Mapping a Year of Reading

Semester Fall

Week 1-2 Choice reading

Week 3-6 Whole class book 1 (Woman Warrior) and choice reading

Week 7-10 Book Club 1 (Between Shades of Grey, Endangered, If You Could Be Mine,
Kite Runner, Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter,
Bronx Masquerade)

Week 11-13 Whole class book 2 (The Rose That Grew From Concrete)

Week 14 Free Choice

Week 15-18 Book Club 2 (Salt to the Sea, Across the Wire, Purple Hibiscus, All Quiet on the
Western Front, I am Malala, Education of Margot Sanchez)

Semester Spring

Week 19-22 Whole class book 3 (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)

Week 23-24 Free Choice

Week 25-28 Book club 3 (Like Water for Chocolate, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang
Days in L.A., Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe, American Born
Chinese, Sold)

Week 29-33 Whole class book 4 (Hate U Give)

Week 34-36 Author Study - Choice of reading from any author they enjoy

Mapping a Year of Writing

Semester Fall

Week 1-2 Unit 1: Write in a genre you read and Personal intros to the teacher

Week 3-8 Unit 2: Narrative

Week 9-13 Unit 3: Poetry/Song

Week 14-18 Unit 4: Information

Semester Spring

Week 19-22 Unit 5: Digital

Week 23-24 AP Test Prep

Week 25-29 Unit 6: Argument

Week 30-33 Unit 7: Multi-genre project

Week 34-36 End of Year Portfolio

Year of Writing and Reading Explanation:

Unit One - “Write in a Genre You Read and Personal Introductions”

To begin the semester, and ignite a love for reading in students that might not call
themselves readers, we will be reading choice novels. As a teacher, I want to create lifelong
readers and beginning by allowing students to choose what they read is one way to do that
(taken from 180 Days by Kittle and Gallagher). This will also set the tone for the rest of the
semester. They are to be reading an independent reading book all year. Even when we are
reading a whole class novel.
They will also begin their writing careers for the year by choosing the genre that they
write in. I want them to write what they know. During the second week of the unit, they will also

Culminating Assignment:
The final assignment that students turn in for this unit will be a 1-2 revised and
edited piece of writing in a genre that they read the most, and therefore know the
best. This will serve as an introduction to the narrative unit and a pre-assessment
in order to gauge what students know.

Colorado Common Core Standards

- 10.2.1. Reading for All Purposes - Prepared Graduates: Read a wide range of
literature (American and world literature) to understand important universal
themes and the human experience
- 10.2.1.h. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including
stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity
band independently and proficiently. (CCSS: RL.9-10.10)
- 10.3.1.a. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event
sequences. (CCSS: W.9-10.3)
- 10.3.1.c. Use a variety of strategies to evaluate whether the writing is presented
in a creative and reflective manner (e.g., reading the draft aloud, seeking
feedback from a reviewer, scoring guides)

Activities (3-5)
1. Book Speed Dating (adapted from 180 Days by Kittle and Gallagher)
There is a pile of books at every table. Students walk in and choose a
seat, when class starts they will be able to move around and read the
backs of books or maybe the first few pages. They will (bring or be
provided [I like to think that budgets are higher than they are…]) daily
notebooks, we will start using them on day one. They will keep a “want to
read” section or list, during the speed dating, students are encouraged to
write down titles that are interesting to them. After speed dating is over,
they will have 10 minutes to read a book that they found.
2. Track Your Thinking Worksheet (adapted from 180 Days by Kittle and Gallagher)
Even though students are working with independent reading books to
start the year, that doesn’t mean we can’t start crafting the habits of mind
we are expecting out of them as readers. The track your thinking
worksheet/sentence starters found in 180 Days is an activity that I would
 like to use with my students during this first unit. Some of the questions
on the sheet are as follows:
- Track your confusion
- What techniques/moves does the writer make
- “This passage makes me think that ______”
Since I want them to remain excited about reading a choice novel, we
won’t do any activity with it until the second week.
3. “Writing Connected to Place” (Adapted from 180 Days by Kittle and Gallagher)
For this, we read poems from Many-Storied House by George Ella Lyon
and begin to write down places and items within our homes that hold
memories and stories. Once students have a decent list of places they’ve
lived and items they own, they will sketch it out. If they are still on the
place, they will draw a floorplan, but if they know they want to write about
a particular room they just focus on that room. From their sketches, they
write in narrative form a scene or description of the memories associated.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

