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Analysis of Theme: Identity

englishlanguage artsGrade 6

© 2013 University of Pittsburgh – English Language Arts Unit, Grade 6: Analysis of Theme: Identity

3

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Table of Contents 5


Introduction

Overview What is this unit about? .......................................................................................................................... 9 What content will students learn? ........................................................................................................ 9 How will students develop their skills and habits of reading, writing, and speaking? ................. 9 What is the unit outline? ....................................................................................................................... 10

Unit Outline ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ................................................................................ 12

Instructional Supports in the Unit How does the unit support planning and implementation? ............................................................ 14 How is it best to read and use the task pages? ................................................................................ 15 How is each task organized and sequenced? .................................................................................. 16 Why these task questions? .................................................................................................................. 16 How long will it take to fully implement this unit? ............................................................................ 16 How does the unit provide support for English learners? ............................................................... 16 How is writing supported in the unit? ................................................................................................. 17 What is our approach to vocabulary instruction? ............................................................................ 17

Materials by Task ............................................................................................................................... 19

Overarching Questions ..................................................................................................................... 23 Introduction: Access Prior Knowledge

TASK 0.1: Access Prior Knowledge .......................................................................................... 27

TEXT 1: “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst

TASK 1.1: Comprehension ............................................................................................................ 31 TASK 1.2: Significant Moment ................................................................................................... 33

TASK 1.3: Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 36

TASK 1.4: Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 38 TASK 1.5: Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 43

TEXT 2: “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings TASK 2.1: Comprehension ........................................................................................................... 47 TASK 2.2: Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 49

TASK 2.3: Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 51

Table of Contents

6 Table of Contents


TEXT 3: “What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?” by Avi TASK 3.1: Comprehension ........................................................................................................... 59 TASK 3.2: Significant Moment ................................................................................................... 61 TASK 3.3: Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 63

TASK 3.4: Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 65

TEXT 4: “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros TASK 4.1: Comprehension ........................................................................................................... 69 TASK 4.2: Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 71 TASK 4.3: Assessment 1 ................................................................................................................ 73

TEXT 5: “Motto” by Langston Hughes TASK 5.1: Comprehension ........................................................................................................... 79 TASK 5.2: Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 81 Culminating Assessment

Culminating Assessment Task .................................................................................................... 85 StepBack Questions ........................................................................................................................ 86 Appendix

Texts Unit Texts ................................................................................................................................................. 89 Obtaining Copyright Permission .......................................................................................................... 90

Instructional Glossary ................................................................................................................ 91

Instructional Resources Reader/Writer Notebook....................................................................................................................... 99 Teacher Resource: Reader/Writer Notebook Suggested Feedback System ............................. 100 Pedagogical Rituals and Routines .................................................................................................... 101 Accountable Talk® Moves and Functions in ELA ............................................................................ 102 Inquiry-Based Discussion .................................................................................................................. 103

Grade 6

englishlanguage arts

IntroductionAnalysis of Theme: Identity

Introduction 9


Overview

What is this unit about?As you might have guessed from the title, this unit is about analyzing theme. Through engaging in the unit, students learn to analyze how themes develop over the course of a text, including how they emerge and are shaped and refined by specific details. Students also learn how to write essays about their analyses of themes.

This unit is also about identity. Through the course of this unit, students deepen their understanding about identity and how it is shaped.

In this unit, students will read, write about, and discuss three short stories and two poems to deepen their understanding of the following big questions:

• Whatisidentityandhowisitshaped?• Howdoweidentifyandanalyzethemes?• Howdotextsvaryintheirapproachestosimilarthemes?

For their final assessment, students compare and contrast two unit texts in terms of their approaches to a similar theme.

What content will students learn? Students will expand their knowledge base about:

• howvariouscharactersdevelopinshortstoriesandpoems.• howvariousauthorscreateidentityinshortstoriesandpoems.• howvariousauthorsdevelopthemesoverthecourseoftexts.• featuresofessaysthatprovideanalysesofhowathemedevelopsoverthecourseofatext.Features

include a statement of a valid theme; an analysis of the development of the theme with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient evidence; appropriate and varied transitions; an introduction; a conclusion; and a formal style and objective tone.

How will students develop their skills and habits of reading, writing, and speaking?The unit provides instructional resources and questions that guide an inquiry approach to teaching. Students engage as problem solvers and sense makers as they read, write, talk, and think about the texts they are reading.

10 Introduction


Each task students are asked to engage in includes an inquiry for them to answer and/or pursue. Students are supported to develop skills and habits such as how to:

• comprehendcomplexshortstoriesandpoemswithassistanceandindependently.• develop,support,anddefendtext-basedinterpretationsandarguments.• analyzeshortstoriesandpoemsforhowcomplexcharactersdevelopoverthecourseofthetext,

interact with other characters, and advance the theme.• determinethemesandanalyzehowthemesdevelopoverthecourseofatext,includinghowthey

emerge and are shaped and refined by specific details.• readandtakenotesfromtexts.• studyandusemodelsofagenre.• participateinroutinessuchasmaintainingaReader/WriterNotebook,completingQuickWrites,pair/trio

sharing of textual evidence, and whole group discussions on a text’s ideas and interpretations of texts. • valueeffortasawaytogetsmarteraboutreading,writing,listening,speaking,andresearch.

What is the unit outline? On the next page, you’ll find the unit outline. This unit outline provides a one-page snapshot of the major work that students will engage in over the course of this unit. The outline shows what students will do, while the pages that follow the outline show how students will engage in that work.

The unit outline lists the unit’s overarching questions, texts, tasks, and culminating assessment. The unit outline is meant to be read horizontally and vertically. The horizontal work represents the work that students do across texts. For example, the overarching questions reach across all the texts in the unit and students are asked to engage in work that will deepen their understanding of these questions in all the texts in the unit.

The vertical work shows the tasks or questions that students will engage in for a single text or across two texts. As you read, notice how the tasks in the vertical rows are designed to build on each other and engage students in evolving, challenging work. Notice too how the tasks are designed to give students multiple opportunitieswitheachtexttoengageinkeytasksalignedtotheCCSS.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll find the unit’s culminating assessment. Students are asked to write an essay that compares and contrasts two unit texts in terms of their approaches to a similar theme by using the knowledge, habits, and skills they gained over the course of the unit, and to apply them to this assessment task. Notice how the tasks within and across texts are designed to prepare students for the culminating assessment.

Each unit task on the outline is represented by a prompt, question or set of questions preceded by two numbers. The first number references a unit text and the second number references the task number for that text. For instance, task 1.2 uses text 1, “The Southpaw,” and is the second task for this text.

Introduction 11


Ove

rarc

hin

g Q

ues

tio

ns

•

Wha

tis

iden

tity

and

how

isit

sha

ped?

How

do

we

iden

tify

and

anal

yze

them

es?

•

How

do

text

sva

ryin

thei

rapp

roac

hes

tos

imila

rthe

mes

?

INTR

OD

UCT

ION

TEXT

1“T

he S

outh

paw

”by

Jud

ith V

iors

t

TEXT

2“m

aggi

e an

d m

illy

and

mol

ly a

nd m

ay”

by e

.e. c

umm

ings

TEXT

3“W

hat D

o Fi

sh H

ave

to D

o W

ith A

nyth

ing?

”by

Avi

TEXT

4“E

leve

n”by

San

dra

Cisn

eros

TEXT

5“M

otto

”by

Lan

gsto

n Hu

ghes

0.1

Acce

ss P

rior

Know

ledg

eW

hati

side

ntity

?Ho

wis

itsh

aped

?Ho

w d

o au

thor

s cr

eate

a ch

arac

ter’s

id

entit

y?

1.1

Com

preh

ensi

onW

hat i

s lite

rally

hap

peni

ng

here

in th

e or

der i

n w

hich

it

isha

ppen

ing?

Who

are

the

char

acte

rs a

nd w

hat d

o yo

u kn

owa

bout

them

?

1.2

Sign

ifica

nt M

omen

t Se

lect

and

exp

lain

the

mom

ent t

hat r

evea

ls th

e m

ost

abou

t Jan

et’s

or R

ichar

d’s

pers

pect

ive o

n a

maj

or

them

e–w

hat i

t mea

ns to

be

a fri

end.

1.3

Inte

rpre

tatio

nW

hich

char

acte

r car

es th

e m

ost a

bout

savin

g th

is

frien

dshi

p?

1.4

Anal

ysis

Wha

t are

the

them

es in

this

te

xt?H

owa

reth

ose

them

es

conv

eyed

?

1.5

Inte

rpre

tatio

nHo

w d

oes t

his f

orm

eng

age

the

read

er?

2.1

Com

preh

ensi

onW

hat i

s lite

rally

ha

ppen

ing

inth

ispo

em?

Who

are

the

char

acte

rs

and

wha

t do

we

know

ab

outt

hem

?

2.2

Inte

rpre

tatio

nW

hat d

o yo

u th

ink

cum

min

gs m

eans

whe

n he

says

, “Fo

r wha

teve

r w

e lo

se (l

ike a

you

or a

m

e) /

it’s a

lway

s our

selve

s w

e fin

d in

the

sea”

in th

e la

stst

anza

oft

hep

oem

?

2.3

Anal

ysis

Writ

e an

ana

lysis

of a

th

eme

and

how

that

th

eme

is co

nvey

ed

thro

ugh

spec

ific d

etai

ls.

3.1

Com

preh

ensi

onW

hat i

s lite

rally

hap

peni

ng

here

in th

e or

der i

n w

hich

it

isha

ppen

ing?

Who

are

the

char

acte

rs a

nd w

hat d

o yo

u kn

owa

bout

them

?

3.2

Sign

ifica

nt M

omen

tSe

lect

and

exp

lain

seve

ral

rela

ted

mom

ents

that

strik

e yo

u as

sign

ifica

nt to

conv

eyin

g on

e or

mor

e th

emes

.

3.3

Anal

ysis

Writ

e an

ana

lysis

of a

n id

entifi

ed th

eme

and

how

that

th

eme

is co

nvey

ed th

roug

h sp

ecifi

c det

ails.

3.4

Anal

ysis

W

hat a

re si

mila

r the

mes

acr

oss

two

of th

e th

ree

text

s we

have

re

adth

usfa

r?C

ompa

rea

nd

cont

rast

two

text

s in

term

s of

thei

r app

roac

hes t

o a

simila

r th

eme.

4.1

Com

preh

ensi

onW

hat i

s lite

rally

ha

ppen

ing

here

in th

e or

der i

n w

hich

it is

ha

ppen

ing?

Who

are

the

char

acte

rs a

nd w

hat d

o yo

ukn

owa

bout

them

?

4.2

Inte

rpre

tatio

nW

hat d

oes R

ache

l mea

n at

the

end

of th

e st

ory

whe

n sh

e sa

ys, “

only

it’s

too

late

”?

4.3

Asse

ssm

ent 1

. W

rite

a Su

mm

ary

Writ

e an

ana

lysis

of

them

e in

“Ele

ven”

an

d ho

w th

at th

eme

is co

nvey

ed th

roug

h sp

ecifi

c det

ails.

5.1

Com

preh

ensi

onW

hat i

s the

spea

ker

liter

ally

sayin

g?W

hois

the

spea

ker a

nd w

hat d

o yo

u kn

owa

bout

him

/her

?

5.2

Inte

rpre

tatio

nW

hich

char

acte

r fro

m a

ny

of th

is un

it’s t

exts

seem

s m

ost l

ike th

e sp

eake

r in

this

poem

?

Cu

lmin

atin

g A

sses

smen

tW

rite

an e

ssay

of a

bout

250

wor

ds in

whi

ch y

ou c

ompa

re a

nd c

ontra

st tw

o un

it te

xts

in te

rms

of th

eir a

ppro

ache

s to

a s

imila

r the

me.

Un

it O

utl

ine

12 Introduction


Common Core State Standards1 (CCSS)

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards:

Reading (p. 35)

1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Writing (p. 41)

1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

1 CouncilofChiefStateSchoolOfficers(CCSSO)&NationalGovernorsAssociationCenterforBestPractices(NGACenter).(2012).Common core state standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science and technical subjects. Retrievedfromhttp://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf

Introduction 13


Speaking and Listening (p. 48)1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse

partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Language (p. 51)1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or

speaking.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling

when writing.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.6. Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases

sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Note

• TheCCSSgrade-levelfocusstandardsthatareaddressedforeachtaskareincludednextto the teaching options for each task in the pages that follow. For standards where there is partial alignment, the underlined words and phrases indicate the part of the standard to which the task is aligned.

14 Introduction


Instructional Supports in the Unit

How does the unit support planning and implementation?

The unit provides teacher-friendly features such as:

• aunitoutlinethatprovidesaone-pagesnapshotofthemajorworkthatstudentswillengageinoverthecourse of the unit.

• textsthatarefullyidentifiedforcopyrightpurposesandareeasytolocate.• taskswithidentifiedlearningtargetsandgoals(overarchingquestions,open-endedquestions,text-

basedquestions,andCollegeandCareerReadinessAnchorStandardswithmatchinggrade-levelCCSS).

