Running head: COMMUNITY NARRATIVE 1

Community Narrative Project Proposal

Jennifer Valencia

Arizona State University

TEL 311: Instrctn/Mgmt in Inclusive Cls

Professor Weiner

24 November, 2019
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Abstract

This paper proposes a junior high project that will be implemented over the course of fifteen, 40

minute class sessions. This project requires students to use the narratives read in class to develop

their own narrative. The students will work to develop their own concept of community within

different aspects of their lives. This development will be fostered by in class sessions and

teacher-directed prompts. The students will be given different means in which they can express

what each concept of community means to them. By exploring what community is to them in

every aspect of their lives, students will be able to recognize their place in their community and

select an issue that they would like to focus more on for their project. In recognizing their own

place in their community and through research of their chosen community issues they will be

able to answer how they can affect their community for the better. The prompts should lead

students in the direction that they would like to take, as they are free and encouraged to take

creative freedom for their project. The students will be creating an online profile on a blog

platform where they will upload all of the components of their work. Every student will have

access to all of their classmates’ work to view the end result, thus fostering a safe, community of

learning among their peers.

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Narrative Soundtrack Project Proposal

Introduction

This paper will provide an overview of the applicant, their qualifications and reasons for

wanting to implement their project. It will also cover teaching philosophy and beliefs on project

based learning. Information about the applicant’s school area demographics will be discussed,

including the average socioeconomic status of the average population, education levels, and a

break down of race in the area.

Applicant Narrative

My name is Jennifer Valencia and this is my third year teaching English at Rhodes Junior

High School, within the Mesa Public Schools School District. My main focus through college

and even now, while teaching at Rhodes, has been the importance of social emotional support

that students receive in schools. That is part of the reason I was excited to work with the Rhodes

team. I wanted to bring in everything I had learned to empower and uplift students so that they

can succeed in their academics. I seek to empower young students through language and

literature; to broaden their worldview. I also work to strengthen our kids' individuality and arm

them with the knowledge and skills necessary to take on today's world. I teach to inspire our

future leaders and foster a community of self aware, independent and innovative thinkers. I also

believe that teachers are responsible for cultivating a positive classroom environment for their

students. In return, students should feel comfortable enough to be inquisitive out loud and a help

to their peers. In my classroom, like in any classroom, I think it is very important to promote

diversity, understanding and compassion, and a sense of global awareness. This is generally done

through the literature that the standards have students read, but I do want to bring a creative
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narrative project into my classroom to give the students a chance to express themselves

creatively, while also learning about famous narratives and how they can impact their

community. This process will allow them to see what a strong narrative can do for themselves

and for the world.

I have seen first hand how project based learning has helped the students at Rhodes. They

become so much more engaged, they enjoy what they are doing and learning happens at their

fingertips. Learning becomes more of a self discovery, with a teacher there to guide them, rather

than the teacher being the information feeder. Students get to collaborate and realize that they

know more and are capable of a lot more than they believe themselves to be. The students

receive laptops at the start of the year and they have to take their standard assessments through a

system called “Summit”. Other than them using that as a means of technology, my students do

not get to work with it a whole lot. Most of the technology integration for the classroom comes

from me presenting powerpoints, running polls they get to answer from their computer or

playing games like Kahoot!. I would love to allow my students the opportunity to develop their

technology skills that they will need in order to be successful self directed learners and

communicators in the 21st century.

School Environment

Rhodes Junior High School is one of eighty-seven schools within the Mesa Public

Schools school district, eleven of which are junior high schools. Rhodes Junior High is located in

a zip code where the average income is around 46,000 dollars (​U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). It is

also listed that 87.1% of the population are high school graduates or higher and 19.2% of the

population are living below poverty ​(​U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The census 2010 has the
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population listed as 37,275 and of those people, 29,703 are white alone, 11,426 are

Hispanic/Latino, 2,271 are American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 2,003 are some other race

alone, and 1,764 are Black or African-American alone ​(​U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). When

compared to other schools in the district, Rhodes has a smaller average income as well as a

smaller percentage of highschool graduates and their poverty population is generally higher.

Rhodes is listed as a Title I school so this is recognized on a federal level, which means that they

generally have less access to resources and it becomes a little more difficult to ensure that they

are well supported in their education.

