Mr.

Cary Edington English 7 Text: The Las Vegas Sun news article, For Truancy Officers, A High-Stakes Hideand-Seek Game and associated comments. DATE __18 Oct_

Lesson topic(s) and/or Essential Question(s)/Essential Understandings What is an audience and how do we change our language/writing for different audiences? Day 1: Identify intended audience of already written material. Day 1: Evaluate effectiveness of argument/rhetoric. Day 2: Decide what specific language/dialect/standard to use in specific situations or for specific purposes and defend their choices why that particular situation requires that kind of speech or writing.

Standards

What standards will be addressed by this lesson? Day 1: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.8 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims. Day 2: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.4 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 standards 13 above.) Day 2: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been [or will be] addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 13 up to and including grade 7 here.)

Objectives

What will your students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson? Day 1: 1. Identify intended audience 2. Evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical and argumentative techniques within context (including audience) ex. of some factors see: http://www.clarion.edu/70737.pdf and http://www.mesacc.edu/~paoih30491/WritingStyle.htm l. Day 2: 3. Create a reaction to arguments using textual evidence and personal experience.

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4. Identify tone and language use appropriate to the audience. Instructional Materials and Resources What materials, texts, manipulatives, visuals, etc. will you need for this lesson? What technological resources (if any) will you need? If possible, I would like students to be able to view this article online the accompanying ads, pictures, layouts, etc. add to the possible interpretations of the story. However, if this is not possible (and it most likely isnt), I will need to print out enough copies for the students (assuming a 28 person classroom average is 25 this will mean 28 people * 5 pages = 140 pages of printing the story and comments). Alternatively, we could share, making only 70 pages of printing. We will need a way of recording students joint summary of the main features of an effective comment/response. Either computer connected to the interactive whiteboard, on the whiteboard itself, or on a sheet of paper, overhead projector, or normal chalk/whiteboard. Sticky Notes or tape On this whiteboard or interactive whiteboard, we will need to draw three targets, or print and hang them up. We will need whiteboard markers to record ideas. Students will need paper, and pencil/pen.

Learner Factors

How does this lesson accommodate different development levels of students? What do you imagine to be the needs of your students? How does this lesson accommodate individual differences in approaches to learning, create connections between the subject matter and student experiences, and/or include provisions for students with particular learning differences or needs? I chose the text to be an informational text that many of my students might relate to. The story is about their school district, and many of them may have older siblings, friends, or themselves at risk of dropping out or meeting truancy officers. The drop-out rate for the middle school is about 10%; for the high school, its about 60%. I am hoping that, by starting with a news story they may be able to connect to (though a little above their reading level, I acknowledge), students will begin to see how writing and reading are connected and important pieces of their lives. Because quite a few of my students may not have English as their first language, I attempt to keep long individual reading and writing assignments to a minimum. I have some quick writes interspersed where students can write in any language they wish,

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since it is mainly to generate ideas. The big writing piece is the response to the comments. These pieces, however, will be read and revised by at least one other student, and I intend on pairing them so that struggling English language learners will be matched with a student who is more comfortable with English. Hopefully, both can learn that way one by teaching, the other by seeing/hearing. Also, by planning a number of short group discussions, I hope students who may not be comfortable in a large group can speak up in a smaller group so their ideas get brought to the table as well. Students who I know learn better when they can get up and move can be our scribes when we bring discussion back to the larger class. They can also be the group members who place the sticky notes on the target. By attempting to alternate between discussion styles frequently, I hope that students who prefer one over the other will not lose interest, since we will get back to a communication they prefer soon.

Environmental Factors

What student grouping will be used? What changes will you need to make in the classroom due to instruction, materials, safety, etc., if any? How will desks be positioned? We will alternate between individual work, small group discussion, and whole class discussion. Ideally, the room will be set into pods of four, chairs easily moved toward the center of pods and toward the front whiteboard.