• differentteachingapproaches,eachorganizedintopedagogicalroutinesthatdescribewhatstudentswill be doing as learners. The options for teaching approaches allow the teacher to plan lessons to meet the needs of individual students and the whole class.

• specificmeansofsupport–forexample,taskquestions,recommendedpedagogicalroutineswithexplanations–are provided with each lesson.

• charttitles,resources,andhandoutsthatarelistedinonetableintheunitintroductiontomakeiteasyto organize materials.

• acopy-readyculminatingassessmenttask.• ateacher’sglossarywithexplanationsoftermsthatareprovidedintheInstructionalGlossarysectionof

the Appendix.• instructionaltoolsrelevanttothisunitthatareprovidedintheInstructionalResourcessectionofthe

Appendix.

Introduction 15


The task number (e.g., 1.1)andtitle(e.g.,Comprehension)correspond to the number and title on the unit outline.


Text 1: “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst 31

TASK 1.1

Comprehension

• What is literally happening here in the order in which it is happening?• Who are the characters and what do you know about them?

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst6

• Option 4—Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chart paper and markers

Teaching Approach

Individual, Pair, or Whole Group Work Students read “The Southpaw” using the following questions to guide their comprehension:

• What is literally happening here in the order in which it is happening? • Who are the characters and what do we know about them?

Individual WorkStudents compose a Quick Write or take notes in response to the comprehension questions. Students are reminded to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Technology Option–Whole Group: Students may compose their Quick Write on a class wiki page, forum, or blog post. Students respond to their peers’ posts rather than doing the pair work below. Ask students to write responses to the comprehension questions by adding to what other students have written. Students are instructed to use textual evidence tosupport their responses. (RL.6.1, RL.6.3; W.6.9, SL.6.1)

Pair WorkStudents share their Quick Writes or notes with a partner.

Whole GroupLead a discussion of the answers to the comprehension questions. When necessary, prompt students to use textual evidence to support their responses.

6 Viorst, J. (2008). The southpaw. In M. Thomas (Ed.), Free to be…You and me (pp. 42-47). Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers.


32 Text 1: “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst

TASK 1.1 Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 44 and 49)

Reading LiteratureRL.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

WritingW.6.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

W.6.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and Listening SL.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

The task(s) or question(s)corresponds to the task(s)or question(s) as listed onthe unit outline.

The text and author are clearly marked.

The materials needed for each task are clearly marked (including the materials for the teaching options, which are in blue).

Following the lesson over-view page shown above are several pages that provide the teaching approach for the task.

Calloutboxesprovideteaching options for both student interest and additional scaffolded support.

The callout box at the end of eachtaskprovidestheCCSSgrade-level standards to which the teaching approach is aligned. (For standards where there is partial alignment, the underlined words and phrases indicate the part of the standard to which the task is aligned.)

How is it best to read and use the task pages?Each task on the unit outline has several pages dedicated to it within the body of the unit. Each task has an overview page similar to the first example below, and a teaching approach section similar to the second example below. Some tasks contain highlighted boxes indicating different teaching options, technology options, and/or notes to the teacher.

16 Introduction


How is each task organized and sequenced? Each task is intended to scaffold student learning through the use of pedagogical routines such as teacher modeling(asneeded),individualQuickWriteswithteachersupport,partner/triosharing,orwholegroup.The routines assist learners toward fully independent engagement and completion of tasks. The pedagogical routines, which signal the level of scaffolding for tasks, are highlighted through the use of bold print.

There are multiple teaching approaches (i.e., options) described for each task. They provide teachers with several instructional methods, so that the content and pedagogy can be differentiated between classes and within a class.

Why these task questions?The questions have been carefully developed and reviewed to support students’ engagement with the text ortextsunderstudy.Changingthelanguageofaquestioncandiminishorincreasethethinkingworkthatstudents need to do with a question. The questions follow a sequenced pattern from initial comprehension work with a text to more difficult analytical work. This sequence has also been developed and reviewed carefullytosupportthelesson’slearninggoal,whichlinkstotheunit’slargerlearninggoals.Changingthequestions can change the unit’s intent and purposefulness. As part of fully supporting students to answer the questions, provide the questions in writing as well as saying them. Students can then see and refer back to a question at any time during completion of the task.

How long will it take to fully implement this unit?It will take five to six weeks to implement this set of lessons. These lessons are designed to be implemented sequentially to support students to achieve the instructional goals. As such, the pacing of the lessons should depend on the time students need to achieve these goals.

How does the unit provide support for English learners?Support for English learners is provided within the lessons in a number of ways. Students learn new information in manageable segments, which are sequenced to build on existing knowledge of language and genre and explicitly relate to the overarching questions and core concepts of the unit. Students revisit new learning a number of times. For example, students read texts multiple times, each time with a new purpose and using a scaffold appropriate to the purpose and the text.

In this way of working, the first time students read a text it is for literal comprehension and to make overall sense of the text. It is only after students have comprehended a text’s basic plot and information about characters that they read the text again for a new purpose. Given their basic comprehension, students are more ready to analyze the development of the characters and themes.

Talk is an essential part of this unit and students’ development of spoken academic language is fostered through routines of discussion. Please see the Accountable Talk® Moves and Functions tool in the Instructional Resources section of the Appendix. The tool offers practical guidelines and exemplars on how to promote and deepen students’ talking to learn and to expand their thinking with powerful facilitation moves. Students are given multiple opportunities to practice using the language in purposeful ways with effective feedback. To help English learners, as well as other students, students are often asked to share in pairs or trios before being invited to share with the large group. This allows students to practice and gain confidence sharing their responses with one or two students before doing so with the whole group.® Accountable Talk is a registered trademark of the University of Pittsburgh.

Introduction 17


How is writing supported in the unit? Throughout the unit, students will practice writing to learn, using a Reader/Writer Notebook to complete QuickWrites,takeandmakenotes,andotherwiserecordtheirwork.Astheymovethroughthesequenceof tasks, students will use their new understanding about what makes an effective analysis of theme essay plus their writing in their Reader/Writer Notebooks to write analyses of themes. Please see the Instructional Resources section for the tool for setting up Reader/Writer Notebooks with students as a daily routine.

Students benefit from reading and deconstructing models of the genre in which they will be writing. Models allow students to examine and talk about the language, subject, and organizational choices other writers have made to construct their analyses of themes so that those choices become explicit. Teachers use exemplar opinion pieces with students so they can talk about the choices those writers made. Highlighting or bringing students’ attention to how authors make meaning and use methods can help students see examples that they can use in their own writing. Being explicit about the grammatical choices writers make can aid student writers in recognizing and using the variety of choices available to them.

What is our approach to vocabulary instruction?There are at least three different contexts to consider when thinking about vocabulary instruction: during shared reading, during independent reading, and during other times in the ELA block/period/week.

During a First Reading When the Focus is Comprehension and the Context is Shared ReadingAt some point, in all of our units, you will be guided to lead students in a close reading of at least a portion of text, or in some cases a whole text, in a guided reading context. You are encouraged to identify those words in the text that may be unfamiliar to your students and that are essential to comprehension of the text and for each of these words to provide a short, student-friendly definition during the reading(CollinsCOBUILDEnglishLearner’sDictionary,20122).

The idea here is to provide just enough information (when it is needed and not before) about the new words so that students maintain the flow of ideas and can continue their focus on understanding the central ideas in the text. You will need to analyze the text carefully in advance to identify such words. In some cases, these words have been pointed out in the unit, but you may need to add to the words we have identified andwriteorfindyourownstudent-friendlydefinition.Coxheadhasidentifiedalistof570academicwordfamilies that consist of words that occur with frequency across a number of academic content areas in academictexts.Thislistcanbearesourceindecidingwhichwordsaremostworthyofattention(Coxhead,A., 20003).

During a First Reading When the Focus is Comprehension and the Context is Independent ReadingWhen reading texts independently, students are likely to encounter a range of words with which they are unfamiliar. They may or may not be able to discern which of these words are essential to understanding the text and which are not. In this situation we recommend that students use one of three approaches to figure out the meaning of the word:

2 CollinsLanguage(Ed.)(2012).Collins COBUILD English learner’s dictionary.Glasgow,UK:HarperCollinsPublishers.3 Coxhead,A.(2000).Anewacademicwordlist.TESOL Quarterly, 34 (2), 213-238.

18 Introduction


1) Analyze the word to see if they are familiar with the meaning of any part of it or another form of it (e.g., decide versus decision);

2) Look for context clues, such as definitions within the sentence/paragraph; or 3) If these approaches fail, continue reading to see if they can make sense of the passage without this

particular word.

During Language Arts Instruction at Other Times During the ELA Block/Period/WeekVocabulary is a critically important part of supporting students to understand what they read. The vocabulary work within these units is not meant to replace a district’s robust vocabulary instructional program, but rather to be an important part of it. Typical vocabulary instruction that asks students to look up words in a dictionary and use them in a sentence has been demonstrated to be ineffective and, at its worst, may turnstudentsoffanddiminishaninterestinlearningnewwords(Snow,Lawrence,&White,20094). More powerful approaches include providing repeated exposure to a word in varied contexts; providing opportunities and encouragement to use the word in speaking and writing; encountering the word in the context of motivating texts (rather than in a word list); providing explicit instruction in the word’s meaning (such as through student-friendly definitions); and through explicit instruction in using word-learning strategiessuchasmorphologicalanalysis,cognateuse,andlearningmultiplemeanings(Snow,Lawrence,&White, 2009).

For examples of robust vocabulary instruction and programs, see “Word Generation” by the Strategic Education Research Partnership (http://wg.serpmedia.org/) (for free materials, email them at [email protected]); Rev it Up! (2007) by Steck Vaughn; and Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary InstructionbyBeck,McKeown&Kucan,2002/20135).

Additional CommentsYou should decide if talking about a particular word or phrase before reading a text would better support your students to establish essential prior knowledge. There are times when this is useful and necessary, e.g., for English language learners and for students with special needs. However, as a rule, we encourage you not to front load vocabulary and instead to give student-friendly definitions right within the text as it is needed for comprehension. We also discourage asking students to provide definitions of unfamiliar words encountered during shared reading. Guessing is likely to distract from comprehension rather than enhance it.

Research suggests that it takes many repetitions with a new word before it truly becomes part of a student’s repertoire(Beck&McKeown,2002).Studentswillhavemanyandvariedopportunitiestoincorporatethesenew words into their spoken vocabulary and writing as a result of repeated use by you, the teacher, and by fellow students throughout the sequence of lessons in these units. You may also want to utilize techniques such as building a word wall on which you post new vocabulary words and to which your students contribute as they discover new words during their reading. Finally, verbally marking when students use any of the newly acquired words in their speaking or writing will encourage other students to show off their newly acquired vocabulary.

4 Snow,C.,Lawrence,J.F.,&White,C.(2009).Generatingknowledgeofacademiclanguageamongurbanmiddleschoolstudents. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2, 325–344.

5 Beck,I.L.,McKeown,M.G.,&Kucan,L.(2002,2013).Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Introduction 19


Task Materials

0.1• Chart:IdentityandHowItIsShaped• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

1.1

• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Option 4–Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

1.2

• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Chart:Characters’PerspectiveonFriendship• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

1.3• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

1.4

• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• T-Chart:Theme• Chart:IdentifyingandAnalyzingThemes• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

1.5

• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Chart:HowViorstCreatesaDistinctIdentity• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

2.1• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

2.2• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

2.3

• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings • Student Handout: MODEL: Short Written Analysis of a Theme in “The

Southpaw”• Chart:IdentifyingandAnalyzingThemes• Chart:CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisofTheme• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

3.1

• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Option 4–Wiki or other online forum • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Materials by Task

20 Introduction


Task Materials

3.2

• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Chart:SignificantMoments• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

3.3

• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Chart:CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisofTheme• Scoring rubric • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

3.4

• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Model: Theme Statement with list of methods authors use to convey

theme• List of the titles of the three texts• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

4.1

• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros• Option 4–Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

4.2• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

4.3 Assessment 1

• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros• Handout: Short Assessment Task: Written Analysis of Theme• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

5.1

• “Motto” by Langston Hughes • Option 4–Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

5.2• “Motto” by Langston Hughes • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

CulminatingAssessment

• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros• “Motto” by Langston Hughes• Scoring rubric

Grade 6


Overarching Questions Analysis of Theme: Identity


Overarching Questions 23

Overarching Questions

Grade 6 Analysis of Theme: Identity

• Whatisidentityandhowisitshaped?

• Howdoweidentifyandanalyzethemes?

• Howdotextsvaryintheirapproachestosimilarthemes?


24 Overarching Questions

Grade 6


Introduction: Access Prior Knowledge

Analysis of Theme: Identity TASKS, TEACHING APPROACHES, AND STANDARDS


Introduction: Access Prior Knowledge 27

TASK 0.1

Access Prior Knowledge

• Whatisidentity?• Howisidentityshaped?• Howdoauthorscreateacharacter’sidentity?

Materials• Chart:IdentityandHowItIsShaped• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole GroupExplain to students that throughout the unit they will be examining, discussing, and becoming smarter about identity and how it is shaped. They will begin by thinking about what they already know about identity.