Rhodes Junior High School is a school that focuses on the social and emotional

development of the students as well as focuses on creating self-directed learners. They have

created five interdisciplinary teams that all work together to focus on academic improvement

while creating a well rounded student. Rhodes also uses restorative justice practices when it

comes to behavior adjustments. We try to focus on what comes after a student acts out; what did

they do, how will they learn from it, and how can we keep them in school to help them. It has

become more direct between students and teachers rather than sending students to the principal’s

office or having them fulfill a punishment that serves no purpose. By giving students a project

where they get to explore their narrative, I believe it will become a good outlet for them to

explore everything that they have going on outside of school. Not only would we be covering

standards, but we would also be cultivating a community that embraces a child’s creative

thoughts.
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Summary of Project and Impact

Overview

This project, the Community Narrative will tell the stories of the 8th grade students at

Rhodes Junior High School. The project will require students to take a deeper look at their

communities, their roles within those communities and how the students can impact them. The

entry event will consist of a discussion between students about the definitions of narrative and

community. They will be placed in groups based on what community they say they belong to.

From there, students will be assigned roles in their discussion groups and they will have guiding

questions, and then present their discoveries to the class at the end. This entry event is meant to

get students thinking about their communities and the roles that they hold within them. After

this, students will get a prompt every week that will ask them about what community looks like

in different settings, such as their school, their neighborhood, and culture. These prompts are

meant to guide them every week so that they can go out into the field and note observations to

fulfil their research question, which they will come up with. Their research question is what will

guide their narrative.

Need

Rhodes Junior High has a poverty population that is generally higher than its neighboring

schools and they also have a high population of Hispanic/Latino students. These students go

through a lot in their home lives, a lot of them even bring their trauma to the school and

sometimes it becomes difficult to separate their two lives. That is why a project like this is

needed so that the students at Rhodes have an outlet to speak and voice their experience and

thoughts into. The principal has mentioned that the school is a trauma school and they focus a lot
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on social emotional learning and restorative justice. A lot of the teaching has to do with the

development of the student as a whole, and that is what this project would help to do. It is

important to give students this outlet and help them self reflect about their place in different

communities and how they can have a direct impact on each of them.

Project Impact

The initial student impact should be about ninety students, as those are the ones currently

in the classroom. Within the next two to three years I expect about three hundred students

impacted, depending on the class size each year as well as how many periods are involved each

year. The project is meant to develop student writing along with their sense of community and

individualism. The students will have a lot of opportunities for discussion, to practice their public

speaking and developing research questions. They will get to go out in the field of their choice to

gather evidence/perspectives for their community narrative and this will help them to develop

their sense of self within their community.

This project will develop over time and get better, especially if teachers collaborate to

share ideas on questions to ask the students or activities to better engage them. For myself, it will

allow for the development of my questioning skills. I have initial questions that I will ask the

students, however as we get further into the project I will have to come up with more questions

that can guide the students. As I have it now, I don't know how the students will answer or react,

so as I get more experience with this project, I will be able to serve my students better in regards

to questions that help guide them, as well as answers that are actually helpful.

By the end of this project, students should have a better connection to their community.

For their research, students will have to take a look at an issue within their chosen community
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and develop ways to help them, in doing this, they will also be able to realize the impact that

they can have on their community, not just to benefit the community, but also themselves

because they are a part of it. The community will benefit through unity. The students will be able

to look at an issue within their community and research how to help it. Through doing this,

students will gain a broader perspective that they will then be able to share with their

community. This will educate them on the given topic, though when looking at the issues

students chose to look into, we must ensure that the information is presented in a helpful,

unbiased manner. These topics should be treated with sensitivity since we cannot anticipate

every reaction from the audience. It will also help promote unity within the school as they

develop their research question and find out more about their communities.

Project Narrative

Learning Goals and Outcomes

The main essential question that will be driving students is “how can we impact our

community?” I would also want to include the elements of narrative writing that I want to ensure

my students learn about and that they can incorporate into their writing during this project. Once

we get through the first day of introductions, I will also have a day where I do a mini lesson on

narratives and the different techniques they can use to write their own. Students should be able to

conduct research whether that is through surveys, interviews or literature, therefore fulfilling

Common Core State Standards 7.W.7, 7.W.8 and 7.W.9. Their final product will also be able to

address the Arizona Career and College Ready Standards 1A, 1B and through the process,

students will need to collaborate in groups and that will address standard 2A. Students will work

in groups in the opening activity, to identify with a community and then they will discuss key
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characterics of that community. Students will remain in these groups for the project to have them

as an additional resource for insight on their community, but each student will need to have their

own individual narrative.

