Lesson #: 1

Title: Why Walters Wrote

Grade Level: 8th

Time Frame: 90min block

Designed by: Elyse Dunstan; the website on ReadRockets.org is annotated using DocentEDU.

Class Description/Rationale: The 8th grade class is about to get started reading the book Monster. There are 25 students represented by a diverse array of ethnicities, religions, socio-economic status, and ability. I chose to use the original novel version of this book rather than the graphic novel because I want to show the students the decisions and choices Walter Dean Myers made when writing this book. They need to know the background on the author and his life story, so they will be watching interview with the author and learning about him before learning about the more broad concept of author’s purpose using DocentEDU technology. I want them to understand

Materials: Chromebook and headphones for each student

Essential Questions/ Big Ideas: What was it about Walter Dean Myers’ life that inspired him to write the book Monster? How does an author’s purpose in writing affect the word choice?

VA SOLS: 8.5 The student will read and analyze a variety of fictional texts, narrative nonfiction, and poetry. b) Make inferences and draw conclusions based on explicit and implied information

using evidence from text as support.c) Explain how authors use characters, conflict, point of view, voice, and tone to create meaning.l) Use prior and background knowledge as a context for new learning.

8.7 The student will write in a variety of forms, including narration, exposition, persuasion, and informational.

e) Select specific vocabulary and information for audience and purpose.

h) Use computer technology to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writing.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

Knowledge Outcomes: (Students will know...)

Basic information on Walter Dean Myers

The three reasons why authors write (Persuade, Inform, Entertain)

Skills/Process Outcomes: (Students will be able to...)

Use the DocentEDU tool to complete the assignment

Write example sentences to show author’s purpose

Concept Outcomes: (Students will understand that...)

Writers are inspired to write about the reality that they see around them

The reason why an author writes determines the word choices they make

Assessments: Formative Assessments: There are a few questioned embeded into the webpage; DocentEDU keeps track of all of the student responses so I can see and grade them.

Summative Assessments: At the end of the unit, the students will write an essay on a topic of their choice. The topic must be on an issue facing teenagers and must be approved by the teacher. In this hypothetical unit, the students would have in-class time to do research and work with graphic organizers to plan out their paper before they write them; I’m pretending those are lessons #5-7)

Activities/Procedures 1. Entry to class: Projected on the board will be the

instructions for each student to take a Chrombook and log into Google Classroom.

2. Explain the steps: Instruct the student on how to use the DocentEDU annotated website to interact with all of my added information and questions. (5 minutes)

3. Process: The students will work individually to complete the annotated website. They have the entire class period to do so. When they are finished, they are to start reading Monster quietly for the remainder of class.

4. Dismissal: The students will log off of the Chromebooks and return them to the cart to charge.

Lesson #: 2

Title: Academic Controversy

Grade Level: 8th

Time Frame: 90min block

Designed by: Elyse Dunstan; counterargument activity from Dave Stuart Jr.

Class Description/Rationale: At the end of this unit, I expect my students to form an opinion on a critical teenager issue and write about their position. I don’t expect them right now to know how to argue their personal point of view, so today they are going to learn how to create an argumentative claim. Much like the lawyers in Monster examining the crime from all sides and perspectives, the students are going to look at different sides of issues. In the Academic Controversy model, the students will be reading about an issue relating to Monster (should juveniles be tried as adults) and will have to develop their arguments and refute any valid points their ‘opponents’ make.

Materials: Copy of each article for each student

Essential Questions/ Big Ideas: How do we form a feeling or opinion we have into an arguable claim?

VA SOLS: 8.6 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze a variety of nonfiction texts.

g) Identify the main idea. h) Summarize the text identifying supporting details.k) Evaluate, organize, and synthesize information for use in

written and oral formats.

CE.1 (Civic Education; 8th grade course for social studies) The student will develop the social studies skills responsible citizenship requires, including the ability to:

g) formulate an informed, carefully reasoned position on a community issue;

h) select and defend positions in writing, discussion, and debate.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

Knowledge Outcomes: (Students will know...)

