A. Engage the Learner - W.7.5 (5 minutes)

• Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 15.

• Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique to review their responses.

• Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

A. Analyze a Model - W.7.2b (10 minutes)

• Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can revise my essay, focusing on evidence and elaboration."

• Display the Model Informative Essay. Remind students that in this lesson they are going to analyze this model for evidence and elaboration. Tell students that because most of their evidence is in Proof Paragraphs 1 and 2, they will focus their revisions there.

• Tell students that in this model essay, the evidence is an example of how an idea from computer programming was used to understand a particular animal behavior, and elaboration is how the writer explains the example and adds details. Record on the academic word wall with translations in home languages, where appropriate, and invite students to record these words in their vocabulary logs. Refer to the Model Informative Essay (for teacher reference) as needed.

• Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What evidence is given that computer modeling has helped us understand animal behavior in the second paragraph?" (Dmitrii Radakov noticed that in schools of fish "each fish simply coordinates its movements with its neighbors." Researchers created a computer program with rules, and then the objects started moving like a group of birds or fish. This proved that animals can move according to simple rules. Animals can move in the same way that objects in computer programs do.)

"What is the elaboration, or the sentences that explain ideas or add details, in the second paragraph?" (The author developed how fish coordinate their movements with their neighbors with developing the ideas further. The author included multiple sentences to describe this movement: each fish does not follow any leader fish; even if a few fish out of a thousand see a predator coming, that is enough; the neighbors of the fish who saw the predator will copy their movements; then, the neighbors of those fish will copy those movements.)

• Point out that evidence and elaboration are related in an article like this, as evidence is the research done, and elaboration is the description or explanation of that research.

• Ask students to retrieve their copies of the Model Informative Essay. Invite students to underline the evidence with a wavy line and underline the elaboration with a straight line. Remind students that they are underlining examples of how the author adds information and details to support a point.

• Invite students to form triads, and continue to reread the Model Informative Essay, underlining examples of evidence and elaboration in the second Proof Paragraph.

• Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Which parts of the text did you underline to show examples of how the author provided evidence and elaboration?" (Responses will vary, but may include: I underlined examples like Daniel Pearce's idea about patterns of light and dark shapes and movement, as well as Sydney Brownstone's explanation of that idea in Fast Company. Further evidence was that Pearce created a program using arrows as his objects, and the arrows on his computer screen looked like a flock of birds in the sky.)

• Invite students to discuss first with their groups, then select volunteers to share with the whole group:

"Choose an example that you underlined. What does it help you to understand about evidence and elaboration?" (Responses will vary, but may include: There are a lot of different ways to elaborate. You can ask questions; bring in new experts, quotes, or examples; or go into more detail about a study mentioned as evidence.)

• If productive, cue students to listen carefully and seek to understand:

"Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)

• Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

B. Tuning Protocol - W.7.5 (15 minutes)

• Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can offer kind, helpful, and specific feedback to my peers, focusing on the evidence and elaboration in their essays."

• Display and invite students to take out their copy of the Informative Writing checklist.

• Focus students on this criterion:

  • W.7.2b: I use relevant facts, definitions, details, quotations, and examples to explain my thinking.

• Invite students to mark or highlight this criterion, as it will be the focus of the critique, and to turn to an elbow partner to say what it means in their own words.

• Move students into pairs, and invite them to label themselves A and B.

• Distribute sticky notes.

• Focus students on the Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart, specifically: "I use my strengths." Remind students that as they work to critique their partner's work, they will need to use their strengths.

• Tell students they are going to provide their partner with kind, specific, and helpful feedback against the criterion.

• Direct students' attention to the Peer Critique Protocol anchor chart, and remind them of what peer critique looks and sounds like. Refer to the Peer Critique Protocol anchor chart (for teacher reference) as needed.

• Display and distribute Directions for Tuning Protocol and End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Tuning Protocol and Revision, and read them aloud for the class. Invite students to ask questions to ensure that they understand what to do. Explain that for this Tuning protocol, they will not examine the whole essay but just the evidence and elaboration in the first Proof Paragraph. Those students who have time can also give feedback on the evidence and elaboration in the second Proof Paragraph.

• Invite students to retrieve their writing, and encourage them to provide feedback to their partner based on the Informative Writing checklist.

• Circulate to support students as they work to give feedback to one another. Emphasize that students are not to make revisions yet, as they will be doing this later in the lesson.

• Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

A. Revise and Edit End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part I - W.7.5 (15 minutes)

• Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can revise my essay, focusing on evidence and elaboration."

• Tell students they will begin revising their informative essay drafts for evidence and elaboration. Remind them that they should refer to the criterion just reviewed on the Informative Writing checklist, the feedback from their peer during the Tuning protocol, and their analysis of the Model Informative Essay as they revise. Ensure students use a different-colored pen or pencil from the one they used to draft their essays, so that their revisions can be easily assessed.

• Focus students on the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart, specifically: "I take responsibility." Remind students that since they will be self-assessing and revising their work, they will need to take ownership of their writing and think about how to change or improve it.

• Allow time for students to retrieve their copies of the three articles they read: "Kindness Contagion," "Conflicting Ideas," and "Are Social Epidemics Real?"

• Emphasize that they should revise only where it is necessary (e.g., adding sufficient evidence; adding sufficient elaboration).

• Invite students to begin making revisions.

• Circulate to support students as they work. Ask questions to guide their thinking:

"Do you have sufficient evidence to support your points?"

"What words or phrases can you use to develop a topic?"

"Where can you add elaboration and evidence using relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples?"

• Invite students to record "Y" for Yes and the date in the final column of their Informative Writing checklist if they feel the criteria marked on their checklists have been achieved in their writing in this lesson. Collect the revised essays. Use the Revision Rubric (for teacher reference) to assess students' ability to strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

• Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

• Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.