Instructional Activities and Tasks

What activities will you and your students do and how are they connected to the objectives? (Assuming we have already summarized the article and comments as a class). Day 1: Class discussion/mini lecture about rhetorical strategies and what it means to hit or miss. Small group (4 people) talk about what makes comments hit/miss them. - Introducing idea of intended audience. - small group/pair discussion skills Coming together to discuss findings of small group/pairs to decide as a class what makes a comment hit or miss for them as

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a class. Each group places two ideas on the target on the board where they fall. Evaluating effectiveness of arguments

Then, with a new target on a different area, brainstorm what makes a comment hit or miss for principals (i.e. the administration) - Groups discuss. - Each group shares ideas for scribe to write on target. - Can be repeated from first list. - Evaluating effectiveness of arguments - Identifying audience (Repeat above for parents). Whole class discussion on differences and sameness between the two lists. Whole class discussion on who will read the article and comments who are we trying to influences? (This will become our audience for our responses). - Identifying audience and appropriate language. Day 2: Individual students choose which comment they will respond to and draft their response (using information from the article). - Creating a textually accurate response. - Using personal experience to inform written responses. Students will pair up and edit/revise their responses. - Identifying appropriate language for audiences. - Evaluating effectiveness of claims. How will you determine what the students know and are able to do during and as a result of the lesson? Students will: Be required to contribute to the class discussion of what makes an effective argument or an ineffective argument. I will be walking around to each group as they discuss their ideas, so I will be able to tell if theyve thought about it (having them write their ideas for a couple minutes first). Participate in class discussions writing of ideas Have a draft of their response, which I will be able to check as they engage in peer editing during day 2. Respond to a comment on the article, with a short (4-5 sentences)

Assessment Activities

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explanation of their use of language and argument structures we talked about in class. Rationale (optional) (300-500 words) Address the why of this lesson, how it connects to your school context, overarching concept, and general unit (referring back to your Course Goals). Questions to consider: - Why are you teaching this text? Why at this point in the year? Why this way? - What is the setting: students, school, community? - What might your students already know and be able to do in regards to the skills in connection with your text? - What resources did you consult / modify in order to create this plan? (Include links to plans online, references to course texts, etc.) See Course Goals assignment.

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What activities will you and your students do and how are they connected to the objectives? Instructional tasks and activities (Make sure to include timeframes) What will you be doing? What will the students be doing? Day 1 (assuming spent yesterday summarizing article and comments) (SCAFFOLDING; IDENTIFYING AUDIENCE; ASSESSMENT) 8:00-8:15 1) (30Seconds) Direct class to enter into (7) groups of four, each person with paper and writing utensil (written on board): Class gets into groups and gets out paper and pen/pencil. Members 2 and 4 of each group pick up a handout (news story and comments from yesterday) from the basket. Get into your groups of four and get out a pen/pencil and paper. 2) (1 minute) setting up lesson for student exploration: - Alright, remember yesterday we read this news article from The Las Vegas Sun. It talked about truant officers and Students actively listening. superintendents in our district going around to find kids who werent in school so they could bring them back to finish. We also said that the truant officers sound like they want to help kids and families because the officers will walk kids home so they are safe and help raise money for families that dont have a place to live that has electricity. - We also summarized the comments on this story yesterday. We found that most of the people commenting thought the parents and families of the students were at fault. Some thought that the officers were doing good work to help kids. You have in front of you the comments and the story. Today well focus on the comments section.

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3) (5 minutes) Explaining the idea of hit and miss and rhetorical strategies. - When we read a persuasive piece of writing, authors are trying to convince readers of something, usually their opinion. Even if we dont agree with the writers, we can still be engaged and reading their writing. Some of the ways authors might make us want to keep reading, or at least be willing to keep reading, are called rhetorical strategies or elements of good argumentation. That might sound complicated, but well talk through a couple of these. - One of the things that make me be willing to keep reading is when writers use words I understand. If I dont understand, I dont want to keep reading. Thats called word choice. (write word choice on the side of the board labeled argument strategies) - What are some things that make you willing to keep reading a story, online comment, magazine or even a street sign? (Write student ideas down ask them to paraphrase if their ideas are long) Possible prompting questions if students get stuck: - What happens if theyre in Spanish? English? - What if they sound angry? Sad? Happy? Hopeful? - Do you want to keep reading if theyre talking about something you dont care about? - Do they have to back up what they say? How? (Facts? Personal experience?) - Okay, great job. Does anyone want to add anything else? Pause for 10 seconds. Alright. Now, were going to think about hits and misses. What I mean by hit is not that

Students actively listening.

