ELAIntervention!Unit:! Thief&of&Always!byCliveBarker...
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1 ELA Intervention Unit: Thief of Always by Clive Barker Maria Vos 6 th Grade ELA Explorer Handy Middle School
Transcript of ELAIntervention!Unit:! Thief&of&Always!byCliveBarker...
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ELA Intervention Unit: Thief of Always by Clive Barker
Maria Vos
6th Grade ELA Explorer
Handy Middle School
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Table of Contents
Content Page Number
Unit Overview
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Rationale and Planning
4 -‐ 5
Evaluation and Assessment
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Instructional Strategies Plan
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Accommodation Plan
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Introductory Activity 6 -‐ 7 Culminating Activity
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Daily Lesson Plans and Accompanying Resources
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Unit Overview
When thinking about what sort of unit I wanted to put together for my ELA
Explorer class, I was reminded of the usefulness of comic books in the classroom.
Several articles have been published in recent years on using comic books or
graphic novels in the ELA classroom. Considering that ELA Explorer is made up
almost exclusively of reluctant readers, I felt that a comic book unit to accompany
our reading of Clive Barker’s Thief of Always would fit perfectly in our class goals
and objectives.
The goals and objectives of this unit are two-‐fold: First, the students are
encouraged to find enjoyment and confidence in reading. Secondly, students in ELA
Explorer develop on skills used in their regular ELA classrooms, namely, identifying
sequence of events, character traits, setting details, and important dialogue as well
the skill of summary and response. In order to meet these goals, it is important to
teach reading activities and strategies that are especially relevant to middle school
students. Such activities and strategies should also be affirming, highlighting
students’ strengths and improvements in reading; less opportunity is created to
offer more critical assessment, as our main concern is turning reluctant readers into
readers with confidence and strategies to help themselves. For these reasons, the
lessons included in this Thief of Always unit are focused on students’ connection to
the text and building a sense of confidence in students regarding foundational ELA
skills and their abilities as readers and contributing audience members. In other
words, the focus of this unit concerns both learning critical content information and
empowering reluctant readers.
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Rationale and Planning
Unit Standards
RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn 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.6.3. 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 resolution. RL.6.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text. RL.6.10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-‐8 complexity band proficiently. SL.6.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. L.6.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-‐meaning words and phrases based on the grade 6 reading content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. Relevance and Global Citizenship As mentioned in the unit overview, the students in this ELA Explorer class must be affirmed in their reading ability; this affirmation requires relevant lessons. Many of the lessons in this unit require students to take on an individual role in the reading process and help others to understand the text from an alternative perspective. Each student has a role to play, whether it be as the “Word Wiz” in the Literature Circle or as the “Illustration Expert” for Thief of Always’s main character Harvey. Drawing, reflecting, games, and group discussion all work to build on students’ abilities in English, but they also allow students be reflective and to see themselves as active and essential players in the reading experience, therefore making the content more relevant to them. The summary-‐response assignment, in the form of a critical book review, will also involve students’ individual connection to the text while imparting important ELA skill. The class-‐authored Comic Book, which will end our unit, also offers students a way to content to the text and to ELA in more current, age-‐appropriate way.
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The group-‐orientated nature of this unit also connects to students’ sense of Global Citizenship. The unit communicates that while individual reading and understanding is important, reading is also a social act; as readers, they are part of a larger reading audience and they have the ability to help other readers understand the given text from an alternative perspective. Additionally, several lesson activities require students to connect Thief of Always to other sources of media or even events that are relevant to their lives and in their immediate society as a whole. This too builds Global Citizenship. Big Ideas and Essential Learning
The main goals of this post-‐reading unit are to build reader confidence and teach foundational ELA and reading skills that will be used beyond our ELA Explorer classroom. The objective is for students to demonstrate greater proficiency in reading and in identifying common elements of ELA study: sequence of events, character traits, setting details, and dialogue. Students will also expand on their knowledge of summary and response. On a larger scale, the goals and objectives will play into the students’ performance in their regular ELA classrooms and, hopefully, as they continue on in ELA and other reading-‐heavy subjects. For this group of reluctant readers, the greatest gift we could give them is confidence and a positive attitude toward reading. If students can come to see themselves as important and able members of a larger reading audience, they will go into future reading assignments and tasks with higher self-‐efficacy and will, therefore, have a higher chance of success in that area.