Every week students will have a driving question, such as “What does community look

like in your country? What does community look like in your state? What does community look

like in your school? What does community look like in your extracurriculars? What does

community look like in your family? What does community look like in your belief system?”

These guiding questions will get students thinking about unity and it will also make them think

about their place within that community and how they can impact them. I will have students add

these journal entries to their online google folder so that I can have quick access to them and

check for mastery on Common Core State Standard 7.W.4, 7.W.5 and 7.W.6

Description of Learning Activities

Students will receive two in class days where they will have the opportunity to work on

their projects. I will plan for a writing activity on Mondays and then a discussion activity on

Fridays. On Mondays students will begin class by working on that week’s journal entry: “what

does community mean…”. Once they complete their writing assignment, students will get with

their groups and have a guided discussion based on their journal entry for the week. They should

also use this group time to come up with guiding questions for the research that they will conduct

for that week. On Fridays, students will work in groups again to go over their findings from the

week. They will be able to discuss similarities, differences within the community and other

details they found. The first session should really only be observations, since this is what they

will use to decide what issue they would like to focus on. From there, their group discussions
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should vary because they will all have different areas of focus. A more in depth and detailed list

of activities over a ten day period can be found in the “Tables” section below as “Table 2”.

The first couple of sessions will rely on direct instruction because I want to present the

narrative to the students and the different techniques that they can use. After these sessions, the

days will rely heavily on cooperative learning because I want students to use their class time to

work with their groups, and experiential learning will guide the learning outside the classroom.

Assessment

Student work will be checked at the end of each session to monitor progress and

completion. On the first day, I will use a think-pair- share so that they can discuss what was

presented to them. Once we start the journal entries and discussion circles, I want students to

write down in detail what they went over in that discussion. I will use a 3-2-1 chart, where

students will need to note down 3 main ideas they discussed in the group, 2 things they found

interesting/had not thought of, and 1 new question to look into and discuss the next time that they

meet. I will also be grading their work but only as checkpoints to make sure that they are

completing the work on time and that they are headed in the right direction. I only plan to have

one summative assessment for the students and that will be at the end; students will need to put

together a portfolio for guests to go through while they are presenting their community narrative.

These are two separate things being graded but they are part of the final product.

Technology Support

Students will have daily access to chromebooks since they are provided by the school.

This is where they will be completing most if not all of their assignments. Their journal entries,

daily closure activities, drafts of their narratives and any other notes that they take will be done
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on Google Drive. This way they have access to it at home and I can also look at it as they are

working and check for completion. Having it on Google Drive will also allow for peer editing, so

that students can suggest edits, add comments and so that it is simple for them to resolve.

I do not really anticipate technology being a big problem or obstacle because students are

provided with chromebooks for the year, so students have access to their work at all times.

Sustaining the Project after the Proposal Period

For the proposal period I will only use this project for two of my classes, but as it

continues, I would like to eventually be able to have all of my classes working on it. Depending

on how the first year goes, I would like to make this an all group project, so that students can

collaborate all the way through, or maybe I’ll find out that having individual narrative

presentation works best. I would also want to be able to bring together two different classes,

(with a different teacher) within the same period to allow for a wider perspective. I would also

want to provide community organizations that work with the issues my students choose that way

they can have more guidance and insight to programs and solutions. I also think a parent or

community workshop once or twice within the sessions would be beneficial so that they know

what it is that we are doing in the classroom, and they could even get involved with a student’s

or group’s project.

Innovation

This project is centered on self directed learning. I will be there to guide students, help

facilitate their discussions and give them the essential question, but everything else will be

chosen and lead by them: their community, their discussion questions and their research

questions. They will also have the creative freedom to decide how they want to present their
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narrative. This will help students become independent as individuals and as learners. The success

of their project will depend entirely on them and how well they work in groups. The extent of

their participation in group discussions and the effort they show in their work will be reflected in

their final product. Students will be able to practice independent thinking as they create their

guiding research questions, conduct their research and come up with possible solutions. Students

will gain a wider sense of themselves, their communities and the impact that they can have on

them. They will be developing problem solving skills while also learning what it is like to be in

charge of their own learning.

