Grade Nine English Language Arts Thematic Unit:



Grade Nine English Language Arts Lesson Plan Two:

“Siblings: Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them!”

For the Thematic Unit:

“Brothers and Sisters: The Good, the Bad, and the Only Child.”

By Miss Angela Roach

Lesson Plan Two

Unit Topic: Brothers and Sisters: The Good, the Bad, and the Only Child.

Unit Rationale: This unit is intended to have students explore the many different types of relationships that siblings share. The students will be encouraged to explore through a variety of texts examples of both good and the bad sibling experiences. Students will be invited to reflect on their own relationships with their siblings, or someone they share a comparable bond with. The importance and the uniqueness of a bond between siblings will be explored at a time in students’ lives when they may not be aware of the quality of this bond. If students do not have a sibling, they will be able to explore their experience as an only child.

Grade Level: Grade 9

Lesson Topic: “Siblings: Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them!”

Length of Lesson Period: 50 minutes

Lesson Rationale: In this lesson the students will go beyond their own experience to explore the unique relationship between two brothers and two sisters who consider themselves to be very different from one another. The literature circle will provide students with an avenue for exploring how they interpret and represent the relationships between siblings who are not a part of their own family.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will read text aloud to develop speaking, listening and reading skills.

• Students will work in literature circles to explore different ways of representing and examining the given text.

• Students will work in small groups with a common goal to develop interpersonal skills, working with a team approach, and communication skills.

Learning Outcomes from English Language Arts Curriculum Guide:

General Curriculum Outcomes

• SPEAKING AND LISTENING

(1) Speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences. P 20.

(2) Communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically. P 20.

(3) Interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose. P 20.

• READING AND VIEWING

1) Select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media and visual texts. P 21.

2) Interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies. P 21.

3) Respond personally to a range of texts. P 21.

• WRITING AND REPRESENTING

1) Use writing and other forms of representing to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learnings; and to use their imaginations. P 21.

2) Create texts collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes. P 21.

3) Use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and other ways of representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness. P.21.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes

• SPEAKING AND LISTENING

(1) Examine others’ ideas in discussion to extend their own understanding. P 26

(2) Ask relevant questions calling for elaboration, clarification, or qualification and respond thoughtfully to such questions. P 26

(3) Articulate, advocate, and support points of view, presenting view points in a convincing manner. P 26

(5) Participate constructively in conversation, small-group and whole-group discussion, and debate, using a range of strategies that contribute to effective talk. P 27

(7) Give and follow instructions and respond to questions and directions of increasing complexity. P 27

(9) Demonstrate active listening and respect for the needs, rights, and feelings of others. P 28

• READING AND VIEWING

(1) Select texts that address their learning needs and range of interests. P 29

(2) Read widely and experience a variety of young adult fiction and literature from different provinces and countries. P 29

(4) Use cueing systems and a variety of strategies to construct meaning in reading and viewing increasingly complex print and media texts. P 29

(5) Articulate their own processes and strategies for reading and viewing texts of increasing complexity. P 29

(6) Independently access and select specific information to meet personal and learning needs. P 30

(7) Respond to some of the material they read or view by questioning, connecting, evaluating, and extending. Move beyond initial understanding to more thoughtful interpretations. P 31

(8) Express and support points of view about texts and about issues, themes, and situations within texts, citing appropriate evidence. P 31

• WRITING AND REPRESENTING

(1) Use a range of strategies in writing and other ways of representing.

(4) Demonstrate facility in using a variety of forms of writing to create texts for specific purposes and audiences, and represent their ideas in other forms to achieve their purposes. P 34

(5) Demonstrate an awareness of the effect of context on writing and other forms of representing – make appropriate choices of form, style, and content for specific audiences and purposes. P 34

(11) Integrate information from several sources to construct and communicate meaning. P 35

Materials/Resources Needed for Lesson:

25 copies of “Brothers and Sisters” by Budge Wilson.

25 copies of roles for the literature circle (See Appendix).

Organizational Approach:

The students will be presented with the short story “Brothers and Sisters” by Budge Wilson. They will be instructed to read this story aloud, each reading a couple of lines of text, until the story is finished. If all of the students have read, and the story is not yet finished, I will finish reading the story for the students. The students will be instructed to follow along while the story is being read and they will be instructed to highlight any descriptive words or phrases and any quotes that they find especially interesting or informative. This is a reading strategy that will help the students when they are put into small groups to complete the literature circle tasks. The text is a little longer, therefore this strategy will result in key aspects of the text already being highlighted; this will be useful for completion of the literature circle tasks as the student will not have to re-read the text searching for cues to help complete the given task. Students will be made aware that although this reading strategy may seem tedious, it will help them with the next task in the lesson. After the story has been read I will present a mini-lesson on literature circles. Students will then be put into groups of four to complete the literature circle tasks. The students will decide together who is doing which role, if they cannot decide peacefully, I will make the decision for the group. After the students are finished in their literature circles, each group will be asked to share with the whole class one of the tasks completed by one of the roles in their group. Students will be instructed to put away all resources used during the literature circle.