Evaluation and Assessment
Assessing the Effectiveness of the Unit This unit will incorporate several forms of assessment near the end of its six weeks. The first of the formal assessments will be a Critical Book Review, which will ask students to rank the reading (out of five stars) and give reasons for their ranking, focusing especially on their thoughts on the characters, settings, plot, and/or main conflict. The review will also ask students to provide a summary of the novel. This review will assess the students’ knowledge of both summary and identifying and analyzing key literary elements. The next assessment tool will be the class comic book on Thief of Always. The comic will show the students’ understanding of character and setting details, dialogue, and sequence of events. The final assessment tool will be a return to the students’ pre-‐test, which is also taken at the beginning of the unit. In this assessment, students will show their understanding of key ELA elements and their confidence in reading, telling if they’ve become more confident or less confident in their reading ability over the course of the unit. Each of these assessments require higher-‐level thinking, as the summary-‐
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response requires the ability to synthesize and analyze; the comic book assessment requires the engagement of several ELA skills including synthesis, knowledge recall, and the ability to create; the confidence rating requires metacognition. Using Pre and Post Assessment Data The unit’s pre-‐test will consist of an initial confidence rating for the students’ to determine how confident they are in their reading ability at the beginning of their ELA Explorer class. It will also involve a short answer portion where students will define: Character traits, setting details, sequence of events, dialogue, and summary. This will help me to understand what they already know about the unit’s key concepts and how they already feel about reading and their reading ability. Post-‐assessment (confidence rating, comic book, and summary-‐response book review) will show how well students understand key literary elements and if their confidence in reading has grown. These assessments will show me if more time needs to be spent addressing and explaining key concepts or if the skill of summary and response must be reinforced in the regular ELA courses. If students show little change in their confidence level in reading, the unit will incorporate more opportunity for students to practice reading comprehension, perhaps through more one-‐on-‐one reading coaching with the instructor. This will create more opportunity for mastery experiences with reading, therefore building the students’ self-‐efficacy and confidence in reading.
Instructional Strategies Plan
A wide variety of instructional strategies, best practices, addresses of varying learning styles, and activities that require critical thinking are addressed and evident in the unit’s individual lesson plans.
Accommodation Plan
Accommodations and supplementary materials for each lesson are evident within the unit’s lesson plans and reflections.
Introductory Activity
This unit’s introductory activity involves a pre-‐test, which includes a confidence log, review of character, setting, sequence of events, and dialogue. Students will also be introduced to “Seven Habits of Good Readers”: These habits will be referred to throughout the unit. The students will begin reading Thief of Always and will draw connections to it, share their thoughts and impressions of the text, and make predictions about what they will read throughout the unit. In all, they will be exercising the “Seven Habits of Good Readers” while they get into the text. This introductory activity, or activities, creates interest by starting the unit with the
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students and their feelings about reading and the text. It also introduces the goals and objectives by focusing immediately on the literary terms and skills to be learned. Finally, these activities, namely asking students to make connections between the text and other texts, their lives, or the world, will activate prior knowledge and give the students some context for the novel. Addressing Varying Learning Needs This unit includes several opportunities for students to learn in different ways; all students are encouraged to learn visually, aurally, and through reading. This is done through drawing activities (literature circle, setting, and comic book activities, specifically), reading aloud and listening activities, and, of course, analysis activities, which involve close reading with the support of the teacher and classmates. Group and pair work, especially the literature circle, encourages struggling students to participate in class. Assigning important jobs for each student throughout the unit also works to reach students in need of more one-‐on-‐one instruction and creates a sense of classroom inclusion.
Culminating Activity The culminating activity for this unit will be a class comic book based on Thief of Always by Clive Barker. Each student will be responsible for turning one or two chapters of Thief of Always into comic book chapters. The students’ understanding of setting, character detail, dialogue, and sequence of events will be demonstrated through this comic book and will allow the students to close the unit with their own work, making the activity both relevant to students and a valuable assessment tool.