Individual WorkStudentsdoaQuickWriteinresponsetothequestion:

• Whatisidentity?

Whole GroupLead a brainstorm to answer the question:

• Whatisidentity?

Createachartlabeled,“IdentityandHowItIsShaped”,torecordanddisplaystudents’call-outresponsesfor all to see.

Trio WorkStudents get into groups of three. Each group receives a question about identity from the list below. In trios, students take about 10 minutes to discuss and take notes in response to the question, using evidence from texts and their own lives and experiences to support their responses.

• Isidentityhowweseeourselvesorhowothersseeus?• Isidentitywhatweareorwhatwe’dliketobe?• Howcanwehavemorethanoneidentity?• Howcanouridentitybechanged?• Dowekeepthesameidentitythroughoutourlives?

Bridge to Texts• Howdoauthorscreateacharacter’sidentity?


28 Introduction: Access Prior Knowledge

TASK 0.1

Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 44 and 49)WritingW.6.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and ListeningSL.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Whole GroupLead a discussion of the above identity questions. Since questions are closely related, engage students in a discussion on the questions generally rather than asking each group to share their answers. As discussion winds down, ask students:

• Basedonourdiscussion,whatcanyousayabouthowidentityisshaped?

Add responses to previous chart, Identity and How it is Shaped, and display for all to see.

ChartDisplay chart for the duration of the unit, adding to it as students deepen their understanding of identity and how it is shaped.

Grade 6


Text 1: “The Southpaw” by Judith ViorstAnalysis of Theme: Identity

TASKS, TEACHING APPROACHES, AND STANDARDS



TASK 1.1

Comprehension

• Whatisliterallyhappeninghereintheorderinwhichitishappening?• Whoarethecharactersandwhatdoyouknowaboutthem?

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst6

• Option 4—Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual, Pair, or Whole Group Work Students read “The Southpaw” using the following questions to guide their comprehension:

• Whatisliterallyhappeninghereintheorderinwhichitishappening?• Whoarethecharactersandwhatdoweknowaboutthem?

Individual WorkStudentscomposeaQuickWriteortakenotesinresponsetothecomprehensionquestions.Studentsarereminded to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Technology Option–Whole Group:StudentsmaycomposetheirQuickWriteonaclass wiki page, forum, or blog post. Students respond to their peers’ posts rather than doing the pair work below. Ask students to write responses to the comprehension questions by adding to what other students have written. Students are instructed to use textual evidence tosupport their responses. (RL.6.1, R.L.6.3, W.6.9, SL.6.1)

Pair WorkStudentssharetheirQuickWritesornoteswithapartner.

Whole GroupLead a discussion of the answers to the comprehension questions. When necessary, prompt students to use textual evidence to support their responses.

6 Viorst, J. (2008). The southpaw. In M. Thomas (Ed.), Free to be…You and me (pp. 42-47). Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers.



TASK 1.1 Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 44, and 49)

Reading LiteratureRL.6.1Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawn from the text.


WritingW.6.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.





TASK 1.2

Significant Moment

• Selectandexplainthemoment(word,phrase,sentence)thatrevealsthemostaboutJanet’sorRichard’sperspectiveonwhatitmeanstobeafriend.

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Chart:Characters’PerspectiveonFriendship• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole GroupCreateanddisplayaT-chartlabeled,“Characters’PerspectiveonFriendship”thatallstudentscansee.Prepare students by explaining that you are going to model a task that students will then be asked to do. Students are asked to take notes on what you say and do to complete the task.

Model Select one moment that reveals Janet’s or Richard’s perspective on what it means to be a friend. Select a moment that is illustrative of the character’s perspective but is not one that a reader would consider most reveals the character’s perspective, as that is the assignment for students. Record the moment in the left column of the T-chart. In the right column, explain in writing how that moment reveals the character’s perspective.

For example:

Significant Moment

Explanation of the moment’s significance to revealing Richard’s perspective on the theme of what

it means to be a friendI’m not saving any more seats for you on the bus. For all I care you can stand the whole way to school (Message 2, p. 186).

Richard believes that good friends look out and do favors for each other while former friends do the opposite–don’t look out and withhold favors. In this moment, he reminds Janet of his favor of a saved seat on the bus when they were good friends, and now that they are no longer friends, he doesn’t care if she has to stand. The moment relates to a theme of friendship’s rewards and responsibilities.

Whole GroupAfter completing the model, ask students to share what they saw and heard you do to select and explain a moment that reveals a character’s perspective on what it means to be a friend. Record the student responses for all students to see. This record will serve as support for students when they engage in this task.



TASK 1.2

Pair WorkStudents create a T-chart in their Reader/Writer Notebook and select a character, Janet or Richard, to work with. For their chosen character, students select the one moment that they believe reveals the most about the character’s perspective on what it means to be a friend. Students record their moment in the left column. In the right column, students explain how that moment reveals the character’s perspective.

Small Group WorkEach pair joins another pair who chose the same character. Pairs share their moments and explanations.

Whole GroupLead a whole group share of moments and explanations for each character. Students call out moments and explanations while you record on a T-chart for each character.

Whole GroupAfter several students have shared, ask students to look across the moments and explanations to synthesize each main character’s perspective on what it means to be a friend.

Teaching Option–Gallery Walk

Individual WorkStudents create a T-chart in their Reader/Writer Notebook and select a character, Janet or Richard, to work with. For their chosen character, students select the one moment that they think reveals the most about the character’s perspective on what it means to be a friend. Students record their moment in the left column. In the right column, students explain how that moment reveals the character’s perspective.

Trio WorkStudents get together with two others who chose the same character. Trios share their moments and explanations. As a group, students decide which one moment from the three offered reveals the most about the character’s perspective on what it means to be a friend by arguing for or against specific moments. Students prepare to share their moments with the whole group by creating and displaying a completed T-chart.

Gallery WalkStudents walk around the room to review the T-charts, looking for similarities and differences in the moments and explanations.

Whole GroupLead a whole group discussion on what students noticed as they looked across the T-charts. Then, ask students to synthesize each character’s perspective on what it means to be a friend.

Whole GroupAgain, ask students to look across the moments and explanations to compare and contrast the characters’ perspectivesonwhatitmeanstobeafriend.Chartstudents’responsesforuseinTask1.4.



TASK 1.2

Whole GroupAsk students to review the T-charts one last time to consider the methods Viorst uses to develop characters’ perspectives on what it means to be a friend. Students call out methods while you record them in students’ own words and label them with the academic and literary vocabulary. Students note examples and methods in their Reader/Writer Notebooks as part of preparing for culminating assessment.

Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 49, and 53)Reading LiteratureRL.6.1Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawn from the text.

RL.6.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.


LanguageL.6.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

L.6.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.



TASK 1.3

Interpretation

• Whichcharactercaresthemostaboutsavingthisfriendship?

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual WorkStudentscomposeaQuickWriteinresponsetothequestions:

• Whichcharactercaresthemostaboutsavingthisfriendship?• Whatmakesyousayso?

Students are reminded to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Pair ShareStudentstakethreetofiveminutestosharetheirQuickWrites.Partnerslistenfortextualevidenceandpoints of agreement and disagreement.

Prepare for Inquiry-Based Discussion: See the Inquiry-Based Discussion guide in the Appendix for information on preparing students for an inquiry-based discussion. As the facilitator of the inquiry-based discussion:

• encourageallstudentstoparticipateinthediscussion.• promptstudentswhennecessaryforclarificationortextualevidence.• trackstudents’interpretationssothatyoucansharetheinterpretationsthathavebeen

offered with students and assess the progress of the discussion. • avoidbeingadirectparticipant,sharingyourinterpretation,repeatingresponses,or

directing the conversation unnecessarily. • askstudentstoarrangetheirdesksinacircle.

Whole GroupFacilitate a whole group inquiry-based discussion. Remind students to talk directly to each other; agree, disagree, or otherwise build on each other’s ideas; use textual evidence to support their ideas; and request textual evidence from peers when they offer unsupported ideas.

Individual WorkFollowingthediscussion,studentsrevisetheirQuickWritestoincorporatenewideasorpiecesoftextualevidence.



TASK 1.3

Whole Group Lead students in a discussion of (1) what they learned by engaging in discussion with their peers and (2) howtheyrevisedtheirQuickWritesfollowingthediscussion.

Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 43, 44, and 49)Reading LiteratureRL.6.1Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawn from the text.

Writing W.6.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 6 on page 52.)

W.6.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.



SL.6.3 Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.



TASK 1.4

Analysis

• Whatarethethemesinthistext?• Howarethosethemesconveyed?

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• T-Chart:Theme• Chart:IdentifyingandAnalyzingThemes• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole GroupAccess students’ prior knowledge about themes by asking students:

• Whatarewetalkingaboutwhenwerefertothethemesinatext?

Note to Teacher: A theme is best expressed as a full sentence, rather than as a single word. Students are usually able to provide a single word topic for a text but will need instruction and practice on developing theme statements.

• “Unhappiness”isatopicnotatheme.Athemestatementaboutunhappinessmightbesomething like: “Sometimes what a person fears in others is really what he/she fears in him/herself.”

• “Perseverance”isatopicnotatheme.Athemestatementaboutperseverancemightbesomethinglike:“Giving100%efforttowhatwedomakeslifeworthliving.”

Becoming a good, critical reader involves more than close and careful reading. It also means being able to think about and analyze what’s on the page to think beyond the topic or events of the story toward the meanings and larger ideas the author is talking about. In this way, thinking about a text’s possible themes helps us to answer the questions “what did I learn fromthis?”or“whatisthewritertryingtosaytome?”

Whole GroupBased on what students are able to say in the previous discussion, provide a mini-lesson on theme. Mini-lesson might include providing a student-friendly definition of theme (e.g., central idea(s) the author develops; what the author is saying about life, society, human nature); clarifying differences among theme, topic, and morals; discussing themes in movies or books with which students are familiar; and talking about the interpretive nature of theme (i.e., there is no one right theme; themes are readers’ interpretations that are supported with evidence from the text).



TASK 1.4

Whole GroupExplain to students that in this lesson they are going to identify themes in “The Southpaw” and analyze how the themes are conveyed through specific details in the text. They will begin with a topic they’ve already talked about: friendship.

ModelPrepare students by posing the following question in writing:

• Whatdoyouthinktheauthorof“TheSouthpaw”issayingaboutfriendship?

Explain that you are going to model determining a theme related to friendship. Ask students to take notes on what you are saying, doing, and thinking while you are modeling.

Model ReviewthechartsfromTask1.2(Characters’PerspectiveonFriendship)andideasthatemergedfromtheinquiry-based discussion (Task 1.3), and reread the text to think aloud about what the author is saying about friendship. Identify several moments from across the text that work together to develop a theme related to friendship. Model looking across these moments to write a statement of a theme related to friendship.

Below the theme statement, create a T-chart labeled, “Theme.” In the left column, identify several moments from across the text that work together to convey the theme. Then, in the right column, write a short explanation of how each of these moments conveys the theme. Explanation includes naming the author’s method with literary vocabulary.

Below is one reader’s example:

Theme: Friendships Can Survive Setbacks

Note 1 Janet: Give back the Disneyland sweatshirt I said you could wear

Note 2 Richard: I want my comic books now–finished or not.

Janet and Richard throw verbal jabs at each other because Richard won’t let Janet play on the baseball team that he leads and Janet won’t accept this status quo. Their verbal jabs are parallel in level of intensity; they go tit for tat insulting each other. Neither character crosses the boundary into more intense insults that would violate their basic level of respect for each other.

• character’swordsandexternalconflictwithchance for resolution

Note 7 Janet: Why don’t you and your team forget about baseballandlearnsomethingnicelikeknittingmaybe?

Note 8Richard: I didn’t think you’d be the kind who’d kick a man when he’s down.

Note 9 Janet: I wasn’t kicking exactly. I was kicking back.

These moments develop the theme further in another tit for tat balanced attack by each main character. Janet proposes knitting to Richard after Richard proposed the same earlier. In note 9, she counters Richard’s assertion, “kick a man when he’s down,” by reminding him she is only “kicking back” to his earlier insult. The dance of insults continues.

• developingtheme;character

Final three notes–

Richard writes: “Please! Not Marilyn Jackson.”

Janetwrites:“HowaboutLizzieMartindaleinstead?”Richard signs his last note, “Your friend.”

In these final three notes, both characters listen to each other. Richard really doesn’t want Marilyn Jackson on the team and Janet offers Lizzie Martindale instead.

• resolution



TASK 1.4

Whole GroupAfter completing the model, ask students to share what they saw you do, what they heard you say, and what youthoughtabout,inordertoidentifyandanalyzehowathemerelatedtofriendshipisconveyed.Chartthe information for all to see and label the chart, “Identifying and Analyzing Themes.” This chart serves as support for students when they are asked to identify and analyze other themes in this text and subsequent texts.

Pair WorkAsk students to work in pairs to reread “The Southpaw” and their notes/writing on the text to identify and analyze another theme. Students might be prompted to think about themes related to identity or gender roles. Have students write a statement of the theme at the top of their paper. Below the theme statement, they create a T-chart. In the left column students identify several moments from across the text that work together to convey the theme. In the right column students explain how the moments convey the theme. As they can, students should name the author’s methods with literary vocabulary.

