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Full-Text Articles in Teacher Education and Professional Development

The Play Is A Mirror: Looking At Human Nature In Romeo And Juliet [9th Grade], Melissa Manny Sep 2009

The Play Is A Mirror: Looking At Human Nature In Romeo And Juliet [9th Grade], Melissa Manny

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Since reading Shakespeare for the first time often causes students to doubt themselves or quit from frustration, the purpose of this unit is to support students throughout the reading process so that they learn to appreciate drama as a means for better understanding themselves, rather than letting it defeat them from the beginning. Through an examination of character motivations, in addition to the language and dramatic conventions Shakespeare uses to bring their stories to life on stage, students will experience theatre as a mirror that reflects their own struggles and desires back to them. The relationship between the audience’s reaction …


Photographic Eye: Capturing The Moment Through Personal Narrative [8th-9th Grade], Amy Anderson Sep 2009

Photographic Eye: Capturing The Moment Through Personal Narrative [8th-9th Grade], Amy Anderson

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will explore the connections between the writing process, art and memory. Through the lens of photography and art, they will refine and publish a “moment in time” personal narrative. This unit was created for the beginning of the school year, and serves the dual purpose of reviewing the writing process and helping students create meaningful connections with each other. Learning culminates as students produce and present a literary magazine celebrating their work.


The Nature Of Narratives [10th Grade], Devon Erlich Sep 2009

The Nature Of Narratives [10th Grade], Devon Erlich

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will read five narratives (both fiction and nonfiction) that have a common theme of sacrifice. The readings will provide them with the opportunity to uncover the understandings that sacrifices occur on a daily basis in our world, in our lives, and in our literature. Additionally, the students will have the opportunity to understand that authors write narratives with a message in mind, and effectively conveying this message requires a purposeful use of literary elements, organization, and diction. As the unit progresses, students will be able to answer the question, “What is a narrative?” And “How do …


Making Writing Personal [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske Sep 2009

Making Writing Personal [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will view nonfiction and fiction as a commentary on an author’s personal life and on society, particularly the life of a migrant worker. Students will also begin to view writing as a process and as a reflection of self. Students will begin the unit by delving into the following questions: How does literature reflect a culture or time period? What can we learn from the past? To what extent can fiction reveal truth? Should a story teach you something? Why write? Why share personal experiences in writing? What makes writing worth reading? Through these questions, students …


Reflexive Writing And Literature [7th Grade], Kara Dougherty Apr 2009

Reflexive Writing And Literature [7th Grade], Kara Dougherty

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The goal of this unit is for students to write their own reflexive piece of writing--a memoir. While students have had previous exposure to this in the past, their focus should be more on narrowing down their topic to the important facts and use vivid descriptions and sensory details to create imagery in their writing. We will read published examples of reflexive writing from both essay collections and the literature book, Elements of Literature: First Course published by Holt in order to analyse and understand how other writers make their literature interesting to the reader. We will also explore strategies …


Exploring Media [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske Apr 2009

Exploring Media [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will explore media and will focus on how media has different forms based on its purposes, how it can persuade viewers or readers using a variety of elements and tools, and how it reflects a society's values. Students will begin the unit by delving into it with the following questions: What is media? Why do we use different forms of media? Newspapers? Magazine? Internet? Television? Radio? How do effective advertisements hook the consumers? How do we "read" media? Should we believe everything we see and hear? Does media reflect a society or does it shape how …


A Lesson Before Dying [12th Grade], Devon Erlich Mar 2009

A Lesson Before Dying [12th Grade], Devon Erlich

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will focus on the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines which outlines the emotional and intellectual journey of a wrongfully convicted black man and his teacher before the convicted’s execution in a Cajun community in the 1940’s. The themes presented in the book will raise questions for the students such as What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be educated? And Is justice always just? They will explore the idea that many issues surrounding justice, racism, and human responsibility are just as prevalent today as for the characters presented in the …


What Is Poetry? [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske Jul 2008

What Is Poetry? [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit focuses on the definition of poetry, its elements, and the types of poetry. The unit explores 4 essential questions: What is poetry? What is the difference between poetry and prose? How do you read a poem? What makes a poem great? Since poetry is an abstract term for most students, students will explore how poetry is different from prose. They will come to understand that it is written with a specific structure and that each aspect of a poem has a purpose. Students will read, analyze, and write poetry. They will begin the unit by responding to the …


Compare And Contrast Your Way To Better Judgment [7th Grade], Salena Gonzales Jul 2008

Compare And Contrast Your Way To Better Judgment [7th Grade], Salena Gonzales

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

We should evaluate of both sides of a story (or situation) before choosing which is better or worse. Fact and opinion are both vital to choosing preference. The choices we make have significant effects on our lives. (cause and effect) Fables are genre of short fiction stories with inferred morals to learn from.


