Authentic Teaching:

Save Grand Lake St. Marys

By Jonathan Crusie

Students Will Be Able To

Identify cause and effect relationships.

Write a business letter to their state senator.

Identify the purpose of writing.

Develop a plan of action to help with a problem.

Create and edit a website, whose audience is the community.

Use different mediums to showcase information (billboards, commercials, news articles, etc.).

Getting Started

I have broken each lesson down into sections. They are not intended to be taught in one day, rather,
you teach the lesson for as long as you need to.

The overall goal of this unit is to teach students through an authentic experience. Students will
present information and research through many different mediums.

This unit is real. It has a real audience. Students will be learning and affecting the world in which they
live.

Common Core Standards

Reading Standards:
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.1 - Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone,
including analogies or allusions to other texts.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.7 - Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or
digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

Writing Standards:
Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.2 - Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and
information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
Production and Distribution of Writing:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the
relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.8 - Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms
effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of
others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

Speaking and Listening Standards:

Comprehension and Collaboration:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2 - Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.5 - Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information,
strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

Lesson 1: Introduce Literature

To hook the students, the teacher shows a slide show of pictures from the algae problem.
o Have students perform a turn and talk about the pictures. What is the problem? How serious
is it? Is there any solutions being discussed? What did you think was important? What stood
out to the students? Where is this?

Students pick news articles from different papers around the state to read.
o After reading one article, they must choose two more to read.
o One must be from a local paper and one must be from a state paper.

Once students are done reading, students watch news clips of the problem in groups.
o There are four stations around the room, with four different video clips. They are all about 2
minutes long.
o In four groups, each group will watch a video, and the teacher will rotate the groups to view all
four videos.

Whole class discussion on the algae problem.

o Is this something we can get involved in? How?

Students must complete an informal writing assignment in their composition books.

o Students must write about the importance of getting involved and why they think we should
help the lake problem.

Lesson 2: Writing Business Letter

Teacher will explicitly teach how to write a business letter.

Students will write a letter to their state senator.

o Students must write to the senator and state their opinion on the situation. They must use
valid information from the newspaper articles and videos in their letter.
o The letter will be scored using the 6+1 writing rubric found in the teacher resources.

Hopefully, they get a response so they can use it in the end research project.

Lesson 3: Research

We will start with a field trip to the local water treatment plant that cleans and tests the water from
Grand Lake St. Marys for human consumption.
o Students will get the opportunity to watch the cleaning process of the water.
o Students will get to see how the water is tested.
o Students will get to look at toxic algae under a microscope.

After we are done in the water treatment facility, students will walk over to the lake.
o Students will take pictures of the lake, trying to get photos of or that represent the algae
problem.

Back at school, students will research the algae problem in pre-assigned groups.
o They must answer these questions:
What is blue-green algae?
What creates the blue-green algae or where does it come from?

What problems does blue-green algae create?

Is Grand Lake St. Marys the only place in Ohio with this problem?
Students use Ohio Map in teacher resources to plot other problem areas.
Are there currently any solutions to ridding a body of water of blue-green algae?
What can you do to help save Grand Lake St. Marys?

Lesson 4: Audience and Purpose

Teacher will pull out articles about the lake that were used in first lesson.
o Allow students to read one article each.
o Discuss who the audience of the article is. Who is the audience for the problem of the lake?
o What is the purpose of the articles? Why?
Teacher leads a discussion on PIE (to persuade, to inform, to entertain).

Students will conduct an interview with a panel of local merchants and figures that are affected by the
lake.
o Teacher will contact the people and bring them in.
o Students will have questions ready to ask the panel.
o Students will take notes on responses.

Each student will write a newspaper article using the responses they received from their questions.
o This article must shed light on how the lakes condition is affecting the community.
o This will be graded using the 6+1 writing rubric found in the teachers resources.

Lesson 5: Cause and Effect

Teacher explicitly teaches cause and effect.

Teacher reads the story, The Watering Hole.

o Models how to fill out cause and effect graphic organizer.

Students, in pre-assigned groups, fill out graphic organizer with all the research they have performed.
o They can use news articles, videos, interviews, and internet research.
o Students will make a graphic organizer explaining the effects of the sick lake on the
community.
o Use the Arrow graphic organizer in the teacher resources.

Students will share their work on the smart board.

As a class, come together and make a class graphic organizer.

o This time we will use the graphic organizer to show what made the lake sick.
o Use the Herring Bone graphic organizer in the teacher resources.

Lesson 6: Different Mediums

Teacher will show different action plans that have been developed for other problems around the
world.
o The 2nd graders help raise money to save the manatees.
Show how they made us aware of the problem with posters and morning
announcements. They had donation jars circulate at lunch and they sold Popsicles.

o Discuss why the 2nd graders always raise hundreds of dollars.

Have students discuss ways that people get the word out?
o Help them discuss billboards, news articles, commercials, and other mediums.
o Why are these mediums successful?
o Discuss billboards and commercials that students remember. Why do they remember them?
Each student will create a billboard that describes the problem on the lake.
o For instance, a billboard might say, When you fertilize your yard, you fertilize the lake.
This will have an appropriate picture to go with the message.

Lesson 7: The Project and Publishing

Students will complete the projects individually.

Students will come up with an action plan to help save the lake.
o This is a one page summary of what the student plans to do to help cure the lake.
Student will then create one of the following: a billboard, a commercial, or a newspaper article to
explain how to help the lake.
o For example, a student might advertise a benefit 5K on a billboard, a commercial, or an article.
Students will create a website that gets the word out on the lake.
o Students will use all the research they have gained though the unit.
o The website must have these sections:
Describes what blue-green algae is.
Describes the effect of the algae on humans.
Describes the effect on the community.
Shows that Grand Lake is not the only place with the algae problem.
Describes treatments that have been successful in combating the problem.
Their plan or campaign to help the lake.
Raising money, man power, awareness etc.
o The website will be graded with the 6+1 writing traits rubric found in the teacher resources.