positivity contributes to a supportive and positive classroom culture. Keeping this in mind, I crafted several rules and procedures for my class, which are simple, positive, and memorable.

Rules


Respect yourself, others, and the school environment

Use your time wisely

Be actively involved in class activities

Have a positive attitude!

Procedures

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) ascertain that teachers should greet each student individually every morning. This is a great opportunity to make eye contact with the student and show him/her that you care. It is another way to show support and validate a positive student-teacher relationship. This first procedure is based on this principle.

The teacher will stand in front of the door at the beginning of every class period, greeting each student as he or she comes into the classroom and make eye contact. Each week, the teacher will select a student to act as “Co-Greeter”, joining the teacher in properly greeting classmates. The students will take turns being the “Co-Greeter”. This will facilitate strong student-teacher relationships, as well as a cohesive classroom culture.

Aside from individual-teacher conferences, in which I will discuss academic and personal learning goals with the student, I also propose having a “Weekly Huddle” to check-in with the students and provide a safe space for them to talk about social and emotional aspects in their lives. The teacher will ensure the conversation is grounded in positivity and character education. According to Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), “Providing time…to occasionally unplug from learning and focus on students’ social and emotional lives can be time well spent” (p. 112).

Weekly Huddle: Once every week, the class will hold a 30-minute meeting to check-in with each other and talk about social and emotional aspects related to character education. The teacher will share a quote about character development and students will be asked to share something about their lives related to the quote, including anecdotes and life lessons.

Do Now: At the beginning of each class period, students are to be seated quietly, place their homework on their desks if applicable, and begin working on the Do Now activity listed on the board. The Do Now activity is a formative activity aimed at practicing topics/concepts from the previous day and previewing new material. It is not graded. The Do Now activity is important because it is, essentially, a bell-ringing exercise designed to get students to focus immediately upon entering the class, practice previous material, and get a sense of what topics will follow.

Homework: During the Do Now activity, I will check the students’ homework. Homework will not be graded. It will encompass 10% of the student’s final grade and


will serve as a check for understanding. According to Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), homework should serve as an opportunity for students “to challenge themselves and reveal their learning weakness to their teachers” (p. 53). Keeping this in mind, homework will only be given to students so they can practice the concepts they learned in school.

Classroom Discussions: During classroom discussion, it is important for every single student to have a voice and contribute to the discussion. Thus, the teacher will randomly use craft sticks to call on students, ensuring every student’s voice is heard. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) sustain that calling on everyone will propel students to understand that asking questions and making mistakes are a normal part of learning.

Literature Circle and Groups (Formal Cooperative Activity): Before holding a literature circle discussion encompassing the entire class, students will be assigned into groups so that they can reflect on the text, answer critical thinking questions with their group members, and come up with any questions they may have about the material. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) purport that teachers should have concrete guidelines in place before commencing group activities, including ways to foster “positive interdependence” and “individual accountability” (p. 119). In this sense, groups will be identified on the board when students walk in the classroom. Students will have 30 seconds to quietly arrange their desks into groups. Afterward, they will have five minutes to choose a group name based on a character education trait and to select each individual’s role in the group. This activity will foster both group cooperation and individual accountability. Since this is a writing-focused class, the group members will decide which role is most suitable for them and submit their role sheet to the teacher: Summarizer (summarizes text and group discussions), Questioner (lists relevant questions the group wants to discuss), Connector (makes connections between the literature and the world at large), and Literary Luminary (selects strong and relevant quotes from the text). At the conclusion of the group activity, they will have another 30 seconds to quietly arrange their desks into rows as they were before the group activity. As Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), maintain, it is important to have “tight transitions” between activities (p. 113) in order to keep a structured classroom and not waste time.

Finishing work early: If students are to finish work early, they are to begin reading their independent reading book. It is important that they bring a book of their choice to read. This not only communicates to them that reading is important, but keeps them on task and gives them a choice in their learning activities. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) state that students should be given a learning choice to exercise their personal interests (p. 84). This provides them with such a freedom.

Getting Attention: In my student teaching experience, I found that raising my voice to garner student attention is not a useful strategy. Keeping with the respect theme, I will communicate to students that they must raise their hand in order to get the teacher’s


attention (aside from classroom discussions and literary circles) and wait to be called upon. Similarly, whenever I want the class to be quiet and listen to my directives, I will raise my hand and wait for everyone to quiet down. As soon as a student sees my hand raised, he or she will be quiet and raise his/her hand as well. This will signal to other students that they, too, should be quiet and listen to the teacher. When all students are quiet, the teacher will commence speaking. This is a strategy that showcases to students the importance of respect, maturity, and positivity. Instead of shouting or being negative, everyone treats each other with consideration in a calm manner.

