15
Maegan Jenks, READ 7140,
Running Head: Interdisciplinary Writing
Interdisciplinary Writing Unit
Partial Unit
Maegan Jenks
READ 7140
Maymester 2008
Dr. Tonja Root
Grade: Fifth
Content Area: Social Studies
Genre: Persuasive
Form: Essay
Interdisciplinary Writing Unit:
School and Student Characteristics and Individual Differences
- School System and School
o Your name and grade level Maegan Jenks / 5th grade
o Name of school system Pierce County schools
o Name of School Blackshear Elementary
- School’s Student Characteristics
o Students
§ _592_ Number of boys
§ _650_ Number girls
§ 4 – 12 Age range
o Ethnicity (number of students)
§ _548_ African American
§ _48__ Asian American
§ ___ _ Native American
§ _43__ Hispanic
§ _585_ Caucasian
§ _18__ Other
o Reading Achievement
§ Based on: CRCT
§ _11 % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ 71 % Average or intermediate skill
§ 18 % Below average skill level
o Writing Achievement
§ Based on: CRCT
§ 18 % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ 68 % Average or intermediate skill
§ 14 % Below average skill level
§
- Classroom’s Student Characteristics
o Students
§ _8 Number of boys
§ _12_ Number of girls
§ 10-12 Age range
o Ethnicity (number of students)
§ _4__ African American
§ _1__ Asian American
§ ____ Native American
§ _3__ Hispanic
§ _12_ Caucasian
§ ____ Other
o Reading Achievement
§ Based on: CRCT
§ _9.4 % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ 67.2 % Average or intermediate skill
§ 17.0 % Below average skill level
o Writing Achievement
§ Based on: CRCT
§ 31.7 % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ 7.0 % Average or intermediate skill
§ 11.2 % Below average skill level
o Classroom Organization (check as many as apply)
§ ____ Homogeneous
§ __Ö_ Heterogeneous
§ ____ Self-Contained
§ __Ö_ Team Teaching
§ ____ Departmentalized
§ ____ Parallel Block
§ List other programs:
- Individual Differences
o Students Attending Pull-Out or Supplementary Programs (number of students)
§ All Title I
§ _ Reading
§ _ Gifted
§ ___ Early Intervention Program
§ _ __ Safety Net
§ List other programs:
o Language Proficiency (number of students)
§ _20_ English language
§ __1_ Bilingual
§ ____ Other languages
§ List other languages:
o Students with Individual Education Plans (IEP) (number of students)
§ ____ Blind or visually impaired
§ ____ Deaf or hearing impaired
§ _2__ Developmentally delayed
§ ____ Emotionally or behaviorally disordered
§ _1__ Learning disabled
§ ____ MiMH
§ ____ OHI
§ ____ Physically disabled
§ ____ Speech
§ ____ Other
Beginning of Writing Units
I. Genre of Writing:
Persuasive Writing
Essay
II. Content Area Connection:
A. Content Area: Social Studies
B. Topic and/or Concept: Voting/The US Constitution
C. Previous Content Area Lessons:
a. Students have previously been learning about The United States Constitution and the different parts of it. They have been talking about the rights and responsibilities of US citizens. They have been learning about the importance of voting.
III. English Language Arts GPS:
ELA5W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.
Critical Component: The student produces a narrative that:
a. Engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a point of view, and otherwise developing reader interest.
b. Establishes a plot, point of view, setting, and conflict, and/or the significance of events.
c. Creates an organizing structure.
d. Includes sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character.
e. Excludes extraneous details and inconsistencies.
f. Develops complex characters through actions describing the motivation of characters and character conversation.
g. Uses a range of appropriate narrative strategies such as flashback, foreshadowing, dialogue, tension, or suspense.
h. Provides a sense of closure to the writing.
i. Lifts the level of language using appropriate strategies including word choice.
ELA5W4 The student consistently uses a writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing. The student
a. Plans and drafts independently and resourcefully.
b. Revises manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences.
c. Edits to correct errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.
