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The Vermont Writing Collaborative is a group of teachers in Vermont (and elsewhere!) whose mission is to help all students, K - 12, write thoughtfully and effectively.
The five founding members are: Jane Miller of Burlington, Karen Kurzman of Derby Line, Eloise Ginty of Thetford, Joey Hawkins of Strafford, and Diana Leddy of Strafford. Among us, we have over 130 years of public school teaching experience at all grade levels.
In the fall of 2008, we published a book through Authentic Education (with a foreword by Grant Wiggins) called Writing for Understanding:Using Backward Design to Help All Students Write Effectively.
Since then, we have offered courses and workshops in the principles of Writing for Understanding around Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and elsewhere.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Teacher: Hannah Barden
Class Spanish 1
Writing genre: Persuasive/Letter to editor

Bullfighting


CENTRAL IDEAS

Content: Cultural perspective affects how we interpret and/or judge cultural events and practices.

Reading: Finding evidence from a variety of texts to support a claim

Writing: Persuasive essay/Letter to the Editor:
* Supporting thesis with details from texts
* Considering and addressing opposing viewpoints




FOCUSING QUESTION:

Should the aging Plaza de Toros be restored or replaced?

Letter to the editor: The Plaza de Toros should be renovated and restored; OR The Plaza de Toros should be destroyed and replaced with a more positive cultural center.


BUILDING CONTENT KNOWLEDGE/WRITER'S CRAFT:

· Read and dramatize “Bullfighting Programme”.
· Read model letter: Thunder Road is destroying the environment and should be closed.
· Frayer diagram: What is CULTURE?
· View video clips of a bullfight
· Slideshow: History of Bullfighting
· Read informational and persuasive essays
· Summarizing: mini-presentations
· Select details from texts à Graphic Organizer
· Counter-argument web
· In-class debate
· In-class paragraph work





STRUCTURES:

· Graphic Organizers: Position T-Chart and Counterargument web
· Model – Persuasive letter
· In-class model paragraphs (counterargument)



WRITING/REVISING:

Try out ideas in class debate
group write sample paragraphs
write in sections
share sections in class
proof-read “opposing” partner’s work



LESSON SEQUENCE:

· Frayer diagram: What is culture?
· Read and dramatize “Bullfighting Programme”.
· View video-clips of bullfight
· View slide show on the history of bullfighting.
· Introduce general question: Is bullfighting morally acceptable?
· HW: Read informational and persuasive essays (small groups each focus on one text, but each student will have entire packet). Mini-presentations of main ideas from texts to class. Create public notes sheet.
· Discuss focus question: Should the aging Plaza de Toros be restored or replaced?
· Prepare debate. (Begin in class and finish as HW).
· Debate in class.
· Read model letter: Thunder Road is destroying the environment and should be closed. Discuss: how does author’s perspective affect his/her viewpoint?
· Students fill in “Position T-chart” using group notes and readings packet.
· Write (individually in class) and share introductions to letter. (Should the aging Plaza de Toros be restored or replaced?)
· HW: re-work first paragraph as necessary.
· Students fill out Counter-argument Web.
· Review Thunder Road letter. How does author use and respond to counterarguments?
· Write 2 model paragraphs together (two different view-points).
· HW: Write body paragraphs of letter (okay to use one we wrote together if students want) for a minimum of 2 body paragraphs.
· Peer review of paper (in teams of “opposing viewpoints”). Students read each others’ papers, make suggestions on counterarguments.
· Class discussion of conclusion (what’s it for? What should it look like?)
Teams discuss ideas for conclusions, and take notes. (So what = Is bullfighting a morally acceptable cultural practice, or should it be abolished in Spain?)
· HW: Add conclusion to complete a first draft.



ASSESSMENT:

When I receive the first drafts, I think it would be a good idea to look at what I get and pick one thing I’d like students to go back and re-work on their letters to produce a final draft. (Hopefully they will be on the computer, so it will be less work!)
Also, I can pick a couple of examples for us to read and evaluate as a class (“what did this author really do well?”) I may or may not do this, depending on the quality of the papers and how much time we have.




NEXT STEPS: Gradual Release of Responsibility
Hmmm… I’m not currently planning to do much more writing in English after this point with my students. I guess I see this as shouldering some of the responsibility for teaching writing, and assume that they will be writing other persuasive texts in other courses… We will use the more general structure of intro with thesis, body paragraphs, conclusion in a simple response to text essay later in the year, but it will be in Spanish, and so I plan to give the students quite a bit more support.
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1 comment:

  1. WindyJuly 27, 2010 at 7:20 PM

    Hannah,

    I’m sorry to say that I could never teach anyone Spanish but find it fascinating and exciting that you are going to take on this role of teaching students how to write a persuasive essay! Kuddo’s to you! The central idea about teaching students that cultural perspectives affects how we interpret/judge cultural events and practices is a unique idea, one that I have not yet introduced to my 5th graders, but know that it would be truly fascinating for some. I like the fact that you are going have the students do a lot of discussion before they even begin to write. The fact that you are going to have students do a class debate is great, I wonder how you are going to structure and organize this? I have never done an “official” debate with a class so I’m wondering about the management of it all? You mention that you will be having students read informational and persuasive essays for homework and then have students share the main points for the class the next day for the debate, what will you do for those students who may not be able to read the essays themselves, or for those who don’t yet know how to pick out main ideas and what is important in an essay? The Assessment part of your plan is a great idea, you should definitely do what you said about picking examples of actual student work and reading them to the class and identifying what students did well and what still needs to be worked on. I have done this with my students in the past and it is extremely beneficial! Students really like hearing their own and their peers work because it is authentic and timely. The only thing that I do however is not mention whose paper it is. I have an Elmo in my class, so I can actually show the students work on the screen as I read it aloud to the students, just when you do this, block out his/her name. It is best to make this a common practice in your classroom so that sharing student work is just part of the culture. I also like the fact that you are using Thunder Road as an example model for your essay. I think it gives a better impression to students if what they are reading and writing about it familiar, and having a local issue close to home makes it real. Great job with this unit. I’d love to see your test drive for the essay. Thanks Windy Kelley

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