Threaded
Big Idea
|
Journal
writing stimulates personal growth, self reflection, and
can serve as a record of personal health. Journals have
also been used to record a wealth of historical information,
from climate conditions to daily life.
|
Essential
Question |
What
are the purposes of journal writing? |
Learning
Cycle
|
Lesson
Title & Description
|
Objective
Students will:
|
Class
period & week
|
Engage/Explore
|
A
History of Journal Writing
Students will learn about various people from different cultures
who have kept journals for scientific, historical, and creative
purposes. |
1. Students
will articulate their prior knowledge of journal writing,
explore what function journal writing has fulfilled for various
cultures and peoples.
2. They will also read and analyze various journal entries by famous
figures in history.
|
|
Explore/Explain
|
Types of
Journal Writing
Students will discover 3 types of journals and the various practical
uses of journaling. |
Students
will be able to determine which style of journal writing
is best suited to a particular need and explain the various
types of journaling.
|
2 class
periods
Week 1
|
Apply
|
Survival
Diaries
Students will read about the famous Antarctic journey of Ernest
Shackleton based on the diaries of expedition members. |
Students
will practice applying what they have learned about journaling
to compose 3 journal entries for analysis, creativity, and
personal reflection.
|
|
Project |
A Voyage
of Endurance
Students will watch a film about the voyage of the Endurance
and analyze the film’s representation of the expedition. |
Students
will apply their understanding of personal, dialectical, and
creative journal writing skills to analyze and react to Shackleton’s
voyage. |
2
class periods
Week 2 |
Big
Idea
|
Certain
reading strategies are better suited to understanding
scientific and historical texts as opposed to literary
texts.
|
Essential
Question |
Which
reading strategy is most appropriate to use in order to
comprehend a given text? |
Learning
Cycle
|
Lesson
Title & Description
|
Objective
Students will:
|
Class
period & week
|
Engage
|
Meta-cognitive
Reading
The instructor will model and help students practice techniques
that will help them uncover the mental processes behind reading. |
Students
will be able to define the term “meta-cognitive”,
and will practice articulating (both aloud and in writing)
their thought processes while reading.
|
|
Explore
|
Revisiting
Reading Strategies
This lesson helps students gain more practice with comprehension
of scientific and historical texts.
|
Students
will read various scientific and historical texts and test
certain reading strategies to see which improve comprehension
most.
|
|
Explain
|
Identify
That Strategy!
Students will be allowed to choose a text which they will read
and analyze using varied reading strategies. |
Students
will explain and define various reading strategies
and apply them in the analysis of a text of their
choosing.
|
1
class
period
Week 3
|
Apply |
Applying
Reading Strategies
This lesson asks the students to apply their reading skills
to read and analyze a given article, and then will compose
a timed writing in order to thoroughly explain the process
of reading and comprehending the text. |
Students
will apply their knowledge of reading strategies to read
a text concerning a current environmental health issue, and
compose an essay explaining the use of reading strategies
to understand the reading. |
1
class period
Week 3 |
Big
Idea
|
Reading
multicultural fiction and nonfiction reveals to us that
writing is influenced by cultural values and societal
beliefs. Such reading encourages us to examine how society
affects our own ideas and perspectives about various
topics, including environmental health.
|
Essential Question |
How
does literature reflect the cultural beliefs and values
of a society? |
Learning
Cycle
|
Lesson
Title & Description
|
Objective
Students will:
|
Class
period & week
|
Engage
|
Reading
Multicultural Literature
Students will consider the ways in which literature reflects
cultural and societal perspectives. |
Students
will identify the influence of cultural values and personal
beliefs in fictional text.
|
|
Explore
|
Looking
Through Lenses
Students will consider the various societal and cultural “lenses” which
color their perspectives and life experiences by reading the
short story “What Means Switch” by Gish Jen. |
Students
will be able to distinguish between the concepts of culture
and race, analyze the cultural beliefs of characters in
the text affect their perspectives, and discuss how the
environment where you live affects the person you become.
|
2
class periods
Week 4
|
Explain/Apply
|
Analyzing
Perspectives
Students will analyze the ways in which their own culture has
been determined, explain how these beliefs are lenses which
influence the way we look at life. |
Students
will discuss and write a short essay about their own cultural “lenses” and
reflect on the ways in which these beliefs influence their
lives in positive and negative ways.
|
1
class period
Week 4
|
Big
Idea
|
Literary
analysis can be used to discover the techniques authors
use to construct convincing fictional and nonfiction
texts that deal with a variety of historical and scientific
topics.