Budget Narrative

For my PBL, I would like to purchase the novel “The Distance Between Us” by Reyna

Grande. This book would be a key component in the community narrative. This is a story similar

to those of the students at Rhodes so I believe it would be impactful and beneficial for their

writing, as well as their personal growth. Young students need to see themselves in the world of

literature because it helps to see themselves as people who matter. Their reading and

comprehension skills would be strengthened, and as they see themselves more often in the books

they read, students are more likely to establish a rapport with reading. The memoir would be

leveraged for it’s narrative techniques, students will be able to learn more than just the story

from the memoir.

The expo markers would be used for direct instruction, when I am presenting new

information to students or if we are having a class discussion and making lists on the board. I

also request printer paper because I plan to have worksheets and resources for my students to

use. One can not always trust that the school will have sufficient resources, and this paper will be
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used for PBL worksheets/resources for years to come. Pencils become a necessary tool to have in

the classroom for students who come to class without a writing utensil. A lot of the activities will

require students to write, so it is important that all students have access to these tools. Expo

markers, paper and pencils are indispensable resources to have in a classroom. I plan to add these

materials to the DonorsChoose webpage and ask for donations through there. I also looked at

TeacherFunder, which is similar to DonorsChoose, so I will add the materials to both pages for

higher chances of funding. This section refers to the list of expenditures included below in the

“Tables” section as “Table 1”.

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References

U.S. Census Bureau, 2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. (2010, October

5). Retrieved from

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
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Tables:

Table 1: Ten Day Plan

Item Name Individual Cost of Number Needed Company for ordering

Item

The Distance Between Us- $5.12 40 (class set) BulkBooks

https://bulkbooks.com/products/the-distance-between-us-young
Young Reader’s Edition by -readers-edition
Reyna Grande

Expo Dry Erase Markers, $13.74 2 Sam’s Club

https://www.samsclub.com/p/expo-dry-erase-markers-18-pack/
Assorted Colors, Pack of 18 107488

Ticonderoga Woodcase $9.96 2 Sam’s Club

https://www.samsclub.com/p/pencil-ticonderoga-2yl/prod13620
Pencil, HB #2, Yellow 503?xid=plp_product_1_1
Barrel, 96ct.

HP All-In-One 22lb Printer $29.98 1 Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Printer-Paper-Letter-207000C/dp
Paper, 8.5x 11, 5 Ream /B000E7BLLG/ref=sr_1_7?hvadid=190465239299&hvdev=c&
Case, 2,500 Sheets hvlocphy=9029991&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t3&hvqmt=e&hvrand
=7803397271983069904&hvtargid=kwd-295576927093&hyda
dcr=28986_9847347&keywords=printer+paper+in+bulk&qid=
1574574650&sr=8-7
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Project Schedule: List the
Daily goal for each day
Day One: Monday
Daily Goal: Students will
be able to define
community and narrative,
they should also be able to
choose and identify three
communities they belong
to.
Day Two: Friday
Daily Goal: Students will
learn about character
development and
strategies they can use in
their narratives.
16
Table 2: Daily Standards/Activities
Standards Addressed: Activities: List the Goal of the Activities:
List the standards various activities students Identify the goals that
(Content, anchor, may engage in within the students will achieve
technology, lesson for the day. Think within each activity.
employability) that may “What will the students be Think “What is the
be addressed within the doing within the 50 purpose of the activity”
lesson/activities minute class time”
Common Core:​ 8.SL.1 Students will start with Students should be able to
ISTE:​ Digital citizen the class group and name identify the community
Anchor: ​Comprehension different communities. that they belong to as well
and Collaboration, They will form groups as define key
based on the communities characteristics of that
Presentation of
they belonged to and have chosen community. They
Knowledge and Ideas discussions about should also begin to think
Employability:​ 1A, 1B, characteristics and their about their role within
2A role in their communities. their communities. They
They will need to create a will also have the
brain map to organize opportunity to create
their thoughts. At the end, question sets for their
students will use a 3-2-1 narrative planning.
chart, where they will
need to note down 3 main
ideas they discussed in the
group, 2 things they found
interesting/had not
thought of, and 1 new
question to look into and
discuss the next time that
they meet.
Common Core: ​8.RL.3 Students will read the first Students will be able to
ISTE:​ Empowered two chapters of “The define character types,
Learner Distance Between Us, analyze characters in the
Anchor: ​Integration of Young Readers Edition”. text and describe their
Knowledge and Ideas, From this, students will roles. They will also be
brainstorm a list of words able to recognize
Presentation of
that describe the main characterization
Knowledge and Ideas character. Students will techniques that they can
Employability:​ 5A then go back to the implement into their own
chapters and search for narrative.
evidence that supports the
characteristics on the list
and fill out their character
map. Students will then
have to complete a
character development
worksheet in groups.
Once these are complete,
they must upload them to
their online portfolio.
NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 17

