Category Archives: Reading Informational Texts

Feb 21 2016
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American Literature, AP Lang, AP Lang and Comp, AP Language and Composition, Common Core, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized, Writing

Week 7 – Here’s how it went…

Monday – President’s Day: No school for students.

Tuesday – I was out, but the students had an amazing Zaption lesson to complete.  Have you used Zaption? Seriously. Best. Ever.  There is a cost, but if you open a trial through my account you can get two FREE months of the professional version.  This is WAY better than the normal trial.  Join Zaption for FREE with your TWO MONTH account – even just to explore – by clicking this link http://zapt.io/ruem93kaf .

Students review the Zaption  video lesson and take notes on the rhetorical devices they have been missing in class, including a compare and contrast of the devices they are commonly confusing.

Activity: Assessment is built into the Zaption lesson, but students are to review the three devices labeled in “The Declaration of Independence” and increase the total number to 8.  However, they may NOT use diction (because it is modeled in the video) and they may not repeat any device.

Wednesday

Bell Ringer: Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

Quick Review: Through the review of Rhetorical Devices in the text, the student will be able to analyze specific examples of rhetorical devices.

Review:  I will set the timer for 10 minutes to review the devices found in the text. ONLY DEVICES MENTIONED BY STUDENTS WILL BE DISCUSSED. The purpose is to help where needed, not to give the answers.

Syntax: Through the study of Syntax 101, students will be able to identify and analyze the syntax of “The Declaration of Independence”

Syntax 101:

O: Ss will REVIEW syntax definitions in order to understand what is being evaluated with the term “syntax” is given.

D/App: Students will practice identification throughout the scaffolded lesson.

Model: Syntactic Analysis of “The Gettysburg Address”

You Do: Students will analyze the syntax of “The Declaration of Independence” by applying the guided questions from the lesson.

Closure: Think about your answers and T’s answers. What do you notice? What did you do well? What changes might you need to make?

 

Reflection Closure: Thinking about the week’s learning on syntax. How does the learning that results from Writing Wednesdays connect to syntax? How does this affect the audience?

 

Thursday

Bell Ringer: Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

Tutoring Thursday: Through the study of USA Test Prep’s personalized ACT review lesson, students will be able to show growth of 10% in a student-selected testing strand.

Note: This activity is mandated by the school for the 60 minute study block of Tutoring Thursday.

Cycle 3: Through the study of The Crisis, students will be able to identify and analyze rhetorical strategies in “The Crisis”.

  1. Students will have ten minutes to read and annotate the text.
  2. Students will use FIRST TURN, LAST TURN to discuss the text with the assigned group.

HWK: Students should identify and analyze 8 different rhetorical strategies within the text.

 

Friday

Bell Ringer: Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

Essay Review: Through the review of the elements of an essay, the student will be able to create an outline for a rhetorical analysis of the text.

Activity: Students will review the Zaption video to review components and complete the assessment over what goes in an essay and how to ensure sufficient, relevant, and thorough evidence.

  1. Students will complete a BAT review of the prompt and write a thesis statement.
  2. Students will review the rhetorical precis and create one for the essay.
  3. Students will review TIQA and create the outline for the body paragraphs that analyze specific rhetorical strategies of the text that help Paine reach his purpose.

HWK: Have a thorough, full-sentence outline at the start of class Monday.

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Feb 12 2016
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American Literature, AP Lang, AP Lang and Comp, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized

Week 6

The weather is definitely against us.  Fortunately, I have great students who really want to learn, and our Kik conversation goes wild at the oddest of times.

Since I was late in posting Week 5, I wanted to wait to post Week 6 so I could see what was done in my absence and try to build that into the weekly plans.  Monday went well, but Tuesday was a snow day.  As such, I’m glad I waited because you get to see how I change my weekly structures to make up for lost instructional time. As you read this post, know that Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday are exactly as it went.

Now, before reading, my formatting was to take the weekly plan I have to submit to administration and paste it into the blog.  That became confusing to a reader who contacted me and suggested I change that up a bit to be more reading friendly.  Sure thing.  Hope this helps.