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Daily Lesson Plans and Accompanying Resources
Thief of Always Lesson One Duration: Approximately Two Weeks Subject: 6th grade ELA Explorer Objectives: Students will be introduced to the goals and expectations of the ELA Explorer class. Most importantly, the students will be introduced to “Seven Habits of Good Readers” and will go through each of the traits in depth over the course of two weeks. Standards: RL.6.10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. Materials Class set of Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always Spiral notebooks and pencils for each student Class set of Pre-‐test Seven Habits of Good Readers poster Fix Up Strategies Handout White Board Document Camera Dry erase markers Vocabulary Reading strategies Prior knowledge Questioning Inferences Determine importance Fix-‐Up strategies Visualization Summary T-‐Chart Procedures DAY ONE:
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Anticipatory Set: Explain pre-‐test directions and be clear that if students do not know the answer to one of the questions it is okay to admit that. This is simply a measure of what they already know. Students will have about 10 minutes to take pre-‐test. Introduce Expectations and Rules:
1. Be prepared for class 2. Work hard 3. Be respectful 4. Be appreciative
Introduce T-‐chart and its purpose in the unit. Then, have student create T-‐Chart in preparation for the rest of the week. Introduce Clive Barker’s Thief of Always with some background on the author and share last class’s reviews of the text. Allow time for students to assess the cover of the novel and the illustrations that introduce each chapter as a means of previewing the text and making predictions about what the story will be about. Direct Teaching DAY ONE CONTINUED: Introduce the “Seven Habits of a Good Reader Poster”; explain that students will be working with each of the habits individually to come to understand them over the next several days (schedule of habits is found below). Each day will open with a short explanation of that habit and a reminder to students to keep their T-‐Chart up to date. The T-‐Chart will be used to log confusing words, scenes, or passages. They will use the day’s “focused-‐on” habit to help them work through them. Note that Day Seven requires the use and explanation of the “Fix Up Strategies” handout. Schedule of Habits and Chapter Pacing Guide: DAY TWO: Habit One -‐ Use what you know/Engage prior knowledge (CH. 1-‐2) DAY THREE: Habit Two -‐ Ask questions (CH. 3-‐4) DAY FOUR: Habit Three -‐ Make inferences (CH. 7-‐8) DAY FIVE: Habit Four -‐ Determine importance (CH. 9-‐10) DAY SIX: Habit Five -‐ Use Fix-‐up strategies (CH. 11-‐12) Introduce “Fix Up” Handout
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DAY SEVEN: Habit Six -‐ Visualize (CH. 12-‐14) DAY EIGHT: Habit Seven -‐ Summarize (CH. 15-‐16) Guided Practice Though the teacher will introduce one habit of good readers each day, students will exercise these practices on their own while reading The Thief of Always aloud for proficiency and using the seven habits to help them work through confusing passages in the novel. More than one good reading habit can, and perhaps should, be used at one time. Closure This first lesson will close with a review of the habits of a good reader. Students may be asked to teach one of the habits to the class or review them with a partner. This lesson will prepare students for reading in other classes, but it will also prepare them for the work to be done in the literature circle the following week. Independent Practice In-‐class work will be done (filling out T-‐chart and class discussion) to help students understand the seven habits of a good reader in relation to The Thief of Always. Reflection Pre-‐test shows that most students struggle to understand Dialogue and Summary. Most students also consider themselves to be “somewhat confident” as readers with the exception of one student who says he is “very confident,” though his work shows otherwise. Still, this student is not afraid to admit he has questions. In terms of the lesson, keeping the T-‐Chart seems problematic for some. It may be a good idea to do a “notebook check” as an exit ticket each day, where each student must log at least 3 things in order to leave the class at the end of the hour. Additionally, many of the habits of good readers make sense taught together or at least should build on one another throughout the week. Finally, the size of the class seems to have impacted the effectiveness of this lesson. With only 5 students, there was more time to discuss, but it was more difficult to get students into “class mode,” given that the teaching environment is more intimate and casual.
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Thief of Always Post-Writing
PART ONE DIRECTIONS: Briefly define the following terms in your own words. Character Traits: ________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________ Setting: ________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________ Sequence of Events: ________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________ Dialogue: ________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________ Summary: ________________________________________________________________
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PART TWO DIRECTIONS: Rank your confidence in your reading ability by circling “Very Confident,” “Confident,” “Somewhat Confident,” or “Not Confident”:
How confident are you in your reading ability? Circle one.