For this unit, I will not be scoring their culminating assignment for proficiency or a
grade not based on completion. This unit is for feedback and pre-assessment,
not a big grade.

During this time, I will meet with all of the students and gauge their reading
history. Do they read on their own time? When was the last time they read a
book? How many have they read? I will also inquire about the book that they
chose to read for independent reading. Recording it and making sure to check
back in with them later. I will also let them know that if they don’t like the book
they initially chose, they can choose another one.
I will also lead the class in getting their reading rate during this first unit.

Texts/Materials

- “Where I’m From” George Ella Lyon

- Poems from Many-Storied House by George Ella Lyon (mentor idea taken from
180 Days by Kittle and Gallagher)
- “Who am I” Essay Examples

Skills I Plan to Highlight

In this unit, I am trying to understand the skills that they have. This unit is also all
about building stamina as readers, and getting books into the hands of students.

Unit Two- “Narrative”

Whole Class Book 1 and Intro to Book Clubs

We are starting the year with our first big unit being narrative. This is the longest unit out
of the year, and that is because narrative sets us up for the whole year. It begins to develop a lot
of the skills that are needed in information and argumentative writing, but in a more digestible
format. It is important for students to be immersed in mentor texts, so we will be using our whole
class and book club books as mentors throughout. As well as other supporting mentors.

Colorado Common Core Standards

- 10.2.1. Reading for All Purposes - Prepared Graduates: Read a wide range of
literature (American and world literature) to understand important universal
themes and the human experience
- 10.2.1.d. Evaluate the contribution to society made by traditional, classic, and
contemporary works of literature that deal with similar topics and problems
- 10.2.2.e. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the
cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the
language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). (CCSS: RI.9-10.4)
- 10.3.1.a. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event
sequences. (CCSS: W.9-10.3)
- 10.3.3.e. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most
significant for a specific purpose and audience. (CCSS: W.9-10.5)

Activities
1. Seeding: “Mountains and Pebbles” (Adapted from Kelly Burns)
This activity is a great way to get students thinking about what they can
and want to write about. The way it works is students draw a T-chart in
their writers notebook and label one side “Mountain” and one side
“Pebble.” For some students it will be easier to go straight to the pebble,
the small moment, activity, memory that they can write a narrative about.
However, for most students they will need to first think of big ideas that
they can pull those smaller ones out of. This will resurface in the
information unit when we list the topics that we care enough to research
and write about. For that reason, it is important that this is done in their
writer’s notebook. For the more visual students, they have the ability to
add art into this activity by drawing a mountain and placing the big ideas
on the mountain with pebbles scattered throughout.
2. Seeding: “Scars” Activity (Adapted from 180 Days by Kittle and Gallagher)
This activity comes up in 180 Days on page 145.
To begin this, students are asked to list their memories about events that
have happened in their lives. After this initial listing activity, there will be a
handout with an outline of a person. They will be asked to make it them.
Adding their hair, eyes, clothes, whatever they feel makes them, them
(visually, of course). When they are done with that, students will mark on
their drawing where they have scars, both emotional and physical, and
how they got them. This is not only a seeding and writing exercise, but it
is also an exercise of vulnerability. Therefore, modeling this with students
is important in two ways: model the writing and model the vulnerability.
Asking students to be vulnerable with us and their peers isn’t fair if we
aren’t willing to also exhibit that vulnerability.
From their drawing of their scars, they will pick one and draft a scene
around what happened. Through the first couple of weeks, we will be
gathering many scene drafts in order for them to have a good amount to
choose from when we enter elaboration and multi-scene drafting.
 3. Elaboration: “Internal and External Mountains” (Adapted from Kelly Burns)
Once students have a few rough drafts to get them started, they will
choose one to bring to publication (they can always start one in this
phase of elaboration and change their mind later, make sure to share
this). Before they are sent off to create multi-scene narrative pieces, I
want them to practice expanding, elaborating, and finding the heart. One
way to do that is by bringing back mountains, something already used in
this unit. This time it is internal and external mountains. Students will draw
a mountain in their notebook, and on the outside, they will list what is
happening on the surface of their story. On the inside, they will write what
is happening below the surface. This will lead them to finding a theme,
message, or “heart” of their story. There will be a mini-lesson surrounding
how to identify theme in your story for the class with regular follow-up
conferencing.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