 

Monday:

Bell Ringer: Through the study of Little Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

 

Etymology and GUM Quiz: Students will take the assessment for the week’s vocabulary.

  • Etymology Quiz (20ish minutes)

 

Multiple Choice Monday: Through the study of an AP MC reading selection, students will be able to correctly answer the question, including justification for the selected answer.

  • Multiple Choice Monday: Released AP Exam 2008 MCQuestions

I: Student are given 15 minutes to read the text and answer the questions. (Ss may select one final answer or one of two for half credit.)

D/Ap: Students will review answers and write corrections with argumentative stem for homework in order to earn back some of the missing points.

  • Reflection Closure:

What do you notice about how you are beginning to answer questions in the MC testing? What will be a strength to help you? What will be an area to work on before the test?

 

HWK: Read and annotate “The Declaration of Independence”

Tuesday: No school.

Wednesday

Bell Ringer: Through the study of Little Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

 

First Turn, Last Turn: Students will use the cooperative First Turn, Last Turn structure to read and discuss “The Declaration of Independence” to ensure student comprehension.

First Turn, Last Turn:

  1. Students will have read and annotated the text the previous night for homework.
  2. Students will create three questions from the text.
  3. Students will group based on the number on their handout to talk about the sentence that stands out the most in the text.
  4. The class will openly discuss three of the student questions that have been selected by the teacher.

Video Summary: Too Late to Apologize

  • Students will have 3 minutes for a quick response using the TIQA formatting: Is it too late?

 

Diction and Tone: Through the review of diction and tone, students will be able to identify and analyze tone of specific text examples.

What we’re learned review: Diction and Tone Analysis of “The Declaration of Independence”

~ Students will select the four examples from the text that stand out the most and identify elements of diction making this an effective statement. Students will then use short response to determine the tone of the text using these four examples for justification.

 

Rhetorical Appeals: Through the review of ethos, logos, and pathos, students will be able to identify and analyze appeals included in the text.

What we’re learned review: What is ethos, logos, and pathos? Review foundational knowledge from previous classes through Shmoop instructional video.

 

HWK: Identify a minimum of two of each of the appeals in “The Declaration of Independence”

 

Thursday

Bell Ringer: Through the study of Little Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

Task Card Review: Through the study of the Declaration of Independence, the students will be able to justify the rhetorical appeal in a given text.

  • Students are given a random quote from the text.
  • T will model guided questions for labeling and justifying the rhetorical appeal.
  • Ss will apply guided questions on their own.  T will verify student respses.
  • Ss will be assigned a partner for the Sage and Scribe grouping technique.
  • Ss will submit both quotes and homework.

Rhetorical Devices Reteaching: Through the study of The Declaration of Independence, the students will be able to label and analyze the use of rhetorical devices and the audience impact.

  • Discussion: What are the devices? What do these words mean?
  • T models guided questions for identification and determining meaning.
  • Examples Quiz: Students were given examples to pair with the terms as though it were a timed quiz.
  • Ss find examples within the text.

HWK: Students to find 3 rhetorical devices in the text.

Friday: No school.

 

 

Feb 10 2016
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American Literature, AP Lang, AP Lang and Comp, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized, Writing

Week 5 – And illness takes hold.

Week 5 came with a plan, but you know what they say about that.  The second semester always seems the hardest, given snow days and flu season. Generally, I do fairly well, but this week…

 

  Standards/Objectives Detailed Agenda
W5

M

 Bell Ringer: Through the study of fairytales, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

Hidden Agenda: Building background for allusion

 

Etymology and GUM Quiz: Students will take the assessment for the week’s vocabulary.

 

 

Multiple Choice Monday: Through the study of an AP MC reading selection, students will be able to correctly answer the question, including justification for the selected answer.

 

 Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

Etymology Quiz (20ish minutes)

Multiple Choice Monday: Released AP Exam 2008 MCQuestions

I: Student are given 15 minutes to read the text and answer the questions.

(Ss may select one final answer or one of two for half credit.)

D/Ap: Students will review answers and write corrections with argumentative stem as homework to earn back half of the missing points. (15 minutes)

Reflection Closure:

1. What do you notice about the MC testing? What will be a strength to help you? What will be an area to work on before the test?

