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Reading Unit #1: Author Study
Reading Unit #1: Author Study
Essential Questions:
Essential Questions:
How do author’s integrate the elements of fiction? (plot, character, setting)
How does the author’s craft impact the overall mood, tone & style of the piece? (word choice, figurative language, description, repetition, writing structure)
How does the author develop theme, craft (style) and elements of fiction across texts?
How does the author’s choice in narration (point of view) impact how the story is told (1st person, 3rd person, variation)?
Priority Standards:
Priority Standards:
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Supporting Standards:
Supporting Standards:
Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they "see" and "hear" when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 6 here.)
ELA Learning Expectations:
ELA Learning Expectations:
Curiosity-The desire to know more about the world.
Openness-The willingness to consider ways of being and thinking in the world.
Engagement-A sense of investment and involvement in learning.
Creativity-The ability to use novel approaches for generating, investigating and representing ideas.
Persistence-The ability to sustain interest in and attention to short-and long-term projects.
Responsibility-The ability to take ownership of one's actions and understand the consequences of those actions for oneself and others.
Flexibility-The ability to adapt to situations, expectations, or demands.
Metacognition-The ability to reflect on ones own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural process used to construct knowledge.
National Council of Teachers of English & National Writing Project (2011)
Concepts & Skills:
Concepts & Skills:
Bend I
Students will be able to:
understand that an author draws upon his life experiences when writing
identify the distinct ways in which authors write; the authors craft (repetition, style, mood, word choice)
identify that characters have specific personality traits, wants, and desires; making theories about characters to better understand their motivations
analyze how the setting plays an important part in the plot of the story and impacts the main character (How does the character interact with the setting? What new theories do you have about the character based on the setting?)
understand that author’s have a purpose for writing in a specific point of view
explain how authors write using the story arc (or an adapted version) to tell a story (exposition: characters, setting/ rising action-conflict/climax/falling action/resolution)
identify that characters are complicated within contexts, relationships, conflict-external/internal and that authors develop characters to be relatable in order to teach a lesson
explain how readers develop a theory about a character and read on to prove that theory or develop a new theory based on new actions and that authors create characters that can be dynamic and static (identifying main character vs. supporting/secondary characters)
understand how authors develop themes across the text
Bend II
Students will be able to:
determine reading goals in a book club and are prepared for discussions
grow theories about characters based on complex traits, motivations, and inner/outer conflicts based on text evidence.
understand that authors write using the story arc (or an adapted version) to tell a story (exposition: characters, setting/ rising action-conflict/climax/falling action/resolution)
explain how authors develop themes across the text
identify that authors write in a similar style across novels
consider the author’s goal and techniques; the choices the author should have made and the choice the author made.
reflect on their role in the book club; what worked for them and what didn’t? What new goals can be set?
Bend III
explore universal themes, explore how authors develop those themes differently; understanding that sophisticated readers, ask: what’s the same and what’s different in how this theme plays out in different texts?
analyze which characters best represent a particular theme through their thoughts, actions, and dialogue, and which characters work against the theme
analyze the choices authors make (and the ones they don’t) as they look across texts written by the same authors
study the author’s goals and techniques used, focusing in on a part where the author seems to be trying to achieve something and asking how the author works towards these goals
Instructional Strategies:
Instructional Strategies:
Reading Workshop to include a daily mini lesson (15 min), writing time and share. Reading time will include small group work, individual convergences, peer editing/revising.
Mini-lesson will include anchor texts and provided strategy notes to develop reading anchor charts.
Options for publishing throughout the unit
Reader's Workshop
Mini-lessons
Guided reading groups, working on fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, word work, written response.
Partner reading / Turn and talk
Independent active engagement
Sharing
(Learning activities, labs, etc.)
Assessments:
Assessments:
(At this time, include the names/types of Comprehensive Course Assessments, School-wide Analytic and Course-Specific Rubrics)
Readers Notebook (digital)
Student Goal Setting / Assessing
Constructive Response to Literature
Stop and Jot
Vocabulary and Word Work Assessments
Exit Slips
Checklist
Resources:
Resources:
Lucy Calkins Reading Program
Leveled Classroom Text Set
Vocabulary and Word Work
Technology
Mentor Texts:
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen - Author Study
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