Circulatearoundtheroomlookingforpairswhohaveidentifiedvalidthemesrelatedtofriendshipthattheyhave supported with evidence from across the text. Ask the pairs if they would be willing to share their work and thinking with the whole group. (The work that is shared does not need to be perfect. For example, pairs might have identified a valid theme but lack sufficient evidence to support the theme or lack the literary vocabulary to name methods used to convey the theme. Such examples can be used as teaching points for the whole group. See questions below.)

Whole GroupPreviously identified pairs share theme statements and T-charts with the whole group. Pairs explain their work and share what they did and thought about to identify and analyze the themes. After each pair shares, ask the whole group:

• Doesthetextualevidenceprovidedsupporttheidentifiedtheme?(i.e.,Istheevidencerelevant?)Ifnot,whatotherevidencemightbeused?

• Isthereenoughtextualevidencetosupporttheidentifiedtheme?(i.e.,Istheevidenceadequate?)Ifnot,whatadditionalevidencemightbeused?

• Istheevidenceclearlyexplained?Ifnot,whatmorecanbesaidtoexplainhowthemomentsconveythetheme?

The class works together to revise the theme statements and T-charts and name the methods the author used with literary vocabulary.

Pair WorkAfter several pairs have presented, students review their theme statements and T-charts to make sure the evidence they identified is relevant, adequate, and clearly explained. Pairs hand in their work. Review the work to determine small and whole group follow-up mini-lessons related to identifying and analyzing theme.



TASK 1.4

Teaching Option–Identifying Additional Themes

Ask students:

• Whatdidyoudoandthinkabouttoidentifyandanalyzeathemeinthistext?

Charttheinformationforalltoseeandlabelthechart,IdentifyingandAnalyzingThemes. This chart serves as support for students when they are asked to identify and analyze other themes in this text and subsequent texts.

Pair WorkAsk students to work in pairs to reread “The Southpaw,” and review their notes and writing on the text to identify and analyze another theme. Students might be prompted to think about themes related to identity or gender roles. Have students write a statement of the theme at the top of their paper. Below, they create a T-chart. In the left column, students identify several moments from across the text that convey the theme. In the right column, students explain how the moments convey the theme. As they can, students should name the author’s method with literary vocabulary.

Small GroupPairs get together with another pair and share their theme statements, evidence (moments), and explanations. Pairs assess each other’s work using the same questions they did previously to assess the themes that pairs presented. Then the group selects one theme statement and T-chart to share with the whole group. They copy and display their theme statement and T-chart.

Gallery WalkStudents walk around the room to review the T-charts, looking for similarities and differences in the identified themes, evidence, and explanations. They also identify the two displays that they think do the best job at supporting and explaining evidence on their identified theme.

Whole GroupLead a discussion on the following questions:

• Howdidyougoaboutidentifyingandanalyzingatheme?Whatmorecanweaddtoourchart,IdentifyingandAnalyzingThemes?

• Whatdidyoufindeasyordifficultaboutidentifyingthethemesinthistext?• Whatlingeringquestionsdoyouhaveabouttheme?

After identifying and analyzing themes in this text, what more should we add to our chart, Identity and How itisShaped?



TASK 1.4 Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 44, 49, and 53)



RL.6.5 Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

Writing W.6.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.







TASK 1.5

Interpretation

• Howdoesthisformengagethereader?

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• Chart:HowViorstCreatesaDistinctIdentity• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole Group Ask students to share what they notice about the form in which this text is written. Students are prompted for general observations about the form (e.g., short notes—only a few sentences; each note begins with a salutation; nine notes end with a P.S.) as well as how Viorst creates a distinct identity for each of the characters (e.g., Janet: repetition of note that states, “I pitch”). Record what students say on a chart labeled, “HowViorstCreatesaDistinctIdentity.”

Teaching Option–Teacher Model: Model reviewing the notes between Janet and Richard and generating one or two observations about the form in which this text is written. Then state a general observation (e.g., each note begins with a salutation) and an observation about how Viorst creates a distinct identity for either Janet or Richard (e.g., Janet: repetition of note that states, “I pitch.”).

Individual WorkStudents craft the next three or four notes between Richard and Janet.

Pair Share Students share their notes in pairs, looking for similarities and differences in how each student extended the story and how the different ways of extending the story match or contradict what we know about the characters.

Whole GroupAsk pairs to share what they notice about the form in which the text is written. Record what the pairs say.

Pair WorkStudents get together again with their partner. Each student selects a character, Richard or Janet. Pairs write the next four notes between the characters (two per character). Students take turns writing their notes so that the four notes make sense and continue the conversation. Model crafting your own note with another student before asking students to do this in pairs.



TASK 1.5

Small Group Pairs share their notes with another pair of students, looking for similarities and differences in how each pair extended the story and how the different ways of extending the story match or contradict what we know about the characters.

Whole GroupAsk for multiple pairs to share the notes they crafted. As students are listening, they jot down similarities and differences in how students have extended the story.

Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 44, and 49)Reading LiteratureRL.6.5 Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.



Grade 6


Text 2: “maggie and milly and molly and may”

by e.e. cummingsAnalysis of Theme: Identity

TASKS, TEACHING APPROACHES, AND STANDARDS


Text 2: “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings 47

TASK 2.1

Comprehension

• Whatisliterallyhappeninginthispoem?• Whoarethecharactersandwhatdoweknowaboutthem?

Materials• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings7

• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual, Pair, or Whole Group Work Students read “maggie and milly and molly and may” using the following questions to guide their comprehension:

• Whatisliterallyhappeninginthispoem?• Whoarethecharactersandwhatdoweknowaboutthem?

Individual Work StudentscomposeaQuickWriteortakenotesinresponsetothecomprehensionquestions.Theyarereminded to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Pair Work StudentssharetheirQuickWritesornoteswithapartner.

Whole Group Lead a discussion of the answers to the comprehension questions. Prompt students to use textual evidence to support their responses. When students offer inferences about the characters, ask students to identify key words and phrases that led them to make those inferences. Guide students to consider cummings’s word choice by asking them to come up with synonyms for some of cummings’s key words/phrases. Ask students to consider how replacing those words/phrases with synonyms changes their understanding of the characters.

7 cummings, e.e. (1994). maggie and milly and molly and may. In G. J. Firmage (Ed.), Complete poems 1904-1962 (p. 682). New York, NY:LiverightPublishingCorporation.


48 Text 2: “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings

TASK 2.1

Teaching Option–Trio Work with Round-Robin Share: As an alternative to thepairwork,havestudentsworkintriostosharetheirQuickWritesornotes.Studentswill return to the whole group to lead a round-robin share of what is literally happening in thepoem.Eachtriocontributesoneresponse.Continuetheround-robinbyaskingstudentsabout the characters and what we know about them. When students offer inferences about the characters, ask students to identify key words and phrases that led them to make those inferences. Guide students to consider cummings’s word choice by asking them to come up with synonyms for some of cummings’s key words/phrases and consider how replacing those words/phrases with synonyms changes students’ understanding of the characters.

Individual Work StudentscomposeaQuickWriteinresponsetothefollowingquestions:

• Whatwasthesameandwhatwasdifferentaboutansweringthecomprehensionquestionsfor“TheSouthpaw”and“maggieandmillyandmollieandmay”?

• Whatdidyoulearnaboutwordchoicebyconsideringalternativewordscummingsmighthaveusedtodevelopthecharacters?

Whole Group Engage students in a discussion on the questions listed above.

Interpretation Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 44, 49, and 53)Reading LiteratureRL.6.1Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawn from the text.

RL.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.







TASK 2.2

• Whatdoyouthinkcummingsmeanswhenhesays,“Forwhateverwelose(likeayouorame)/it’salwaysourselveswefindinthesea,”inthelaststanzaofthepoem?

Materials• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual Work StudentscomposeaQuickWriteinresponsetothequestion:

• Inthelaststanzaofthepoem,cummingssays,“Forwhateverwelose(likeayouorame)/it’salwaysourselveswefindinthesea.”Whatdoyouthinkhemeansbythis?

Remind students to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Pair Share StudentstakethreetofiveminutestosharetheirQuickWritesinpairs.Partnersshouldbelisteningfortextual evidence, and points of agreement and disagreement.

Whole Group Facilitate a whole group inquiry-based discussion. Remind students to talk directly to each other; agree, disagree, or otherwise build on each other’s ideas; use textual evidence to support their ideas; and request textual evidence from peers when they offer unsupported ideas.

Individual Work Followingthediscussion,studentsrevisetheirQuickWritestoincorporatenewideasorpiecesoftextualevidence.

Whole Group Lead students in a discussion of (1) what they learned by engaging in discussion with their peers and (2) howtheyrevisedtheirQuickWritesfollowingthediscussion.



TASK 2.2 Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 43, 44, 49, and 53)




Writing W.6.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.








Analysis

• Writeananalysisofathemeandhowthatthemeisconveyedthroughspecificdetails.

Materials• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings • Student Handout: MODEL: Short Written Analysis of a Theme in “The Southpaw”• Chart:IdentifyingandAnalyzingThemes• Chart:CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisofTheme• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole Group Engage students in small or whole group mini-lessons on identifying and analyzing themes based on your assessment of students’ work with theme in Task 1.4.

Pair or Trio Work Students work together to identify and analyze a theme in “maggie and milly and mollie and may.” Before they begin, remind students to use the chart, Identifying and Analyzing Themes, if they need support. As with Task 1.4, students reread the text and consider the ideas that emerged during their inquiry-based discussion (Task 2.2) to identify and analyze a theme. Students write a statement of the theme at the top of their paper. Below, they create a T-chart. In the left column students list several moments from across the text that work together to convey the theme and in the right column students explain how the moments convey the theme. Students also work to name the author’s methods with literary vocabulary.

Whole Group Lead students in a group share of identified themes in “maggie and milly and molly and may.” Record theme statements and T-charts. As a group, students assess and revise the work using the following questions:

• Doesthetextualevidenceprovidedsupporttheidentifiedtheme?(i.e.,Istheevidencerelevant?)Ifnot,whatotherevidencemightbeused?

• Isthereenoughtextualevidencetosupporttheidentifiedtheme?(i.e.,Istheevidenceadequate?)Ifnot,whatadditionalevidencemightbeused?

• Istheevidenceclearlyexplained?Ifnot,whatmorecanbesaidtoexplainhowthemomentsconvey thetheme?

As a class, students also work together to name the author’s methods with literary vocabulary.

TASK 2.3



TASK 2.3

Teaching Option–Whole Group Collaborative Writing: Explain to students that they will use the work they just gathered to write an analysis of a theme together. Lead students through the process of writing an analysis of a theme, making sure to verbally mark the steps they are taking, such as selecting evidence to use to support the theme statement; deciding on an organizational structure; introducing, developing, and concluding the analysis; assessing the writing for support and coherence; revising; and finally, editing.

Model Distribute the student handout: MODEL: Short Written Analysis of a Theme in “The Southpaw.” Explain to students that they will be writing an analysis of a theme in “maggie and milly and molly and may,” but first they’re going to study a model analysis of a theme in “The Southpaw.”

Individual Work Students read and study the model’s content and the development of ideas by answering the following questions:

• Whatthemedoesthewriteranalyze?Howdoyouknow?• Whatevidencedoesthewriterusetoexplainhowthethemeisconveyed?• Wheredoesthewriterexplainhis/herevidenceandhowitconveysthetheme?

Whole Group Lead a whole group discussion of the answers to the questions above. Display the model and mark the text as students respond. As part of this discussion, students also assess whether the supporting evidence is relevant, adequate, and clearly explained.

Pair Work Students read the model a second time to consider the organization and style. Pairs answer the following questions:

• Howisthemodelorganized?• Howdoesthewriterintroduceandconcludetheessay?• Whatdoyounoticeaboutthewriter’sstyle?

(Students might consider such things as the formality of the writing or use of embedded quotations.)

Whole Group Lead a whole group discussion on the questions above. Again, display the model and mark the text as students respond.

Whole Group Pose the following question:

• Basedonthemodelandourdiscussion,whatarethecharacteristicsofaneffectivewrittenanalysisofatheme?



TASK 2.3

Studentsoffercharacteristicswhileyourecordthemonachartthatislabeled,“CharacteristicsofanEffective Written Analysis of Theme.” While recording the characteristics or after the characteristics have been recorded, group the related characteristics into larger categories such as a) content–ideas, reasons, textual evidence; b) organization; c) student writer’s methods with literary vocabulary; and d) conventions, usage.

Individual or Pair Work Students write an analysis of a theme in “maggie and milly and molly and may.”

Small Group Students share their written analyses with another student or pair of students by reading drafts aloud. Listeners share two things the writer(s) did particularly well and two things they think the writer(s) could work on when revising the draft.

Students should provide feedback based on characteristics from the class-generated chart related to ideas, craft, and structure.