Both sides of the question ‘Should juveniles in court be tried as adults?’

Skills/Process Outcomes: (Students will be able to...)

Prepare a position on a topic and defend it

Use the source text to find evidence to support their argument

Concept Outcomes: (Students will understand that...)

There are at least two sides (or opinions) in every story

Using evidence to support their claim makes it harder to refute

Assessments: Formative Assessments: The students will write out their list of personal claims and supporting evidence. I will monitor their discussions during the Academic Controversy and each group will make a short statement about their discussion.

Summative Assessments: At the end of the unit, the students will write an essay on a topic of their choice. My goal with the discussions in class today were to have the students start thinking about how they can turn something that they have an opinion on into something they can research and write about.

Activities/Procedures 1. Bell-ringer / Hook: Projected on the board when the students

come in will be their journal prompt: “Write a paragraph or so about yourself and some important things about you or your life. Here is mine as an example: “My name is Ms. Dunstan and I like being an English teacher. My favorite type of music is classical. I go camping in the woods often and I love to sit next to the campfire at night. I'm good at baking my favorite dessert, cheesecake. I am the human to a very fluffy cat named Puck." (5 minutes)

2. Introduce New Concepts and Demonstrate: Using my paragraph as an example, I will walk the students through how I can teach each detail about myself and make it into something we can debate about. (10 minutes)

a. Being an English teacher is the best job in the worldi. Because of XYZ

I will encourage the students to give counter arguments to my examples.

- “Classical is boring because there is no lyrics so it can’t be the best type of music!”

- “Cheesecake is not a good dessert at all because I am lactose intolerant.”

3. Think-Pair-Persuade: The students will go back to their paragraph and on a separate piece of paper will write out three arguable claims. They will also write two pieces of supporting evidence for each of their claims. When they are done, they will pair with a partner and take turns sharing their claims. Does their partner agree with the claim? They will swap partners and do the exercise again with their second claim, then swap partners once again for their third claim. (15 minutes)

4. Hook: To connect the rest of the class back to Monster, the students will be reading about juvenile detention. I will show this video as a reminder of the reality they live in and the choices they need to make. (10 minutes)

5. Academic Controversy: Should juveniles convicted of serious crimes be tried in the court as an adult?

a. Before class, I will arrange the students into groups and make copies of the two articles.

b. Explain: I will explain how the AC model works and project the groupings so the students can gather in their clusters. They will be told which side (pro or con) to start with. (5 minutes)

c. Students Prepare: Students will read either the Pro article or the Con article. They are to make notes on the article, underline evidence in the text, or interact with it in some way. (8 minutes)

d. Students Present: i. The Pro teams will present first (3 minutes)

ii. The Con teams will then present (3 minutes)e. Open Discussion: The students will have a discussion in

their small groups; did any of them personally change their position on the issue? Any surprising findings from the articles? (7 minutes)

f. Reverse: The students will go through the process again, this time reading about and arguing for the other side. (15 minutes)

g. Joint Decision: In their groups, the students will come to an opinion that they all (most mostly) agree with on when or why juveniles should or should not be tried as adults. (5 minutes)

h. Present to Class: Each group will share their group discussion and decision with the rest of the class. (5 minutes)

i. Exit Ticket: Using evidence from what they read about in the articles, each student will individually write about if they think Steve Harmon should be tried as an adult in the book.

Lesson #: 3

Title: Narration Graffiti Model

Grade Level: 8th

Time Frame: One 90min class period

Designed by: Elyse Dunstan; Points of View video by Vlocabulary, POV video by Mr. Soto

Class Description/Rationale: The students have finished reading the book at this point. In this class period, the students will working on comparing/contrasting different scenes from the novel with the graphic novel to see if the visual or text mediums made a difference in the impact of courtroom scenes. To make sure the students fully understand the purpose of Walter Dean Myers’ use of shifting point of view, the students will be taught the different narrative POVs before going into the Graffiti Model where they will compare/contrast scenes from the novel versus scenes from the graphic novel.

