Strategies
In mid-December I will set all the books out on the center table in my room for students to browse through. I tell them the story of how one of the books was assigned to me by a former student. I like to give advance descriptions of the books in great detail so as to give them an idea of content, difficulty level, author's comments and ideas, reviews of the book by former students, and some internet searches that might add additional information that could assist them in choosing a book. I do give them a basic idea of the types of projects they might endeavor to produce in February. Emails will have been sent home with particulars about each book. I like parents to see what's going on before the big assignment. I encourage the purchase of used books through various sources and also ask parents for donations of books to give to students who may not have the money for a purchase. This has been quite successful in previous years.I also expect to apply for a grant through donorschoose.org. This charity is a way for people to donate directly to a specific project at a public school. I am going to ask for ten copies of each book in September. Projects like this in the past have been funded within six to eight weeks. Students who cannot afford a copy can come to me privately and check one out. I expect a purchase or check out from local libraries to have been made by the time students return from the holiday break. The goal is to start reading after the first of the year and finish the book by the second week of February.
I do not want everyone in the class to read the same book. I can usually get even unmotivated kids to actually work on this because they remember the activities that we did with My Brother Sam is Dead;group work and class discussions mean everyone is learning and having fun. Each book will be accompanied by the same type of activities. My goal is to have about a quarter of each class reading a particular book. That sets up the lesson for more diversity. If seven or eight kids in a class are reading the same book,that will allow them to share within one or two small groups, and there won't be any loners. They will have support in doing activities, and sharing may bring about some more creative projects. My EMH resource students will all be in the same class, so that size group will work well for them, too.
There are some activities that my students will have done in the previous months that will help build or scaffold into their reading activities for this unit. The stereotype and prejudice lessons that I do the first week of school when I begin Native Americans will have been utilized several times as I add new immigrants to the mix, starting with Colonial settlement in 1607. There is familiarity with this, and they can answer some of the questions as they read. Answers are placed into their interactive notebooks. Students will be familiar with the SOAPSTONE model. This also will have been covered since week two as we do a lot of primary sources. This is:
- S = Subject of the piece
- O= Occasion, time, place, setting
- A=Audience, who is this directed to
- P=Purpose, why was this piece written, painted, etc.
- S=Speaker, who's voice is telling the story
- TONE=Attitude or emotional characteristics of the piece
AP (Advanced Placement) classes in high school use this a lot and many middle schools adopted this practice several years ago in order to familiarize kids with this early so that there are no surprises for them in high school. There are also several more writing components to this Document Based Question format that help with the interpretation piece. It is a great asset for the kids to have this foundation when evaluating and interpreting primary sources. For this unit, combining the novel with primary sources, and verifiable facts should bring about a well-rounded decision when assessing the historical accuracy of the novel. The writing pieces in this AP-DBQ element are also a part of the Common Core and Essential Standards in North Carolina.
How do I check that my students are actually reading their book? I am in the process of looking at each book again and determining what I think should be completed each week. I absolutely do take into consideration the reading levels of the kids, whether they are readers or not, and other assignments ongoing in my class and others. There will be little reading done during my class time. I am not saying "none,"but this is not their Language Arts class, where they might be able to read for a set thirty minutes. They should not plan on reading on a daily basis in my class. They have home, before class, and lunch. I will assign particular chapters or pages of approximately equal length for each book. Synthesis and interpretation questions will be done at least once a week. Fellows in this seminar shared some wonderful tools to do just that. E. M. Miller from Chicago uses a Responding in Writing sheet that asks what the piece says, what it means, and why it matters. Jeff Weathers from Daly City utilizes OAT's: Observations (perceptions of sound, sight etc.), Associations (memories triggered), and Theories (what is discovered when combining O and A). Another activity I liked was the diamond fold from fellow Andrea Kulas. The folding process creates a diamond in the center of the paper with four triangles off to the sides. The diamond is synthesis and the four triangles could serve as vocabulary (written and illustrated), compare/contrast with actual historical events, personal connections, or solutions to problems that the characters encounter. Another interpretation tool I want to use is the PAPA Square. It is similar to a SOAPSTONE activity but in a slightly different format. These all offer me multiple ways to get to the heart of the text, characters, events, and author's opinions and purpose. There are also some additionaltools I have used in the past to develop critical reading skills that I will utilize. A fellow teacher gave me some links from the ESC Online Writing Center that contain questions relating to the authority of the writer, author's perspective, logic of the writer's argument, ways in which the writer gets your interest, writer's use of language and style, and ideology that informs text. There are also several good items to pull from this site when checking for actual reading, understanding, and interpretation.
I will have some weak readers in my classes. A recent introduction to my repertoire of tools is the book When Kids Can't Read by Kylene Beers. My team Language Arts teacher responded to me when I mentioned the book, "Haven't I told you about that before?" This is another positive in working collaboratively with others on my team. Although I will be getting the reading scores from my LA teacher early on in the year, teachers from the previous grade level will have met with us to give us a sort of heads up about kids who have reading or math issues. I might encourage a student to read a book at a lower Lexile reading level if I have this information ahead of time. The book will also guide me with specifics when I do come across a struggling reader. I hold before-school tutoring and working lunches every day for kids to work or catch up on stuff. This would be a perfect time for one or two students having issues to come to me, away from their peers and possible embarrassment.
Students keep an interactive notebook with them at all times. Their work is recorded in the table of contents, taped in after grading, used when studying for tests, and also for quarterly reflections. There is a section towards the back that is reserved just for novel study units. Notes, small one-dimensional projects, video reflections, and propaganda (what really happened v. what is presented) all go in this notebook.
The strategies and activities I will use in this unit will help me achieve my goal. I will increase their personal knowledge of a particular historical time period while also answering the questions and addressing issues which deal with citizenship or lack of true citizenship, sacrifices made by all parties involved who wanted land, and why studying history really matters.
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