IV. Content Area GPS:
SS5CG1 The student will explain how a citizen's rights are protected under the U.S. Constitution.
a. Explain the responsibilities of a citizen.
Explanation of Terms:
- Drafting Stage: This is the second stage of the writing process. This stage is where the students compile their information into a rough draft. The content is more emphasized rather than the mechanics.
- Editing Stage : This is the fourth stage of the writing process. During this stage, the students will read their own story and also proofread classmate’s stories. The focus during this stage is finding and correcting “…their own mechanical errors.” Afterwards, the student and teacher will talk about final editing.
- Prewriting Stage: This is the first stage of the writing process and is often referred to as the getting-ready-to-write stage. During this stage, the writer determines a topic, form, purpose, and audience for what he/she is writing. The students will put his/her ideas into a graphic organizer.
- Publishing Stage: This is the final and fifth stage of the writing process where the students will write their final paper. The students can then read the story to the class or maybe put the writing into a contest.
- Revising Stage: This is the third stage of the writing process. During this stage, the students will reread what they have written. The author might also choose to have another classmate read the story. The author may want to add, delete, change, or arrange words within the story. When this is done, the author writes the new story.
6. Persuasive Writing: Writing that attempts to convince the reader that the point of view or course of action recommended by the writer is valid.
- Shared Writing: The students and teacher work together to compose a piece of writing. The children say what they would like to be written down, and the teacher serves as a recorder to write down the information.
- Writing Process: The writing process consists of five stages. This is done so the students can take steps instead of just writing one paper and expecting it to be perfect the first time.
Tompkins, G.E. (2005). Language Arts: Patterns of Practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Grade level: 5th Grade
Content area connection: Social Studies and Language Arts
Content area: Topic and/or concept: The United States Constitution / Voting
Previous content area lessons:
o Students have previously been learning about The United States Constitution and the different parts of it. They have been talking about the rights and responsibilities of US citizens. They have been learning about the importance of voting.
o Student have previously worked with graphic organizers
Genre of writing
· Persuasive
· Essay
Stage of writing
· Prewriting
English Language Arts GPS
ELA5W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.
Critical Component: The student produces a persuasive essay that:
a. Engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a point of view, and otherwise developing reader interest.
b. Establishes a plot, point of view, setting, and conflict, and/or the significance of events.
c. Creates an organizing structure.
ELA5W4 The student consistently uses a writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing. The student
a. Plans and drafts independently and resourcefully.
Content Area GPS
SS5CG1 The student will explain how a citizen's rights are protected under the U.S. Constitution.
a. Explain the responsibilities of a citizen.
Student Materials
Jenks, M. (2008, May). Modified from: Root, T. (2008). Persuasive Graphic Organizers Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.
Jenks, M. (2008, May) Prewriting rubric. Unpublished manuscript, Valdosta State University \
(READ 7140), GA
(2004). PBS news on voting. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from Public Broadcasting Service Web
site: http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20040916_electionresources.html
(2004). The democracy project. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from Public Broadcasting Service Web
site: http://pbskids.org/democracy/
(2008). Importance of voting. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from Voting Rights and Election
Integrity Web site: http://www.votespa.com/AboutVotingandElections/ImportanceofVoting/tabid/60/language/en-US/Default.aspx
(2008). TIME for kids writing help. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from TIME for kids Web site:
http://www.hickman.k12.ca.us/cyberwriter/writingd_4.htm
(2007). The united states constitution. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from US Constitution Web site:
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
Teacher Materials
Jenks, M. (2008, May). Modified from: Root, T. (2008). Persuasive Graphic Organizers Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.
Jenks, M. (2008, May) Prewriting rubric. Unpublished manuscript, Valdosta State University \
(READ 7140), GA
(2003). Im translationer. Retrieved May 14, 2008, from Language Translator Web site:
http://translation2.paralink.com/
(2004). The democracy project lesson plan. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from Public Broadcasting
Service Web site: http://www.pbs.org/elections/kids/educators.html
Projector
Smart Board
Grouping Arrangements:
Explanation of Instructional Grouping Options:
Whole Group: I will start the lesson in whole group to give preliminary instruction and during the practice activity. I will explain the prewriting assignment in detail to the students. Starting with whole group will save me time and it will keep the students on task. It also guarantees that all students receive the same instruction.