That being said, there will be many opportunities for feedback, both from peers
and from myself. At the end of week one I will want to see the work that they did
with our description exercises in class. This will be informal assessment of where
they are at the beginning, and how the lessons are helping them, or not. At the
end of week two, their seeding work will need to be turned in. There will be
prompts for them to write to in class, that I expect them to put effort into. Their
end of unit final essay could, and probably should, come from these seeds.
Therefore, in order for them to stay on track, they should be completing this work.
At the end of week three, a working draft will need to be submitted. I am not
expecting a perfect piece of writing. I am wanting to give students feedback at
this point in order to ensure they are heading in the right direction. This will be for
participation and completion points only. Then, between this and when their best
draft is due and we hold a celebration party, I want them to be revising, editing,
and elaborating. There will be many activities to guide them through this and
scaffold the work for them. I will hold conferencing with groups of students or with
individual students a couple times a week, at least.

Texts/Materials
- Whole Class Book: Woman Warrior, memoir by Maxine Hong Kingston
- Book Club Books: [Most Books in this Book Club are YA] Between Shades of
Grey historical fiction by Ruta Sepetys, Endangered realistic fiction by Eliot
Schrefer, If You Could Be Mine coming-of-age by Sara Farizan, Kite Runner
historical fiction by Khaled Hosseini, Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted
Chinese Daughter memoir/historical by Adeline Yen Mah, Bronx Masquerade YA
realistic fiction mix of prose and poetry by Nikki Grimes
- “Everything Will Be Okay” by James Howe
- Excerpts from The House on Mango Street, coming-of-age novel by Sandra
Cisneros
- “Funeral” short story by Ralph Fletcher
- “Last Kiss” short story by Ralph Fletcher
- The Extra Gum Ad: Extra Gum: The Story of Sarah & Juan, video

Skills I Plan to Highlight

In this unit, I plan to highlight students’ development, organizational, structural,
 and figurative language skills. I will also have students have a “writing partner” to
receive and give feedback. In this unit, students’ collaboration and feedback skills
will be strengthened as well.

Unit Three - “Poetry and Song”

Song writing is poetry writing, and many students may not realize this. They are
surrounded by poetry every day. In this unit, we will work towards identifying the moves that
writers make in poetry and them using them in our own writing. At the end of the unit, they will
perform the song for the class (no singing necessary).

Colorado Common Core Standards

- 10.1.1.d. Rehearse the presentation to gain fluency, to adjust tone and modulate
volume for emphasis, and to develop poise
- 10.2.1.b. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the
text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language
evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone). (CCSS:
RL.9-10.4)
- 10.2.3.b. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings. (CCSS: L.9-10.5)
- 10.3.1.b. Write literary and narrative texts using a range of stylistic

