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Reading Unit #3 : Tapping the Power of Nonfiction
Reading Unit #3 : Tapping the Power of Nonfiction
Essential Questions:
Essential Questions:
How do we navigate non-fiction chapter books in book clubs, with an emphasis on discerning central ideas?
How do we investigate topics with research groups, synthesizing across texts on that topic?
How do we research a new topic with more independence while helping students to read critically?
Priority Standards:
Priority Standards:
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.
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
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 arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
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.)
Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.
Supporting Standards:
Supporting Standards:
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
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.
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.
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:
read with engagement and fascination right from the introduction
generate questions and ideas that spark rich club conversations
determine central ideas
rethink initial ideas
learn from the stories embedded in nonfiction text
trace how ideas are developed across a text
self-assess and goal-set
Bend II
build up a bit of background knowledge when you encounter a new topic
draw on all they know to tackle new projects with more skill
summarize complex texts
synthesize across texts
deal with tricky parts by reading outside the text to help with comprehension inside
get to know the lingo of their topic
grow ideas and do their own thinking
develop carefully curated text sets
Bend III
launch research groups with greater independence
inquire into the particular challenges of online research
determine the author's point if view and how it's advanced
deal with texts that contradict each other
craft TED talks to get others fascinated by their topic
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:
Formative Assessment 1: Slide Presentation of Research
Formative Assessment 2: TED Talk Presentation
Self- Assessing Summaries and Goal Setting
Vocabulary and Word Work Assessments
Digital Reader's Notebook
Summary Paragraphs
Synthesizing Charts
Resources:
Resources:
Lucy Calkins Reading Program
Leveled Classroom Text Set
Vocabulary and Word Work
Technology
Mentor Texts:
Fast Food Nation
Chew on This
Malala
The Battle Over GMOs
What is Alcatraz?
Additional Reading Resources
A World Without Fish
Bomb: The Race to Build The First Atomic Bomb
Hidden Figures
The Omnivore's Diet
Chasing Lincoln's Killer
The Totally True Adventures of the Titanic Sinks
Totally True Adventures of Balto and The Great Race
The Totally True Adventures of Apollo 13
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