Literacy for All

Meaning Making

This lesson engages students in English Language Development through peer dialogue, creative writing, focused reading, self-assessment, and analysis of Chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies. By building the chapter review and practice socratic seminar into the lesson, I give students the opportunity to work with their peers to interpret what they just finished reading. By interrogating the development of the plot, characters, and themes within the novel, students consider how to identify symbolism. 

Language Development

Throughout my student teaching experience, I modeled morphemic analysis (i.e., how students can separate unfamiliar words into their roots to make sense of them). I explicitly built on this practice during the Persepolis unit when I invited students to break down the concept of "Theocracy" [theo + kratos]. It was important student had an ability to make educated conjectures about the meaning of terms like this because political vocabulary plays a significant role in the book, which is set during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. 

Effective Expression

Each unit, I give students the opportunity to refine their speaking skills. This happens on a daily basis in group discussions, but I also design assessments aimed at enhancing their awareness of appropriate academic language and content-area registers. For example, in the activity directions above, I've asked students to present an "elevator speech" of their research projects. This requires them to speak professionally, concisely, and clearly, condensing weeks of reading and writing into key takeaways and solutions.