Activities
1. “What Makes You Say That” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart,
Church, and Morrison)
“What Makes You Say That” is a habit of mind more than it is an activity.
However, I have adapted it to be an activity for the poetry unit.
Students will be presented with a poem from our whole class text, The
Rose That Grew From Concrete, and they will have to figure out what is
going on in the poem. Using their skills of identifying figurative language,
theme, etc., students will come to a conclusion about what is going on in
the poem individually. They will then pair up with their shoulder partner
and practice asking open ended questions to make sure that their partner
has cited the poem as evidence for why they are making the argument
that they are. One of these starting questions will be, “what makes you
say that?” For me as their teacher, this is something I will practice
whenever students make an interpretation or argument - always asking
why.
2. “Claim-Support-Question” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart,
Church, and Morrison)
This is very similar to the previous activity; however it is a little more
structured. Students will be presented with a poem, “To The Engraver of
My Skin” without the title included. They will read the poem with a partner
and together come up with some “claim” about what they think the poem
is about. They will then have to find support for that claim. They will be
asked to annotate the poem and utilize background knowledge (explicitly,
so stating that they hold this claim because they have seen XYZ before)
in order to support their claim. The way that this one goes one step further
 than the previous activity is by including the “question” part. Students will
have to make a claim, support it with evidence, and then question their
own claim. They will have to find holes in their arguments, or maybe find
evidence for another perspective they hadn’t considered. They will also
be asked for what other information they might need in order to have a
stronger argument.
The title will then be revealed and they will group up with another pair and
discuss how that, if that, changes their claim.
3. “Found Poetry” (Adapted from Jennifer Solt, Thompson Valley HS)
Found poetry is an engaging way to introduce poetry that doesn’t begin
with conventions and allows students to get up and move around.
Students will get with a partner and take pictures of words or phrases
around the classroom (maybe around the school?) and compile them into
a poem. This will be turned in at the end of the class period(s), but only
for completion grade in order to ensure that they are staying on task.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

The main culminating project for this unit will be to create a song. Students will
not be graded on whether or not I “like” the song. They will be graded on how
well they can identify moves poets/musicians make and them use them in their
songs. They will also create one “traditional” poem in addition to their song. This
will allow for me to see whether or not students understand the conventions and
rules of poetry in order for them to break those rules in experimental poetry/song
writing. During this unit, they will create poems daily using the technique that we
studied during class. After each week, I will collect their notebooks and see that
they are completing the work. I will also give them feedback about how they are
using the moves/techniques. I will conference with students in pairs at the
beginning of the song writing as well as near the end.

Texts/Materials
- Book Club Books: [Most Books in this Book Club are YA] Between Shades of
Grey historical fiction by Ruta Sepetys, Endangered realistic fiction by Eliot
Schrefer, If You Could Be Mine coming-of-age by Sara Farizan, Kite Runner
historical fiction by Khaled Hosseini, Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted
Chinese Daughter memoir/historical by Adeline Yen Mah, Bronx Masquerade YA
realistic fiction mix of prose and poetry by Nikki Grimes
- Whole Class Book 2: The Rose That Grew From Concrete poetry by Tupac
Shakur
- “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” poem by Maya Angelou
- “3 Ways to Speak English” spoken word by Jamila Lyiscott
- “Let Her Go” song by Passenger
- “To the Engraver of My Skin” by Mark Doty

Skills I Plan to Highlight

In this unit, I plan to highlight students’ creative abilities by introducing song
writing into a poetry unit. I am also trying to show students how poetry is still
relevant and pertinent to their lives and to our culture. Through song and through
culturally relevant poems. I also want to highlight students’ abilities to collaborate.
Unit Four - “Information”

Seeing as though this class is paired with the AP World History class, preparing students
to write a “classic” information piece is important. Therefore, in this unit, there will be two big
projects turned in for grades: an information essay and a presentation of that information.
Students will need to do research into a topic that matters to them, cite sources and create an
information essay. The way that they present this to the class, however, can come in any form
that they think fits their topic. They will have the opportunity to write it in the form of a Yelp
review and share it with the class, make a YouTube video, an infographic, the list goes on. I
want for them to have the skills and foundations needed to write information, and also I want
them to be able to be creative when it comes to how they share it.

