Course: 6th
Grade Reading
Learning Objectives:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.1 Cite
textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well
as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.2 Determine
a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular
details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.3 Describe
how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as
well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a
resolution.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.4 Determine
the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word
choice on meaning and tone
Blogging: Students will be invited to the classroom blog, so they can
make entries. The students will be required to respond to teacher entries and
will have to post at least one entry themselves. Students will need to respond
to other student entries as well.
Activities: Throughout the school year, we read a classroom novel, and when
we finish, we break up into small groups to read a smaller novel. We work on
specific reading skills throughout each literature circle unit. For this
activity, the teacher will post entries based on each group’s book. The entries
will ask the students to explain what a piece of the text meant, draw
conclusions from a question, define a new word based on context, or summarize
what was read. The entries will rotate from group to group as there won’t be
enough time or computers for each group to do it each day. The students will
also be required to post at least one entry of their own. This could include
questioning what a section means, asking for others’ thoughts when reading,
etc.
Assessment: Students will be assessed by their blogging activity: are they
commenting, are there comments thoughtful, did they post their own entry? Many
of the entries posted by me won’t necessarily have a right or wrong answer, but
I do want them to develop certain reading skills. The demonstration of those
skills, such as searching the text for evidence or using clues from the text
will factor into the assessment as well.
Activity Timeline: While we have not decided on what books we
will use for this project this year, this is what the timeline would look like:
Day 1: After reading the title, viewing the cover, and reading the
back, what do you think will happen in this story? (Read assigned pages)
Day 3: Now that you have read a bit of the book, what is your impression
of the main character(s)? (Read assigned pages)
Day 5: Pick out three new/difficult words. Based on the context, what
do you think these words mean? Respond to others as well. (Read assigned pages)
Day 7: Write a detailed summary of what has happened so far. Remember
to include key details. Do not make your summary too long.
Day 9: Look at your entry from day 3, where you shared your impression
of the main character(s). How does the character compare now? What events
shaped the character to be this way? (Use specific references from the text,
not your personal opinions). (Read assigned pages).
Day 12: Now that you are finished with the book, have a blogging discussion
with your classmates (We will allow the discussion to continue for a few days,
so you can respond to your classmates). What was your favorite part about this
book? Why? What did you like least about this book? Why? What do you still have
questions about? Describe what you believe to be the main conflict and how it
was resolved. How would you resolve it?
Final Notes: The different groups would have a different
blog so the posts do not intertwine with each other and confuse students. The
activity timeline is only a general timeline that could be used for the
majority of the different novels. During the “missing” days, students would be
reading a section and possibly working on a different activity. More specific
questions could be addressed when the books are finalized. This is also a
general overview of how long it might take to read through the novel. Reading
sections could be extended or shortened to allow for a different length of the
unit.
Nathan, I like this idea very much! I think that having a specific post for each literacy group is a fantastic way to keep the students engaged and it would help keep track of the groups as well. Nice activity, would you mind if I stole your idea as well?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Angela. Feel free to use and adapt it for your own use.
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