Unit 12.

3: The Long and Short of It English as a Second Language 6 weeks Stage 1 - Desired Results Unit Summary
In this unit, students will study fictional elements in short stories, analyze parts of stories in order to demonstrate understanding of the meanings and themes of the whole story, and practice strategies for using contextual clues to determine the meaning of new words. Transfer goal: Students will leave the class able to use their knowledge of literary elements and how a short story differs from a novel to better understand what they read and how to produce a richer style of creative writing.

Content Standards and Learning Expectations

Listening/Speaking L/S.12.1 Listens carefully during a read aloud, presentation, or performance from a variety of literature, periods, genres, and styles to interpret and analyze character development, dialogue, and setting; makes connections to text; evaluates tone, voice, and mood. L/S.12.2 Listens and responds to synthesize, explain, describe, analyze, justify, and debate information; answers and formulates closed and open-ended questions. L/S.12.4 Expresses thoughts and opinions to evaluate text, debate current events, concepts, and literary elements; makes predictions and inferences, and draws conclusions from listening to a variety of texts, performances, and multimedia sources; listens to sort and prioritize information. Reading R.12.1 Evaluates context clues, reference sources, and vocabulary expansion strategies to assess word meaning; utilizes Greek and Latin root words to extend vocabulary; classifies, applies, and analyzes vocabulary as academic, cultural, or contemporary based on current trends. R.12.2 Argues on characterization techniques and character development using text evidence to justify responses; evaluates the setting in fiction and nonfiction; classifies point of view using text evidence to support responses. R.12.3 Classifies genre, analyzes plot, establishes cause and effect; makes connections, predictions, and inferences in a variety of texts; draws conclusions; analyzes and determines conflict and resolution; uses text evidence to validate responses. Writing W.12.3 Uses creative writing styles to produce poems and other literary forms.

Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings:

Societal, cultural, and institutional change and growth come from our personal journeys over time. Reading makes us better writers. Creative writers call on personal and cultural experiences to gain insight into their journeys.

Essential Questions:
How do our personal journeys shape society and culture? How can we use our experiences and our backgrounds help inform our creative writing? In what ways are well-developed characters essential to a novel or story? 1

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Unit 12.3: The Long and Short of It English as a Second Language 6 weeks
Well-developed characters add interest and substance to creative writing. Reading makes us better writers. How is the insight gained about ourselves and our world through our reading reflected in our writing?

Content (Students will know)

Closed and open-ended questions Literary elements of short story Predictions and inferences Context clues and reference sources Characterization techniques and character development Context clues, reference sources, and vocabulary expansion strategies Setting Creative writing styles Creative writing, literary style Literary elements (setting, characters, plot, point of view, theme, mood) Argue, justify, interpret, analyze, formulate, express, debate (academic meanings) Text evidence

Skills (Students will be able to)

Interpret and analyze character development. Make connections to text. Answer and formulate closed and open-ended questions. Express thoughts and opinions to debate literary elements. Draw conclusions from listening to a variety of texts, performances, and multimedia sources. Argue on characterization techniques and character development using text evidence to justify responses. Evaluate the setting in fiction. Use creative writing styles to write literary pieces.

Content Vocabulary

Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence Performance Tasks

Let Me Tell You What Really Happened
1

Other Evidence
Literacy Journals: o Daily Quick-Writes o Reading Log Students will record titles and pages read of books read individually. The teacher may choose to add response questions to the daily log or the response questions can be answered in the Response Log. o Reading Response Log Students will respond to what they read individually and what they listen to in the read alouds in this section of the Literacy Journal.

Students will use familiar childrens stories to analyze the effects of changing one of the literary elements (especially setting or point of view) in the story. For example, if a story such as Little Red Riding Hood were told from the Big Bad Wolfs point of view, how might the story change? What would the reader know that he/she doesnt know in the original story? What information would no longer be known?

Source: https://www.georgiastandards.org/Frameworks/GSO%20Frameworks/9%20Traditional%20Schedule%20ELA%20U nits.pdf (page 95)

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Unit 12.3: The Long and Short of It English as a Second Language 6 weeks
Students will choose a favorite story and rewrite it from a different point of view (or in a different setting, etc.) Students should work in pairs to revise their drafts and complete a final copy to be evaluated. Students will share their stories orally in small groups. Students will write a brief response to the question: How is ____ (the element used as the focus of the assignment) important or significant to a short story. In their response, students will incorporate evidence from the short story to support their ideas. Personal Word Wall Students will record new words learned throughout the unit. Anecdotal evidence of comprehension of topics during group work and class discussions Record a characters actions and the character traits they reveal (from a group read aloud or individually read story) see attachment: 12.3 Other Evidence Character Traits Worksheet Character Traits Adjectives Vocabulary Quiz o

Creating a Story from a Wordless Picture Book or Picture Students will choose a wordless picture book and write a short story to go along with the illustrations. For students who need less scaffolding, a single picture can be used as a prompt, rather than a picture book. Students will create characters (see Learning Activities) and an interesting situation, conflict, and story. Students should be paired up for peer editing and revising. Students will use attachment 12.3 Performance Task Peer Critique Checklist to help their peers revise their papers. Students will submit final drafts which will be assessed using a rubric (see attachment: 12.3 Performance Task Short Story Rubric).