Specific and Timely Feedback

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) recommend that feedback should be growth-oriented, specific, immediate, actionable, personalized, formative, and non-evaluative. Thus, I will aim to motivate my students by providing them with specific feedback that they can use to actually improve their performance. That is the end goal.

Narrative Feedback: Students’ critical thinking responses, rough drafts of their essays, journal entries, homework, and exit tickets will be nonevaluative and will be part of their writing portfolios. In this manner, both students and I will be able to view and analyze the portfolios to gauge student progress. For these formative activities, I will provide narrative feedback focused on positivity, improvement opportunities, action steps, and effort praise. According to Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), it is important to provide noncontrolling feedback that motivates students to take specific steps to improve their learning. In other words, I will not say something general like “You did great! Keep it up!”. Instead, I will state, “I can see the hard work you put into this assignment. You conveyed the theme of the story. Are there any quotations from the text that you can include to prove your argument?”. This previous narrative feedback is a nice way to praise the student’s effort and guide his or her learning in a noncontrolling manner.

Feedback for exit tickets and critical thinking responses will be given back to students the next class period. In this manner, they can grasp their strengths and weaknesses and find out what they need to work on for the remainder of the unit. I will provide narrative feedback on homework and essays in two to three days at most so students have plenty of time to assess their level and progress.

Self-Assessment: An exit ticket will be given to students at the end of every class period. At the end of the exit ticket, students will have a template to complete with two sentence stems. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) exemplify two such sentence stems that allow students to reflect on their strengths/weaknesses, so I will create a template that closely mirrors their examples (p. 101). I will ask students to answer the following as a self-assessment at the conclusion of class: “One thing that is not clear to me about today’s


assignment is ____________” and “One thing that I understand well is ____________”. This will communicate to me, as the teacher, what I need to emphasize or reemphasize in the following class sessions. In addition to this self-assessment tool, students can also self-assess through writing rubrics (see above modules) and specify their assessment in their personal goal worksheets.

Peer Feedback: During the editing phase of their essays, students can share portfolios with their partners. Each student will provide “two stars and a wish” for their partner and include these comments on the respective essay/paper that is being assessed. In this sense, they will praise two things about the paper and provide a suggestion for improvement (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013, p. 101).

How will students check their progress toward mastery of the standards and skills?

Exit Tickets: Exit tickets will serve as a daily check for understanding that checks to see if students are on track to mastering the standards of the lesson/unit. It is similar to a nongraded daily quiz, except that is asks three open-ended questions about concepts covered during the class period. The first two questions may involve summarization, definitions, or explanations. The last question is an open-ended free response question that asks students to think more critically about the subject, evaluating the text or making connections between the text and real life. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) state that “Open-ended responses require deeper comprehension and production-a more difficult challenge for students” (p. 55).

Effort Rubrics: Keeping with the growth-oriented focus, students will evaluate their effort on all formal assignments using an effort rubric. They will include their effort rubric at the very end/conclusion of their assignments in order to assess their progress toward mastery of the standards. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) suggest that effort rubrics provide students with a way to evaluate their effort and see the connection between their scores and their academic performance (p. 51).

Effort Rubric Example

4 I worked on the assignment until it was complete. I continued working on the assignment even when faced with challenge. I took advantages of difficulties or challenges to improve my understanding.

3 I worked on the assignment until it was complete. I continued working on the assignment even when faced with challenges.

2 I worked on the assignment, but stopped when difficulties or challenges arose.1 I applied little or no effort into the assignment.


Homework Practice: Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) explain that “Homework ought to be to give students opportunities to practice new skills or knowledge and to learn from feedback from their teachers” (p. 52). So, I will not grade homework, but will verify completion and provide feedback in order to allow students even more opportunities to improve. Homework will be given two to three times per week and will reinforce concepts covered during class. It will provide students with opportunities to connect class material to real-life issues by writing journal entries, researching topics, or contributing to class discussions on Weebly through thoughtful posts. This will provide a blended learning opportunity at the same time as allowing students to progress toward mastery of the standards and objectives through practice.

Rubrics, Personal Goal Worksheets, and Individual Student-Teacher Conferences: Aside from completing effort rubrics on all formal assignments, checking their understanding on exit tickets, and self-assessing using sentence stems at the conclusion of their exit tickets, students will assess their critical thinking responses using the rubric showcased in a prior module. In this manner, they will analyze concretely the standards and skills they must master and compare their work to these standards. They will place their rubric-based self-assessments in their writing/growth portfolios so as to gauge their own development. After their pre-assessment, mid-way in the unit, and after the final assessment, they will also self-evaluate using the rubric, utilize their rubric-based evaluation to complete personal goal worksheets, and discuss their personal learning goals with the teacher during individual student-teacher conferences. The conferences will be held after the pre-assessment, mid-way in the unit, and after the final assessment. In this manner, they will develop their personal learning worksheets and add new personal learning goals so they can master the standards and skills. The teacher will also be able to use individual student-teacher conferences and growth portfolios to establish positive student-teacher relationships and gauge student progress.

