6 Literary Essay 1-8-13 - Writing Across the Curriculum

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LITERARY ESSAY

Unit Overview

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Thefollowinggrade6LiteraryEssayUnitisarevisionoftheSPPS2008 LiteraryEssayUnitofStudy,aligningtheunitwiththe2010MinnesotaEnglish LanguageArtsstandardsforwritingarguments(opinionsforgradesK-5).The revisedunitisbasedonthegenrestudydevelopedbyLucyCalkinsinA CurricularPlanfortheWritingWorkshopGrade6. Thisunitbuildsonstudents'priorexposuretowritingargument.Inthefifth gradeLiteraryEssayUnitstudentsdraftentireessaysinaclassperiod,until theycanwritewithfluencyandstructure.InthesixthgradePersonalEssay Unit,studentsformedopinions,andextendedtheirwritingwithexamples.In theResearch-BasedArgumentUnit,studentswroteandsupportedthesis

Essential Questions 1. HowcanIwriteliterary

essaysusingavarietyof essaystructures? 2. HowcanIextendmy useofAcademicEnglish toexpressmyopinions? 3. HowcanIthinkmore criticallyabouttextsand theworld?

statements.

ThroughthesixthgradeLiteraryEssayUnit,sixthgradestudentsdevelopacommandofmorecomplex

essaysstructures,anddemonstratedeeperanalyticthinking.Studentswilllearntousethethreeessay

structures.Oneofthesestructures,theclaimwithsupportfrompersonalexperience,foreshadowsthe

sortofwritingrequiredforcollegeentrancetestsandessays.Thisunitaskssixthgraderstoshowa

greaterself-relianceinanalyzingbooksattheirindependentreadinglevel,allowingstudentstodevelop

the"insightsthatmakeforstrongargument"(2011,p.111).Thisunitpreparesstudentsfortheseventh

andeighthgradeexpectationsoftracingthedevelopmentofatheme,"todiscussnotjustwhatapiece

oftextevidencedemonstratesbuthowitdoesso"(2011,p.111).

Themostimportantpartofthiswork,however,istheopportunityforthesixthgraderstousewritingto

increasetheircriticalthinkinganddeepanalysisoftextsandtheworld.Thisisimportant,notonlyfor

collegeandcareer,butalsosoourstudentsbecome"thekindofpeople...whodon'tjustseethesurface

ofthings.Wedon'twanttotakeothersforgranted;wedon'twanttobelieveeverythingthat

advertisersorevenreporterstellus"(2011,p.110).Throughwriting,wecan"pushourthinkingtonew

levels...adeepunderstandingofliteraturewillalsohelpusthinkdifferentlyaboutourselvesandour

world"(2011,p.110).

Unit learning activity summary

? Completeon-demandwritingforassessmentatthebeginningoftheunit ? LiteraryEssayOne--exploringathemeoracharacterinasingletext ? LiteraryEssayTwo--includingexamplesfromthesecondtextandastudent'sownexperience ? LiteraryEssayThree--comparingthetwotexts,exploringdifferenttreatmentofsamethemes ? Draft,reviseandedittheessay ? Completefinalon-demandassessmentattheendoftheunit ? Reflectiononlearning

Grade6LiteraryEssaySPPSWriter'sWorkshopDecember,2012

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Appendix

Textexamples Anchorcharts Blankboxandbulletoutline SampleBoxandbulletoutline Sampleessays

Stage I. Desired Results

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Standards SPPSunderliningdenotesrigoraddedforthisgradetowardmeetinganchorstandard

Prima rAylso

#

Benchmark

Reading: Literature

6.4.1.1

Citetextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthe textsaysexplicitlyaswellasinferencesdrawnfrom thetext.

SPPSLearningTargets

? IcanciteevidencefromthetextwhenI

X

analyzewhatthetextsays

? Icanciteevidencefromthetexttosupportmy

inferences

6.4.2.2 6.4.9.9

Writing

Determineathemeorcentralideaofatextandhowit ? isconveyedthroughparticulardetails;providea summaryofthetextdistinctfrompersonalopinions ? orjudgments.

?

Compareandcontrasttextsindifferentformsor

?

genres,includingthosebyandaboutMinnesota

AmericanIndians(e.g.,storiesandpoems;historical

novelsandfantasystories)intermsoftheir

approachestosimilarthemesandtopics.

Icandeterminethethemeorcentralideaofa

text

Icanexplainhowtextdetailssupportatheme orcentralidea Icansummarizeatextwithoutincludingmy personalopinionsorjudgments

Icancompareandcontrasttexts(representing differentgenres,suchasstories,poems, historicalnovelsandfantasystories,including thosebyandaboutMinnesotaAmerican Indians)bythinkingabouthowtheyapproach similarthemesandtopics.

X X

6.7.1.1

Writeargumentstosupportclaimswithclearreasonsand ? Icanwriteaclaim

X

relevantevidence:

? Icanidentifycrediblesourcesandusethemto

a. Introduceclaim(s)andorganizethereasonsand

supportmyclaim

evidenceclearly.

? Icansupportaclaimwithreasonsand appropriateevidence

b. Supportclaim(s)withclearreasonsandrelevant ? Icanshowmyunderstandingofthetopicbymy

evidence,usingcrediblesourcesand

choiceofreasonsandevidence

demonstratinganunderstandingofthetopicor ? Icanusebasicparagraph/essaystructures

text.

(introduction,body,conclusion)whensupporting

c. Usewords,phrases,andclausestoclarifythe relationshipsamongclaim(s)andreasons.

d. Establishandmaintainaformalstyle.

myargument ? Icanusetransitionwordsandphrasestoclarify

linksbetweenandamongclaimsandreasoning ? Icanwriteinaformalstyle.

Grade6LiteraryEssaySPPSWriter'sWorkshopDecember,2012

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6.7.4.4 6.7.5.5 6.7.9.9

e. Provideaconcludingstatementorsectionthat

followsfromtheargumentpresented.

Produceclearandcoherentwritinginwhichthe

? Icanunderstandmywritingtask

X

development,organization,andstyleareappropriateto task,purpose,andaudience.

? Icanunderstandthepurposeformywriting ? Icanidentifytheaudienceformywriting ? Icandevelopandorganizemyideasinawaythat

fitsmytask,purpose,andaudience

? Icanwritemyideasclearlysotheymakesense

? Icanwritemyideasinastylethatfitsmytask,

purpose,andaudience

Withsomeguidanceandsupportfrompeersandadults, ? Icanusethewritingprocesstodevelopand

X

useawritingprocesstodevelopandstrengthen

improvemywriting:collectideas,plan,draft,

writingasneededbyplanning,drafting,revising,

revise,edit,rewrite,andpublish

editing,rewriting,ortryinganewapproach.(Editing ? Icandevelopandimprovemywritingbytrying

forconventionsshoulddemonstratecommandof

newapproaches

Languagestandards1-3uptoandincludinggrade 6.)

? Icaneditmywritingusinggrade6language conventions

? Icanworkwithpeersandadultstoimprovemy writing

Drawevidencefromliteraryorinformationaltextsto supportanalysis,reflection,andresearch:

a. Applygrade6Readingstandardstoliterature. b. Applygrade6Readingstandardstoliterary

nonfiction

? Icanuseevidencefromtexttosupportmy thinkingandresearch

? Icanapplysixthgradereadingstandardstohelp meanalyze,reflect,andresearchwhenIam writing

Language

6.11.1.1 Demonstratecommandoftheconventionsofstandard Underdevelopment

X

Englishgrammarandusagewhenwritingorspeaking.

a. Ensurethatpronounsareinthepropercase

(subjective,objective,possessive).

b. Useintensivepronouns(e.g.,myself,ourselves).

c. Recognizeandcorrectinappropriateshiftsin

pronounnumberandperson.

d. Recognizeandcorrectvaguepronouns(i.e.,ones

withunclearorambiguousantecedents).

e. Recognizevariationsfromstandard

Englishintheirownandothers'writingand

speaking,andidentifyandusestrategiestoimprove

expressioninconventionallanguage.

6.11.2.2 Useknowledgeoflanguageanditsconventionswhen

X

writing,speaking,reading,orlistening.

a. Varysentencepatternsformeaning,

reader/listenerinterest,andstyle.

Maintainconsistencyinstyleandtone.

b. Spell correctly.

Grade6LiteraryEssaySPPSWriter'sWorkshopDecember,2012

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Enduring Understandings

? Writerswriteliteraryessaysusingavarietyofessaystructures. ? WritersuseAcademicEnglishtomoreeffectivelyexpresstheiropinions. ? Writersusewritinginordertothinkmorecriticallyabouttextsandtheworld.

Essential Questions

? Howdowritersstructuretheiressays? ? HowcanIusespecificlanguagetoeffectivelyexpressmyopinion? ? HowcanIthinkmorecriticallyabouttextsandtheworld?

Stage II. Assessment Evidence

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Performance Tasks

? On-demandwritingforassessment ? LiteraryEssaysexploringathemeoracharacterinasingletext ? LiteraryEssayincludingexamplesfromthetextandastudent'sexperience ? PolishedLiteraryEssaycomparingtwotextsthatexploresthedifferenttreatmentofsimilar

themes ? Completedself/peerevaluationrubricandediting/revisionchecklist ? Completefinalon-demandassessmentattheendoftheunit ? Reflectiononlearning

Other Evidence

? EntriesintheWriter'sNotebook:notesabouttexts,Post-Itnotes,BoxandBulletoutlines, potentialthesisstatements

? Notesfromstudentconferences ? Anecdotalnotes

Resources in Support of Assessment

Grade6LiteraryEssaySPPSWriter'sWorkshopDecember,2012

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Learning Target Checklist Essay

Grade 6 Literary

Name:

Date

Icanwriteaclaim.

Icansupportaclaimwithreasonsandappropriateevidence.

Icanusebasicparagraph/essaystructures(introduction,body,conclusion)when supportingmyargument.

Icanusetransitionwordsandphrasestoclarifylinksbetweenandamongclaimsand reasoning.

Icanwriteinaformalstyle.

Icanwritemyideasinastylethatfitsmytask,purpose,andaudience.

Icandevelopandimprovemywritingbytryingnewapproaches.

IcaneditmywritingusingGrade6languageconventions.

IcanciteevidencefromthetextwhenIanalyzewhatthetextsays.

Icandeterminethethemeorcentralideaofatext.

Icancompareandcontrasttexts.

Grade6LiteraryEssaySPPSWriter'sWorkshopDecember,2012

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