Colorado Common Core Standards

- 10.1.1.a. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly,
concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and
the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose,
audience, and task. (CCSS: SL.9-10.4)
- 10.2.2.a. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what
the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS: RI.9-
10.1)
- 10.4.2.a. Analyze the logic (including assumptions and beliefs) and use of
evidence (existing and missing information, primary sources, and secondary
sources) used by two or more authors presenting similar or opposing arguments
(such as articles by two political columnists that address the same issue)
- 10.3.2.a. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex
ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective
selection, organization, and analysis of content. (CCSS: W.9- 10.2)

Activities
1. “Circle of Viewpoints” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible)
When it comes to understanding informational writing, understanding the
perspectives of the writer and everyone else involved in the piece is a
very important skill for students to develop and strengthen. The Circle of
Viewpoints activity is an into to that. When we first use this strategy, it will
be with an image of a forest fire in CO a few years ago. The image
features the fire, trees, and animals (I can’t for the life of me find it, but I
know someone who has it saved, it will be uploaded soon!). The writing
activity that will follow will be students choosing a perspective and writing
about what that viewpoint would be thinking, feeling, experiencing during
the fire. It doesn’t have to be an animal, it can be the smoke, or the grass,
students get really creative here!
This activity will be introduced later in the unit, again, with an information
article. They will need to use this skill to try to understand how the varying
viewpoints would interpret the situation. It also lends the students to
understanding biases.
2. “Claim-Support-Question” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart,
Church, and Morrison)
This is making another appearance in the information unit. This time,
students will know how it works, and they will have to apply that
knowledge to multiple articles about the same topic, from different sides.
 They will have to identify the author’s claim, their support, and then they
will have to question the author’s claim. Doing this repeatedly strengthens
students’ critical thinking skills, especially when applied to information
texts that, typically, have a bias leaning one way or another. Whether
students agree with one another, or me for that matter, isn’t the point
here. The point is to strengthen their questioning and evidence collecting
skills.
3. “Red Light, Yellow Light” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible)
This is another activity to help students determine the credibility of a
source. Students will be given red/pink, yellow, and green sticky notes.
Prior to this activity, we will have a mini-lesson about how to identify
unreliable sources. When they are given the articles, their job will be to
use the green sticky notes for reasons why they believe a source is
credible, the yellow sticky notes to mark when they’re not sure and why
and the red ones for when they see something that is a red flag, nope, not
reliable. Their sticky notes will then be used to craft a class tool of “What
to Look for in Sources” in our writers notebooks and on a wall in the
classroom.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

In this unit, only the two final projects (the essay and the presentation of the
findings) will be graded. There will be many opportunities for feedback. I will also
scaffold this assignment by having students turn in parts of the project at a time.
This will be for feedback and participation points only. I will conference a lot with
students during this unit. At the start of the unit, I will meet with everyone to ask
what they are going to be researching. I will meet with them routinely throughout
the year. I will also meet with groups to have mini-lessons on skills they are
struggling with. When the essay is finished and we are moving into presentation,
I will group students based on how they will be presenting the information. This is
so that they are in a group that might be going through the same struggles.

Texts/Materials
- Book Club 2 (Salt to the Sea historical fiction by Ruta Sepetys, Across the
Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border autobiography by Luis
Alberto Urrea, Purple Hibiscus a fiction novel by Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie, All Quiet on the Western Front historical fiction by Erich Maria
Remarque, I am Malala a memoir by Christina Lamb and Malala
Yousafzai, Education of Margot Sanchez coming-of-age YA novel by
Lilliam Rivera)
- “The Cost of Raising a Child” - USDA
- “If the World Were 100 People” - infographic
- Google Reviews
- Poems from When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders
collection of poetry written by J. Patrick Lewis
- Coming up with texts for this unit was difficult because I want my
information mentors to be relevant. But this is a good start

Skills I Plan to Highlight

In this unit, I want to highlight students’ ability to recognize false information. I
want them to know what makes a source reliable. I will also be strengthening
their voice that we worked on developing during narrative. Information doesn’t
 need to be, and probably shouldn’t be, void of voice. I want students to start to
see how all these units start to weave into one another. I also want to highlight
students’ synthesizing and presentation skills. Everyone might choose a different
mode of presenting their information, but they are all demonstrating that skill.