Step by Step Lesson Activities and Estimated Time:

Activity One: The class will come in, get settled, and attendance will be taken. Students will be instructed to pass in their poem that they had completed for homework when their name is called for attendance so that I can check off whether they have passed in an assignment. (Approx. time: 3-5 minutes).

Activity Two: The short story “Brothers and Sisters” by Budge Wilson will be read aloud by the whole class. Each student will read a couple of sentences and then the next student will start where the previous student left off until the entire story has been read aloud by the class. If each student has had an opportunity to read, and the story is not yet finished, I will finish reading the story. Students will be expected to read along while the story is being read and will be instructed to highlight descriptive words or phrases that the author uses when talking about siblings, as well as any quotes that he/she finds particularly interesting or informative. (Approx. time: 15-25 min).

Activity Three: A mini-lesson on literature circles will be presented to the students and any questions will be answered. The students will also be told to think about and use the descriptive words that they highlighted while completing their task in their literature circle. (Approx. time: 10min).

Activity Four: The class will be broken up into small groups of four to complete a literature circle using the short story “Brothers and Sisters”. The students will decide who is going to take which of the four roles (see appendix for a description of the roles) in the literature circle. They will then get to work on completing their assigned task. (Approx. time: 20 min).

Activity Five: If time permits, each small group will share a task completed by one of the roles assigned in the literature circle. An example of each of the four roles will be shared by the groups. (Approx. time: 15 min). If time does not permit, the students will be instructed to put all their work together as a group and place it in the assignment box on my desk as they leave class.

Activity Six: Students will be instructed to put away all the resources used during the literature circle. (Approx. time: 3min).

Assessment: Refer to appendix for rubric.

Plans for Reflection:

Did I allow enough time for the students to engage in the literature circle activity?

Should I have gotten students to volunteer to read aloud, rather than have all of the students read a section aloud?

Should I have told the students what a literature circle was and inform them of the roles in a literature circle before reading the short story so that they could read/listen with an awareness of what they will be expected to do with the story?

Literature circles help to achieve most of the GCOs, are there any negative aspects to the literature circle that should take into consideration?

Plans for Follow-up Lesson:

“He Ain’t Heavy… He’s my Brother”

Students will begin their unit project on The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. They will read the first chapter and watch a clip from the movie of the same title which is based on the novel by S.E. Hinton.

Appendix

Literature Circle Rubric

| |1 |2 |3 |4 |Total |

| |(no) |(somewhat) |(satisfactory) |(excellent) | |

|Used material from reading | | | | | |

|strategy in lit. circle | | | | | |

|Used time well in lit. circle | | | | | |

|Student was thoughtful and | | | | | |

|creative in their role, | | | | | |

|benefiting the group | | | | | |

|Exhibited Good team-work skills | | | | | |

Total: ________

Roles for Literature Circles

Connector

Your job is to find connections between the book and you, and between the book and the wider world. This means connecting the reading to your own past experiences, to happenings at school or in the community, to stories in the news, to similar events at other times and places, to other people or problems that you are reminded of. You may also see connections between this book and other writings on the same topic, or by the same author.

Some connections I made between this reading and my own experiences, the wider world, and other texts or authors:

Questioner

Your job is to write down a few questions that you have about this part of the book. What were you wondering about while you were reading? Did you have questions about what was happening? What a word meant? What a character did? What was going to happen next? Why the author used a certain style? Or what the whole thing meant? Just try to notice what you are wondering while you read, and jot down some of those questions either along the way or after you’ve finished.

Questions about today’s reading:

Literary Luminary or Passage Master

Your job is to locate a few special sections or quotations in the text for your group to talk over. The idea is to help people go back to some especially interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the reading and think about them more carefully. As you decide which passages or paragraphs are worth going back to, make a note why you picked each one. Then jot down some plans for how they should be shared. You can read passages aloud to yourself, ask someone else to read them, or have people read them silently and then discuss. Make these columns on your page:

Page No. & Paragraph Reason for Picking Plan for reading

Illustrator

Good readers make pictures in their minds as they read. This is a chance to share some of your own images and visions. Draw some kind of picture related to the reading you have just done. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram, flowchart, or stick-figure scene. You can draw a picture of something that happened in the book, or something that the reading reminded you of, or a picture that conveys any idea or feeling you got from the reading. Any kind of drawing or graphic is okay – you can even label things with words if that helps. Make your drawing on the other side of this sheet or on a separate sheet.

Presentation Plan:

Whenever it fits in the conversations, show your drawing to your group. You don’t necessarily have to explain it. You can let people speculate what your picture means so they can connect your drawing to their own ideas about the reading. After everyone has had a say, you can always have the last word: tell them what your picture means, where it came from, or what it represents to you.

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