Quarter1Unit1

Welcome+CommunityBuilding

5dayunit/90minuteclasses

Creatingacommunityoflearnersisnotatoddswithbuildingliteracyskillsinalanguagearts
classroom.Wedontneedtoputasidewordstodevelopaclassroomwherestudentscanshare

theirlives.--LindaChristensen,TeachingforJoyandJustice

UNITGOALS
1. Studentswillestablishandunderstandtheirroleintheclassroom,aswellasmyroleand
thetypeofcommunitywewanttobuildtogether.
2. Studentswillbeabletoproducecreativeworksbasedontheirpersonallives,sharethis
workwiththeirclassmates,andlistentoandlearnfromtheworktheirclassmates
produce.
3. Studentswillunderstandtherules,procedures,androutinesoftheclassroom.

STANDARDS
Throughoutmyplanning,IwillrelyontheCommonCoreAnchorStandardfor
K-12inreading,writing,speaking,listening,andlanguage.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.5

Analyzethestructureoftexts,includinghowspecificsentences,paragraphs,andlargerportions
ofthetext(e.g.,asection,chapter,scene,orstanza)relatetoeachotherandthewhole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.3

Writenarrativestodeveloprealorimaginedexperiencesoreventsusingeffectivetechnique,
well-chosendetailsandwell-structuredeventsequences.

TEXTUALMATERIALS
TheU.S.BillofRights(activities,1)
WhatForbyGarrettHongo,fromYellowLight(activities,3)
TheDangerofaSingleStorybyChimamandaAdichie(activities,2)
ACTIVITIES
1. Ms.PhillipsAmericanLiteratureClassBillofRights
a. UsingtheU.S.BillofRightsasamentortext,studentswillworkfirstinsmall
groupsandthenasaclasstodevelopaBillofRights(codeofconductand
behaviors)forourclassroom,decidingonamendments(rules)abouthowour
classroomcommunityisconducted
2. WeeklyPaperIntroduction/Discussion1
a. Studentswillbeintroducedtotherecurringweeklyassignmentinwhichtheywill
writeaone-pageresponse,inanyformattheychoose,toapoem,video,orother
typeofmediawewillgooverasaclassatthebeginningoftheweek.Thefirst
weekwewillrespondtoChimamandaAdichiesTedTalk,TheDangerofaSingle
Story,whichwewillrelatetooneofouroverarchingconceptsforthesemester
dealingwiththecomplexityoftheAmericanidentity.Bytheendoftheweek,
studentswillhandinaonepageresponsetoAdichiestalk,whichcouldbeapoem,
essay,critique,review,oranyothertypeofwrittenmediaoftheirchoice.
3. TheAgePoem2
a. UsingGarrettHongosWhatForasamentortext,studentswillwritepoems
basedontheirchildhoodmemories.Thisactivityismeanttobothbuild
communityandtrustintheclassroombyallowingstudentstogettoknoweach
otherandmyselfbetter,aswellasintroducethemtothebasicsofandbuildtheir
skillsinpoetrywritingandreading.Wellbeginbyreadingthepoemseveraltimes
asaclassandtoourselves,thenstudentswillbeginmakinglistsincategories
basedoffourmentortext(namesofgamestheyplayed,clothes,smells,toys,etc).
Studentswillsharetheselistsandstoriesoftheirchildhood,thenpickthe
elementstheymostwanttoincludeintheirpoem.Afterbrainstormingand
drafting,welldoaReadAround3toshareourdrafts,andstudentswillcomeinthe
nextdaywithfinalcopies.
4. UnitReflectionandReview4

CULMINATINGTEXTS
1. AgePoem

1
SeeIntroductoryMaterialstabforfullexplanation
2
FromLindaChristensensTeachingforJoyandJustice,p.23
3
SeeIntroductoryMaterialstabforfullactivitydescription
4
SeeIntroductoryMaterialstabforfullactivitydescription
 a. StudentswillturninthefinaldraftoftheiragepoemthattheybasedonGarrett
HongosWhatFor,includinganylistsormaterialstheyusedduringdrafting.
2. WeeklyPaper
a. StudentswillalsosubmittheirfirstWeeklyPaperresponseonAdichiestalk,
whichwillalwaysbescoredonthesamerubric.

ASSESSMENT

Whiletherewillbenosummativeassessmentsorinvolvedculminatingtextsfor
thisunit,Iwillcounttheweeklypaper--andallweeklypapers--asaformative
assessmentundertheK-12RangeofWritinganchorstandard.Thepoemwillalsobe
countedasaformativeassessmentundertheNarrative/CreativeWritinganchor
standard.