|
| Essential Question |
What
tools do authors use to craft engaging, vivid texts? |
Learning
Cycle
|
Lesson
Title & Description
|
Objective
Students will:
|
Class
period & week
|
Engage
|
Intro
to Literary Analysis
Students will be introduced to the various techniques which
authors use to make their writing interesting and realistic. |
Students
will read a variety of thought provoking texts and identify
some of the tools which the author has used to make the
text come to life.
|
|
Explore
|
Plot
Structure
Students will learn how to outline and summarize fiction
be creating plot line diagrams.
|
Students
will be able to identify the six components of the plot
line in a text and create a simple diagram showing these
elements.
|
|
Figurative
Language
Students will learn about eight types of figurative language and how authors
use these devices. |
Students
will be able to identify figurative language in a text and
use it in their writing. |
1
class period
Week 5 |
Stylistic
Devices
In this lesson Longfellow’s poem “The Wreck of
the Hesperus” will be examined for the author’s
use of stylistic devices and figurative language |
Students will be able to define and identify
various literary elements, such as alliteration, rhyme, assonance,
consonance, and onomatopoeia. |
2
class periods
Week 5 |
Explain/Apply
|
Practicing
Literary Analysis
Students will practice literary analysis on their own by
reading Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner”.
|
Students
will apply what they have learned about literary elements
to analyze a poem and explain how the author’s use
of these techniques serves to enhance the work. |
|
Big
Idea
|
Formal
documents such as resumes, business letters, and essays
require a specific format and tone.
|
Essential Question |
How
does the writing of a formal document differ from other
types of writing? |
Learning
Cycle
|
Lesson
Title & Description
|
Objective
Students will:
|
Class
period & week
|
Engage
|
Language
Registers
In this lesson students will become familiar with the ways
in which we change our speaking styles depending on the audience. |
Students
will be able to distinguish among and identify the five different
language registers. They will also discuss the situations
in which each register is used. |
|
Explore
|
Formal
Letter Writing
In this lesson students will learn how to write a formal
letter by writing to a local politician on an environmental
health issue.
|
Students
will learn the proper block format used in business letter
writing, and write a formal letter in the proper language
register which is appropriately tailored to the intended
audience. |
2
class periods
week 6 |
Formal
Essay Process
During this lesson students will learn about how to begin essay writing through
the steps of brainstorming and selecting an attention grabber. |
Students
will be able to identify and demonstrate how to use four
different types of prewriting to generate essay ideas, as
well as select an attention getting statements from varied
sources. |
1
class period
week 7 |
Thesis
Statements
Students will explore the writing of thesis statements in preparation for their
final project essay. |
Students
should be able to successfully write a thesis statement which
contains their main idea and position on this topic. |
1
class period
week 7 |
Intros
and Conclusions
Students will learn techniques for writing successful introductions and conclusions
concerning air quality issues. |
Students
will able to write an essay introduction which outlines the
purposes of the paper, as well as a conclusion which reiterates
the main arguments of the essay presented in a new way. |
1
class period
week 7 |
Topic
Sentences and Transitions
Students will learn about the purposes and components of topic sentences and
transitions. |
Students
will be able to write paragraphs that begin with topic sentences
and end with transitional statements that link the ideas
of one paragraph to another. |
1
class period
week 7 |
Sentence
Variety and Fluency
In this lesson students will review the various sentence types. |
Students
will be able to incorporate simple, compound, and complex
sentences into their final essays in a smooth, natural way. |
1
class period
week 7 |
Conventions
and Proofreading
Students will edit their final project essays for spelling and grammatical errors. |
Students
will be able to locate and correct errors in the text of
their essays in order to create a more polished document. |
1
class period
week 8
|
Explain
|
Revision
and Peer Editing
Students will work together to revise and edit each others
final project essays before final drafting.
|
Students
will share their writing with peers and offer constructive
suggestions on how their essays may be improved. Students
will then make necessary revisions. |
1
class period
week 8
|
Apply |
Final
Drafting
Students will compose the final draft of their final project
essays. |
Students
will apply the essay writing skills they have acquired in
order to create a final essay with a thesis, an introduction,
conclusion, supporting details, topic sentences and transitions,
etc. |
1
class period
week 8 |
Project |
Final
Project
Students will create a model of an environmentally friendly
city which takes into account geographic, geologic, and climatic
concerns. |
Students
will be able to explain in a polished essay the reasoning
behind the design of their model city, accommodations made
for future growth, as well as address transportation and
air pollution issues. |
3
class periods
weeks 8/9 |