Individual or Pair Work Have students revise their written analyses and hand in for your feedback related to two or three of the characteristics from the class-generated chart. Additionally, look for patterns across students’ papers to identify small or whole group mini-lessons to review identifying, analyzing, or writing analyses of themes.

Whole Group Lead a discussion of the following questions:

• Whatdidyoufindeasyanddifficultaboutwritingananalysisofatheme?• Whatlingeringquestionsdoyouhave?

What did you notice about the similarities and differences in how themes are conveyed in “The Southpaw” and“maggieandmillyandmollyandmay”?(Encourageandsupportstudentstouseliteraryvocabulary.Verbally mark differences that can be attributed to differences in the form of the texts.)



TASK 2.3 Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 42, 43, 49, 52, and 53)




Writing W.6.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

W.6.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

W.6.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.



LanguageL.6.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

L.6.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

L.6.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.




Model: Short Written Analysis of a Theme in “The Southpaw,” by Judith ViorstStudent Handout

Judith Viorst’s story, “The Southpaw,” makes us laugh about two friends verbally attacking each other. With humor, Viorst explores the theme of setbacks to friendship. Through short notes that go back and forth between the story’s two main characters, Janet and Richard, Viorst conveys the theme that friendships can survive daily challenges and verbal jabs if friends stay in communication with each other.

In the very first set of notes and in every one of the notes to the end of the story, Viorst creates a pattern of setback and attack from one character to the other. For instance, in the first set of notes, Viorst has Janet introduce the story’s major conflict of Richard not letting her play on the baseball team. Therefore, Janet states that she wants her sweatshirt back from Richard and attacks him with the jab, “P.S. I hope when you go to the dentist he finds 20 cavities” (77). Richard responds by returning the sweatshirt, asking for his comics back, and hoping Janet needs a tetanus shot on her next doctor’s visit (77). And so it goes, note after note to the final set. There are setbacks and jabs, but the jabs are ones of equal intensity and the humor lessens the impact of the attacks. Their “friendship” continues through the two-way notes with humor groomed by what they know about each other.

TASK 2.3

Grade 6


Text 3: “What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?” by Avi



Text 3: “What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?” by Avi 59

TASK 3.1

Comprehension


Materials• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi8

• Option 4–Wiki or other online forum • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual, Pair, or Whole Group Work Studentsread,“WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”usingthefollowingquestionstoguidetheircomprehension:


Technology Option: Individually, students create a wiki, forum, or blog post where they can write responses to the comprehension questions by adding to what other students have written. (RL.6.1, RL.6.3, W.6.6, W.6.9)

Individual Work StudentscomposeaQuickWriteortakenotesinresponsetothecomprehensionquestions.

Pair Work StudentssharetheirQuickWritesornoteswithapartner.

Teaching Option–Trio Work and Round-Robin Share: As an alternative to workinginpairs,studentssharetheirQuickWritesornotesingroupsofthree.ProvidestudentsseveralminutestocomposetheirQuickWritesandthenreturntothewholegroup.Lead a round-robin share of what is literally happening in the order in which it is happening. Each trio contributes one thing that happens. Students add missing information to their notes orQuickWrites.Next,leadstudentsinadiscussionofthecharactersandwhatweknowaboutthem. When necessary, prompt students to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Whole Group Lead a discussion of the comprehension questions. When necessary, prompt students to use textual evidence to support their responses.

8 Avi (2005). What do fish have to do with anything?(pp.9-32).Somerville,MA:CandlewickPress.


60 Text 3: “What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?” by Avi




Writing W.6.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.






TASK 3.2

Significant Moment

• Selectandexplainseveralrelatedmomentsthatstrikeyouassignificanttoconveying one or more themes.

Materials• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Chart:SignificantMoments• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole Group Engage students in small or whole group mini-lessons on identifying and analyzing themes based on your assessment of students’ work with theme in Task 2.3.

Set up the task by explaining to students that with previous texts they had multiple discussions about the text before identifying and analyzing themes. The discussions helped surface themes so that they probably had some good ideas about one or more themes before they were asked to identify and analyze one. This time, however, they are going to identify and analyze themes without engaging in other discussions about the text. In order to begin to surface themes, students will reread the text to select several moments that seem significant to a theme in this story. The moment might seem significant because it makes them pause or because they remember that the phrase or line is repeated several times in the story. Ask students to share other reasons why a line might seem significant.

Model Model rereading the beginning of the text to select a moment that seems significant to a theme in the story. Createathree-columnchartlabeled,“SignificantMoments.”Intheleftcolumn,recordthemoment.Inthemiddle column, explain the significance of the moment by writing what the author seems to be saying with this moment (i.e., what theme is being developed). The right column is blank for now. That column will be used to explain how the moment conveys the theme.

Explain that after identifying this first moment, you will continue rereading the story to locate another moment that appears to be developing that same theme. Whether or not you find another moment will provide a clue as to whether this is a theme in the text. If you find several related moments from across the text, then you have likely identified a theme. If not, you will need to return to the beginning of the text and consider another possible theme.

Pair Work Students reread the text to identify and explain several related moments that strike them as significant to a theme. Students create a three-column chart labeled, Significant Moments, to record (left column) and explain (middle column) the moments. The right column is blank for now. Students should identify three or four related moments from across the text.



TASK 3.2

Model When most students have identified and explained four moments, bring the group together and continue with previous model. Display your own chart that now has several moments identified and explained. Model looking across these moments to come up with a theme statement. For demonstration purposes, you may show crossing out a previously identified moment because it no longer seems relevant to the theme you identified. Then model returning to the moments to complete the right column with an explanation of how each moment conveys the theme. Name the author’s methods with literary vocabulary.

Pair Work Students return to their own three-column charts to develop a theme statement and complete the right column.

Whole Group Lead students in a group share of identified themes. After each theme statement and evidence is shared, the group assesses whether or not the textual evidence provided is relevant, adequate, and clearly explained (see questions used in previous theme tasks). They also work together to name the author’s methods with literary vocabulary.

Whole Group Lead a whole group reflection on the process they used to identify and analyze themes. Students share (1) how this process was different than the other times they worked on theme and (2) what worked well about this process and what questions they still have. Also ask students to review the class identity chart to add new ideas about identity, how identity is shaped, and what authors do to develop characters’ identities.

Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 44, 49, and 53)Reading LiteratureRL.6.1Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawn from the text.






Language L.6.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.



TASK 3.3

Analysis

• Writeananalysisofanidentifiedthemeandhowthatthemeisconveyedthroughspecificdetails.

Materials• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Chart:CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisofTheme• Scoring rubric • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Small or Whole Group Before or during this lesson, engage students in small or whole group mini-lessons on writing an analysis of a theme based on your assessment of students’ work with theme in Task 2.3.

Individual Work Studentswriteananalysisofathemein“WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”Remindstudentstoconsultthechart,CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisofTheme,and/orthemodelwrittenanalysis from Task 2.3 as they write.

Circulatearoundtheroomprovidingsupportandlookingforstudentswhosedraftsembodymanyofthecharacteristics the class generated, especially those that proved difficult as evidenced by students’ first written analysis (Task 2.3). Ask those students if they would be willing to share their drafts with the whole group.

Whole Group Previously identified students share their drafts by displaying and reading their writing. Listeners note what makes each effective. After each written analysis, students share what they found effective. Relevant responsesareaddedtothechart,CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisofTheme.

Teaching Option–Pair or Trio Share: Students share their drafts in pairs or trios by reading them aloud. Listeners share two things the writers did particularly well and two things the writers could work on when revising the draft. Students should provide feedback based on characteristics from the class-generated chart related to ideas, craft, and structure.

Whole GroupShareascoringrubricwithstudents.(SeePARCCorSMARTERBalancedforRubrics.Asyouusetheserubrics, consider creating task-specific indicators to further refine them and provide more specific guidance for students.) Using the model written analysis from Task 2.3, review the components of the rubric to deepen student understanding of an effective analysis of theme.



TASK 3.3

Individual Work Students revise their analyses using the scoring rubric as a guide and hand in for your feedback and scoring. Provide feedback related to two or three of the characteristics from the class-generated list. Additionally, look for patterns across students’ papers to identify small or whole group mini-lessons to review how to identify, analyze, or write about theme.

Teaching Option–Pair Work: As an alternative to students working individually, pairs of students work to revise their drafts using the scoring rubric as a guide and hand in for your feedback and scoring. Provide feedback related to two or three of the characteristics from the class-generated list. Additionally, look for patterns across students’ papers to identify small or whole group mini-lessons to review how to identify, analyze, or write about theme.

Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36, 42, 43, 49, and 53)Reading LiteratureRL.6.1Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawn from the text.


Writing W.6.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.








TASK 3.4

Analysis

• Whataresimilarthemesacrosstwoofthethreetextswehavereadthusfar?Compareandcontrasttwotextsintermsoftheirapproachestoa similartheme.

Materials• “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst• “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummings• “WhatDoFishHavetoDoWithAnything?”byAvi• Model: Theme Statement with list of methods authors use to convey theme• List of the titles of the three texts• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole Group Explain to students that this next task asks them to consider similar themes across two texts. Engaging in this task will help prepare them for their culminating assessment. Provide an oral summary of students’ culminating assessment and tell students that they will receive the assignment sheet at the conclusion of this task.

Whole Group For all to see, list the titles of the three texts students have read thus far. Students brainstorm details about the texts, paying special attention to what the texts have in common. Students refer to notes in their Reader/Writer Notebooks as needed. Students consider important moments and ideas in the texts; the characters, what happens to them, and the lessons they learn or teach; conflicts and resolutions in the texts; etc.

Students consider what the texts have in common, and from those commonalities infer what the writers of any two texts say that is similar about life or human nature. You might prompt students to think about themes related to identity, growing up, learning about ourselves, or friendship. Ideally, the class should determine at least two similar themes across two texts.

Model Write a theme statement about one theme across two of the three texts. Analyze how the theme is conveyed in text 1, keeping a list of the methods that the author uses to convey the theme. Then instruct students to do the same for text 2. Once the two lists are complete, guide students to compare and contrast the two texts in terms of their approaches to this similar theme. Take notes for all to see.

Individual or Pair Work Students list what they did (i.e., the steps they took) to determine a theme across texts and then to compare and contrast two texts in terms of their approaches to a similar theme.



TASK 3.4

Whole Group Students share their lists while you record the steps the class took to determine a theme across texts and then to compare and contrast the two texts in terms of their approaches to the theme. Students copy this list into their Reader/Writer Notebooks.

Pair Work Students identify and analyze another theme across two texts and compare and contrast the texts in terms of their approaches to a similar theme. Students work to find and explain at least one similarity and one differenceinhowthesetwotextsindifferentformsconveythetheme.Circulatearoundtheroomtoprovidesupport and identify pairs whose work and thinking would benefit the class to see. Ask those students if they would be willing to share their work and thinking with the class.

Whole Group Previously identified pairs share their work, talking through what they did, thought about, and talked about to compare and contrast two texts in terms of their approaches to similar themes.

Whole Group Lead a whole group reflection on what students noticed about how different forms of texts may vary in their approaches to similar themes. Ask students if they have anything to add to the identity chart.

Distribute the culminating assessment handout. Students should take a few minutes to read the assignment sheet and ask questions about the expectations or requirements.




RL.6.9Compareandcontrasttextsindifferentformsorgenres(e.g.,storiesandpoems;historicalnovels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.




Grade 6


Text 4: “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros



Text 4 “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros 69

TASK 4.1

Comprehension


Materials• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros9

• Option 4–Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual, Pair, or Whole Group Work Students read “Eleven” using the following questions to guide their comprehension:


Individual Work StudentsdoaQuickWritetoanswerthecomprehensionquestions.

TriosStudentssharetheirQuickWritesingroupsofthree.Eachstudenttakesturnsreadinghis/herQuickWritealoud. Listeners note and then discuss as a group at least one similarity and one difference among the three QuickWrites.Listenersalsonoteplaceswherewritersshouldincorporatetextualevidencetosupportwhatthey have written.

Individual Work StudentsrevisetheirQuickWritesusingthetriodiscussionasaguide.

Whole Group Engage students in a discussion on the comprehension questions.

Technology Option–Whole Group:StudentsmaycomposetheirQuickWriteonaclass wiki page, forum, or blog post. Students respond to their peers’ posts rather than doing the pair work below. Ask students to write responses to the comprehension questions by adding to what other students have written. Students are instructed to use textual evidence to support their responses. (RL.6.1, RL.6.3, W.6.9, SL.6.1)

9 Cisneros,S.(1991).Eleven.Woman hollering creek and other stories (pp. 6-9). New York, NY: Random House Vintage Books.


70 Text 4 “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros

TASK 4.1 Focus Standards (CCSS, 2012, p. 36 and 49)




W.6.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.






TASK 4.2

Interpretation

• WhatdoesRachelmeanattheendofthestorywhenshesays,“…onlyit’stoolate”?

Materials• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual Work StudentsrereadthetextandcomposeaQuickWriteinresponsetothequestion:

• WhatdoesRachelmeanattheendofthestorywhenshesays,“onlyit’stoolate”?