Very Confident Confident Somewhat Confident Not Confident
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“Fix-Up Strategies”1 for Readers What is a “fix up strategy?” A fix up strategy is a reading strategy that you can use to help you get “unstuck” while reading a difficult text. Here are a few strategies that you can try:
1. Make a connection: How does the text you’re reading remind you of your life, the world, or another text?
2. Make a prediction: What do you think this text is about based on what you already know? What do you think will happen next?
3. THINK about what you’ve read. Don’t plow through a text.
Take your time. Reading is not a race, and you’ll perform much better if you think through your reading.
4. Ask yourself a question about the reading and try to answer
it.
5. Write about what you’ve read.
6. Visualize.
7. Retell what you’ve read.
8. Reread Take the time to read a passage again.
9. Notice patterns in the author’s writing. What do you already know about the writer’s style?
10. Read as quickly or as slowly as you need to.
1 Tovani, Chris. Do I Really Have to Teacher Writing? Markham, Ontario: Pembroke Publishers, 2004.
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Thief of Always Lesson Two
Subject. 6th grade ELA Explorer Duration. One Week Objectives. Students will become familiar with performing a literature circle and use the literature circle to explore several aspects of Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always. They will also use the literature to practice engaging with texts with classmates and become comfortable teaching one another. CCR/CCS Standards. RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL.6.2. Determine a theme of 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.6.5. 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, settings, or plot. W.6.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. SL.6.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Materials.
• Class set of Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always • Explorer Spiral Notebooks • Pencils/Pens • White Board • Dry Erase Markers
Vocabulary.
• Literature Circle • Literature Circle roles
Procedures. Anticipatory Set:
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• Literature, reading, and writing is social. What is neat about reading in a class like this one is that we get different interpretations of the same text from different people. Books are meant to be seen in more than one way.
• Introduce procedures for a Lit. Circle; Students should keep a T-‐Chart every day and, most importantly, give the floor to whatever student is speaking about his or her role in the lit. circle. This only works if everyone does their job and is cooperative. Direct Teaching:
• Explain the premise of a literature circle: to read the same text from different view points and share those view points, to make reading more interactive. Each role will be important for the completion of our big project: a class comic book of Thief of Always.
• Present various literature circle roles and instruct students to note their roles at the top of their T-‐Chart. May keep roles up on the board during the week for reference.
• Explain the various roles for each student with examples using T-‐Chart (summarizers may not use the T-‐Chart in the same way).
• Note that students should be fulfilling their responsibility while reading! If you’re the illustrator, illustrate the scene and note the page number while we continue to read. READ ACTIVELY. MULTITASK.
• Explain that we will focus on two or three of the literature circle roles each day this week. Will not know in advance if I will call on you. You must be prepared. ONLY students with the focused on roles will have the floor – other students will listen and comment when asked/when hand is raised.
• Ask if students have any questions about their responsibilities for the week. Students will have an opportunity to practice exercising their roles at the end of Monday’s class, but will be expected to write during the reading Tuesday-‐Friday. Guided Practice:
• Read two chapters of The Thief of Always • With 15-‐20 minutes left of class, commence discussion focusing on two or
three of the roles given in the literature circle. • Possible Role Schedule:
-‐ Tuesday: Connector and Questioner -‐ Wednesday: Travel Tracer and Literary Luminary -‐ Thursday: Illustrator, Summarizer, Work Wiz. -‐ Friday: Word Wiz/Catch Up Closure: The teacher will remind students that the goal of the literature circle is to prepare for the class comic book and to see how reading is social and interactive. The lesson will wrap up with an open discussion across roles, focusing especially on vocabulary development of thoughts on the end of the novel.
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Independent Practice. Students follow the story throughout class and actively read by taking notes on their given literature circle role. Reflection. Again, students need incentive to fill out T-‐Chart. Also, the size of the group has impacted the discussion had. Though it was more difficult to pull comments from the students, we did have more time to go in depth with their thoughts and reflections on the text. The group had no problems conversing with one another or positively engaging in discussion. It might be good to continue to refer more obviously to the habits of good readers poster on the wall. Also, having students read aloud as much as possible will help their fluency and understanding of the text, but they should be encouraged to read loud enough for everyone to hear. They are not just reading for themselves, but for everyone. Perhaps a dramatic read at the time of the lit. circle would be helpful in sparking ideas for their T-‐Charts, too and making the reading more engaging.
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Literature Circle Roles
Summarizer Questioner Connector Illustrator Travel Tracer
Word Wiz Literary Luminary
Student Name
Student Name
Student Name
Student Name
Student Name Student Name
Student Name
Summarizer Questioner Connector • Take notes in your spiral of key
events in each chapter • Be prepared to share a summary of
those events with the class
• Write down important questions that you want to bring up to the group from each chapter.
• Look for connections between the book and another book, the book and your life as a middle school student, or the book and something happening in the world
Illustrator Travel Tracer Word Wiz • Draw events in the chapter that
seem important to understanding what is happening in the story
• Keep track of where the characters are going throughout the chapter: Where do they start out? Where do they end up?
• Write down vocabulary words that are tricky or interesting
Literary Luminary • Choose quotes from the text that
you find important, interesting, or even confusing and be prepared to talk about these quotes with the literature circle.
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Thief of Always Lesson Three
Duration: One Class Period Subject 6th grade ELA Explorer Objectives Students will review the importance of sequence of events in understanding a story. Standards RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences draw from the text. RL.6.3. Describe how a particular story’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes. 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. Materials Spiral Notebooks Pencils Doc. Camera Fill in the blank timeline sheet (may wish to write these on the board instead) Class set of Thief of Always Vocabulary Sequence of events Chronological order Sequential order Procedures Anticipatory Set: Why do authors order the events of their stories in a certain way? Why does it matter? To answer this question… Write a summarized version of something that happened in your life (about a paragraph or two) Read events if desired and discuss what would happen if we mixed those events up. For as long as we have existed, humans have told stories, so we naturally know how to listen to and tell stories and how to make them interesting. Part of what makes
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the stories interesting is appropriate sequence of events. This helps us understand the story and react to the story in the way we are intended. Today, we will examine the sequence of events in Thief of Always. Direct Teaching Give a definition of sequence of events as the order of events in a story and reiterate that it matters to our understanding of the story. Then, explain the activity to the students: On the board, an incomplete timeline of Thief of Always will be displayed. The missing events will be provided in a bank below. Teams of two students have to put the timeline back together. Students have THE OPTION to work in groups of two. They may work alone. The first three teams to do so correctly will have the ability to choose which chapter they turn into a comic book page rather than me assigning them. With every mix-‐up, however, the students must explain to the teacher why the incorrect series of events does not quite fit and point to what impact that might have on the reader’s understanding of the story. Guided Practice Students will work in groups of two to complete the Thief of Always time. Closure Ask: Why is sequence of events essential to the story? Sequence of events is essential to any story and our understanding/enjoyment of it, and it will be especially important when we put the comic book pages together, as every event must be in its proper place. Independent Practice Timeline done in class Reflection This activity proved very difficult for students, mostly because the timeline was written in a way that didn’t make the most sense. Next time, the incomplete timeline will be written on the board with more space in between and without numbers. This was just confusing to the students. Also, continue to encourage students throughout the activity. Because it is challenging, some will want to give up and goof around. Offer support without offering answers.