Day Three: Monday Common Core: ​8.W.10, Students will read
Daily Goal: Students will 8.L.1, 8.L.2 chapters 3 and 4 from the
develop their own ideas ISTE: ​1A novel. Then they will
about their communities Anchor: ​Conventions of have to complete a journal
and bring together the Standard English, entry for the week. Their
ideas discussed with their Research to Build and prompts will be “What is
group from the previous a community (in your
Present Knowledge
session. own words)? What
Employability:​ 4B, 5A communities do you
belong to? What did you
discuss with your group
last week? Were they
accurate characteristics?
Can you think of more?
Create a list of physical
characteristics of your
community for the week”.
Students will gain more
experience and
understanding of narrative
writing. They will also
have completed a
brainstorm of their
community. They should
have a more solid idea of
the community they chose
to work with and its
characteristics.

Day Four: Friday Common Core:​ 8.W.7, Students will read Students will be exposed
Daily Goal: Students will 8.SL.1 chapters 5 and 6 from the to other communities and
be able to have thoughtful ISTE:​ Global novel and then they will explore the similarities
discussions with their Collaborator, Knowledge be placed in groups that and differences. They will
group and explore other Constructor (3A) have a diverse also have more guiding
communities through the Anchor: ​Presentation of representation of the questions to help them
eyes of their peers. communities chosen. In further explore their own
Knowledge and Ideas
these groups students will community.
Employability:​ 2A, 3B, need to report their
3C observations for the week
to each other. Based on
their discussion, they will
need to come up with
questions they are left
with that will guide their
tasks for the weekend.
NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK
Day Five: Monday Common Core: ​8.W.10, Students will read up to
Daily Goal: Students will 8.L.1, 8.L.2, 8.SL.1 chapters 7 and 8 of “The
learn about setting ISTE: ​3D Distance Between Us,
development. Anchor: ​Craft and Young Readers Edition”.
Structure, Presentation of They will pick a scene
Knowledge and Ideas from the book they feel
describes the setting well,
Employability:​ 5A, 5B
and share with the class.
As we go over it, students
will have to defend their
choices. At the end,
students will have to write
a paragraph describing a
community in their lives,
using what they’ve
learned from the book.
Day Six: Friday Common Core: ​8.L.3, Students should read up to
Daily Goal: Students 8.RL.1, 8.W.5 chapters 9 and 10 of the
should be able to recreate ISTE: ​6B novel. Upon reading, they
a sequence of events from Anchor: ​Texts types and will be placed in groups
the novel and then create purposes, Production and where they will recount
their own sequence of Distribution of Writing, the events up to this point
events. in the novel using the
Range of Writing
basic words “first, second,
Employability:​ 2A, 5B third, last etc.” Then they
will be tasked with
coming up with a list of
stronger transition words,
we will share as a class to
make a comprehensive
class list. Students will
then pick a story from
their lives they want to
recount using the list of
transition words we
recreated.
18
Students will be able to
identify the ways in which
an author paints the
settings. They will be able
to recognize common
words or phrases authors
use, so that they can
implement them into their
own setting of their
community.
Students will get the
opportunity to look at an
example of how a
narrative uses sequencing.
They will also practice
using transition words and
note the difference
between weak and strong
transition words. The
recounting activity will
help them practice using
the strong transition
words and students can
choose to use the event
they retell to guide their
narrative.
NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK
Day Seven: Monday
Daily Goal:
Students will be able to
identify the
attributes/ideals that make
a community as well as
develop their own ideas of
their community.
Day Eight: Friday
Daily Goal: Students
should have their
questions from Monday
answered during their
group discussion.
Common Core: ​8.W.10, Students will read
8.L.1, 8.L.2 chapters 11 and 12 from
ISTE: ​1A, 7B, 3A the novel. They will also
Anchor: ​Conventions of be writing in their
Standard English, journals for the prompts:
Research to Build and Describe what makes a
community. What does
Present Knowledge,
community look like in
Comprehension and your school? In your
Collaboration family? What are some
Employability: ​2A, 2B, acts that make a
4B, 5A community?
Students will also join in
groups to discuss their
journal entries and