Unit Five - “Digital”

In this unit, students will choose a platform to tell a story, convey information, or be
autobiographical and share about their lives. We are combining all the skills that we learned in
fall semester here so that students are eased back into the semester, and are reminded of what
we were learning before break, before we start argument. This unit will have many small digital
aspects turned in for feedback.

Colorado Common Core Standards

- 10.3.3.f. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity
to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
(CCSS: W.9-10.6)
- 10.2.1.g. Explain the relationship between author’s style
and literary effect.Dr. Pam Coke, CSU)
- 10.1.1.d. Rehearse the presentation to gain fluency, to adjust tone and modulate
volume for emphasis, and to develop poise

Activities
1. “Mind Mapping” (Adapted from Dr. Pam Coke, CSU)
In order to get students to pick a topic that they haven’t written before and
that they are passionate enough to write about, students will do their own
individual mind mapping in their notebooks. I will model this in front of the
class. The middle box will say “Digital Project” or unit, ideas, drafting,
mapping? and students will draw lines out from those boxes with ideas
that they had in their narrative/information units that they didn’t write
about. This way, they already have their topics listed for them and they
can obviously add more and they can move into what about those topics
they want to talk about. This is a seeding activity when used in this way.
2. Storyboarding
Even if students aren’t creating a video, they can benefit from
storyboarding. Students who are more visual in nature can sketch out
their ideas, while students who do better with writing can do that as well.
This leaves room for everyone to be able to plan in a way that works for
them, while also keeping in mind the flow of their product.
One way this could look for someone using adobe spark could be taping
multiple pieces of paper together to make them longer (this make sense if
you have used adobe spark) and highlighting what information they want
to go where. They have the ability to draw in graphs/videos that they want
to include as well as draft out chunks of text.
This will be turned in for feedback and completion points before they get
to actually using the digital platform.
3. “KWL”
We will go through many platforms together in class. They will keep track
of them through a KWL (know, want to know, learned) chart in their
 notebook. They will also be able to fill these out about their topic. KWLs
are used a lot in schools, so it should be a digestible format for students
to keep track of where they want to go with their project.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

Formal assessment in this unit will, again, be twofold. Students will need to
submit their work to me and also present it to the class. Having an outside
audience for students is important to show them that their writing matters when
they leave the class, too. I am struggling with what audience would be
appropriate for this unit. I will have them first turn in a written outline/draft of what
they plan on doing. This will be for completion points and feedback. When they
turn it into the digital piece, I will be assessing that for content. There will be lots
of workshop time in class for this piece, seeing as though students using similar
platforms will benefit from having each other as resources. I will also conference
with each student 2-4 times, time depending, throughout the unit. Definitely at the
beginning and definitely near the end. I will group students up together based on
similar projects so that they have one another for feedback.

Texts/Materials
- Whole class book 3: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian YA
coming-of-age novel by Sherman Alexie
- Adam Ruins Everything
- “Criminal: Episode 1” podcast
- Adobe Spark Examples
- Lyric Videos

Skills I Plan to Highlight

In this unit, I plan to highlight students’ technological and synthesizing skills. We
are using the digital unit to combine all that we learned in the fall semester, and
prepare for the spring semester ahead. Students will have the choice of platform,
content, and style. Whatever the students choose, the skills they strengthened
during the narrative and information units will be showcased in this unit. They will
also be working on their collaboration skills. I will group them up based on
platform, content, and/or type of writing they will be completing.