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Thief of Always Timeline
1. Harvey is bored in his room and receives a visit from Rictus 9. Harvey returns home to his mother and father to find he has lost 31 years
17. Harvey returns home for the final time and gains back the time he has lost
Harvey meets Mrs. Griffin
Marr turns to mush and Jive turns to dust
Lulu is returned to her human state; Harvey and Wendell are free
Clue Cat boils himself
Harvey turns into a vampire to scare Wendell
Harvey meets Mr. Hood face to face for the first time
Harvey meets Wendell
Harvey finds Mrs. Griffin in a coffin
Rictus betrays Mr. Hood and is swallowed up by the house
Harvey loses his model ark in the pond
Harvey and Wendell escape Carna into the outside world
Harvey and Wendell return to the Holiday House; Wendell is distracted by the sweets
Harvey discovers that Lulu has turned into a fish person
Mr. Hood creates the War of Seasons and the house is destroyed
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Thief of Always Lesson Four
Duration One Class Period Subject ELA Explorer Objectives Students will focus on the details of setting and their role in making a story come to life; the setting is not a blank box in which the story takes place, but another character in the story itself. Standards. RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences draw from the text. 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. SL.6.2. Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study. SL.6.4. Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes. Materials Abridge version of “The Fall of the House of Usher” YouTube Video: “Creating Brave” Computer and Projector Spiral notebooks Pencils Class set of The Thief of Always Vocabulary Setting Descriptive Words Imagery Procedures Anticipatory Set: Explain that when we think of the setting, we often think of it like the stage of a puppet show, a blank box where the story takes place, but the setting is more than that. The setting itself is a character, especially in The Thief of Always,
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because where does most of the action take place? (The Holiday House) And doesn’t the Holiday House have a mind of its own? Characteristics of its own? Setting is important in visualizing the story, as we know. But it’s important to take time to really find and enjoy the details. Listen to “The Fall of the House of Usher” (to be read twice) and write down details of the setting. Think especially of the details that make you want to go or not go to the house. Discuss details Direct Teaching The class will list different main settings in The Thief of Always. For example: Harvey’s House, the Holiday House, the treehouse, the lake, etc. The students will be assigned to a specific setting. They will list all of the possible details FROM THE TEXT (textual evidence) about their given setting. Guided Practice Students will have time in class to find details of the setting they are given. Some students may have the same setting. They will present their details to the class. Closure Ask: Why is setting important? Setting is crucial in seeing our story as it unfolds, but it will also be important in developing our comic books. As we will see, comics/graphic novels are rich in setting details. Ours must be, too. Independent Practice Finding setting details throughout story in class Reflection May stick only to the main settings, as some others in Thief of Always do not get very long descriptions. Therefore, students have difficulty describing their setting or finding descriptions of it in the text. Another option is to have students imagine what these places may look like based on what they already know. In this way, they are both paying attention to the details of the story and making inferences, as good readers should. Also, be sure to explain difficult words throughout the reading of “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Even the abridged version contains complicated word choice.
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Abridged excerpt from Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the
clouds hung [crushingly] low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback,
through a [dark and] dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of
the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it
was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of [unbearable] gloom pervaded
my spirit. I say [unbearable]; for the feeling [could not be relieved] by any [happy
thought] which the mind usually [thinks up at the sight of something depressing] or
terrible. I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple
[landscape] features of the [yard]— upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant, [empty] eye-
like windows— upon a few [overgrown bushes]—and upon a few white trunks of [dead]
trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to [no feeling on earth other
than] a terrible hangover, that bitter [return to] every-day life—the hideous dropping off
of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an [irreversible
sadness] of thought which no [stirring] of the imagination could [force] into [something
wonderful]. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in [seeing]
the House of Usher? It was [an unsolvable mystery]; nor could I [understand] the
shadowy [daydreams] that crowded upon me as I [reflected]. I was forced to fall back
upon the unsatisfactory conclusion that [it is impossible to ever understand the power of a
house like this one]. It was possible, I reflected, that [simply] a different arrangement of
the [details] of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to [change], or
perhaps to [destroy the house’s ability] [to make such a] sorrowful impression on its
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visitors; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the…[edge] of a black and lurid
[pond] that lay [still in spite of our movement] and gazed down—but with a shudder even
more thrilling than before—upon the … [spooky] images of the gray [landscaping], and
the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.
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Thief of Always Lesson Five
Duration Two class periods Subject 6th grade ELA Explorer Objectives The students will review character traits to create character portraits, coming to further understand how character traits bring a story to life, especially when those character traits make the characters dynamic. Standards. RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences draw from the text. 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. RL.6.6. Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text. Materials Youtube Video: Elsa’s Hair Story Spiral notebooks Character webs Poster Paper Drawing and coloring utensils Rulers Vocabulary Character Traits Animation Team Descriptive Words Imagery Procedures Anticipatory Set: Explain that every character trait is important. It not only lets us visualize the character, but it helps us to understand them. What do their physical character traits say about them as people? Each element of their appearance is important.