I Didn’T Know That Was Poetry [8th Grade], Kara Dougherty Jul 2008

I Didn’T Know That Was Poetry [8th Grade], Kara Dougherty

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will study poetry and its relationship to prose. Students will gain an appreciation of poetry as an art form because they will understand that poetry surrounds us in our everyday life. It is not an outdated form of communication, but, rather, a form of communication which is present everywhere in our lives such as in song, nursery rhymes, advertisements, and brand names. The students will explore different types of poems and the specific rules for each type. In exploring poetry, students will learn to extract meaning not just from the words of the poem but also …


Great Gatsby [11th Grade], Kathleen Fenske Jun 2006

Great Gatsby [11th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit focuses on exploring The Great Gatsby and how the time period and culture in which the novel is written plays a vital part in the author s overall message in the novel. One of the key understandings to this unit is how good literature makes a statement on culture, but great literature is timeless and universal and provides a lens to view our own lives and society. Through an examination of the 1920s culture, the students will be able to understand Fitzgerald s message about the 1920s. They will further examine this through a group project where they …


Holocaust [8th Grade], Allison Grant Jun 2006

Holocaust [8th Grade], Allison Grant

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will read Night by Elie Wiesel as a means for discovering the atrocities of the Holocaust. Our study will provide them with the opportunity to uncover the following understandings: prejudice generates powerful feelings which can lead to violent consequences and human suffering, suffering produces significant change in humans, and effective communication of the change in an individual can promote the growth of human society. As students read the nonfiction book and conduct research on the historical events surrounding the Holocaust they will answer the questions why does different matter? and can hope and despair coexist? Through …


Genre (And The Category Is...) [9th Grade], Kristen Dylla Jun 2006

Genre (And The Category Is...) [9th Grade], Kristen Dylla

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Making sense of the world and its complexities looms a difficult task for students in the ninth grade. This unit focuses on the understanding that one way to do so is to categorize information and ideas. The discipline-specific part of the unit will utilize the idea of genre as a category for organization, an essential understanding for the study of any text. The unit is done at the start of the year so that for the rest of the year, students have their ideas of genre to help them make sense of texts read. It would be preceded by an …


Obstacles: The Study Of Life's Hurdles Through Reading And Writing Personal Narratives [7th Grade], Nilima Patel Jun 2006

Obstacles: The Study Of Life's Hurdles Through Reading And Writing Personal Narratives [7th Grade], Nilima Patel

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The study of writing and reading is all too often carried out separately. Students learn how to read and write in isolation; such learning proves to be limited. This unit aims to integrate these two studies into one. Students will study authors and the strategies they employ when writing. These strategies will then be applied in their own writing. Such strategies include developing characters and ideas, organizing ideas using the plot components, and cultivating writing through tone and mood.


Reading, Writing And Voice [9th Grade], Faith Fugit Jun 2006

Reading, Writing And Voice [9th Grade], Faith Fugit

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The Houston Academy of International Studies is a public charter school that opened in HISD in fall 2006. As the freshman English teacher for HAIS, I wrote this unit during summer 2006, before many rules, routines and procedures for the school were hammered down. This unit is planned for the fall semester and aims to help students explore the concepts of literary and social voice while using their own voices authentically to shape our new school. As an opportunity to exercise voice, students participate in a semester-long school-improvement project for HAIS. Throughout our study of literary and social voice, students …


The Giver [8th Grade], Melissa Garza Aug 2005

The Giver [8th Grade], Melissa Garza

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will explore the implications of a society where personal freedom is eliminated for the benefit of all. Through the use of provocative questions, studies in contemporary issues in their school and nation, and reading of The Giver students will come to terms with their own understanding of this essential question: How much should a government be able to control your individual rights for the benefit of the society? Other essential questions include: Could something intended for the good of society really be bad? What makes an ideal society?


Survival Guide: Writing A Personal Narrative [7th Grade], Nilima Patel Aug 2005

Survival Guide: Writing A Personal Narrative [7th Grade], Nilima Patel

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The goals of this unit are threefold: first, instilling in students a sense of purpose for writing. Too often, students do not understand why it is important to write, and more acutely, they do not understand why it is important for them to write. Secondly, this unit aims to teach students specific strategies to implement when writing that will serve to engage the audience. There are three strategies that develop students writing in very concrete, understandable ways. Lastly, students will recognize the benefit of collaborating with peers when writing. While writing is primarily an individual exercise, this unit will challenge …