Unit Six - “Argument”

In this unit, students will be encouraged to stick with a topic that they have been
researching (they will be told this in previous units) and craft an argument piece. Students will
learn the differences and similarities between information and argument and how they often
overlap. To begin the unit, students will write short argument essays about their book club
books. This will be used a pre-assessment for me to gauge where they are in their
understanding of argument. Their final, culminating project will be an argument piece featuring a
call to action, about a topic/issue of their choosing. Argument is next in my teaching comp class,
so this portion will be updated within the month with specific how tos. I will find audiences
outside of the school to share their argument pieces with depending on their content choice.

Colorado Common Core Standards (2-3)

- 10.1.2.a. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10
 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own
clearly and persuasively. (CCSS: SL.9-10.1)
- 10.2.2.e. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the
cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the
language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). (CCSS: RI.9-10.4)
- 10.3.3.d. 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 expectations 1–2 above.)
(CCSS: W.9-10.4)
- 10.4.1.b. . Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital
sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each
source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text
selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a
standard format for citation. (CCSS: W.9-10.8)

Activities
- “Chalk Talk” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart, Church, and
Morrison)
After we watch “Why I Hate School but Love Education,” there will be
prompts on the whiteboard/papers around the room. The prompts will be
position based (an example would be: Breaks is correct in his statement
that education is valuable but school is not). Students will walk around the
room and respond to the prompt directly, or to the comment of another
student. The one thing that they have to include is a why. They must back
up their position with evidence. This can be personal anecdote, evidence
from the video, or background knowledge. Each student will get a
different colored marker/sticky note and they will write down what color
they are so that it can remain mostly anonymous, but I can keep track of
participation. After the silent discussion, we will have a whole class
discussion about what positions we took and why. This prepares students
for making arguments and backing them up with support.
- “I used to think… Now I think…” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible by
Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison)
They are reading book club books during this unit. As they get close to
finishing the books, they will write one paragraph as an exit ticket about
what they used to think about (insert topic of book here), and how their
views have changed, if they have changed, and why or why not.
- “Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies” (Adapted from Dr. Pam Coke, CSU)
We will be reading argumentative pieces throughout the unit. For this
activity, students will record their thoughts, questions, and epiphanies
surrounding one text in particular. Their TQEs can be related to the
content or the form, as we will be focusing on how the articles convey
information as well as what that information is. After they have time to
individually annotate and record their noticings, students will pair up and
compare their thoughts, discussing the similarities and differences. They
will then report out to the class the 1-2 most important findings or
questions that they identified.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

 For this unit, they will turn in a short argument essay as a pre-unit assessment. I
want to know where they all are when it comes to argument so that I know where
to go. This will be for feedback and participation points only. I will not grade for
content anything I consider to be a preassessment. I will use the preassessment
as a marker for assessing progress with the final project. I will also have students
form groups that they want to be their “Workshop Group.” They will be assessed
(informally) on how well they work in the group. An individual self-assessment will
be given at the end of the unit.

Texts/Materials
- Book club 3 (Like Water for Chocolate magical realism by Laura Esquivel,
Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. autobiographical by Luis J.
Rodriguez, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe YA coming-of-age by
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, American Born Chinese graphic novel by Gene Luen
Yang, Sold realistic fiction by Patricia McCormick)
- TED Talks
- “Why I Hate School but Love Education” spoken word by Suli Breaks
- “How to Live” poem by Charles Harper Webb
- “20 things we should say more often” YouTube Video by Kid President

Skills I Plan to Highlight

In this unit, I will be highlighting students’ abilities to gather information, cite
sources, collaborate in workshop, and understand and use tone in their piece
intently while considering their audience. This unit is really a culmination of all the
skills we have been learning all year. I want to see what they have learned and
how they can put it to use.

