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Core Design Modules English Language Arts Emily Poe & Deanna Dye MCS Inservice, 2012 White Station High School – August 1, 2012

TEMPLATETask 2: Are some acts of resistance more effective than others? After a close reading of a key excerpt from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, and Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech, write an argumentative essay that supports your position on which of the two acts of resistance is more effective? Cited evidence from the text is to include key ideas, details, inferences, and thoughts on historical context. Writing Mode: Argumentation

LITERACY DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

literacydesigncollaborative.org

COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS ANCHOR STANDARDS FOR READING

Key Ideas and Details1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

TEMPLATETask 2 Template: [Insert Question] After reading ___________ (literature or informational texts), write _______ (essay or substitute) that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the text(s). L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position.

Argumentation

Template Selection Process

•Reinforces and develops argumentative writing skills

•Encourages students to identify aesthetics in language

•Examination of active resistance vs. passive resistance is something that students can identify with (real-world connection)

• (

Texts - Process of Selection• Informational Text - How to Do Close Reading (clear, concise, step-by-step)

• Seminal texts ('seminal' = of a work, event, moment, or figure; strongly influencing later developments)

• Text Complexity• Provides element of choice for argumentative thesis (two viewpoints; two distinct acts of resistance against oppression)

Recalibrated Lexile Ranges

Text Complexity Components

Text Complexity Resources

•FRY Readability Formulahttp://www.readabilityformulas.com/free-fry-graph-test.php

•http://www.Lexile.com

•http://www.readabilityformulas.com/free-readability-formula-tests.php

TEXTS (1 OF 4)

How to Do a Close Reading from the Harvard University Writing Center / Copyright 1998, Patricia Kain

TEXTS (2 OF 4)The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (excerpt, Chapter 10) From:.... "I have already intimated that my condition was much worse, during the first six months of my stay at Mr. Covey's, than in the last six...."To:....That reputation was at stake; and had he sent me--a boy about sixteen years old--to the public whipping-post, his reputation would have been lost; so, to save his reputation, he suffered me to go unpunished."

TEXTS (3OF 4)

By Gwendolyn Brooks

Martin Luther King, Jr.

TEXTS (4 OF 4)

delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

I Have a Dream, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

TEACH (1 OF 3) Standard 1Writing Standards Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

TEACH (2 OF 3) Standard 1 Reading Standards for Informational TextCite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Teach (3 of 3) Standard 6 Reading Standards for Informational TextDetermine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text. 

Describe how you selected the Common Core Standards to teach to your

students. These Common Core Standards were selected because they focused on argumentative writing and analyzing the text for elements of powerful vocabulary, beauty, and persuasion.

Describe how you used the text to teach these standards. We demonstrated a close reading using Douglass’ narrative that required students to ask questions, discover patterns, and identify key words and phrases. After analyzing and annotating the first text as a group and the second text independently, the students used their findings to support a claim in writing an argumentative essay.

Describe how you kept the students focused on the Template keeping in mind the Task they complete at the end of the unit. In order to keep students focused on the Template and Task, we presented them with the central question at the beginning of the lesson, Are some acts of resistance against oppression more effective than others? This overarching question was used as a guiding reference point throughout the unit.

Describe how students read for understanding. • Develop color-coding system (red, green, blue to indicate persuasion, powerful vocabulary, and beauty)

•Identify target audience (Who is the writer trying to persuade?) 

•Clarify the act of resistance in the text.

•Acknowledge that ‘beauty’ and ‘persuasion’ often intersect and overlap (how and why?)

 

Describe how students began writing work. •Brainstorm (Venn Diagram)•Outline•Draft•Revise•Edit•Publish

Description – Revising, editing, and publishing

•Ms. Poe •Argumentative writing rubric (Harvard College of Education)•Focused on answering guiding question: Are some acts of resistance more effective than others? •Published via email to teacher  

Description – Revising, editing, and publishing

•Ms. Dye •Focused on answering guiding question: Are some acts of resistance more effective than others? •Published as typed document handed in to teacher, post lesson  

What Worked

•High level of engagement (relevant content)•Taps into students’ natural multitasking abilities•Many students had heard but not read MLK’s Dream speech, and only one had read the Frederick Douglass’ excerpt•Students were comfortable with compare/contrast style of writing

What Didn’t Work•We underestimated the required time.

•The recommended time frame would be six classes on a 55 minute class schedule (if writing essay in class).

•A good time might be early in the first semester as a kick-start to persuasive writing.

•Killed many trees! If possible use online annotating process or sticky notes.

Recommendations

• If possible use online annotating process.• http://www.trackersoftware.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer (PC only)

• Utilize annotating/close reading skills throughout the year on various types of texts 

• http://www.a.nnotate.com

• Present persuasive/counterargument rubric• http://www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/RubricsSelfPE.htm

• Bullying - Tie-in (2 minute video)• http://decoder.drugfree.org/2010/05/13/teenage-girls-and-cyber-bullying/?

tr=y&auid=9500345•