2. How does last semester’s learning seem to fit into what you now know about this course?

Discuss Euthanasia to prepare for the library lesson. (Share out from Sunday News, Monday Views handout activity.)
W5

T

 Bell Ringer: Through the study of fairytales, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

 

 

Cycle 2: Class lesson on ethics by Mr. Goff in the library.

 

 Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

 

Ethics Overview: Class will meet in the library for Mr. Goff’s Ethic Overview Lesson.

HWK: Take your planning sheet from the debate activity and write an essay to explain your position.

 
W5

W

 Bell Ringer: Through the study of fairytales, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

 

Writing Wednesday: Through the study of The Art of Styling Sentences, students will be able to write thorough and concise sentences.

 

First Turn, Last Turn: Students will use the cooperative First Turn, Last Turn structure to read and discuss “The Crisis” to ensure student comprehension.

 

Diction and Tone: Through the review of diction and tone, students will be able to identify and analyze tone of specific text examples.

 

 Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

 

Writing Wednesday: Sentence Pattern 3

O: Ss learn sentence pattern one through short writing lecture.

D/Ap: Ss will create sentences using the pattern by arranging groups of words and when starting from scratch. Mastery 2/3 in each group.

 

First Turn, Last Turn:

1.     Students will read and annotate the text.

2.     Students will create three questions from the text.

3.     Students will group based on the number on their handout to talk about the sentence that stands out the most in the text.

4.     The class will openly discuss three of the student questions that have been selected by the teacher.

 

What we’re learned review:

Diction and Tone Analysis of “The Crisis”

HOMEWORK: SOAPSTone of “The Crisis”

Closure: Think about your answers and T’s answers.   What do you notice? What did you do well? What changes might you need to make?
W5

Th

 Bell Ringer: Through the study of fairytales, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

 

Tutoring Thursday: Through the study of AP Rhetoric, students will be able to correctly identify and explain the given device in the task cards. (Mastery 8/10)

 

Cycle 3: Through the study of The Crisis, students will be able to identify and analyze rhetoric in “The Crisis”.

 

 Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

 

Tutoring Thursday: AP Rhetoric Task Cards

I: Student are given 10 minutes to review the academic vocabulary associated with the excerpts on the task cards.   This is designed to help reteach missed skills, and definitions of unknown words are encouraged for learning outside of class.

D/Ap: Students will rotate through stations to complete a minimum of ten task cards each for a grade. Mastery = 8 of 10.

 

Rhetorical Analysis

1. Students are given the text of “The Crisis” to look for 8 rhetorical elements.

2. Students are to analyze how the included device affects the audience of the text.

 
W5

F

 Bell Ringer: Through the study of fairytales, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

 

Free Response Friday: Through the study of The Crisis, the student will be able to write a short response to a given prompt.

 

Sunday News, Monday Views: Through the study of current events, students will be able to rhetorically analyze a chosen article from the weekend news.

~Note: This assignment is weekend homework due at the start of EVERY Monday.

 

 Bell Ringer: 15 minutes

Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)

Etymology (L11.4-6)

~ G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner

~ Share outs (based on pacing)

 

Free Response Friday: Students will respond to an essay question as much as possible with a 15 minutes time frame.

1. Students will review the text and analyze the prompt.

2. Students will create a quick outline.

3. Students will begin writing their response.

 

Weekly Homework Assignment of Sunday News, Monday Views:

O: Ss will learn the assignment expectations.

D/App: Students will pick an article and complete the analysis.

E: Ss will share with a partner for feedback (5 minutes each) and make revisions before submission (6).

 

HWK: Students will use article from Mr. Goff to prepare for ethics overview.

 

 

So what really happened?

Monday and Tuesday went without a hitch.  We hit a stumbling block on Wednesday with the sentence patterns, and we needed a bit more practice.  Additionally, some of the students were still really into the debate from the previous lesson.

Rather than read “The Crisis” we moved to “The Declaration of Independence” because I found out this was not read during the U. S. History course of study.  This also would give time to review rhetorical appeals since it is so overwhelmingly present in the text.