Students list examples of rhetorical strategies in notebooks.

Students offer ideas for discussion.

Students actively listening.

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you agree with the writer. I mean that you are willing to keep reading. So, hit means that something we thought about on this list (word choice, language, tone, facts, etc.) works for the reader. Miss means that something on this list doesnt work for the reader. Again, this is not agree/disagree. Questions? 3) (45 seconds) Redirect class from discussion to activity at hand. - Today, we are going to think about a part of writing called audience. Audience is the person or group who is meant to read a text. In your groups, we will re-read these comments out loud. As youre reading them, lets think about whether they are hitting or missing us. Im going to give you about 8 minutes to read and talk with your group. As a group, decide on two pieces of the comments, such as a specific word, a general tone, or a piece of evidence, and come place them on the target where they fall. If they hit you exactly, place it in the bulls-eye. If they totally miss you, place it outside the target. If it kinda does both, place it in the target. When we come back together, we are going to talk about your findings, and then about how the comments work or dont work if someone else is reading them. Does anyone have questions? Pause for 10 seconds. Okay, then lets get started! 4) (7.75 minutes watch clock!) walk around and check in with student groups (5-6 groups so about 1 minute each) give 5 minute and 1 minute warnings/updates Questions/prompts for groups that are uncertain:

Students ask questions if they have any.

Students ask questions, if they have any.

2.75 minutes: Students should be actively listening to the reader(s) of the comments. 5 minutes: Students write and explain who they think the comments are written for who do the authors think will read

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Who normally reads a newspaper? What do you think people might have to know to understand these comments? (The article, statistics maybe about birth and education, health care and education, etc.) Who usually knows that type of stuff? What sort of language are they using? (Full sentences, longer or shorter words, slang or academic language, etc.)

them? Prompting questions are at the bottom of the handout of the comments. Discussion of questions each student participates, one scribe for sticky note ideas.

8:15-8:23 1) (30 seconds) Reconvene/redirect group back to whole class - Okay class! Lets get back together; I know not all of you are done, but were going to be talking through some of these ideas now. - Groups that havent placed their sticky notes on the target should come on up and put those up there now. - Were going to quickly go around the room and each group will share what they found with their notes. 2) (7.5 minutes) Idea sharing by students I sit in the back of the class facilitate group change about 1.25 minute per group to share ideas. - This group where did you place your sticky notes? note responses in attendance book (participation) - Next? Write responses. - Next? Write responses. - Next? Write responses. - Next? Write responses. - Next? Write responses.

Students orient themselves toward the white board(s). They place their pens/pencils down and keep their notes in front of them for reference.

Students actively listening when not speaking. Speaker for each group explains the notes they wrote.

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- Last? Write responses. Its okay to have the same responses that means the authors were clear about whether we were their audience or not! 8:23-8:33 (depending on time, can split class in half and the first half do this section, the second half the 8:33-8:43 section). 1) (30 seconds) redirecting to think about effectiveness - Great job everyone. Now that we have thought about what works or doesnt for us, lets think about whether or not the comments are effective for other audiences. This is important to keep in mind as we start writing our own responses. If we want to reach someone else besides our peers, we need to know how to use language to reach them. 2) (4 minutes) generating ideas of effectiveness - Up here, I have another target. This target well say is for principals. (Write principals above second target). So, were going to do the same thing we just did, but try to think about reading from a principals point of view. Remember that hits means that it works and misses means that it doesnt work. So, we want to think about how someone could say information or their opinion that would make principals willing to listen to them (point) This doesnt mean they will agree, just that we are willing to listen. Also, we want to think about ways someone could say information or their opinion that would make principals

Students actively listening

Students actively listening.

Students actively listening.

Students ask questions if they have them.