Ensuring Deep Knowledge

Students must process information at regular intervals in order to develop understanding. This aids their attempt to retain information, especially higher-order thinking skills. Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) state that “The real goal of learning, rather, should be deep knowledge or true


understanding-that is, being able to connect ideas, recognize patterns among them, and apply that learning to other contexts” (p. 141). In this sense, I will incorporate checks for understandings and other opportunities every 15 minutes that allow students to process information. I will also label each activity with an essential “C”.

Hooking Student Interest with a Gallery Walk (Nonlinguistic Representation): CURIOSITY

Time Allotted: 12 minutes (3 minutes at each of the four stations)

10 Minutes for Subsequent Class Discussion

It is important for teacher to capture student motivation at the onset of the lesson through people’s natural curiosity and attraction to novel things or ideas. Fontichiaro (2010) asserts that “Authentic inquiry focuses on student questions and curiosity” (p. 12). Before students walk into the classroom to begin the new lesson, the teacher will post pictures related to the story in the four corners of the room. These pictures will include references to the New York City setting, famous boxers, and friendship. The teacher will divide the class into four groups and write each group with its corresponding members on the board. When students enter the classroom, they will be surrounded by various pictures and this will spur their curiosity about what lies ahead, thus engaging them in the subject matter. Each group will alternate from station to station throughout the gallery walk, jotting down their thoughts about their images as they pass through each station. It is important for students to have the opportunity to process the images by jotting down their thoughts on a note card during the gallery walk (every 3 minutes). Subsequently, they will share their ideas and thoughts with the class during the introductory discussion.

Advance Organizer and Providing Cues: Previewing Text and Making Predictions (CONNECTION)

Time Allotted for Providing Cues (Previewing Captions and Pictures): 5 Minutes

Time Allotted for Advance Organizer (KWL Chart): 10 Minutes

Fontichiaro (2010) states that “New learning builds on existing prior knowledge” (p. 12). Students must connect background knowledge or schema with new knowledge in order to begin developing their understanding of the subject matter. Advance organizers and cues help in this regard. Thus, the first 15 minutes of the lesson will be spent asking students to preview the text, captions and pictures in the story, use their background knowledge to write what they think the story is about, and complete a KWL chart encompassing previewing, predictions, and learning goals. The KWL Chart is an advance organizer that helps students process information.

Guided Practice: Plot and Setting (COACHING)

Time Allotted for Guided Reading and Practice (Note that reading will cease periodically to perform a check for understanding through the activities denoted below, such as Think-


Pair-Share, Venn Diagram):

Teacher Modeling Reading: 15 Minutes

Oral Cloze Technique: 10 Minutes

Choral Reading: 10 Minutes

Think-Pair-Share (Check for Understanding): 15 Minutes

Individual Reading Out Loud: 10 Minutes

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) state that teachers must guide students toward mastery through practice and feedback (p. 144). In this sense, the guided practice and open-ended comprehension questions that are included during the reading of the text allow students to think about the text under teacher guidance, while preventing errors or misconceptions.

During this activity, the teacher will post open-ended comprehension questions on the board and will guide the students toward answering them while reading and dissecting the text. Keeping with the idea of guiding or coaching students, the teacher will model fluency while reading and introducing new vocabulary words.

Students will engage in Think-Pair-Share to answer the comprehension questions. The Think-Pair-Share will ensure students process the text and comprehension questions. As students undergo the Think-Pair-Share, the teacher will circulate the room to provide feedback to each group and pose further questions.

Processing Information through Venn Diagram (CONCENTRATION)

Time Allotted for Defining Terms of Direct/Indirect Characterization: 10 Minutes

Time Allotted for Venn Diagram: 20 Minutes of Applied Learning with a Partner (while teacher circulates around the room going from group to group to discuss findings and provoke deep questions)

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) suggest that students need time to process information so they do not get distracted or overwhelmed (p. 143). It is not enough for the teacher to define the terms of direct and indirect characterization. Students must have the opportunity to focus on the similarities and differences between the main characters and jot down their ideas, while providing textual evidence (quotes). In this sense, students will complete a Venn Diagram with a partner, discussing the similarities and differences between Antonio and Felix. Students will provide direct quotes from the text in order to learn how to make inferences. This process of dissecting the text with a partner will challenge students, help them concentrate on characterization, and help them process new information about direct/indirect characterization


and making inferences using textual evidence.