However, I ended up being sent home sick on Wednesday, and couldn’t make it in Thursday or Friday. Those who know me know I will always go in and try because even on my worst day, I’m better than some teachers.  This time, I was so out of it the students had to complete the emergency lesson plans and I actually lost a few days.

My Emergency Lesson Plans are pretty generic because the idea is that in 8 years I have never actually had to use them.  Basically, there is an article for students to read from NewsELA.  These articles can be scaled for reading levels, and they come with questions and writing prompts if you enter it in the search field.  Need an emergency plan for yourself?  Students are trained to read and annotate for understanding and then answer the multiple choice questions.  We complete a SOAPSTone analysis for everything we read, so that gave good practice. I added completing an MLA citation on the bottom a few weeks back, so most students added that out of habit.

Have you tried NewsELA? You should. https://newsela.com/

 

 

Jan 08 2016
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American Literature, Common Core, English III, Grammar, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Motivating Students, Pacing, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized, Writing

End of the Week Update 1/7

Screen Shot 2016-01-08 at 12.05.43 AM

We actually did fairly well with pacing and made it through the plans as I had them set. Sort of. We had class meetings called, so I had to cut something. I decided to cut out the extra part of the class designed to fit the weekly structure.

The Caught ‘Ya bell ringer and etymology system is still working fantastically.  I love this system. As long as I teach, I will never, ever, ever use another system. The data speaks volumes.

We did, however, find time for a task card review of the definitions of the primary elements of figurative language that I want them to have mastered. I made them from scratch, and I promise I will put them in my TPT store and link them here this weekend.  Right now it is just the term and definition, but it will grow into identifying the examples and creating their own examples through the next few weeks. After all, you have to start somewhere.

For instruction, we did a SOAPSTone analysis of “Tribute to a Dog” as planned.  You can find this text at the website below.  We were able to read and annotate the text, move into a discussion about what he said, how he said it, and how it affected the audience.  Then, we completed a SOAPSTone analysis.  First, I had them complete the analysis individually. Next, they shared and compared with a partner.  Then, I had them write a paragraph to explain the differences in the student work and what changes they thought they might need to make to increase the quality of their analysis.  Then, I did what I think was the most powerful part: I showed them my answers and we discussed each of them in detail.  Why did this matter? Well, it allowed the students to see the expectations for college-level responses over the minimalist approach they normally take.

Text Resource: http://pne.browardschools.com/teachers/FOV1-00157D17/Tribute%20to%20the%20dog.pdf

In looking at student work, I needed them to focus on thesis statements and topic sentences, so I added the instruction of using the prompt as a sentence starter for the response into the lesson for tomorrow. And tomorrow we are going to watch a clip from The Colbert Report and do a SOAPSTone on that.  This will allow me to address satire, parody, and mockery in a quick blurb about a topic that is relevant to them.

Considering the learning regarding the depth of the SOAPSTone itself, I’m going to model it, but then I’m going to have students do it individually so I can collect that before I show them my answers.  For closure, they are going to complete a reflection on the quality of their work and how it has changed during the week. They will list differences in their work and my work in order to create a plan for achieving at a hirer level in the coming weeks.

Hopefully, this was as effective in the long terms as it appears to have been for the last few days.  If not, I’m sure they will get it. They are going to SOAPSTone the crap out of EVERY SINGLE TEXT WE READ. #sorrynotsorry #youllthankmeoneday

.

Sep 17 2013
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Accountable Talk, American Literature, Common Core, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized

Transitioning to the American Revolution: Patrick Henry and Ben Franklin

As we move toward the close of the module, we find ourselves looking to the birth of the new nation. For this, we needed to set the stage of the historical settings, so we worked to make it fit.

1. Speech(es) to the (Virginia) Convention and a look at rhetoric.
To start this lesson, students were given a short historical hindsight lesson (notes) with a focus on rhetorical appeal. We reviewed them quickly and I realized students were able to define the appeals without fail but the recognition of them in text was something we would work on throughout the day. Additionally, I wanted them to start evaluating the rhetoric from both perspectives – those who would agree and those who would disagree – and make a call as to whether or not the rhetoric was effective overall.

