Fixing Detroit: Interdisciplinary Unit ELA Lessons

Week 1
Day 1, Monday
Field Trip to Detroit, see Master Calendar

Day 2, Tuesday
Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. I cananalyze how complex characters develop over the course of a text I cananalyze how characters interact with other characters I can provide an objective summary of the text Lesson: 1. Introduce final project, FACTION (Content Area Writing, p. 149), and final project rubric (see handout in final unit project tab). 2. Beginning of a KWL (Content Area Writing, p.101): In ELA notebooks How many ways do you KNOW that a writer can present/show a character in a text? What are things about a character that you would WANT to know? 3. Reading narrative: Teacher will read a chapter from a mentor text to class: Cadillac, by Agnes C. Laut. Chapter I: 1658-1689: The Fight in Lower Town, Quebec, with the Little Lieutenant- Cadillac Knocks a Young Gascon Officer Senseless with a Big Candlestick- Card-Sharpers of Lower Town and Gay Life in Castle ST. Louis Drawing-Rooms- Preparing to Conquer All North America from the Great Lakes to New Spain for Louis XIV (p. 25). Checking for understanding throughout the reading: Class will pause twice during the reading while students write a one-sentence summary down. 4. WRITING BREAK (Content Area Writing, p. 31): What do you notice about the main character, Chevalier de la Mothe Cadillac, in this chapter? 5. Think, pair, share: With a partner 6. Whole-class sharing: What did you write about in your writing breaks? 7. DOUBLE-ENTRY JOURNAL (Content Area Writing, p. 85): In ELA journals, students will set up a double-entry journal for this unit. They will label the left-hand column Writers Strategy, and the right-hand column will be labeled Quote from Text. In

pairs, they will complete two journal entries today. Teacher will put the Writers Strategy of that day on the board, Developing characters through actions, and students will find two quotes from the text which demonstrate this writing strategy. 8. Independent Practice (Homework): Read Chapters VI and VII of Cadillac. Create three more DOUBLE-ENTRY JOURNAL entries with the following writing strategies in your left-hand columns: 1. Developing characters through dialogue 2. Developing characters through the words/actions of other characters 3. Developing characters through _?_ [a new strategy you find in the text] Formative Assessment: Teacher will assess students informally through class discussion, to ensure understanding. Teacher will also check for understanding in the students writing breaks summaries from Chapter I.

Day 3, Wednesday
Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.a Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. I cananalyze how complex characters develop over the course of a text I cananalyze how characters interact with other characters I canprovide an objective summary of the text Lesson: 1. Verbally summarizing the chapters from the night before (checking for understanding) 2. Small-group Sharing: Students will begin the day by sharing two examples they wrote from the homework of the night before for the DOUBLE-ENTRY JOURNAL dealing with characterization. Everyone will share the new strategy that they discovered in the text with their group (the third double-entry journal prompt from the homework).

3. Finishing up the KWL: Class will come back together as a whole, and students will share out good strategies that they discovered. Students will fill in the Writers Strategies columns in their double-entry journals with the other characterization methods that other classmates from other groups found in the homework reading, if they are missing certain ones. Students will return to their KWLs and write the ways that they LEARNED that a character can be presented in a text. As a minimum, students should now have the following in the left-hand side of their double-entry journal list:

Writers Strategies:
-Developing character through his or her own speech -The writer describes how the character looks and dresses -The characters private thoughts are revealed -The writer reveals what other character in the story say or think about the character -The writer shows what the character does- how he or she acts -The writer directly states what kind of person the character is

4. DRAWING AND ILLUSTRATING (Content Area Writing, p. 48): Character Builder activity: Create a character- draw a sketch of him or her, yes it can even be a stick figure. Give this character a name and the accessories/ clothing items that are important for other people to see in order to understand your character. Draw six bubbles around the drawing of your character- one bubble for each method of characterization. List at least two things for each method- things that describe your character. For example- my actions bubble might look like this. Teacher will model on white board: Actions:
-brushes her teeth four times every day -makes her bed every morning -kicks her cat for getting in her way -throws rocks at the neighbors dog

5. Independent Practice (Homework): Take your characters home and finish them up. Complete their bubbles and dont forget to give them a name- first and last! Read Chapter II of Cadillac. Assessment: Teacher will collect ELA journals and formatively assess the double-entries that students made for homework the night before and finished up in class. Teacher will also collect KWLs to check them before handing them back to students. Teacher will be checking for understanding through class discussions, and checking over students shoulders during the Character Builder, affirming and pushing/challenging.

