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Literature Unit Plan

Activity 8.19

David Riddick

Stage Two

Appendix 7.01

Unit Planning Outline

1. Title of the Unit

“Who Am I?”

2. Unit Overview

A. Topic of the unit

Heritage

B. Broad Learning Goals Of The Unit That Promote The
Identified State Content Standards

Students will have an understanding of heritage through the study of genre in literature and the integration of math, science, Spanish, social studies, physical education, art and music. Students will gain a broader understanding of their own culture and how that culture compares to others.

Students will acquire an awareness to make inferences about their heritage and interpret folktales from their culture.

Students have an understanding that writers of various genres write within the context of their own beliefs, values, and perspectives. Students will understand events and interactions among peoples brought about profound changes.

Students will develop skills and attitudes necessary to counter stereotypes, assumptions, bias, alternate points of view, and prejudices when accessing information about cultural and historical experiences.

C. Concepts To Be Understood Through The Unit

Students will learn about the heritage of themselves and of various groups within the context of America from the perspective of the past and within diverse groups.

Students will answer the question “Who Am I?” They will investigate and write about the origin and the reason why their parents chose their name. The literature link will be the reading and sharing of folktales from their cultures. The culminating projects include a Heritage Album and a patchwork quilt that reflects the heritage of their family.

Throughout the unit, students will respond to the following:

- What is culture?

- How are our cultures alike?

- How are our cultures different?

- Is there a “culture” of our class?

D. Standards

READING

1.0. WORD ANALYSIS, FLUENCY, AND SYSTEMATIC VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT: Students use their knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, both to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade-level-appropriate words.

Word Recognition:

1.1. read narrative and expository text aloud with fluency and accuracy, and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression

Vocabulary and Concept Development:

1.2. use word origins to determine the meaning of unknown words

1.3. understand and explain frequently used synonyms, antonyms and homographs

1.4. know abstract, derived roots and affixes from Greek and Latin, and use this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words (e.g., controversial)

2.0. READING COMPREHENSION (FOCUS ON INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS): Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of the text by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. The selections in Recommended Readings in Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Eight illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition, by grade eight, students read one million words annually on their own, including a good representation of grade-level-appropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). In grade five, students make progress toward this goal.

Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text:

2.3. discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas

2.4. draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge

Expository Critique:

2.5. distinguish among facts, supported inferences, and opinions in text

3.0. LITERARY RESPONSE AND ANALYSIS: Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature. They begin to find ways to clarify the ideas and make connections between literary works. The selections in Recommended Readings in Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Eight illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students.

Structural Features of Literature:

3.1. identify and analyze the characteristics of poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction as literary forms chosen by an author for a specific purpose

Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text:

3.4. understand that theme refers to the meaning or moral of a selection, and recognize themes whether implied or stated directly in sample works

Literary Criticism:

3.7. evaluate the author's use of various techniques to influence readers' perspectives (e.g., appeal of characters in a picture book, logic and credibility of plots and settings, use of figurative language) (Reader Response)

WRITING

GRADE 5

1.0. WRITING STRATEGIES: Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays. Writing exhibits awareness of audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, bodies of supporting evidence, and conclusions. Students successfully use the stages of the writing process, as needed.

Research and Technology

1.3 Use organizational features of printed text (e.g., citations, end notes, bibliographic references) to locate relevant information.

1.5 Use a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings.

Evaluation and Revision

1.6 Edit and revise manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences.

2.0. WRITING APPLICATIONS (GENRES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS): Students write narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive text of at least 500 to 700 words. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

Using the Grade 5 writing strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students:

2.2 Write responses to literature:

a. Demonstrate an understanding of a literary work.

a. Support judgments through references to the text and to prior knowledge.

c. Develop interpretations that exhibit careful reading and understanding.

2.3 Write research reports about important ideas, issues, or events by using the following guidelines:

a. Frame questions that direct the investigation.

b. Establish a controlling idea or topic.

c. Develop the topic with simple facts, details, examples, and explanations.

LISTENING AND SPEAKING

2.0. SPEAKING APPLICATIONS (GENRES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS): Students deliver well-organized formal presentations employing traditional rhetorical strategies (i.e., narration, exposition, persuasion, and description). Student speaking demonstrates a command of standard English and the organization and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0.

Using the Grade 5 speaking strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0, students:

2.1 Deliver narrative presentations:

a. Establish a situation, plot, point of view, and setting with descriptive words and phrases.

b. Show, rather than tell, the listener what happens.