Remind students to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Pair Share StudentstakethreetofiveminutestosharetheirQuickWritesinpairs.Partnersshouldbelisteningfortextual evidence and points of agreement and disagreement.

Teaching Option–Open Fishbowl Discussion: As an alternative to the whole group discussion below, students participate in an open fishbowl discussion of their responses totheQuickWrite.Fivechairsareplacedinthecenteroftheroomandserveasthefishbowl.The rest of the chairs are placed in a circle around the fishbowl. Four students volunteer or are selected to sit in the fishbowl to begin the discussion; one chair is left empty. Students are reminded to talk directly to each other; agree, disagree, or otherwise build on each other’s ideas; use textual evidence to support their ideas; and request textual evidence from peers when they offer unsupported ideas. Students outside the fishbowl listen to the discussion, keeping track of ideas and evidence that have been discussed. Several times over the course of the discussion, students are selected or volunteer to join the discussion. When this happens, a member of the fishbowl volunteers or is selected to leave the discussion.

Prepare for Inquiry-Based Discussion: See the Inquiry-Based Discussion guide in the Appendix for information on preparing students for an inquiry-based discussion.

Whole Group Facilitate a whole group inquiry-based discussion. Remind students to talk directly to each other; agree, disagree, or otherwise build on each other’s ideas; use textual evidence to support their ideas; and request textual evidence from peers when they offer unsupported ideas.



TASK 4.2

Individual Work Followingthediscussion,studentsrevisetheirQuickWritestoincorporatenewideasorpiecesoftextualevidence. For this revision, students concentrate on writing a coherent paragraph with a clear claim (i.e., statement of their interpretation) and reasons and evidence to support their claim. Students hand in QuickWrites.

Whole Group LeadstudentsinadiscussiontosharehowtheyrevisedtheirQuickWritesandwhattheylearnedbyparticipating in or listening to the discussion.




Writing W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.








TASK 4.3

Assessment 1 Write a Summary

• Writeananalysisofathemein“Eleven”andhowthatthemeisconveyedthroughspecificdetails.

Materials• “Eleven”bySandraCisneros• Handout: Short Assessment Task: Written Analysis of Theme• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Whole Group Distribute the assessment handout: “Short Assessment Task: Written Analysis of Theme.” Read the handout with students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions.

Lead a discussion of the tools and resources students have to help them successfully complete the assessment. Tools and resources include model analysis of theme, students’ written analyses of themes with previous stories, class-generated chart of the characteristics of an effective written analysis of theme, and scoring rubric.

Individual WorkHave students complete a short assessment task and hand it in. Assess and provide feedback on students’ papers within a couple of days. As you assess students’ papers, look for patterns across responses and identify mini-lessons that are needed to reteach concepts. Review but do not grade students’ notes to determine where students may be encountering difficulty in analyzing or writing about theme.







Writing W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.







TASK 4.3

Short Assessment Task: Written Analysis of Theme Assessment 1Grade 6

Write an analysis of a theme in “Eleven” and how that theme is conveyed through specific details from across the text.

Use the blank space below to take notes or create a two- or three-column chart to help you identify and analyze a theme and how it is conveyed through specific details and moments in the text. Your notes will becollectedbutnotgraded.Composeyourwrittenanalysisonthefollowingpage.Yourwrittenanalysisshouldbeabout150words.Usetheclass-generatedchart,CharacteristicsofanEffectiveWrittenAnalysisof Theme, and the scoring rubric to guide and assess your writing.

Grade 6


Text 5: “Motto” by Langston Hughes



Text 5: “Motto” by Langston Hughes 79

TASK 5.1

Comprehension

• Whatisthespeakerliterallysaying?• Whoisthespeaker?Whatdoyouknowabouthimorher?

Materials• “Motto” by Langston Hughes10

• Option 4–Wiki or other online forum• Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual, Pair, or Whole Group Work Students read, “Motto,” using the following questions to guide their comprehension:

• Whatisthespeakerliterallysaying?• Whoisthespeakerandwhatdoweknowabouthimorher?

Individual Work StudentscomposeaQuickWriteinresponsetothecomprehensionquestions.

Pair or Trio Work StudentssharetheirQuickWritesingroupsoftwoorthree.Aftereachstudentshares,pairsdiscusspointsof agreement and disagreement and work to resolve differences by referring back to the text.

Whole Group Ask students:

• Whatpointsofagreementordisagreementdidyoudiscover?• Howdidyouresolveyourdisagreements?

Whole Group Lead a whole group share of comprehension questions. Students add missing information to their own notes.

Technology Option: Individually, students create a wiki, forum, or blog post where they can write responses to the comprehension questions by adding to what other students have written. (RL.6.1; RL.6.3, W.6.6, W.6.9)

10 Hughes, L. (1994). Motto. In A. Rampersad (Ed.), The collected poems of Langston Hughes (p. 398). New York, NY: Vintage Books.


80 Text 5: “Motto” by Langston Hughes



Writing W.6.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.





Text 5: “Motto” by Langston Hughes 81

TASK 5.2

Interpretation

• Whichcharacterfromanyofthisunit’stextsseemsmostlikethespeakerinthispoem?

Materials• “Motto” by Langston Hughes • Reader/Writer Notebook• Chartpaperandmarkers

Teaching Approach

Individual Work Studentsreread,“Motto,”andreviewtheothertextsintheunittocomposeaQuickWriteinresponsetothe questions:

• Whichcharacterfromanyofthisunit’stextsseemsmostlikethespeakerinthispoem?• Whatmakesyousayso?

Students are reminded to use textual evidence to support their responses.

Pair Share StudentstakethreetofiveminutestosharetheirQuickWritesinpairs.Partnersshouldbelisteningfortextual evidence and points of agreement and disagreement.

Whole Group Facilitate a whole group inquiry-based discussion. Remind students to talk directly to each other; agree, disagree, or otherwise build on each other’s ideas; use textual evidence to support their ideas; and request textual evidence from peers when they offer unsupported ideas. As the discussion is winding down, ask students which character they think least resembles the speaker in the poem.

Individual Work Followingthediscussion,studentsrevisetheirQuickWritestoincorporatenewideasorpiecesoftextualevidence.

Whole Group Lead students in a discussion of what more they learned about the characters in any/all of the texts by writing about and discussing the question.

Prepare for Inquiry-Based Discussion: See the Inquiry-Based Discussion guide in the Appendix for information on preparing students for an inquiry-based discussion.


82 Text 5: “Motto” by Langston Hughes


Reading LiteratureRL.6.9Compareandcontrasttextsindifferentformsorgenres(e.g.,storiesandpoems;historicalnovels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.






Grade 6


Culminating AssessmentAnalysis of Theme: Identity


Culminating Assessment 85

Analysis of Theme Culminating Assessment TaskGrade 6

Throughout this unit we have been working on identifying, analyzing, and writing about themes. We have written theme statements and worked to support those theme statements with relevant, adequate, and clearly explained evidence. We have begun to compare and contrast two texts in terms of their approaches to similar themes. You will build on that work for the culminating assessment of this unit.

Assignment: Write an essay of about 250 words in which you compare and contrast two unit texts in terms of their approaches to a similar theme. Be sure to support your analysis with relevant, adequate, and clearly explained evidence.

Some help to get started: To begin, the first thing you’ll want to do is to brainstorm similar themes across texts before choosing two texts with a similar theme as the topic of your essay. Once you’ve decided on the two texts, reread them to gather evidence about how the theme is conveyed in each text. Then compare the evidence to look for similarities and differences in terms of the texts’ approaches to the theme. Take notes on your findings. From there, write a theme statement and identify the reasons and evidence you will use to support your theme statement. Then you’re ready to write a draft of your essay. As you write, keep in mind the tools and resources you have to support you. List the tools and resources you have in the space below.

After you have finished your draft, it will be reviewed, and then edited by a peer. You will have time to revise and edit your essay based on peer feedback and teacher support before handing it in.


86 Culminating Assessment

StepBack Questions

Please answer the following questions in the space below. Your responses will be collected but not graded.

1. Whatdidyoufindeasyaboutcompletingtheassessmenttask?

2. Whatdidyoufinddifficultaboutit?

3. Whatquestionsdoyoustillhaveaboutidentifying,analyzing,orwritingabouttheme?

Grade 6


AppendixAnalysis of Theme: Identity

Appendix 89


Unit Texts

Text 1: “The Southpaw” by Judith ViorstViorst, J. (2008). The southpaw. In M. Thomas (Ed.), Free to be…You and me (pp. 42-47). Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers.

Text 2: “maggie and milly and molly and may” by e.e. cummingscummings, e.e. (1994). maggie and milly and molly and may. In G. J. Firmage (Ed.), Complete poems 1904-1962(p.682).NewYork,NY:LiverightPublishingCorporation.

Text 3: “What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?” by AviAvi (2005). What do fish have to do with anything?(pp.9-32).Somerville,MA:CandlewickPress.

Text 4: “Eleven” by Sandra CisnerosCisneros,S.(1991).Eleven.Woman hollering creek and other stories (pp. 6-9). New York, NY: Random House Vintage Books.

Text 5: “Motto” by Langston HughesHughes, L. (1994). Motto. In A. Rampersad (Ed.), The collected poems of Langston Hughes (p. 398). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Texts

90 Appendix


Obtaining Copyright Permission

A number of texts, such as journal and newspaper articles, book chapters, children’s books, and poems, may be mentioned in this IFL Unit. Because of copyright considerations, these resources could not be included in the unit. A comprehensive reference citation has been included in this section of the unit.

Theresourcesreferencedinthisunitmaybeprotectedbycopyrightlaw(Title17,U.S.Code).Youareresponsible for obtaining permission from the rights holder(s) in order to reproduce and distribute copyrighted material. The rights holder may require a fee for this permission, which will be based on the number of copies made. Even if the rights holder does not require a fee, you are still obligated to make a formal request before redistributing copyrighted material.

Notes

• The rights holder will need the following information to process your request–title of work, author, place of publication, page numbers, and how and when the resource will be used.

• When text comes from an anthology or a textbook, the publisher of the book is most likely not the rights holder. The publisher generally gets permission to include the text in their book. The rights holder will need to be determined in order to get permission to use the text.

• Picture books generally have two rights holders, one for the text and another for the images. Both rights holders must grant permission to make copies of the texts.

• Other resources, such as paintings, photographs, graphics, cartoons, videos, songs, etc., also require copyright permission.

Copyright laws may prohibit photocopying this document without express permission.

Appendix 91


Instructional Glossary

ASSESSMENTS IN IFL ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS reflect what is known about the assessments under developmentbytheSmarterBalancedAssessmentConsortiumandthePartnershipforAssessmentofReadinessforCollegeandCareers(PARCC).BothconsortiacloselyaligntheirassessmentstotheCommonCoreStateStandards.

ASSESSMENT TASKS:

• Allow for an assessment of how well students are learning the content and habits of thinking that they are being taught through the designed curriculum.

• Build from the notion that we should assess what we actually teach. Therefore, the assessment and unit content learning goals, skills, and habits of thinking are the same.

• Ask students to individually complete tasks that mirror tasks they have completed, often with others, as part of the unit’s daily instruction. The specific content of the assessment is new to students, yet within the scope of the content they have been studying as part of the unit of study.

• Use student work to assess what students know, what teachers need to reteach, and what modifications teachers must make as they continue the work of the unit.

BLOG refers to a website that allows individuals or groups of users to post facts, opinions, stories, etc. and allows other users to respond to those posts through the use of comment boxes on the blog page.

CHARTING of the pair/trio sharing by or for members of the group represents the work of the group to the entire class. Wall charts are dynamic displays that are frequently revisited and revised by the teacher and learners as their understanding of the particular content is developing. In the process of creating these charts, learners voice their own interpretations of content or ideas, providing teachers with key opportunities to assess learners’ understanding. While the teacher is collecting the students’ ideas, often s/he is also shaping and organizing their ideas given the content and standards that are the focus of the lesson or unit. Wall charts also act as a way to provide support for students who may not have understood the work individually (or in their pair/trio/group work). Additionally, wall charts provide learners with clear expectations of what they are learning or expected to produce. Learners use these charts as references when doing work independently or in small and large groups; this allows students to begin to self-manage their learning. Therefore, these charts should be strategically placed in the classroom so that students can use them as tools of instruction. Wall charts are part of the gradual release of the responsibility for learning from teachers to students. They are intended to reflect and impact the learner’s work and achievement, unlike posters, which are fixed products and are often used as decoration.

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS (CCSS) have been adopted by most states. Information about this standardsprojectandtheEnglishlanguagearts/literacystandardsareontheCCSSwebsite: http://www.corestandards.org.

COMPREHENSION/SORTING QUESTIONS promote close reading and allow students to get the gist of a text while sorting out, for example, the characters and settings, central and supporting ideas, or claims and counterclaims.

CULMINATING ASSESSMENT refers to the final unit assessment. Students complete this performance assessment individually. It focuses on the big ideas and skills students have studied and used in the unit. It takes into account the standards and sequence of lessons, and tests what has been taught, modeled, and included on criteria charts and trackers.