develop questions that
will guide their
observations outside of
the classroom.
Common Core:​ 8.W.7, Students will read
8.SL.1 chapters 13 and 14 from
ISTE:​ Global the novel and then get
Collaborator, Knowledge with their groups. They
Constructor (3A) will go over their findings
Anchor: ​Presentation of for the week, their
answers to their questions
Knowledge and Ideas
and form new questions
Employability:​ 2A, 3B, based on this information.
3C They will also begin to
discuss issues that they
see within their
community.
19
Students will develop a
solid idea of their
community and what it
looks like. They may
begin to make
connections between the
novel and the
communities of their
peers. The idea of a
community should be set,
so that they can begin to
plan their narrative and
focus on an event they
want to recount.
Students will receive
answers to their field
questions. They will also
gain more insight on what
is going on within other
communities and this
should lead them to
develop ideas about the
issues they want to focus
on within their
community. They should
leave class with at least 2
ideas.
NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK
Day Nine: Monday
Daily Goal: Students will
learn the rules of dialogue
and how to use dialogue
in their own narrative.
Day Ten: Friday
Daily Goal: Students will
learn how to write a
strong ending for their
narrative.
Common Core: ​8.W.3, Students will read
8.W.10, 8.L.1, 8.L.2, chapters 15 and 16 from
8.RL.3 the novel. Later they will
ISTE: ​6D use their journals to take
Anchor: ​Production and notes on the rules of
Distribution of Writing dialogue; how and when
Employability:​ 2A, 5A, to use it and the
mechanics involved.
5B
Afterwards, students will
work in groups to find
places within the chapters
to add meaningful
dialogue then the class
will come together to
share the places, the
dialogue they added and
why they chose to add it.
Common Core: ​8.W.10, Students will be presented
8.L.1, 8.L.2 with different ways a
ISTE: ​N/A story can be concluded
Anchor: ​Production and and then they will read
Distribution of Writing (4 chapters 17 and 18 from
& 5), Craft and Structure, the novel and Gary Soto’s
short story “Seventh
Text Types and Purposes
Grade”. As a class we will
(3) go over the endings to the
Employability:​ 2A, 5A, chapter and the short
5B story, students will decide
what kind of ending each
author used and if they
believe them to be
effective. In small groups
they will brainstorm and
discuss their planned
ending to their own
narrative.
20
Students will know how
to use dialogue in their
writing. They will also be
able to learn how to write
dialogue and think
through its importance-
they have to explain why
they are adding dialogue
in that certain place. This
should translate to their
narrative, so that as they
are writing they are able
to note where an area
would benefit from
adding dialogue.
Students will be able to
distinguish a strong
ending from a weak one
and they will also be able
to take a look at how
different authors end their
own narratives. Students
will also get the
opportunity to begin
planning for the end of
their own narrative. They
should leave this session
with at least two ideas for
their ending.
 NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 21

Appendix

Inquiry Based Lesson Plan

Common Core State Standards:
● 8.SL.1:​ Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led)
with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own
clearly.
b. ​Follow rules for collegial discussions and decision-making, track progress toward specific goals and
deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
c.​ Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others' questions and
comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas.
d. ​Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own
views based on the evidence presented

ISTE Standards:
● Digital citizen:
2a ​Students cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of the permanence
of their actions in the digital world​.
2b ​Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including
social interactions online or when using networked devices.

ANCHOR Standards
● Comprehension and Collaboration:
1.​ Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse
partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
2. ​Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually,
quantitatively, and orally.
3. ​Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
● Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
4. ​Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of
reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
6.​ Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal
English when indicated or appropriate.