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View clip on animating Elsa’s hair from Frozen and what it means for her in the song “Let It Go.” After viewing, as students about the significance of Elsa’s hair and outfit. What does it say about her character? Direct Teaching Connect Elsa’s hair to the character traits of our main characters in The Thief of Always. Their character traits say a lot about them too. Go over list of characters with students. Explain that students will be assigned a character. They will serve as that character’s “animation expert.” They will use the book to find and map out character traits in a bubble map. Then they will draw a character portrait. This portrait will be the framework that everyone will use in the comic book, as the characters must look consistent throughout the book. Guided Practice Students will work in groups to create their character portraits, which will be displayed on the walls of the classroom. Details of the characters must be listed from the book and evident in the character portraits. Closure Ask the students: Why are character details important? Character details bring the story to life and tell us something about the characters. Character details will be essential in telling a story via comic book as well. Independent Practice In class analysis of character details an their importance in The Thief of Always or any story. Reflection Students response well to media-‐oriented lessons. With the availability of class iPads, it might be nice to do the illustrating on a tablet application. In the meantime, however, it seemed effective to have students draw their character on the whiteboard. They like to display their work, and as long as it has permanence somewhere on paper, this will work just fine.
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Thief of Always Lesson Six
Duration One Class Period Subject 6th grade ELA Explorer Objectives The students will explore the use of dialogue in stories and why it’s necessary in storytelling. They will prepare to write dialogue in their Thief of Always comic book. Standards. RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences draw from the text. 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. RL.6.7. Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem. SL.6.2. Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study. Materials Class set of The Thief of Always Spiral Notebooks Pencils List of scenes for dialogue Vocabulary Dialogue Quotation Marks Procedures Anticipatory Set: Most stories include some element of dialogue, which is marked by quotations. This shows us where the characters are speaking. In Thief of Always some of the dialogue is marked in italic, but this is only with Mr. Hood speaks. Still, dialogue makes a story much more interesting, as we aren’t just relying on a narrator to tell us everything that was said and done in the story. Dialogue gives characters voice.
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Even in comic books, dialogue is used, though it isn’t marked by quotations. To practice writing dialogue for our comics, we will make skits out of scenes of dialogue between characters in The Thief of Always. Direct Teaching Present scenes that are possible to make into skits from The Thief of Always. Note that there are many other important scenes that will make it into the comic book. These are the ones that we will focus on: Harvey and Wendell return to the house: pg. 160-‐164 Jive and Marr turn Harvey into a vampire: pg. 88-‐91 Harvey meets Rictus for the first time: pg. 5-‐9 Rictus meets his end (Harvey and Hood): pg. 240-‐243 Harvey loses Lulu in the pond: pg. 119-‐122 Harvey meets Mr. Hood: pg. 202-‐205 Harvey meets Jive: pg. 189-‐192 Assign groups of two or three to the scene. The students will come up with the dialogue for them AND add actions. Guided Practice Students will have time in class to complete their scripts with guidance from the teacher. Then, students will complete scripts and perform in front of the class with their groups. Note also the presence of conflict in each scene, especially external conflict when it is character versus character. Closure Ask: Why is dialogue important in storytelling? Dialogue gives the characters voice and helps us to understand the story from their point of view. Independent Practice Script writing in class and performance Reflection
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With larger groups, students should be reminded to write their own individual scripts so that when they are asked to perform their scene they do not get lost. Some students will only write their own line, which of course should be avoided. One thing that worked well for the smaller group of students was to have them read the dialogue straight out of the book, because they’re still identifying the dialogue without having to try and come up with a script with 5 individuals. They were often side-‐tracked trying to do write their scripts, so it didn’t really work. Reading from the book however, was more lucrative. While they read the dialogue and performed, I read the narration in between lines and “directed,” which was a lot of fun for them.