Day 4, Thursday
Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.a Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them. I can analyze how events unfold and the connections drawn between them I can write using well-structured event sequences I cancreate a smooth progression of experiences or events

Lesson: 1. Students will be given time to work in groups on final project. 2. Whole-class sharing/discussion: Discussion agenda (guided by teacher): So far we have read chapters 1, 6, 7, and 2 of Cadillac, in that exact order. What happened in Chapters 6 and 7, Tuesdays reading? What happened in Chapter 2, last nights reading? Have teachers ever assigned textbook chapters in that way? Have you ever read a story, or a narrative, in that way? How many of you picked up The Hunger Games and read chapter 1, and then skipped to chapter 8, and then went back to chapters 3 and 2. Why or why not? Why does this way of reading work for textbooks and not for a narrative? Laut chooses not to introduce us more fully to Cadillac until Chapter 2. Why might that be? Why not chapter 1? 3. Mentor Text: As a class, students will return to Cadillac to read aloud the blurbs before each chapter that they have already read, plus chapter 8:
Chapter I: 1658-1689: The Fight in Lower Town, Quebec, with the Little LieutenantCadillac Knocks a Young Gascon Officer Senseless with a Big Candlestick- Card-

Sharpers of Lower Town and Gay Life in Castle ST. Louis Drawing-Rooms- Preparing to Conquer All North America from the Great Lakes to New Spain for Louis XIV (p. 25). Chapter II: 1661-1689: Who Was Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac? A Gascon from Touslouse and Garonne- A Trusted Colonel of His Regiment by His Twenty-Fourth Year- His Youth in Orphanage, Poverty, and Loneliness Develops a Peculiarly Independent, Strong Character Laughed at but Liked in Louis Gay Court Educated but Fearless as All Gascons Bred in Poverty, Careless of Luxury, Independent in Character Just the Man for the Kings Work in the Intriguing Colonies (p. 44). Chapter VI: 1700-1701:Back to New France- Westward by the Ottawa to Detroit- Pause at Mackinac- The Final Rounding Up of Human and Trade Dregs There- The Locating and Building of the New Fort- Named after His Patron Pontchartrain- Rhapsodies of Enthusiasm- The Happiest Days in Cadillacs Life (p. 125). Chapter VII: 1701-1704: Building the New Fort at Detroit- Named PontchartrainChapel to St. Anne- Area of Enclosure and Farms- Madame Tonty and Madame CadillacMore People Come- Mills Go up for Grinding Corn- Indians Rally to New Trade Center (p. 140). Chapter VIII: 1701-1710: Happy Days in Cadillacs Life-Free of Dominance from Quebec- Reports more Enthusiastic Than Ever- How He Held the Indians in CheckPicked Soldiers Loyal to Him- Why He Punished One Soldier with Such a Terrible Sentence and Yet Seemed to Excuse a Guilty Huron-Ottawa Chief Implicated in Murder of the Old Recollect Priest- Cadillac Furious to Find His Old Enemy of Mackinac at the Same Underground Tricks- Vaillant, the Jesuit, His Friend but Subject to Orders from Quebec (p. 158).

4. Imitation in narrative writing: Teacher will hand back students ELA notebooks, and they will pull out their Character Builder activity that they completed for hom ework the night before. Students will write about their character, imitating the chapter blurbs from Cadillac. The following prompt will be displayed on the overhead: Who was [your characters name]? -A [your characters nationality] from [where your character is from]-A Trusted ____________- His or Her Youth in _________________Develops a ___________________________________Character Bred in _____________ , Careless of ____________, Independent in _________________ - Just the person for __________________________________________________________. After you finish this introductory blurb, choose any other chapter blurb that we have read and imitate it, re-shaping it to fit your character. This will be for the second chapter of a narrative about your character. Keep in mind well-structured event sequences and smooth progression of events. If you like the way Laut begins her narrative about Cadillac, feel free to start with an eventful chapter, and inform your readers a little bit later about who your character really is. Assessment:

Teacher will check for understanding during discussion as students participate, and also collect characters and writing today as a formative assessment. Teacher will also circulate during imitation in narrative writing, and check over students shoulders to ensure they understand the lesson.

Day 5, Friday
Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.d Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. I candetermine how a text is refined by specific details I canuse precise words and phrases I can...use telling details I canuse sensory language Lesson: 1. Students will turn in their character event sequences/ chapter blurbs (homework). 2. Mini-lesson/discussion: What is sensory language? What are the five senses? Teacher will write them on the board, with room for writing underneath them. Students will be directed to their ELA notebooks. 3. CLUSTERING activity (Content-area Writing, p. 55): Teacher will model one on the board as she explains the activity. Students will draw a cluster around Sensory details. They will make balloons surrounding the cluster for each of the five senses, and fill them in with their favorite things, describing them using the sense that they have listed in that balloon.

Model:
Feel: The soft fur of my cat as she rubs against my elbow every morning

Smell: The smell of Moms spaghetti wafting through the air at five p.m.

Sensory Details

Sound:

Taste: Sight:

4. Pair and Share: Students will share their five senses clusters with a partner 5. Telling details: Teacher will display the following image of an artists rendition of the 1805 Detroit Fire from her computer on the overhead:

Class discussion: telling/important details. What might be some important details about the picture above? Lets see what the Baltimore Intelligence thought were important details: Students will all be given a copy and asked to annotate it, underlining the details that they think are the most important to the story.

6. In small groups, students will compare their annotations.

7. CLUSTERING II: Students will create a second clustering chart, with sensory details at the nucleus, and the five senses in the surrounding balloons. They will create sensory clusters for the image above, an artists depiction of the 1805 Detroit fire. 8. Homework: Read the prologue, The Legend of Henry Ford, of the book The Peoples Tycoon, by Steven Watts. Assessment: Teacher will check for understanding during discussion and work times. Teacher will also collect annotated articles to formatively assess them. Students will keep the clusters in their notebooks, and teacher will have a general idea of where they are from circulating the room.