Stage 3 - Learning Plan Learning Activities

Daily Quick-Writes The students will write in their Reflection Journals daily. These daily quick-writes work well as a daily warm-up for the first 5 minutes of class. The teacher should have a question, topic, or quotation on the board as the students come in. The students should immediately reflect and write about the topic. The teacher can choose to ask volunteers to share at the end of the writing session. The journals should be read by the teacher for evaluation and response a few times each unit. They should not be graded on grammatical or spelling accuracy students should feel free to 3

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Unit 12.3: The Long and Short of It English as a Second Language 6 weeks
write without editing and without fear of mistakes. Assessment should be based on effort and on what the teacher knows the student to be capable of. For this unit, the daily topics should relate to characterization, literary elements of stories, creative writing, and making connections to text. The teacher should read multiple short stories to the class each day during this unit (10-20 minutes a day). The read-aloud stories and accompanying activities should be run concurrently with other lessons in the unit. The teacher should use this opportunity to demonstrate fluency in reading, to model strategies for determining the meaning of unknown words, and to use think-aloud strategies to examine literary elements, character development, setting, etc. Students may use attachment 12.3 Learning Activity Sample Character Traits for creative adjectives describing character traits. The teacher may choose some adjectives from this list for vocabulary expansion activities. Students will create a short biography for a character they are developing for their short story. After deciding on physical characteristics, students will create a personality outline. The personality description should include: o Temperament o Moral/ethical/religious beliefs o Political stance o Hobbies o Habits o Quirks or eccentricities o Likes/dislikes o Fears or phobias o Short and long term goals o Hopes and dreams Interview Your Character After deciding on a few basic physical details about a character in their creative writing piece, students will conduct an imaginary interview with the character. Refer to the following link for details and an example. http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1476096-How-To-Develop-Your-Characters The teacher will choose challenging adjectives from attachment 12.3 Learning Activity Sample Character Traits and a sentence (or a very short paragraph) which offers context clues to help the students discern the words meaning. Students can use dictionaries to check their accuracy. Answering and Scoring Open-Ended Questions http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lessonplan/answering-and-scoring-open-ended-questions

Short Story Read-Aloud

Character Development for Original Short Story2

Using Context Clues and Reference Sources

Sample Lessons

Source: http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/creatingcharacters.html

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Unit 12.3: The Long and Short of It English as a Second Language 6 weeks
Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Seusss The Cat in the Hat http://www.readwritethink.org/classroomresources/lesson-plans/superego-seuss-800.html Genre Lesson: Short Story http://www.readworks.org/lessons/grade6/house-mango-street/genrelesson Using Plot Elements to Retell a Story http://www.readworks.org/lessons/grade6/house-mangostreet/lesson-4 Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/action-character-exploringcharacter-175.html Literary Devices: Characterization Chapter App http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGgXA6hjSco Thousands of Full-text free books http://www.fullbooks.com/ Full-text books, short stories, poems, etc. http://searchlit.org Creative Writing prompts http://www.tengrrl.com/tens/017.shtml The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Baseball in April and Other Stories by Gary Soto The Bike by Gary Soto Salsa Stories by Lulu Delacre Local News by Gary Soto Our House: Stories of Levittown by Pam Conrad American Dragons by Lawrence Yep An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio by Judith Ortiz Cofer Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (http://public.wsu.edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/chopin.html) A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell (http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/story/fulltext.html) The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury (http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/shortstories/downloads/The_Pedestrian.pdf) The Open Window by Saki (H.H. Monro) (http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/shortstories/downloads/The_Open_Window.pdf) Huge list of wordless picture books http://nancykeane.com/rl/317.htm Literature Timeless Voices, Timeless Theme, Silver o Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden page 424 (Word Choice) o Taught Me Purple by Evelyn Tooley Hunt page 425 (Word Choice) o The City Is So Big by Richard Garcia pages 426 (Word Choice) o The Dinner Party by Mona Gardner page 535 (Plot) o The Diary of Anne Frank Act 1 & Act 2 pages 712-749 (Characterization and Theme in Drama) o From A Midsummer Nights Dream, Act III, scene ii; page 784 (Summarize) 5

Additional Resources

Literature Connections

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Unit 12.3: The Long and Short of It English as a Second Language 6 weeks
o o o o o From Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, scene iii; page 790 (Summarize) From The Life and Death of King Richard III, Act I, scene I by William Shakespeare page 792 (Summarize) Chicoria by Jose Griego y Maestas and Rudolfo A. Anaya page 912 (Recognize the Storytellers Purpose) Brer Possums Dilemma by Jackie Torrence page 915 (Recognize the Storytellers Purpose) Why the Waves Whitecaps by Zora Neale Hurston pages 918 (Recognize the Storytellers Purpose)

June 2012 Adapted from Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe