Siberian Culture in the Golden Altai Lesson Plan



Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Instructional Staff Member:

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

with Gr. 9-12 English and Social Studies Teachers

Location:

Geneva High School

Library Media Center

INTRODUCTION:

One of the goals of the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant is to promote the integration of international studies into the humanities and / or social sciences curriculum throughout U.S. schools at all levels.

Because so many Americans are unfamiliar with Siberia, its people, and its natural resources, I am sharing what I learned and acquired through being a FHGPA program participant with our Geneva High School students, families, and community members through various outreach opportunities.

There are three lessons in this unit, “Reading Closely for Textual Details” --- “Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy,” “Analyzing Details Across Texts and Media Types,” and “Reading and Responding to Related Texts.” Materials were chosen for their rich content and also cultural significance or connection to Siberia’s Golden Altai region.

Since dissemination is a goal, each lesson is written so as to be used as a stand-alone one or one easily worked into a particular unit of study, by teachers who took part as FHGPA members and travelled to Siberia as well as those who did not. It is intentionally designed as skills-based instruction for the purpose of helping students develop core literacy proficiencies that will enrich their academic and civic lives.

Described below is one lesson using current events to explore issues in Siberian society, history, culture, economics, government, environment, arts and sciences, or religion.

This current events lesson is multi-disciplinary, in that it can apply well to ELA, Science, Social Studies, Science, Special Education, or even Art curriculum at our school. Teachers are encouraged to sequence it strategically within their curriculum and instructional plans and to establish content connections that will be meaningful for their students. This might involve connecting the lesson to the study of topics or eras in social studies, biomes in science, related genres or voices in literature, or themes and guiding questions. Whatever the curricular context established by the teacher, the central emphasis is on evidence-based, text-focused instruction.

The articles selected for the purpose of this lesson description are examples.

Teachers and students can always select topics and focus areas according to their need and interest using print newspapers and periodicals or online resources and websites such as are listed on the Current Events Quarterly Handout. Modifications are easily worked in as well in terms of lexile reading level and analytical ability or language, for example, for English Language Learners or those reading below grade level.

All of these efforts are designed to be dynamic and to make library research, programming, and use go beyond the walls of the Library Media Center.

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

The Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details …

Reading Informational Texts / Key Ideas and Details / Objective Summary

Lesson: Reading and Responding to Current Event Articles …

especially those related to the Golden Mountains of Siberia’s Altai region

1. Specific goals/objectives:

What will the students learn by the end of the lesson? / Why are we learning this?

Goal 1: Students will learn … how to use print and nonprint resources for informational and personal needs.

Goal 2: Students will learn … how to draw clear and appropriate conclusions on a topic supported by evidence and examples.

Goal 3: Students will learn … how to read for pleasure, to learn, to solve problems, and to explore new ideas beyond the required curriculum.

Enduring Understandings:

1. Inquiry-driven process is designed to deepen our understanding of information and ideas.

2. Analysis, research, and reflection on information gained helps us better understand the world around us and allows us to share our thinking with others.

2. Standards:

• NYS CC.SS-ELA Literacy – Reading Standards for Informational Text RI.9-12.1. Cite 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. Develop factual, interpretive, and evaluative questions for further exploration of the topic(s).

• NYS CC.SS-ELA Literacy – Reading Standards for Informational Text RI.9-12.6. Determine 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.

• NYS CC.SS-ELA Literacy – Craft and Structure RI.9-12.8 – Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

• NYS CC.SS-ELA Literacy – Range of Writing W.9-12.10 – Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

• NYS CC.LS-SocSt Standard 3: Geography – Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live – local, national, and global – including the distribution of people, places, and environments over Earth’s

surface.

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

Additional Specific Standards ---

Since I am a Teacher/Library Media Specialist specializing in Information Studies and Information Science, I work in collaboration with all teachers and students in my school and apply both state and national information science standards to my work, in addition to NYS Common Core Standards for the various subject areas. Below, you will find reference to New York State’s Empire State Information Fluency Continuum standards and to the American Association of School Librarians standards.

• NYS Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (IFC) Standard 1 – Using Inquiry to Build Understanding. Inquiry Phase - Construct RL 9-12.4 – Develops own point of view and supports with evidence.

• American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Literacy Standard 1: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge – The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively by developing and using successful strategies for locating information.

• AASL Literacy Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge – The student who is information literate applies critical-thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions, and create new knowledge; organizes knowledge so that it is useful; uses technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information; and uses the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.

• AASL Literacy Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of a democratic society – The student who is information literate concludes an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and reflecting on the learning.

• AASL Literacy Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth – The student who is information literate reads for pleasure and personal growth, thereby making connections with him/herself, the world, and previous reading.

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

3. Brief Description of the lesson.

Essential Questions: Students will consider the following -

Why is it important to read and respond to current events?

What do you know or have you heard about Siberia, Russia and more specifically, about the Altai Republic or the region of the Golden Altai Mountains?

Activating Learning Strategies:

Do Now --- Students will answer the EQs in their Writer’s Notebooks, and as below.

On Your Own ---

1. First, reflect on why reading current events and keeping up with the news is important.

2. Think and write in notebook, as each article is read …

“What about this topic is personally interesting and important to me?”

3. Pair / Share … Review your writing with a peer. Does it make sense to you? Is there additional detail you can include? What do you wonder about further?

As a Group, discuss ---

1. What do you know about Siberia, Russia?

2. Is there “common ground” among the responses? Stereotypes expressed?

(Students share reflections on the described topic and whether it has come to their attention before, for example.)

3. Explain that what students have experienced is just one example of present-day societal information exchange and of how people might have difficulty communicating an opinion with others and understanding others’ opinions.

As a Group, students will:

1. View all or parts of “Ancient Spirt and Might” at and pages specific to Siberia’s Golden Mountains of the Altai in the PowerPoint, “Using News for Information and Objective Summary,” using the SMARTBoard and laptops in the LMC.

2. Discuss reading closely for information and drawing conclusions supported by evidence.

Have “Reading Closely for Details” graphic organizer available, as well as “CEI” and “POV” graphic organizers.

6. Distribute “Current Events” quarterly handout

7. Receive time for hands-on, guided practice working on their CE assignment.

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

Materials needed:

Input:

Materials

➢ Reserve Library Media Center, to include Reading Room space

➢ SmartBoard, laptops, printers

➢ Looseleaf paper and pens / pencils

➢ Chart paper and markers as needed

➢ “Reading Closely for Details,” “Claim, Evidence, and Interpretation,” “POV Influences Interpretation of Information,” and “Evidence-Based Claims” Graphic Organizers

➢ “Current Events” quarterly handout

➢ “The Case of the Missing Ancestor,” “Ice Age Thrives in Southern Siberia,” “A Mammoth Crime,” “24,000-Year-Old Body Shows Kinship to Europeans and American Indians,” and “What Tim Cope Learned from the Nomads” articles

➢ Ticket Out the Door –

“Making Connections…”

Students will answer the following:

- Why is it important to read and respond to current events?

- Record one fact you learned about Siberia and / or the Golden Altai

Mountain region that you didn’t know before or that added to your previous knowledge.

SMARTBoard use

□ Introduce the topic and Essential Questions

□ Review pertinent pages of the PowerPoint presentation, “Using News

for Information and Objective Summary,” in which background information specific to Siberia’s Golden Altai Mountains is

presented.

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

4. How will you assess if your students have learned what you expected them to?

Initially, students will be observed based on their reception of the lesson (- i.e., attentiveness, body language, questions they ask), their success at synthesizing appropriate and useful information pertinent to the article, and their completion of the handout.

I will assist the teacher in reviewing Ticket Out the Door and in assessing the Current Events quarterly assignment.

Output:

Materials

➢ Ticket Out the Door: “Making Connections…”

➢ Completed Current Events Quarterly Handout

➢ Peer-to-peer conversation in Pair / Share

➢ Technology use

➢ Other … student engagement and responses

Multiple Intelligences

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Verbal-Linguistic

Logical-Mathematical

Final Assessment Instrument:

By year’s end, students will have completed 8 Current Events assignments.

5. Closure:

Logistical: Ensure that all students have copies of the Current Events Quarterly Handout and “Forming Evidence-Based Claims” Graphic Organizer for use on this and future assignments, should they choose to work ahead; see that the “Helpful Online Resources” Brochure and “Searching Tips” bookmarks are readily available; also see that all tables, chairs, laptops, and materials are in place and ready for the next class group.

Other: Collect Ticket Out the Door and

“What questions / comments do you still have?”