92 Appendix


CULMINATING ASSIGNMENT refers to the final unit assignment. The culminating assignment focuses on the big ideas and skills students have studied and used in the unit. Unlike the culminating assessment, students receive support in its completion including opportunities for multiple drafts, peer review, and revision. Almost always, students learn about the culminating assignment at the beginning of the unit, which helps them to understand how the work that they do throughout the unit connects and supports their completion of this individual but scaffolded assignment.

DISCIPLINARY LITERACY (DL) is an approach to teaching and learning that integrates academically rigorous content with discipline-appropriate habits of thinking. In DL, students become literate in a specific discipline by learning the big ideas and habits of thinking of that discipline simultaneously.

EMBEDDED ASSESSMENT TASKS describe assessments that are integral to a curriculum and are part of a unit’s instructional sequence. They are literally embedded as on-demand “tests” in units of instruction and require students to perform tasks that mirror work they have completed, often with others, as part of the unit’s daily instruction. Embedding assessments throughout instruction allows teachers to find out what students don’t know or aren’t able to do while there is still time to do something about it. These assessments provide formative data that allow teachers to change or modify instruction to better address the needs of individual learners.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT is assessment for learning. This type of assessment occurs throughout the course of a unit and is used to measure students’ understanding of the unit’s key concepts, content, and skills. The data from formative assessments are used to adjust instruction and learning to meet the needs of students. This adjustment may include reteaching certain concepts, either to the whole class or a specific group of students, or incorporating alternative approaches to assessing the content.

GALLERY WALKS refer to walks students do around the classroom in order to read, take notes on, or respond to various classroom artifacts such as individual or pair/trio charts, whole group charts, displays constructed by the teacher or peers, etc. Gallery walks provide the opportunity for students to share their work with others and/or display what they know or have learned. Additionally, gallery walks can provide teachers with an active way to share information with students on various topics. Gallery walks are usually followed by whole class discussions.

GENRE: “A genre of writing is a rough template for accomplishing a particular purpose with language. It provides the writer and the reader with a common set of assumptions about what characterizes the text.” (Hampton,S.,Murphy,S.,&Lowry,M.(2009)inUsingRubricstoImproveWriting,NewStandards,IRA,UniversityofPittsburgh&NCEE,p.1.)

INFORMATIONAL TEXT: TheCommonCoreStateStandards(CCSS)explicateexpectationsforreadingandwritinginformationaltext.TheCCSSsectionbelowelaboratesontheseexpectationsforwritinginformational text:

“Informational/explanatory writing conveys information accurately. This kind of writing serves one or more closely related purposes: to increase readers’ knowledge of a subject, to help readers better understand a procedure or process, or to provide readers with an enhanced comprehension of a concept. Informational/explanatory writingaddressesmatterssuchastypes(Whatarethedifferenttypesofpoetry?)andcomponents(Whatarethepartsofamotor?);size,function,orbehavior(HowbigistheUnitedStates?WhatisanX-rayusedfor?Howdopenguinsfindfood?);howthingswork(Howdoesthelegislativebranchofgovernmentfunction?);andwhythingshappen(Whydosomeauthorsblendgenres?).”(AppendixA,p.23)

Appendix 93


Writers of informational/explanatory texts:

“use a variety of techniques to convey information, such as naming, defining, describing, or differentiating different types or parts; comparing or contrasting ideas or concepts; and citing an anecdote or a scenario to illustrate a point. Informational/explanatory writing includes a wide array of genres, including academic genres such as literary analyses, scientific and historical reports, summaries, and précis writing as well as forms of workplace and functional writing such as instructions, manuals, memos, reports, applications, and résumés” (ibid).

The National Assessment of Educational Progress addresses the reading of informational text in its reading framework, “Informational texts include three broad categories: exposition; argumentation and persuasive text; and procedural text and documents.” Informational texts include such reading materials as textbooks, magazine and newspaper articles, documents, essays, and speeches.

ThesidebaroftheCollegeandCareerReadinessAnchorStandardsforReadingadvocatesthatstudentsread “increasingly challenging literary and informational texts.” They provide examples of informational text such as “texts in history/social studies, science and other disciplines” (2010, p. 10).

ThefollowingsectionsfromtheCCSSprovideexamplesofinformationaltextswhicharemeanttoillustratethe kinds of texts that can be selected, but not to be the only texts students would read:

Informational: Historical/Social Science Texts

Historical/Social Science texts are informational texts with historical or social sciencecontent.ExamplesfromAppendixBoftheCCSSinclude:PreambleandFirstAmendmenttotheUnitedStatesConstitution,Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Freedman, The Great Fire by Murphy, and Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist by Greenberg.

Informational: Scientific and Technical Texts

Scientific and Technical texts are informational texts with scientific and technical content.ExamplesfromAppendixBoftheCCSSinclude:The Building of Manhattan by Mackay, Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho by Katz, “Space Probe” from Astronomy & Space: From the Big Bang to the Big Crunch, and “The Evolution of the Grocery Bag” by Petroski.

Literary Nonfiction

Literary nonfiction “includes the subgenres of exposition, argument, and functional text in the form of personal essays, speeches, opinion pieces, essays about art or literature, biographies, memoirs, journalism, and historical, scientific, technical, or economic accounts (including digital sources) written for a broad audience” (Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, 2012, p. 57). These texts can be informational,persuasion,andnarrative.ExamplesfromAppendixBoftheCCSSinclude: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave by Douglass, “Letter to Thomas Jefferson” by Adams, Travels with Charley: In Search of America by Steinbeck, and “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Address to Parliament on May 13th, 1940”byChurchill.

94 Appendix


INTERPRETIVE QUESTIONS are text-based, thought-provoking questions that stem from genuine inquiry. These open-ended questions can sustain multiple, varied responses based on evidence from the text. Interpretive questions are the focus of WriteAbouts and inquiry-based discussions.

INQUIRY-BASED DISCUSSIONS are whole group discussions in which readers discuss their responses to interpretive questions (WriteAbouts). These student-centered discussions usually follow a second or third reading of the text. Before students engage in inquiry-based discussions, they have had the opportunity to write individually on the interpretive question and share their responses in pairs or trios. The purposes of an inquiry-based discussion are to help readers:

• “try out” their answers and explanations using specific moments and evidence from the text; • practice making interpretations supported with evidence from the text; • accept alternative views/interpretations of the same text; • rethink what they think about the text; and • understand that readers can have different valid interpretations of the same text.

METACOGNITION refers to thinking about one’s thinking and how one learns. Students are asked to think metacognitively when they answer StepBack questions. During this part of the learning, students consider WHAT they learned and HOW they learned it.

MODELS are examples of work, either oral or written, that support students producing similar work. A model is of a total performance, which can be large or small, in order to help learners understand the essence of an activity and develop a mental picture of what the real thing looks like. It may be an example of one way to explain significant moments, answer a StepBack question, write the culminating assignment, etc. Models include work completed by peers, the teacher, and/or professional writers. Before completing the task/assignment themselves, learners are usually asked to deconstruct these models in order to analyze what makes them effective. Models are not necessarily exemplars; therefore, they do not need to be perfect.

OVERARCHING QUESTIONS present the big ideas of the unit as inquiry questions that reach across and connect all of the texts under study including the students’ writing. These overarching questions are informed by the standards and central ideas worth knowing about a particular topic within a given discipline.

PAIR/TRIO SHARING refers to students working in groups of two or three to share their responses to individualQuickWritesorothertasksinordertoestablishacademicconversationsinasafeenvironmentwith high accountability to the task and the group members.

Appendix 95


PATTERNED WAY OF READING, WRITING, AND TALKING refers to DL ELA pattern of reading, writing about/like, and discussing texts multiple times for different purposes using scaffolded questions that lead students from literal comprehension to higher-order thinking.

QUICK WRITES are short pieces of writing composed by individual learners in response to questions and tasksforanyandallofthedesignfeaturesoflessons,tasks,andunits.Theterm“QuickWrite”isasynonymfor free writes, discovery writing, writing to learn, written reflections, etc. The following chart shows how QuickWritescanvary:

Type of Quick Write: How the writing varies:

Discovery WritingQuick.Studentsareaccessingpriorknowledgeorthinking on paper.

Entry SlipsUsually quick. Students respond to a writing prompt from the teacher on previous or current learning.

Exit Slips

Usually quick. Exit Slips are similar to Entry Slips except these are handed in at the end of the class rather than at the beginning and most often require students to focus on an aspect of the learning done that day.

Getting the GistQuick.Studentsaresharingevents,characters,keyideas,etc. Length of time depends on amount and difficulty of text.

Significant MomentsLonger. Students are sharing moments and evidence, questioning each other, identifying similarities and differences.

Read to get the gistWrite and talk to learn: know,

express, and track thinking

Reread to find significant moments

Write and talk to learn: select and explain ideas; reflect on

writing and thinking

Read again to interpret the ideas in the text

Write and talk to develop interpretation of ideas

Read again differently to analyze the author’s methods

WriteLike–Write like the text and in imitation of an author’s syntax and

grammatical structures

Write and talk to demonstrate understanding of ideas and genre

96 Appendix


Type of Quick Write: How the writing varies:

WriteAbout

Time for writing and sharing is longer since the task is more difficult. During the pair/trio share, students are sharing ideas and evidence, debating interpretations, questioning each other’s ideas and evidence, etc.

WriteLike

Time allotted depends on students’ familiarity with the task. Writing and sharing might look more like working together to solve a problem, find examples of a literary device, analyze aspects of an author’s style, etc.

READ ALOUD is a reading approach in which the text is not seen by the students, but is read aloud by the teacher with intermittent questions designed to foster student discussion that builds meaning.

READ TO GET THE GIST is the first reading of a text in which readers read for literal comprehension. Literal comprehension questions such as, “What is happening?” in a narrative; “What are the author’s arguments?” in an argumentative text; or “What are the issues?” in an informational text guide this first reading. For narrative writing, questions such as, “Who are the characters? What do you know about them? How do you know it?” help students sort the characters and develop literal comprehension.

READER/WRITER NOTEBOOK is a classroom tool students use to record their thinking and/or ideas, generatewritingideas,andtryoutnewvoices.StudentscomposeQuickWritesandWriteAbouts,takenotes, compose observations for writings, respond to questions and tasks, and track their learning in their Reader/Writer Notebook. The Reader/Writer Notebook is a place students can go back to when working on larger pieces such as their culminating assignment. It also serves as a central notebook to store handouts, papers, calendars, and other materials used in the class. It is helpful to use a loose-leaf notebook so that pages from each student’s Reader/Writer Notebook can be collected, shared, returned, and re-arranged with greater ease.

REREAD FOR SIGNIFICANCE involves having students reread or skim through a text for the purpose of identifying moments or specific kinds of moments (e.g., author’s arguments, character’s response to challenge) that strike them as significant to that text. Students are then asked to explain the significance of the chosen moments to the text.

RETROSPECTIVE tasks on each text or across texts invite students to rethink and revise writing on the unit’s big ideas and overarching questions as they progress through the unit.

RUBRICS delineate the criteria of different levels of performance. In writing instruction, formative and summative ones are used. Summative rubrics are primarily useful to the teacher to more quickly assign a score to a piece of student writing. These are usually too complex or abstract to be helpful to students. Formative rubrics, developed by students with their teacher as part of instruction on specific writing assignments, can be helpful checklists/gauges for students of what they have included in their writing and how well their writing represents each element. With their teacher, students update rubrics as their writing improves through instruction, practice, and feedback.

Appendix 97


The table below presents a brief overview of the main types of rubrics used to assess student work in ELA and some of the differences among them.

Type of Rubric and Description

Advantages Disadvantages

Holistic assigns a single, overall rating or score to a product or performance based on an overall impression.

• good for simple products or performances (i.e., ones characterized by a single element or dimension)

• provides a quick “snapshot” of overall quality or achievement performance

• represents overall “impact” of a product or performance

• does not provide detailed analysis of strengths and weaknesses, so not useful for diagnostic purposes or to inform instruction

• does not help students to see what they need to do to improve

Analytic assigns separate ratings or scores to identified elements or dimensions of a product or performance so that each category or dimension can be judged separately on a quality scale as the basis of determining a total score/judgment.

• captures complexity of product or performance that involves several elements or dimensions

• identifies the essential components of quality by element or dimension

• provides specific feedback to teachers, students, and parents regarding individual strengths and weaknesses as well as a final score/judgment

• time consuming, especially at first, to learn and use

• raises issues of reliability among different raters who are dealing with several elements or dimensions

• components of quality scale may be more generic

• applied across writing tasks which can result in generic kinds of writing

Primary trait focuses attention on rating of a single trait considered to be the most essential for demonstrating success regarding a particular product or performance; in writing, isolates one component of written discourse and assesses the writer’s aptness for that particular trait; and in reading and writing, isolates the essential attribute of the reading performance.

• gives a sharp view of the complex aspects of a particular skill, thus allowing for more precisely identifying particular strengths and weaknesses

• the dimension or trait being rated is clearly reflected in the primary trait at each score point

• task-specific

• time consuming, especially at first, to learn and use

• tasks may require secondary trait rubrics in addition to a primary trait one, adding additional complexity to the scoring of papers

References:Arter,J.&McTighe,J.(2001).Scoring rubrics in the classroom.ThousandOaks,CA:CorwinPress,Inc.Lloyd-Jones,R.(1977).Primarytraitscoring.InC.Cooper&L.Odell(Eds.),Evaluating writing: Describing, measuring, judging (pp.33-66).Urbana,IL:NCTE.Shultz,L.&Laine,C.(1986).Aprimarytrait-scoringgridwithinstructionaluses.Journal of Teaching Writing, 5, 77-89.

98 Appendix


SHARED READING involves the teacher displaying an enlarged copy of the text and showing only the portions of the text to be read aloud and discussed as the text unfolds. It is important that students’ eyes track the text as it is being read aloud by the teacher, especially during an initial reading. The power of the shared reading component is that the teacher is taking on the decoding work, while the students are able to see the words and hear how they sound, simultaneously.

SIGNIFICANCE tasks ask students to locate significant moments in a text and to explain why those moments are significant to the text.

STEPBACK tasks ask students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are learning it. They are deliberate efforts to help students accumulate their growing body of knowledge on the unit focus and overarching questions and develop a metacognitive awareness that prompts transfer of learning to relevant new situations.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT is a final score or can occur at the end of the unit, usually in the form of a culminating assessment or assignment, and measures what students have learned over the course of the unit.

TASKS ask learners to use knowledge, skills, and habits to accomplish an activity, project, or to solve a problem in reading, writing, and thinking. In completing tasks, learners “do” the subject of literature, composition, and/or language study within the disciplines working in ways authentic to the discipline. Typically, tasks are prompted by open-ended questions about a text(s) students are reading and/or writing.

THINK ALOUD is a form of modeling in which the teacher or a peer thinks aloud as s/he is performing a task such as reading a text, gathering evidence to answer a question, writing a thesis statement, etc. The person performing the think aloud usually chooses three or four strategies or techniques to explicitly model and asks learners to focus on, listen for, or take notes on those things. The purpose of a think aloud is to make the implicit explicit so that others may learn and apply these strategies when doing the task themselves.

TRACKERS assist students to self-assess and monitor progress in relation to established criteria for success on a culminating assignment/assessment.

UNIT FOCUS identifiesthebigideas(e.g.,“Miseducation”or“WritingandIdentity”or“ChildLabor”),genre, or author to be studied, linked to the standards.

WIKI refers to a website with a collection of pages that are developed and edited collaboratively by a group of people. Each page in a wiki allows readers to leave comments about the content, and many wikis allow readers to edit the content within each page.

WRITEABOUTS are short pieces of writing students do in response to interpretive questions based on their reading. WriteAbouts usually follow a second or third reading of the text and are written in students’ Reader/Writer Notebook. They are usually in preparation for an inquiry-based discussion.

WRITELIKES ask students to write like the texts, either in the style of the selection or in imitation of an author’s sentence and grammatical structure.

Appendix 99


Instructional Resources

Reader/Writer Notebook

What is the Reader/Writer Notebook? It is a notebook with loose-leaf paper that can be added, rearranged, or temporarily removed. Loose-leaf holed paper between pressboard covers, held together with rings would suffice.

Students will be asked to use a Reader/Writer Notebook this year.

What are two main purposes of the notebook? It gives the writer a place for thinking and trying out different voices and techniques. It also serves as a central notebook to store handouts, other papers, and calendars used in English language arts.

What are other specific uses of the notebook? It is our classroom tool for thinking, recording ideas, generating writing ideas, and trying out new voices.

WeuseitforQuickWrites,two-columnnotes,WriteAbouts,WriteLikes,criteriacharts,classnotes,brainstorming, etc.

• It is a place for writers to work through writing problems and brainstorm. • It is a place where we can go back to reread and/or select pieces for revision. • It is a place where we can go back to reflect on how we have grown as readers and writers.

How may students set up their own Reader/Writer Notebooks? Either on the cover or the first page of the notebook, ask students to write their name, class period, and the date they began using their notebook. They might also personalize their notebooks with decorations, pictures, nicknames, etc.

Onthetopofthesecondpageofthenotebook,askstudentstowrite“TableofContents.” OnthefirstlineoftheTableofContentspage,askstudentstowrite:“date,”“topic,”and“pagenumber.”

BeginningwiththeTableofContents,askstudentstonumberthefirst30pages;studentsmaynumbertherest of the pages when they get to page 30.

Students can now begin using the Reader/Writer Notebook on page 6 (pages 2-5 will be set aside for the table of contents).

Note: Because the Reader/Writer Notebook is a place for students to think and try out different writing and reading ideas, encourage them to write and collect ideas in their notebooks as a habit of practice that extends beyond the times related to specific assignments for class.

100 Appendix


Teacher Resource: Reader/Writer Notebook Suggested Feedback System

Since the Reader/Writer Notebook is expressive writing (writing for the writer), it is important to lower the students’ level of anxiety relative to grammar and usage errors. Randy Bomer, author of Time for Meaning: Crafting Literate Lives in Middle and High School (1995), suggests that teachers also use a Reader/Writer Notebook. This helps to deepen the idea of a writers’ community in the classroom and allows teachers to give students ideas for their notebooks by sharing from time to time from their notebooks.

Bomer has also devised a method of feedback based on the following criteria:

1. Volume A. One entry from each class, including one long selection. B. Five for homework, including two long selections.

2. Variety

3. Thoughtfulness

4. Habits of Thought–Intention for Writing Specifically: A. description B. precise dialogue C. movementbetweenfactsandideas

5. Playful Experimentation with Language He then uses a class rotation system, collecting every student’s notebook once every two weeks. He writes brief comments and the score from the class rubric on sticky notes and places them in each notebook.

Appendix 101


Pedagogical Rituals and Routines

When we ask students to engage in inquiry units and lessons, we ask them to use the following key Pedagogical Rituals and Routines. These rituals and routines, derived from research on cognitive apprenticeship, are designed to engage all students as learners in collaborative problem-solving, writing to learn, making thinking visible, using routines for note-taking/making and tracking learning, text-based norms for interpretive discussions and writings, ongoing assessment and revision, and metacognitive reflection and articulation as regular patterns in learning. These cyclical apprenticeship rituals and routines build community when used with authentic tasks through collaboration, coaching, the sharing of solutions, multipleoccasionsforpractice,andthearticulationofreflections(Brown,Collins,&Duguid,1989).

The key English language arts pedagogical routines that support students’ learning are:

• QuickWrites composed by individual learners in response to questions and tasks for any and all of the design features of lessons and units;

• pair/trio sharingofindividualQuickWritestoestablishacademicconversationsinasafeenvironmentwith high accountability to the task and the group members;

• charting of the pair/trio sharing by members of the group to represent the work of the group to the entire class;

• gallery walks for members of the class to read and take notes on the pair/trio work in preparation for a whole class discussion of the task;

• whole group discussionsofthequestionsortasksthatpromptedthescaffoldofQuickWrites,pair/trioshare, charting, and gallery walks to deepen understandings and address lingering questions;

• model of a total performance in order to help learners understand the essence of an activity and develop a mental picture of what the real thing looks like;

• Reader/Writer NotebookinwhichlearnerscomposeQuickWrites,takenotes,makenotes,composeobservations for writings, respond to questions and tasks, and track their learning; and

• StepBacksinwhichlearnersmetacognitivelyreflectthroughQuickWrites,pair/trioshares,charting,gallery walks, discussions, and writing assignments on the content and pedagogy of their learning to develop and track their understandings and habits of thinking.

102 Appendix


Accountable Talk® Moves and Functions in ELA

TEACHER MOVE FUNCTION EXAMPLE

TO ENSURE PURPOSEFUL, COHERENT, AND PRODUCTIVE GROUP DISCUSSION

1. Marking Direct attention to the value and importance of a student’s contribution.

“Ihearyousaying_____.Let’skeepthisidea in mind.”

2.Challenging Students

Redirect a question back to the students or use a student’s contributions as a source for a further challenge or inquiry.

“WhatdoYOUthink?”“Whatsurprisedyou about what you just heard about the text’s______?”

3. Modeling Make one’s thinking public and demonstrate a total performance in order to help learners understand the essence of the activity and to develop a mental picture of what the real thing looks like.

“Here’s what good readers do…”

TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY TO ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE

4. Pressing for Accuracy

Hold students accountable for the accuracy, credibility, and clarity of their contributions.

“Wherecanwefindthat…?”“Whatisyourbasisforthatconclusion?”“Whosaidthat?”

5. Building on Prior Knowledge

Tie a current contribution back to knowledge accumulated by the class at a previous time.

“Howdoesthisconnect…?”“Howdowedefine______inthiscontext?”“Whatelse comes to mind given our discussion about____________?”

TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY TO RIGOROUS THINKING

6. Pressing for Reasoning

Elicit evidence and establish what contribution a student’s utterance is intended to make within the group’s larger enterprise.

“Whydoyouthinkthat…?”“Whatevidence from the text supports your claim?Howdoesthisideacontrastwith_____?”

7. Expanding Reasoning

Open up extra time and space in the conversation for student reasoning.

“Take your time… say more.” “Given what we just read and discussed, what would younowsayabout______?”

8. Recapping Make public in a concise, coherent way, the group’s developed, shared understanding of the content or text under discussion.

“Whathavewediscovered?”“Sofar,wehave discussed the following …What else doweneedtoaddress?”

TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE LEARNING COMMUNITY

9. Keeping the ChannelsOpen

Ensure that students can hear each other, and remind them that they must hear what others have said.

“Pleasesaybackwhat_____justsaid.”

10. Keeping Everyone Together

Ensure that everyone not only heard, but also understood, what a speaker said.

“Do you agree or disagree with what _______justsaid?Explainyourthinking.”

11. Linking Contributions

Make explicit the relationship between a new contribution and what has gone before.

“Whowantstoaddonto…?”“Whatdoyounoticeismissing?”

12. Verifying and Clarifying

Revoice a student’s contribution, thereby helping both speakers and listeners to engage more profitably in the conversation.

“So,areyousaying…?”

Appendix 103


Inquiry-Based Discussion

In an inquiry-based discussion, readers discuss their responses to an interpretive question about a text(s). An interpretive question stems from a genuine inquiry about a text, is thought-provoking, and can sustain multiple and varied responses supported by textual evidence.

The purposes of the discussion are to help readers to:

• “try out” their answers and explanations anchored with specific moments from the text;• accept alternative views/interpretations of the same text (not about reaching consensus or proclaiming

a winner);• rethink what they think about the text; and • understand that readers can have different, valid interpretations of the same text.

Preparing for the Discussion:• The discussion lead, usually the teacher, explains inquiry to readers, models some responses, and

describes the teacher’s and the students’ roles during the discussion.• Allow enough time for the discussion given the text complexity. • The discussion usually follows the second or third reading of a text. • Individually, students WriteAbout the interpretive question and mine the text for evidence supporting

their responses.• Students are seated so they can see, talk to, and listen to each other.

Features of the Inquiry-Based Discussion: • A central inquiry/question that can sustain multiple responses related to interpreting the ideas of one

text or across texts focuses the talk.• The facilitator prompts students to “say more” and to anchor their talk in the text.• Initial student talk is exploratory and can be halting as participants “try out” and modify their answers

and explanations. • Participants return often to cite or reread the text, texts, or their notes.• Thereisusuallygenuinetalkrelatedtothequestionbyover60%ofthegroup.• Participants listen to each other using the ideas of others in their answers. • At the end of the discussion, there is time for each participant to jot down what they are thinking about

the text given the discussion. • The teacher takes the long view on students’ discussions, expecting the students to get better as they

have more experience.

104 Appendix


Facilitator’s Role: • The teacher facilitator is not a direct teacher or a presenter. The facilitator does not talk too much, does

not repeat the talkers’ responses, and does not verbally compliment or negate responses. • When teachers step out of their role as guides and into their role as participants or teachers, they limit

participation (Vygotsky, 1986; Alvermann, et al., 1996).• As teacher facilitator, you elicit what readers are thinking and validating with evidence, but you are not

telling them your interpretation. • The teacher facilitator:

– Uses questions to get others talking; – Encourages everyone–not just some–to participate; – Presses for clarification and evidence from the text; – Keeps the conversation on track during the time frame provided; – Encourages readers to listen to and learn from each other by not repeating their responses; – Reminds them, only if and when necessary, of the guiding question under discussion; – Asks each discussant to validate answers with explanations anchored in evidence from the text; – Summarizes a flow of three or four responses or questions further to raise rigor of discussion–not to do the mental work for students; – Asks participants to step back and reflect on what they learned from the discussion: Would they now change their first Quick Write response and, if so, what would they change and why?; and – Asks the idea tracker to recap the intellectual work of the discussion.

• The facilitator asks readers to step back and reflect on the discussion: If they didn’t participate successfully, what needs to improve and who has responsibility for the improvement?

Institute for LearningLearning Research and Development Center

University of Pittsburgh3939 O’Hara StreetLRDCSuite310Pittsburgh, PA 15260T: 412-624-8319

www.instituteforlearning.org

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