I modeled this process with the first two sentences from each text.

For this task, the class was divided in to teams. One team focused on Henry’s Speech to the Convention while the other focused on Franklin’s Speech to the Virginia Convention. This worked well to make sure students were an expert on the first text. The neat thing was how the teams were decided…

First, we took a private notecard vote on whether to fight for independence or to try to just get along. Those who voted to get along were assigned to read Henry. Those who wanted to fight were assigned to Franklin.

Once the texts were assigned, the students were given their reading guide. (Find a free copy of the reading guide at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/HenryFranklin-Speech-to-the-ConventionVirginia-Convention-Reading-Guide-877412)

Students progressed through the reading guide at their own pace and then moved to partner with a person on the opposite text. In the end, student discussion was guided by an author comparison section of the handout right before completion of the writing prompt on comparing author ideas. This wasn’t intended to be a formal essay, but more of a constructed response as we are working hard on developing paragraphs with cited evidence from the text.

Alas, let me know your thoughts so I can work to improve this lesson before the next implementation. It felt a little slighted because there was so much I wanted to get into with the text (and limiting the teacher-talk on such an amazing series of texts was really challenging!).

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Sep 15 2013
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American Literature, Common Core, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Here’s the news flash – students just don’t care for Puritan Plain Style.

For today’s lesson, I started out with reading the text several times and thinking about what it is that makes his sermon effective. Once again, I wanted to reiterate the elements of breaking down complex sentences, but then I wanted to bring in the rhetoric used in the lesson. I decided to model it after my thinking and have students look at the complex sentences before thinking about the rhetoric which makes the sentence matter.

For modeling, my questions became:
1. What is he saying?
2. How is he saying it?
3. Is he effective in getting his message across?
4. What is it that makes it effective?

For skills, I wanted to look at rhetorical devices, but the first step was looking quickly at ethos, logos, and pathos. I was quite fortunate in that the majority of my students were able to look at a blank triangle and put in the terms. I asked to students to tell me what they remembered, and I didn’t have to go into the detailed lessons reteaching the basic appeals.

At this point, I followed the suggestion of the text and looked at specific rhetorical elements of metaphor, simile, imagery, appeal to fear, and antithesis.

Here, I moved directly through the reading of the text and had students complete the reading guide.

At the end of the lesson, I wanted students to be able to identify and evaluate rhetorical elements in a speech in terms of what the speaker is saying, what he means, and how he wants it to affect the audience. In the end, I’m not sure students were able to get antithesis and implied metaphor.

Fortunately, these skills can be revisited as we move on through the next few readings so the students will be ready for the module assessment in two weeks.

Also, I will post the reading guide and a link asap. It will probably be free and just the reading guide because I’m not ready to post the PPT as I feel it needs some revision. (Link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sinners-in-the-Hands-of-an-Angry-God-Text-Dependent-Questions-Reading-Guide-875141)

Suggestions? Let me know.

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Sep 02 2013
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American Literature, Assessments, Common Core, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Motivating Students, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching

Of Plymouth Plantation… and the inner city attention span

plymouth 1

As we gear up for the new week, the students gear down because they cannot be less interested in Of Plymouth Plantation. Well, they do have one question they seek to answer: What is Americanism? What does it mean to be American? So as they formulate their ideas, we study American Literature. And, this week, we transition from Pilgrims and an active, benevolent God to Sinners and an Angry God. Boy… I can feel the good vibes now!

Since the students completed the Common Core Workshop successfully, I feel confident in their ability to closely read a text, and, thanks to my intense written feedback, the quality of their text-evidence in response to TDQs has increased tremendously. In fact, for many of them, the reading guide worksheet isn’t enough room and they are writing their answers on another page.

The first step in planning this lesson was to think about anticipated difficulties. Thanks to the first sentence, I didn’t have to think very hard. The Puritan Plain Style might have been easy to Puritans, but thanks to the evolutionary writing style of a few hundred years’ writings, those complex sentences even gave me a headache! I began planning with the idea that if the students could break down the complicated structures of the key parts of the paragraphs (or sections), maybe they could understand enough to work through answering some of the text-dependent questions. However… I needed to model this one for the students too.