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Thief of Always Lesson Seven
Duration: Two-‐Three Class Periods Subject: 6th Grade ELA Explorer Objectives: Students will focus on the skill of summary and will practice writing summary/response papers in the form of short, critical book reviews. Standards: R.6.2. Provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. W.6.1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Materials Class set of Thief of Always by Clive Barker Student spiral notebooks White Board Dry Erase Vocabulary Summary Book Review Textual Evidence Amazon Book review samples Procedures Anticipatory Set: The class will begin by reading a sample book review of Thief of Always from Amazon to see what is included in a typical review. The teacher will note both the summary portion of the review and the critical part of the review. The students’ authority as readers should be noted. They do not have to read and pretend to enjoy every school text. Approaching the text in a critical way will help them to feel empowered as readers and read texts more carefully. Additionally, these reviews will be used in the next Thief of Always unit with new students, to tell them what previous students thought about the book and what to expect. Direct Teaching The teacher will review the sample reviews with students, noting the summary. The summary should include mention of the main character, the main setting, and the
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main conflict as well as the title of the text and its author. Then, the expectations for the critical review will be discussed. The critical review will, most importantly, draw from textual evidence and actual explanations for the students’ views. The students may wish to support their review (why they gave it 3/5 stars or 5/5 stars and so on) by focusing on characters, settings, or aspects of the plot they liked or disliked. However, they cannot just say they liked or disliked the characters. They must give substantial reasoning for this. Guided Practice Students will spend two lessons writing and revising their book reviews with the support of their teacher and they will have the opportunity to type it for use on Amazon with parent permission. They may also wish to share their review with their classmates. Closure Students will have the opportunity to share their reviews with the class as the teacher notes their summary and how they supported their rating of the text. Independent Practice Students will write a review of Thief of Always on their own in class with support from the teacher. Reflection The most difficult part of this assignment is for students to support their reasoning for their thoughts about the book. They must be pushed to go beyond “I liked the characters because they are awesome.” Student models helped. If one student met expectations for the assignment, I asked to share it with the other students to make sure that they were on the same track. I found that student samples are very helpful with writing assignments given that students understand they cannot just write the same thing as their classmate (which they will try to do!).
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Thief of Always Lesson Eight and Culminating Activity
Duration Approximately two weeks Subject 6th grade ELA Explorer Objectives: Student will use what they’ve learned throughout the unit about setting, character, dialogue, and sequence of events to create a graphic novel based on Thief of Always by Clive Barker. Standards RL.6.2. Provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. RL.6.9. Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres W.6.3. Write…to develop real or imagined experiences using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-‐structured event sequences. Materials Class set of Thief of Always Excerpt from Thief of Always graphic novel Students’ spiral notebooks White paper Pencils, colored pencils, or markers Class set of pre-‐tests from lesson one Vocabulary Setting Dialogue Character Sequence of events Graphic Novel Procedures Anticipatory Set: Reading comic books or graphic novels lend a different experience to readers. It’s not exactly like reading a picture book, but it does help the reader to visualize what is going on in the story. The students will be writing a graphic novel version of Thief of Always. Direct Teaching
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The teacher will review character, setting, dialogue, and sequence of events, mentioning that all are important in creating a good, graphic novel. To show the students what a graphic novel will look like in the end, the teacher will use the document camera to show an excerpt from the Thief of Always graphic novel or another, age-‐appropriate graphic novel. Students will identify setting and character details, sequence of events, and dialogue. The teacher will assign one or two chapters of Thief of Always to each student, explaining that they do not have to include every detail of the chapter, just the most important scenes (about 10 panels for each chapter). Students must be able to decide which events are most important, practicing summary (may need review of summary). Guided Practice Students will spend a week to a week and a half putting together their comic book panels before the comic is compiled and read as a group at the end. Closure Students will read the finished graphic novel; the teacher will point out their examples of dialogue, setting, character, and sequence of events. The unit will end with the students completing the pre-‐test from lesson one a second time, which will show their growth throughout the trimester. Independent Practice Students will write a Thief of Always graphic novel independently and compile the pieces as a group. Reflection Encourage students to keep working hard on their comics. Some do not want to color it, but it is necessary for it to be a well-‐constructed graphic novel. With next group, draft dialogue and images that will be included in their comic strips. Planning is essential to making this project work and work well. With only a group of five for the current semester, allow students to only choose their favorite chapter, as there are not enough students to put together a graphic novel of the entire book, even with the time given.