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

6. Reflection:

We want students to understand the merits of connecting ideas and research to real life, in this case, to the lives and location of our Siberian world neighbors, through informed reading and research, and of using news articles and current event resources to keep abreast of and / or receive a glimpse into the lives of those living in Siberia’s Altai Mountains region.

Will this knowledge transfer over to other subject areas? (We certainly hope and expect so!)

We are looking for 100% participation.

Background

1. The unit being taught:

Reading Closely for Textual Details…

Reading Informational Texts / Key Ideas and Details / Objective Summary

2. Broad goals and learning targets of unit (from curriculum):

By lesson’s end, students will better …

- KNOW:

terms and vocabulary, such as… non-fiction, online and subscription news databases, objective, Altai Republic, Siberia; paleoanthropologist, Denisova, primate, ethnography, artifacts, geneticist, evolution, molar, ascertained, migrate, decoded, extinct; mammalian, sanctuaries, ecosystems, steppe, tundra, alpine, topography, mosaic, refuge; permafrost, kinship, Lake Baikal, genome, diadem, pendant, extract, mitochondrial DNA, lineage, sequencing, skepticism; nomad, materialize, transcend, compass, sustainable, transform, Kazakhs, gratification, Mongolia, indigenous

- UNDERSTAND:

why we conduct independent inquiry

- CONNECT:

to self, previous knowledge, and to gain background and context

- DO:

analyze, evaluate, research / gather information, and use it to answer questions, test hypothesis, think about information to illuminate new questions and hypotheses, or explain a perspective to others who may have a differing perspective; construct written response to validate a position, supported by their close reading and annotation; employ critical thinking skills

3. Future lesson:

Tie in with …

Upcoming, subsequent research-based investigative work in English and other classes;

Year-long inter- and multi-disciplinary research

**All of these efforts are designed to be dynamic and to ensure that library programming

and use go beyond the walls of the Library Media Center.**

Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

Material and Resources Required to Teach this Lesson (attached):

Background…

“2015 Fulbright-Hays Program: Siberian Culture in the Golden Altai.” Blog.



“Altai Mountains.” Online database. .

“The Altai Project: Why Altai?” Web.



“Altays [Altais.]” Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Ed. Timothy L. Gall and Jeneen Hobby. 2nd ed. Vol. 5: Europe. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 37-41. Student Resources in Context. Online database.

Hawks, John. “Denisovans.” Online database. World Book Advanced. World Book, 2015.

Johnson, Juliet. “Siberia.” Online database.

.

Raygorodetsky, Gleb. “Restoring the Sacred Web of Life in Siberia’s Golden Mountains.” Blog.



“The Russians in Siberia.” Online database.



Shabad, Theodore. “Altai (Republic).” Online database. Scholastic Go! Grolier Online. 2015. .

Find videos at:

“Ancient Spirit and Might.” FreeVideo.RT. (25:34 min.)



“Siberia: Wild Russia.” GeoChannel. (2 min. excerpt)



“Land Has Breath.” United Nations University. (8:36 min.)



Siberian Life and Culture in the Golden Altai

Unit: Reading Closely for Textual Details

Lesson: Using Current Events for Informational Reading and Writing for Literacy

Joan Leonard, Library Media Specialist

Suggested Current Events news portals:











news.















Helpful Graphic Organizers (listed alphabetically):

“CEI: Claim, Evidence, and Interpretation”

“Point of View Influences Interpretation of Information”

“Reading Closely for Details: Guiding Questions”

“Reading Closely for Details Checklist”

PowerPoint:

“Using News for Information and Objective Summary”

Writer’s Notebook:

Each student should have a Writer’s Notebook. (A simple marble composition book suffices.)

Current Events Quarterly Handout

Articles – chosen by student or teacher, but in this case, a few Siberia-Altai region-related samples are:

“The Case of the Missing Ancestor”

Sample alternative article – “Denisovan DNA Fully Decoded”

“Ice Age Thrives in Southern Siberia”

“A Mammoth Crime”

“24,000-Year-Old Body Shows Kinship to Europeans and American Indians”

“What Tim Cope Learned from the Nomads” articles

Modifications:

See “Teaching Current Events Via Newspapers, Magazines, and TV” – available online at

csun.edu/~hcedu013/cevents.html - for additional websites and links for materials suitable to readers with lower lexile levels.

See also and for articles with varied reading lexile levels.

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