Materials: Four poster boards with the novel/graphic novel examples and provided questions, writing utensils (different colored markers for each group), YouTube access, copy of Monster for each student

Essential Questions/ Big Ideas: Why did Myers alternate the point of view of narration in Monster? How does seeing a visual depiction of the story change our reading of it?

VA SOLS: 8.5 The student will read and analyze a variety of fictional texts, narrative nonfiction, and poetry.

c) Explain how authors use characters, conflict, point of view, voice, and tone to create meaning. e) Compare and contrast the author’s use of word choice, dialogue, form, rhyme, rhythm, and voice in different texts. f) Compare and contrast authors’ styles.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

Knowledge Outcomes: (Students will know...)

The three narrative points of view

Myers used different POVs to replicate the speaking patterns he saw with the inmates he interviewed before writing the book

Skills/Process Outcomes: (Students will be able to...)

Identify when different narrative points of view are being used

Compare and contrast visual representations versus textual of the same story

Concept Outcomes: (Students will understand that...)

Authors use different points of view to convey different ideas

While different mediums can be used to tell the same story, sometimes nuances or small things are lost in the transliteration

Assessments: Formative Assessments: I will be able to see the students’ group works on their poster boards, as well as observe and interact with the students while they are working. They will fill out an exit ticket on their experience with the Graffiti Model.

Summative Assessments: The students will be writing a paper at the end of the unit, but what they are learning in this lesson will be most helpful in their homework and classwork for a writing assignment they have when they finish reading the book (see Lesson #4)

Activities/Procedures 1. (Before class) I will group students together. I may quickly need

to adjust these groups on the day of the lesson depending on absences. I will also prepare the four poster boards of four different scenes from both versions of Monster.

2. Bell Ringer: Have the students answer the writing prompt “Do you think Steve is innocent? Why?” (5 minutes)

3. Debrief with the students about their reading experiences of the first half of the book (10 minutes)

4. Hook: Show the Points of View video to introduce new concepts (3 minutes)

1. (My mentor teachers in the past have used Vlocabulary videos all year and the students really seem to enjoy having the songs to learn as a hook)

5. Introduce New Concepts Even More: Watch the video on POV and Perspective. (15 minutes)

1. Ask the class for more examples of first or third POV2. Ask why they think the video did not include second

person6. Transition: Project the pre-assigned groups and have the

students form into their clusters (2 minutes)7. Distribute the materials by giving each group on color of

markers and one posterboard.8. Explain the process: Each group is given a page from the

book. Using the questions as a guideline, students should jot down on the poster their thoughts and analyses of the pages. (2 minutes)

9. Groups answer first question (8 minutes)10. Exchange questions until each group has gone through

each poster. (32 minutes)11. Groups are returned to their original poster and

summarize and make generalizations about what the other groups have written. (5 minutes)

12. The groups then share information with the other groups. (5 minutes)

13. Use the remaining time for the students to assess the model as an exit ticket.

pp. 238-263

The attorneys’ closing statements were condensed into these small paragraphs. Read through the full text in the book. Are there any additional sentences or sections that you think should have been included in the graphic novel? Were the arguments as successful in the graphic novel when they were short versus the full argument in the novel?

pp. 32

What narrative (or visual) point of view is in the first panel? Why do you think the illustrator chose to draw the scene like that? In the final two panels, what conversations are happening in the flashback and what conversations are taking place in the court room?

pp. 24

The page in your book has extra text in the background. What is that text supposed to be? Why is it missing from the graphic novel scene?

pp. 222

The writing on the wall in this panel is all done by the same voice – the ink. Were all the lines on the wall said by the same character? Is how Steve is feeling the same in both scenes?

Lesson #: 4

Title: Writing Workshop

Grade Level: 8th

Time Frame: One 90min class period

Designed by: Elyse Dunstan; Peer-Review Handout adapted from a resource on ReadWriteThink; Proof-Reading Marks from Mr.MainsClassroom

Class Description/Rationale: The 8th grade class, having finished reading Monster, were not satisfied with the ambiguous ending regarding the lawyer’s feeling towards Steve. They were happy that the jury found Steve innocent but think that the lawyer should have done more. Many of the students have family members who have had bad experience with public defenders; I wanted to challenge them to step into the role of an attorney and write their own one-page persuasive closing statement for Steve Harmon. The students will be doing a writing workshop, working with their classmates to edit and finalize their drafts before turning them in.