Workplace Employability Skills/Standards

● 1A: Masters core communication skills for the workplace.
•​ Delivers content accurately
• Uses communication style appropriate to audience and situation
• Listens actively
● 1B: Communicates effectively in a diverse work environment.
• Communicates with diversity in mind
● 2A: Commits to achieving collective goals.
• Contributes personal strengths
• Respects contributions of others
• Contributes to an environment of collaboration
 NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 22

Objective (Explicit):

● Following the lesson students will be able to define the words, narrative and community, in order to identify at
least three different communities that they belong to and what their role is in each of them. They will also be
able to discuss and prepare a list of their community characteristics that they will present and defend to the
class.

Evidence of Mastery (Measurable):

◻ Include a copy of the lesson assessment.
◻ Provide exemplar student responses with the level of detail you expect to see.
◻ Assign value to each portion of the response.

The student’s level of mastery will be based on the development of their communities and their roles within
them. By the end of the lesson students should know what a narrative is and what a community is. They will have to
post the definition in their own words online on padlet, along with the community they belonged to in class. They will
be graded based on how many communities they can identify they belong to; 3 points for naming one, 6 points for
being able to name 2 and they will receive 10 points for being able to name at least three communities they belong
to. Students will also be graded based on Common Core standard 8.SL.1. The same numeric value will be used for
this rubric, 3 points for students who participate a little to nothing. Students who actively engage and contribute to
the group will receive 6 points and to earn full points (10) students will need to participate and engage with other
students as well as make meaningful contributions to the group. Part of their participation grade will also be
professionalism and their ability to stay on task and complete the tasks within the time given. To earn full points
students must not engage in or create any disruptive behaviours. Students must stay on task and follow the rules of
the group and follow the rules of their assigned role for the group. Student learning will come through the creation of
their community ideals and characteristics, which as the PBL continues should develop.

Sub-objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex):

◻ How will you review past learning and make connections to previous lessons?
◻ What skills and content are needed to ultimately master this lesson objective?
◻ How is this objective relevant to students, their lives, and/or the real world?

I will review past learning and make connections to previous lessons by going over the vocabulary
students have learned. I will also be reviewing the past narratives that students have read. Using the narratives will
help students understand the concept of narrative and what their own story should look like. The skills needed to
master this lesson are creativity, exemplary speaking skills, presentation skills and collaboration skills. The
objectives in this lesson are relevant because they have to do with collaboration and working towards one common
goal. Students are going to need to know how to work collaboratively and speak in front of groups in their future,
whether it is in their academic career or workplace.

Key vocabulary: Materials:

● narrative ● chalk
● community ● computers
● role
Engage
◻ How will you activate student interest?
◻ How will you hook student attention?
◻ What questions will you pose, based on your objective, that students will seek to answer in Explore?
Teacher Will: Student Will:
Present the activities of the day to students, as well as Watch a video of performed narrative and then come up
ask review questions. “What is a narrative? What does with definitions for narrative and community. Students
community mean?” Once students come up with the will go outside and form a circle and one at a time, call
definitions for each of these words, I will have the class out communities they belong to. As they call out
go outside and form a big circle, where I will ask them to
 NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 23

name communities that they belong to.Students will communities, students will fall out of the big circle and
need to explore what their role in each of their fall into the circle of the community they belong to.
community is and what it looks like in each community.

Explore
◻ How will model your performance expectations? Remember, you are not modeling what you want students to discover but
need to model expected behavior or required procedures.
◻ How will students take the lead and actively use materials to discover information that will help them answer the question
posed in Engage?
◻ What questions or prompts will you be prepared to use with students while they are “exploring”?

Teacher Will: Student Will:

Actively participate in group discussions. In the starter After they are placed in groups based on the community
circle, the teacher will ask the questions and call on they belong to, students will assign roles among each
students. As students speak, the teacher will actively other within the group to help them ensure everyone
listen and acknowledge their ideas as well as pose new stays on task. Students will use a brain map or other
questions based on their responses. Questions teacher organizational strategies in order to organize their ideas.
will ask to spark discussions in groups: What are some They will organize their thoughts and write them down
characteristics of this community? Can anyone else on the sidewalk using chalk.
belong to this community? What other communities can
exist within this one?
Co-Teaching Strategy
◻ What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?
Teachers can have another teacher join the circle to help facilitate participation and enforce students being on task.
Alternative teaching can also be used to help students who need more guidance. One teacher can take a smaller
group and facilitate more closely.