Unit Seven - “Multi-Genre Project”

This is the last unit of the year, and the last original project they will need to turn in (their
portfolio is a work in progress all year). That means that this is how they demonstrate to me the
learning that they have done all year. I want to see some portion of every unit that we have
covered, narrative, poetry, information, digital, and argument. How that looks (whether or not
they combine elements or if each aspect has its own product) is up to them. I want them to
continue to write about something they care about and in the forms that they found to be best
for them. I want them to be as creative with this as they want to be. Our final class novel during
this unit is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I will use this novel as a model for how to blend
different styles.

Colorado Common Core Standards (2-3)

- 10.2.1.g. Explain the relationship between author’s style and literary effect.
- 10.2.2.e. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the
cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the
language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). (CCSS: RI.9-10.4)
- 10.3.1.d. . Revise texts using feedback to enhance the effect on the reader and
clarify the presentation of implicit or explicit theme
- 10.3.3.c. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in
different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening. (CCSS: L.9-10.3)
Activities
- “Power Writing” (Adapted from Jennifer Solt, Thompson Valley HS)
During the beginning of this unit, Power Writing will serve as the warm-up
for multiple days. Power writing is when students are given 1-3 minutes to
respond to a prompt, video, quote, etc. in their writers notebook. This
activity is a way to overcome writer's block, get ideas flowing, and craft
seeds for further development. The purpose of using this activity in this
unit is to ignite student’s creativity, allowing for them to have staring place
to develop their multi-genre project.
- Character ABCs
During this unit, we will be reading our last whole class novel, The Hate U
Give by Angie Thomas. One activity to work on characterization is
Character ABC’s. Students will be given a handout with 6 empty boxes
and a character list at the top. The students must pick a character and 6
character traits all starting with different letter. For example, they could
choose brave, compassionate and leader, but could not pick smart, silly
and strong. They must also include textual evidence to explain why they
are assigning these traits to their specific character. They will then group
up with others who chose the same character, and create a visual
representation of their character. They will present to the class and then
we will move on.
- “Concept Mapping” (Adapted from Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart, Church,
and Morrison)
Once they have a topic picked out for their multi-genre project, students
will map out what they want to include and how they want it to look. This
will include their platform, content style, and the
organization/development they are hoping to achieve via their platform.
This will assist students in generating, sorting, connecting, and
elaborating on their ideas. Because this style of project will most likely be
new to most students, I want to give them ample opportunity to draft and
organize in-class in an attempt to eliminate roadblocks from their path.

Balance Feedback and Evaluation

I will be collecting their work in progress every week. Since this is their last big
project, I want them to be able to get as much feedback as possible. I will also be
conferencing with 6 students a day for a week, while keeping the rest of my time
open to confer with students on an as needed basis. I will be looking at their work
from the beginning of the year and assessing how much progress they have
made throughout the year. This will be considered in the grade for this project.

Texts/Materials
- Whole class book 4: Hate U Give, realistic fiction/coming-of-age YA novel by
Angie Thomas
- “A Love Letter from a Toothbrush to a Bicycle Tire” by Sarah Kay
- “Serial: Season 3 Episode 1” podcast
- “How to Overcome Our Biases? We Walk Boldly Toward Them” TED Talk by
Verna Myers
- “Tupac Shakur, 25, Rap Performer Who Personified Violence, Dies” NYT Article
- Onion Articles
- Finding mentors for this one was also difficult! I found myself constantly saying,
 “well, it depends on what the students are doing.” So much of teaching is in flux
and dependent on students.

Skills I Plan to Highlight

This really serves at their final project. While they have their portfolio and a
chance to revise and turn in their best pieces, this is the last end of unit
culminating project. Therefore, there are so many skills to highlight in this unit. A
semi-complete list follows:
- Figurative and rhetorical language comprehension and utilization
- Information gathering: making sure their sources are cited properly and
that their sources are reliable
- Technological skills
- Collaboration skills
- Creative abilities
- Development and organization skills
- Ability to craft narrative, poetry, informational, and argumentative pieces