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Writing Unit #3: Research-Based Information Writing
Writing Unit #3: Research-Based Information Writing
Essential Questions:
Essential Questions:
How do you write research-based informational essays?
How do you draft and revise information books on focused topics?
How do you share writing as a digital form and online expertise?
Priority Standards:
Priority Standards:
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.
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.
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.
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.
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.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
Supporting Standards:
Supporting Standards:
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
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:
Students will be able to:
Bend I
become engaged with a topic
read for a wide view of a topic: teen activism
prepare to write informational essays by finding and supporting key points
using prior knowledge to flash draft essays and incorporate structure
Bend II
pursue information and focus in on a topics by creating a trail of research
envision structures to plan an information book
construct texts with solid bricks of information
research by gathering specific information and creating meaning
write with detail
lift the level of sentence complexity
use text features to strengthen writing
plan ready-to-go chapters
quote with a purpose in mind
celebrate with a book exhibit tour
Bend III
study digital mentor texts
revise to fit digital formats by determining importance
use all they know to create digital forms in a publishing structure
celebrate by presenting, collecting feedback, and reflecting on their work
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)
Nonfiction Chapter Book
Digital Newsletter/Webpage
Informational Checklist
Informational Rubric
Resources:
Resources:
Research-Based Information Writing: Books, Websites, and Presentations
Mentor Text “Malala the Powerful” article by Kristin Lewis)
Exemplars Teacher writing exemplar: Teen activists
Teacher writing exemplar: Malala, Version 1 and Version 2
Teacher writing exemplar: A Global Issue
Teacher writing exemplar: Girls Denied Education
Teacher exemplar: Digital slideshow presentation
Teen activist links to video clips
Additional Texts and Resources Starter Packet Text Set
Text set: Abandoned pets
Text set: Bullying
Text set: Child labor
Text set: Environment
Text set: Malala and Girls’ Education
Digital Mentor Webpage and Presentation Text Sets
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