2.2 Deliver informative presentations about an important idea, issue, or event by the following means:

a. Frame questions to direct the investigation.

b. Establish a controlling idea or topic.

c. Develop the topic with simple facts, details, examples, and explanations.

2.3 Deliver oral responses to literature:

a. Summarize significant events and details.

b. Articulate an understanding of several ideas or images communicated by the literary work.

c. Use examples or textual evidence from the work to support conclusions.

E. Timeline For The Unit

Duration of unit is approximately two weeks with a minimum of five lessons.

At least 2 hours a day, students read, listen, talk, and write about the literature they are reading.

F. List Of References Used To Plan The Unit

Resources for researching family trees such as:

My Backyard History by David Weitzman

Kids America by Steven Caney

Who Are We?: Stories of Immigration and Migration: A Middle School Resource Unit for

Interdisciplinary Teams, D.C. Heath and Company

The Great Ancestor Hunt by Lila Perl

Discovering Your Roots by Dian Dincin Buchman

Across America on an Immigrant Train by Jim Murphy

Nhuong, Huynh Quang (2000) “The Land I Lost” Open Court Reading. 5th grade.

SRA/McGraw-Hill. Columbus, Ohio.

Cameron, Ann (2000) “The Night We Started Dancing” Open Court Reading. 5th grade.

SRA/McGraw-Hill. Columbus, Ohio.

Jenness, Aylette & Rivers, Alice (2000) “In Two Worlds” Open Court Reading. 5th

grade. SRA/McGraw-Hill. Columbus, Ohio.

Rylant, Cynthia (1998) Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds. Voyager.

Greeenfield, Eloise (1993) Childtimes: A Three Generation Memoir. Harpertrophy.

Freedman, Russell. (1995) Immigrant Kids. Puffin.

Conrad, Pam (1991) My Daniel. Harpercollins Juvenile.

Websites

Here are a few references to cultures on the WWW. Please use a search engine, such as Yahoo, and type in your heritage followed by the word culture, such as "Jewish Culture" (in quotes). 

What’s In Your Name: http://www.kabalarians.com/gkh/your.htm#links Allows searches of hundreds of names. Access to the entire list requires a paid subscription.

Family History Research: http://www.infokey.com/hall/trace.htm Finds information on history of surname. Offers materials for sale after search. Warn students not to complete order forms.

Stories of Native Americans: http://www.kstrom.net/isk/stories/stories.html

African Museum Exhibit: http://www.fi.edu/tfi/info/current/africa/

American Slavery: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

Mayan Folktales: http://www.folkart.com/~latitude/folktale/folktale.htm

Kwanza: http://www.melanet.com/kwanzaa/

Japanese Folktales: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html

Official Heritage website www.ellisisland.org

California Museum of Photography – Pictures of immigrants and Ellis Island http://cmp1.ucr.edu

Immigration Records – www.nara.gov/genealogy/immigration/immigrat.html

Virtual Ellis Island Tour – shows all steps of immigration and has list of other links www.capital.net

Ellis Island Immigration Museum – www.ellisisland.com

Trace family history – www.genealogyweb.com

3. Instruction

A. Students

31 Students. 20 boys and 11 girls. 10 E0s; 10 RFP's 10 ELD4-5: 1 ELD2. GATE class - advanced learners.

B. Learning Style Considerations

· Social atmosphere; encourage students to listen to each other.

· Connect this unit to the life of the learner.

· Use concrete activities

· Integrate reading, language, technology, cooperative learning

C. Modifications

· Instruction must connect and become integrated with students’ prior experiences.

· Factor in gender considerations, integrate and use groups flexibly

· Focus and support inquires while interacting with students

· Challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own learning

D. Learning Objectives

Cognitive: Students will make inferences about their heritage and interpret folktales from their culture. Students will determine the relevance of the customs and traditions of their own heritage and relate to the heritage of others. Students will learn skills and attitudes necessary to counter bias, stereotypes, assumptions, point of view, and prejudice.

Observable behavior: Students will practice seeing things from various points of view. Students will negotiate a modern day peace treaty for a cultural conflict. Using information from the Internet and other sources, students will report about their own cultural background. The final product, a patchwork quilt, will require teamwork. Students will use resources that present different perspectives.

Criteria: Students will learn about the heritage of themselves and of various groups within the context of America from the perspective of the past and within diverse groups.

Students will determine the relevance of customs and traditions among their own heritage and relate to the heritage of others through journal assignments, standardized tests with at least 75% accuracy, completion of a heritage album and a patchwork quilt.