Introducing External/Internal Conflict through Journal Writing (CONTEXT)

Time Allotted for Introducing Terms of External/Internal Conflict: 10 Minutes

Time Allotted for Processing Information through Journal Writing: 20 Minutes (10 minutes for writing a paragraph on internal conflict and 10 minutes for writing a paragraph on external conflict)

Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) maintain that it is crucial for students to find real-world applications for the material they are learning so that they can contextualize the new knowledge and keep it in their long-term memory (p. 144). During this lesson, the teacher will define and discuss external and internal conflict. However, mere definitions will not help students retain the concepts for the long term. Therefore, students will be asked process this new information by practicing journal writing. They will write one paragraph about an internal conflict they are or were experiencing and one paragraph about an external conflict. In this manner, they will apply their learning to their personal lives and put it into context. The journal writing activity will also provide them with an opportunity to process the new information in regard to external/internal conflict.

Literary Circle: COHERENCE

Sanacore (2013) suggests that literature circles are an effective, multidimensional tool that “foster a sense of community, support analytical discussions, and encourage sophisticated and higher orders of thinking” (p. 117). They can compel students to think deeply about the subject matter, while posing higher-level or higher-order questions. In this manner, students develop an understanding of the “big idea” of the subject matter; the material becomes coherent.

The literary circle will encompass a supportive classroom environment where students will form a circle and each student will practice higher-order and critical thinking skills by sharing their perspectives on the following open-ended questions:

How do you think the main characters’ friendship will be impacted by the fight? 15 Minutes

Why do you think the author left the ending open-ended? 15 Minutes

Billings and Roberts (2014) assert that “In authentic text-based discussions, teacher talk is limited to and carefully focused on asking thoughtful, open-ended questions that prompt students to seek understanding” (pp. 61-62). It is a process of reflection, deep thought, discovery, and understanding.


The students will take turns, practice active listening, and show courtesy to their classmates while each student has a turn to reflect on the text. By coming together as a class to discuss their findings and perspectives, students will arrive closer to discovering the theme of the story. They will understand the “big picture” of the story, which references the idea that friendships and relationships are not static; they evolve as characters change and conflicts arise.

Check for Understanding: Project-Based Learning (Homework-Approximately 1-2 hours completed incrementally over the course of two days)

After discussing the theme of the story during the literary circle, students will have an opportunity to process the new information regarding theme by completing a project of their choice and showcasing their chosen project during a 3-5 minute class presentation. Students will be given a choice to choose among five possible project ideas. Depending on their personal inclinations and preferences, they will choose one project to complete as homework, ensuring that their project represents the theme of the story. Projects range from creating a short movie clip to show the theme of the story to creating a piece of artwork, poster, or writing an analytical essay about the theme of the story.

Developing Deep Knowledge through Critical Thinking: COHERENCE (30 Minutes; 15 minutes approximately to answer first question and 15 minutes for the second question)

As a unit assessment, students will answer the following critical thinking assignment:

Why does Piri Thomas make the ending ambiguous? How does this relate to the theme of the story? Provide specific textual evidence to make your argument, as well as a discussion of the plot, setting, characterization, and internal/external conflict.

This final assessment serves as a check for understanding, a way to connect all of the main ideas in the unit, and a way of establishing coherence between the different literary elements, the theme, and textual evidence. The teacher will collect the assignment and provide individualized narrative feedback to students based on the unit rubric handed out to the students after the pre-assessment. The teacher will meet with students during 3-5 minute individual conferences to discuss their progress, how they can improve, personal goal worksheets, and future goals. The student-teacher conferences will be another opportunity for students to process information, find coherence in their learning, and self-assess their learning.

References

Billings, L., & Roberts, T. (2014). From mindless to meaningful. Educational Leadership, 72(3),

60-65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost


Fontichiaro, K. (2010). Nudging toward inquiry: Awakening and building upon prior knowledge.

School Library Monthly, 27(1), 12-13. Retrieved from EBSCOhost

Goodwin, B., & Hubbell, E. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying

focused every day. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum

Development.

Miami-Dade Public Schools Office of Academics & Transformation. (2015). LAFS: Language

Arts Florida standards. Retrieved from http://www.fldoe/org/core/fileparse/php/5390/urlt/

0081014-lafs.pdf

Sanacore, J. (2013). “Slow down, you move too fast”: Literature circles as reflective practice.

Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 86(3), 116-120.

Retrieved from EBSCOhost

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