Thus, a reading guide was created and designed to focus on breaking down complex sentences in terms of 1. Who? What? 2. Action. Then, I divided the excerpts into major sections and created TDQs for those sections. This made the reading guide look long (5 pages), but I wanted each section to have a visual separation from the other sections and then I needed to add some pretty visuals to keep the students happy. You’d be surprised how happy a different font, cute clip art, or shaded boxes can make the students when they are looking at a complex text they wouldn’t have been interested in otherwise.

From there, I created a reading quiz modeled after the FEW samples of multiple choice PARCC questions that have been released. This is a pretty important step because my students are used to teachers giving completion credit rather than accuracy credit. Also, apparently in some classes if most of the students don’t do the work the teacher makes it extra credit for those who did it and does not penalize those who don’t do it. To combat that, mean as it may be, I have the homework for grading and the reading quiz for grading. Students can retake any reading quiz after scoring a perfect score on the homework if they so desire, but this technique has shown students I’m serious about them completing some work outside of class. After all, my job is to prepare them for college.

If you are interested, you may find this lesson plan bundle at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Of-Plymouth-Plantation-Lesson-Plan-Reading-Guide-PPT-with-KEY-844835

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Aug 24 2013
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American Literature, Common Core, English III, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Reading Informational Texts, Teaching, Uncategorized, Writing

English III Hybrid TN EOC/CCSS Course: What is it to be American?

cc workshop 1

Ah. The hybrid year. Last year we piloted all that is Common Core while being assess by the TN EOC. Alas, this year we implement Common Core while being assessed by both the TN EOC (with a few supposedly dropped SPIs) and PARCC. Add in that the PARCC assessments are on a yearlong plan while our course is a semester and you have a world of differentiation and 80 hour work weeks. But me… I honestly did not get into teaching to get rich. I got into teaching so I could make a difference and do my part to make the world a better place. So I’ll take it: 80 hour work weeks, Common Core, EOCs, TRIPOD, TVAAS, and whatever else you throw at me. But I’m going to help my students get it even if there is no 15-16 year old of the inner city volunteering to read these texts.

So what’s the spin for buy in? Well, the essential question becomes “What does it mean to be an American?” Now, this isn’t so far fetched – we are American and they call out their freedoms on a regular basis. So I tied in a personal stake: I know a true American.

1. After the boring syllabus review and all that jazz, we watched a video to spark a conversation. (Find this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Ku4RhZwC0&list=UUTCWtGoGyBSUHzI9dTw3Q1w) Students felt a connection because I’m not the only teacher at the school with a loved one who died in a very public service-related situation, and they saw those families. Then, we invited them to bring in the picture of anyone they knew who was willing to defend what it meant to be American. From there, a living bulletin board was created.

2. We built in a Common Core Workshop using Prothero’s “Introduction” from his text “The American Bible.” We actually used only an excerpt, but the idea worked very well to introduce students to the power of words. We spent a week with this text, thoroughly modeling the process of close reading, text-dependent questions, and the dreaded writing task. In all, the point was modeling the process, and I gave a tremendous amount of written feedback to each student for every single question. Amazingly the students thought they would get credit if they just wrote something in the answer slots. Amazing. Apparently some teachers do that so often the students expect it as the norm and were genuinely surprised by their grades and the feedback. They could not believe I read, scored, and responded to every single question for every single student. Once I realized they were not used to teachers carefully reading and grading, I intentionally went overboard in providing feedback. I plan to do this intensively for a bit here – as long as I can practically keep it up – until I have them well trained. I can understand having some completion grades, but these guys make it seem as if that was all they ever had for “practice” category work. Unreal.

You can find the PPT and student documents at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/American-Literature-Common-Core-Workshop-Reading-Info-Text-and-Writing-Task-844323

Interestingly, I found where someone has posted the Introduction for free on scribed. You may access that file at http://www.scribd.com/doc/95184410/American-Bible-Intro-Excerpt.

And with that, it was time to begin the textbook selections.

Welcome to Module 1: Early America to 1800.

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