Criteria for Heritage Album includes:

- Literature Genre

- Historical Events

- First Peoples/Immigration

- Traditions/Celebrations

- Diversity

- Changes that occurred

- Lifestyles

- Mother’s background

- Father’s background

- How their parents met

- How and why students have their names

A criterion rubric will be utilized to assess proficiency of the heritage album and patchwork quilt.

Lesson 1 – Activate Prior Knowledge about Heritage

Students will learn through the utilization of a KWL chart to answer their own questions about heritage. Survey the class to find who knows about their heritage. Read and discuss the short story “My Name” by Sandra Cisnerors.

Small Groups of students will investigate their own names, create a nameplate and write an essay on their findings.

Students will write in journals, make collages of family pictures, and research their questions. Addressing the criterion rubric, students will determine relevant information to include in their Heritage Albums for the unit culminating activity.

Lesson 2 – Heritage Vocabulary

Students will learn a variety of strategies that draw upon the students 5 senses to gain ownership of the vocabulary required to understand heritage. Students will display understanding of vocabulary through kinesthetic activities, music, “What word am I Poems,” Storyboarding, and Quickwrites, scoring an accuracy level of at least 75% on a vocabulary assessment.

Lesson 3 – Nameplate and Research Report

Read the Story “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes. Discuss “What is a name?” Students write about their own names and share results. Continue discussion of the heritage names. Are there certain names that are traditional in some families?

For homework, students interview parents as to how and why they have their names.

Students investigate and write about the origin and the reason why their parents chose their name. Students utilize a criterion rubric to research and write their Heritage “Who Am I?” Reports.

Lesson 4 – Culture and Folktale Poster

Students chose a folktale from their own culture, read it for the lesson, then create a Culture and Folktale Poster that reveals characteristics of that culture and compare it with their own. Folktales and information about culture may be found on the Internet, in the library, or in classroom resource material.

Set aside one day where students share their posters.

High achieving students will create Power Point Presentation or a Hyperstudio slide show to display information on their culture.

Lesson 5 – Family Tree and Patchwork Quilt

During the final days of the unit, read the book The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco to the class.

Students utilize information from their Research Reports and Folktale Posters to create research quilts. Make a class patchwork quilt that displays the differences in cultural heritage of the class. Students write essays on the significance of each quilt patch design.

4. Assessment Plan

Students will determine the relevance of customs and traditions among their own heritage and relate to others while studying a variety of literature genre. Students will be assessed by means of:

- Student observations

- Student interviews

- Power Point demonstrations

- Portfolios

- Concept maps

- Projects and laboratory experiences

- Creative assessments

- Short-answer tests

- Journals

Criteria for Heritage Album includes:

- Literature Genre

- Historical Events

- First Peoples/Immigration

- Traditions/Celebrations

- Diversity

- Changes that occurred

- Lifestyles

- Mother’s background

- Father’s background

- How their parents met

- How and why students have their names

5. Personal reflection of the unit.

The objective of the unit was achieved. Students were able to write in their journals in a pre-write activity on the literature theme “Who Am I?” Student began a draft for their nameplate by and demonstrated proficiency by scoring at least a 3 on the criterion rubric. The lesson started smoothly as I asked guided questions from the unit theme, “Who Am I?” As a class, we made a KWL chart to place what students know about heritage and what they wanted to know. I made a time effective transition from the KWL chart to stating the goal of today’s lesson. Students are to create a Heritage album over the next couple of weeks that address the questions, “Who Am I?”

I displayed a criteria chart with stated objectives. I informed students we would explore the traditions, customs, and lifestyles, of our family heritage to create these albums. Each day for the next two weeks we will work on one topic from the “Heritage Albums.” I checked for understanding and found students’ were feeling overwhelmed. I assured them we would work on the album one day at a time and I would guide them through the process.

I provided a transparency copy of a student made Nameplate. The Nameplate will be the cover of the Heritage Albums. Students will create a Nameplate and place their picture in the center, bordered by 4 concepts addressing “Who Am I?”

I did not anticipate the confusion with the Quickwrite strategy. Students were supposed to write a quick story using as many vocabulary words as possible. Many students used words in their sentences that may have had the same synonym, but did not offer the same meaning in a sentence. For example, the word “terminal.” A student wrote, “The man ran to the terminal line.”

The students are able to read and identify the meaning of the word on a test, but in their writing I’m uncertain if they know to differentiate between multiple meanings of words. In the future, I’m going to allow students more time to edit and revise their work. Students will be given time to work in collaborative groups to correct one another’s papers. The lesson was appropriate for my students because I was able to sequence learning activities for student learning.