Differentiation Strategy
◻ What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?
◻ How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Teachers can accommodate by having students with different needs work in smaller groups or if there is another
teacher in the room, one of them can work with a smaller group to give them more help or guidance. If there are
students who will need an additional challenge, teachers can assign them the facilitator role so they are in charge of
managing their group, and coming up with discussion questions for their group.

Explain
◻ How will all students have an opportunity to share what they discovered?
◻ How will you connect student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations?
◻ How will all students articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the sub-objectives by answering the question
from Engage before moving on?
Teacher Will: Student Will:
Facilitate student participation and ask questions to Once students finish their brain map they will have to
spark discussions within their groups. Teachers will also present them to the class. One group will stay at their
walk around and observe each group to ensure that station while the other groups come together so that they
they are on task and having thoughtful discussions. can observe the group’s presentation of ideas. Aside
from this in class presentation, students will also need to
post their key discussion points online on ​Padlet.​ They
should essentially be recreating their in person
discussion online, so that they will have it as a reference
throughout the rest of their project.
Co-Teaching Strategy
◻ What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?
 NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 24

Co-teaching in this case would be more parallel teaching because they would both be walking around to ensure
that all groups are on task and asking further questions if any group gets stuck.

Differentiation Strategy
◻ What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?
◻ How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?

Accommodation for students can look like having them present to smaller groups , or if they need further challenge,
then the students could be tasked with ensuring all the peers in their group are participating, as well as coming up
with other questions for their group if the discussion is stinted. They would essentially take on the facilitator role.

Elaborate
◻ How will students take the learning from Explore and Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect
of this learning at a deep level?
◻ How will students use higher order thinking at this stage? (e.g. A common practice in this section is to pose a “What If
question”)
◻ How will all students articulate how their understanding has changed or been solidified?
Teacher Will: Student Will:
Present the rest of the project and what is expected of Develop new ideas about how their roles within the
the students in regards to the questions that they will be different communities can have an effect on the
answering. Students should have a cohesive communities. Students will need to develop the roles
understanding of what their communities are and what further and present a case for each of their role so that
their roles look like in each of those communities. After they have more content from which to expand on when
the presentations, the teacher will reconvene the class they are writing their narratives.Through the
and have a discussion as a whole to talk about development of their roles and community, students will
everything that was presented as well as ask for any begin to be able to answer “How can I impact my
lingering questions from the students. community?”
Co-Teaching Strategy
◻ What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?
Parallel teaching could be used in this case, to separate groups, since smaller groups may be easier to work with
and some students may feel more comfortable speaking up in a smaller group. Smaller groups would also be able
to have more elaborate discussions.

Differentiation Strategy
◻ What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?
◻ How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
An accomodation for this section could be that, if there is another teacher in the room, one of the teachers can take
a smaller group to ensure that the students have gained a solid understanding of the concepts. Or if a student
needs an additional challenge then the teacher could have them lead the entire class discussion, or come up with
the discussion questions for the class .

Evaluate
◻ How will all students demonstrate mastery of the lesson objective (though perhaps not mastery of the Elaborate content)?
◻ How will students have an opportunity to summarize the big concepts they learned (separate from the assessment)?
Teacher Will: Student Will:
Make sure that students have different examples of Present their three communities along with their roles in
communities to decide from, so that they can meet the each of them online on padlet. They will also have the
expectation of naming three different ones they belong opportunity to present this to the class during the big
to. The teacher can also help to establish different roles class discussion. Their opportunity to summarize the big
that can be used across multiple communities. concepts will be online where they will be posting their
 NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 25

answers and conclusions that they came up with during

their small group discussions.

Co-Teaching Strategy
◻ What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?
In this section, each teacher can be in charge of facilitation and answering any questions that the students may
have, because at this point, students should be working on their own to wrap up their final thoughts and
conclusions.
Differentiation Strategy
◻ What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?
◻ How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Some accommodations or modifications can be offering a worksheet where they would be filling out the same
information that they are presenting online. Again, students can also work in smaller groups with a teacher if they
need more guidance or have any questions.

Rubrics:
 NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 26

Character Map Worksheet ​(for day two) Character Development

Worksheet ​(for day two)
NARRATIVE SOUNDTRACK 27

Dialogue Worksheet ​(for day nine)