Writing for Understanding Instruction

Teacher Plan

Teacher: Meghan McGrath Class: 7th Grade LA Date: June 2011 Writing genre: Response to Text

Topic / Subject / Text

CENTRAL IDEAS Content: Short texts about communities and community values. Reading: *R7: 7-Use comprehension strategies while reading literary and informational texts: summarizing, constructing sensory images, taking notes, etc. Writing: *W7: 4-Demonstrate command of the structures of the English language by using the paragraph form and recognizing organizational structures within paragraphs. *W7: 6-In response to literary or informational text, students make and support analytical judgements about text by using specific details and making inferences.

Focusing Questions

Focus (answer to focusing question)

1. What are the community values exhibited in the text? Use specific examples to support your ideas. 2. Contrast the community values exhibited in the texts “Just Like You,” and “The Cold Within.” How are the values demonstrated by the people in these texts different? 3. What are the community values demonstrated in the article, “Afghan Girls...”? What conclusions can you make about how these values will affect this Afghan community in the future?

1. acceptance, working together, looking out for each other, appreciating life, respecting others/animals, etc. 2. In, “The Cold Within,” people are not accepting of others, and in “Just Like You,” students are promoting the idea of respecting others’ differences. 3. Students will draw their own conclusions: a generation of kids who will stand up against the Taliban, educated women, fighting for justice and equality...

Building Content Knowledge, Understanding of Writer’s Craft
• vocabulary • guided reading • text mapping • paraphrasing • summarizing • visualizing/ • imaging • dramatizing • oral processing / guided conversation / think-pair- share • experience • debating • taking notes (graphic organizers, T-charts, 2 column notes, etc.) • craft lessons (intro, transitions, conclusions, etc)	1. vocabulary-frayer model around the concept of COMMUNITY VALUE, and then vocabulary in the different texts 2. guided reading 3. summarizing-magnet summaries 4. visualizing-drawing examples of community values 5. oral processing 6. taking notes 7. craft lessons-LCEAF paragraph format

Structure How will students know how to organize their ideas and construct the piece of writing?
• graphic organizers • teacher-written models • teacher-and-student written models • various types of templates or frames (ex: Painted Essay)	1. graphic organizers-LCEAF format 2. teacher-and-class written models-writing LCEAF together 3. templates/frames-more writing independence

Writing / Revising How will students draft / revise so that their final writing is clearly focused, organized, and developed to show understanding of the central ideas?
group write, fully or in part • write section at a time • write full piece independently • revise /share full group • revise /share partners • proofreading in partners • proofread w/tubaloos	1. group writings 2. write using a frame/template 3. write a piece independently 4. revise some samples as a full group 5. revise in partners-ID the various LCEAF elements

Lesson Sequence What steps will I follow so that students are able to effectively show their understanding in writing?

1. Frayer Model: COMMUNITY VALUES 2. “The Goose Story” *read multiple times: as a group/in partnerships *take notes as a group: 2 column-values/evidence from text *introduction of LCEAF format *group write of LCEAF paragraph to answer the question: “What are the community values exhibited in the text? Use specific examples to support your ideas.” *mark-up LCEAF elements in the paragraph 3. “The Hunter and the Alligator” folktale *Read once as a group. Read a second time and act it out with students, OR read in groups of three with parts. *notes in partnerships: 2 column-values/evidence from text *write LCEAF paragraph in partnerships to answer the question: “What values do you think the Choctaws are trying to pass on through these characters? Use specific examples to support your ideas.” 4. “Just Like You” PSA *watch multiple times times *notes in partnerships: What is the central idea the students are trying to communicate? Write out, on sticky notes, all the labels mentioned in the PSA. *Put these labels into different categories. (Kids will develop the categories.) and record in their notes. 5. “The Cold Within” poem and discussion. *read aloud to the class *quick discussion about tricky vocab *spirit read, or assign stanzas to partners to read-stand up in a circle around our “fire” to read it *oral summary-I take bulleted notes for the class *discussion: -What destructive ideas or values did these people hold?-note sheet -What values would these people have needed to have in order to survive the cold night? -What does the poet mean that the people died from, “the cold within?” 6. Write an LCEAF paragraph that contrasts the attitudes from the people in the PSA to the people in the poem. *discuss a structure/template for the paragraph *take notes for paragraph *students independently write a paragraph 7. Peer analysis of paragraphs *group analysis of the LCEAF elements (either teacher model or a student sample) *partners read and mark up their own paragraphs by labeling the various LCEAF elements in each paragraph 8. Public notes of the different positive community values we’ve found with examples. And create drawings of these different values in action from the different stories. 9. Multiple readings of the NY Times article, “Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid...” 10. Summarize the article *take notes in graphic organizer as a class. *independently write summaries 11. Three column notes: value/example from text/future effects *fill in first two columns together, and students fill in the third column in small groups *share ideas with the class and discuss 12. Discuss a structure for the paragraph as a class. Examine a teacher model-mark up and label parts. 13. Have students talk through their answers, take notes, and talk through what they’re going to write again. 14. Students write their own LCEAF paragraph answering the question, “What are the community values demonstrated in the article, “Afghan Girls...”? What conclusions can you make about how these values will affect this Afghan community in the future?”

Assessment: How are students doing? What are my next steps as a teacher?

Formative Assessment-As we work in groups and partners, I can monitor and stop and fix as problems arise. Also, I can use entrance/exit tickets or fist-to-five self assessments for how students feel they are doing in terms of understanding the LCEAF paragraph structure. Summative Assessment-I will look at the students’ final paragraphs and assess it for whether they met the two writing standards listed in the Central Ideas box. This will help me to see how much more work we need to do at this paragraph level, or whether we can take these writing structure and start working toward longer writing pieces.

Next Steps: Gradual Release of Responsibility

I hope that this very slow, deliberate, and structured writing instruction will mean that in the future, students will have the LCEAF structure more internalized, and so I will not have to spend as much time on the structure of writing. I want to continue to work to push kids to put more analysis and their own ideas in their writing.