Materials: Copy of Monster for each student, completed draft from each student, writing utensils, Doc Camera and teacher’s Writing Example, Proof-Reading Marks, Peer-Review worksheet

Essential Questions/ Big Ideas: How does a lawyer use persuasive techniques in preparing closing statements for a court case?

VA SOLS: 8.7 The student will write in a variety of forms, including narration, exposition, persuasion, and informational. d) Organize details to elaborate the central idea and provide unity. e) Select specific vocabulary and information for audience and purpose.

8.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and paragraphing.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

Knowledge Outcomes: (Students will know...)

Common revising/editing symbols

The peer-review editing process

Skills/Process Outcomes: (Students will be able to...)

Self-evaluate and edit their own writing

Peer-review the writing of a classmate

Write a compelling argument about Steve Harmon’s innocence

Concept Outcomes: (Students will understand that...)

Writing is a process and all drafts can be improved

The arguments used at the end of a trial are written and worded in a way to appeal to the jury

Assessments: Formative Assessments: The students will fill out the self-evaluation of their assignment.

Summative Assessments: A revised copy of their closing statements will be turned in the following class. This assignment helps prepare the students for their next assignment, a paper in which they must use persuasive writing techniques to explain a major issue that teenagers face and what can be done to alleviate the issue.

Activities/Procedures 1. Hook: (5 minutes)

For a bell-ringer, have the students answer a prompt of “What do you think Sandra Petrocelli is thinking when the verdict is read?”

2. Introduce and brainstorm new concepts: (10 minutes)Give students the Editing Symbols handout and go through the symbols, writing example sentences on the board to show how and when to use the symbols when editing.Ask for input from the students; do they have ideas on other symbols to use to communicate an editing or revising idea?

3. Model example: (15 minutes)Broadcast the Writing Example on the board, then walk through the steps of peer-reviewing.

- Read quietly to self- Read aloud to check for punctuation, sentence

fragments, or run-on sentences- Read through to check on arguments and organization- Read through to check for grammar and mechanics.

Ask for student input on how to rewrite sections of the example.4. Self-Evaluation: (10 minutes)

Pass out the Peer-Review Worksheet and have the students revise their draft. Go around the room and help where needed.

5. Writing Workshop (25 minutes)Put the students into pairs and have them revise their partner’s paper using proper revision symbols. They need to fill out the other half of the Peer-Review Worksheet. When both partners are done, they are to give each other verbal feedback and ideas.

6. Conclusion: (10 minutes)Collect the Peer-Review Worksheet from students and have a whole class quick discussion on the Writing Workshop. What did they like or not like?As an Exit Ticket, have each student answer the question “What critical issue facing teenagers would you be most passionate about if you had the opportunity to argue in court?” to get them to start thinking about their topic for the summative paper.

To teach this lesson to the class, I would either write or find a short example of the assignment I am asking them to do. Using the doc cam, I would show the students how I would edit the paper using the symbols and different suggestions or notes.

Your name: Peer’s Name:

Self-Edit Peer Edit

Checklist Items Make a check in each box

when each step has been

completed.

Checklist Items Make a check in each box when each

step has been completed.

Comments and Suggestions

Mechanics I read my written piece aloud to see where to stop or pause for periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and commas.

I read the author’s piece aloud to see where to stop or pause for periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and commas.

I used proper grammar and did not use any run-on sentences.

Grammar is used properly and there are non run-on sentences.

Argument I provide clear examples to back up my argument.

Examples are given to provide proof of the argument.

My word choice is persuasive and descriptive.

The word choice used is persuasive and descriptive.

Organization I wrote a clear introduction and conclusion.

There is a clear introduction and conclusion.

My argument is laid out in an affective and organized manner.

The argument is laid out affectively and organized.

Spelling I checked spelling. Spelling is correct.