Independent Work: I will use individual work for the assessment activity. The independent work comes after the initial instruction. During this time, the students will be able to ask me questions and work one on one. I will be able to monitor the students’ work carefully to check for clarity, time on task, and progress.
Explanation of Grouping Options Relating to Students’ Developmental, Cultural, and Linguistic Needs:
The following contains reasoning for grouping children for their developmental, cultural, and linguistic needs:
Developmental Needs:
- Whole Group: I will use whole group to assure that all of the students’ developmental needs are met. The students are involved in peer to peer interaction. They are also involved in peer to teacher interaction. Whole group instruction is beneficial for students on a lower level because they are able to observe others working and my explanation of the assignment. Students are able to talk with each other and work together. I will make sure that the students’ developmental needs are met throughout this assignment
- Individual: I will use individual work to assure that the students understand the - assignment. I am able to walk around and check the students’ progress and understanding. In this individual work, I can accommodate the assignment for students who are on different levels of development. I can make the graphic organizer less complex for the students on a lower development. I will be able to work one on one with the students who do not understand the information and how to work through the assignment.
Cultural Needs:
- Whole Group: I have one bilingual student in my classroom. I will make sure that the assignment and directions do not include anything that the cannot understand and participate in. I will make sure the terms and words that I use can be understand my bilingual student
- Individual: I can spend one on one time with the student from a different ethnic background to make sure he understands the concept and directions. I will be able to determine if the student understands what he is required to do. I will also be able to accommodate the assignment to meet the student’s cultural needs.
Linguistic Needs:
- Whole Group: I have two students with a speech delay. I will make sure that the students understands the assignment through the group activity. I will pair the student with a higher level student during the practice activity. The students can learn by closely observing the work of another. I will be able to model the assignment for the student to understand it.
- Individual: I will be able to work one on one with the students to make sure they understand what is expected of them. I will be able to accommodate the assignment to meet the linguistic needs of both of my students. I will use simplistic vocabulary when working individually with these two students.
Instructional Procedures:
Genre of writing instruction
Good morning students! Today we will begin working on the writing process. We will be working with persuasive writing. Persuasive writing is intended to persuade someone of something with reasoning and proof. We have been talking about the US constitution and our responsibilities as citizens of the United States. One of those responsibilities is voting. It is our right and responsibility to vote. We have been talking about the importance of voting and why we should vote. We are now going to work on writing a persuasive essay on why you think that we should or should not vote. You will write a persuasive essay on your opinion of why a person should or should not vote.
Stage of writing instruction
Prewriting: Today we will be working on the first stage of the writing process, prewriting. The prewriting stage should take up 70% of our time (2008, Tompkins) Today we will be using a graphic organizer to organize our ideas and thoughts. This graphic organizer will help you come up with your argument for or against voting. The first thing that you need to do is state your topic, purpose, audience, and form. Once you have figured those out you can start working on your argument. You will need to come up with three reasons why with three supporting detail for each reach. Your argument must be clear and thoughtful. You need to be very specific in your reasoning with clear supporting details. You need to make sure that you choose transitions sentences from one paragraph to another. You need to first choose your argument. Are you for or against voting? Then, you need to come up with three supporting reasons of your argument. For each reason you must have at least three supporting details. You will have a rubric to go by to understand what you are expected to have on this graphic organizer. Each section must be filled out completely.
Practice Activity
To assure that the students understand what they are supposed to do I will do a practice whole class example using the shared pen strategy. I will use a projector to show the graphic organizer that they will be filling out. We will work together to find that our topic, purpose, form, and audience. I will let the students know that they may have different choices depending on where they stand on voting. We will come up with one reason to vote with one supporting detail. We will design a transition sentence so that they understand how to transition from one paragraph to another. We will fill the conclusion section in briefly. The graphic organizer will be brief so that the students still have to come up with their ideas but not too brief where they do not understand the activity.