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want to stop listening to them (point). Again, this doesnt mean they always disagree with them, just that they dont want to keep reading. Pause for a few seconds for students to think. Does this make sense to everyone? - So, now, individually, Im going to give you three minutes to write whatever in the comments works (hits), and whatever doesnt work (misses) for principals. You can use bullet points, lists, +/- by the word/phrases, or paragraphs. Students spend three minutes writing This is just to get ideas on paper so you can think about it before we talk about it. 3) (5.5 minutes) redirect and commence idea generation - Alright, please stop writing. I know not all of you are done, and thats okay; we just need ideas down right now. - Now, can I get a volunteer to write on the target? Pause for students to volunteer. Call on first hand I see up. - Alright, (handing them marker) we are going to go around and each say one thing from our list. We will tell you whether it is a hit or a miss and which color ring it is in. Go sit in students chair. - So, _____ (first student) what did you have written? - Facilitate responding, adding one if I see one missing. Looking for some of these things: What language they use. Whether they use words they know. Are they talking about things they care about? Do they show them how they think that? Or do they just say their opinion without explaining it? - Cool, thats a great list! (If necessary, bring up some of the Stop writing, redirect attention to the front Volunteer. Student listening to instructions. Others actively listening. Students respond and respectfully listen while other students share.

Students listening, writing down pieces of the list they didnt have.

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above). 8:33-8:43 1) (30 seconds) redirecting to think about effectiveness for parents - Great job everyone. Now that we have thought about what works or doesnt for us and for principals, lets think about whether or not their comments were effective for one more audience, parents of students in this district. Again, this is important to keep in mind as we start writing our own responses. If we want to reach someone, we need to know how to use language to reach them. 2) (4 minutes) generating ideas of effectiveness - Up here, I have another target. This target well say is for parents. (Write parents above second target). So, were going to do the same thing we just did, but try to think about reading from a parents point of view. Remember that hits means that it works and misses means that it doesnt work. So, we want to think about how someone could say information or their opinion that would make parents willing to listen to them (point) This doesnt mean they will agree, just that we are willing to listen. Also, we want to think about ways someone could say information or their opinion that would make parents want to stop listening to them (point). Again, this doesnt mean they always disagree with them, just that they dont want to keep reading. Pause for a few seconds for students to think. Does this make sense to everyone?

. Students actively listening to directions.

Students ask clarifying questions

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- So, now, individually, Im going to give you three minutes to write whatever in the comments works (hits), and whatever doesnt work (misses) for parents. You can use bullet points, lists, +/- by the word/phrases, or paragraphs. This is just to get ideas on paper so you can think about it before we talk about it. 3) (5.5 minutes) redirect and commence idea generation - Alright, please stop writing. I know not all of you are done, and thats okay; we just need ideas down right now. - Now, can I get another volunteer to write on the board? Pause for students to volunteer. Call on first hand I see up that is different from the first scribe. - Alright, (handing them marker) we are going to go around and each say one thing from our list. We will tell you whether it is a hit or a miss and which color ring it is in. Go sit in students chair. - So, _____ (first student) what did you have written? - Facilitate responding, focusing on students who didnt respond the first time, adding an element if I see one missing. Looking for some of these things: What language they use. Whether they use words they know. Are they talking about things they care about? Do they show them how they think that? Or do they just say their opinion without explaining it? - Cool, thats a great list! (If necessary, bring up some of the above).

Students write for three minutes Students orient themselves to the board. Students share responses; at least one from each group, actively listening when not talking.

Students write down/add elements they did not find or recognize.

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8:43-8:50 1) (1 minute) Wrap up/last questions. - Okay, so does anyone have any more questions about how writers might choose to write differently based on who they want to convince or reach? Students ask questions 2) (5 minutes), group discussion of intended audience for their coming responses - Great discussion everyone. It seems like maybe some parts of the comments are written for us and some arent. Lets look at our targets and try to see whether anything is similar. Are there things that we think will miss or hit all Students respond and find similarities/differences. of these audiences? Who do we think is the most likely audience? Facilitate discussion; circle the hits for all audiences, cross (lightly) the misses for all audiences. Box the target label we think is most likely audience, or write someone else if students think its someone else. 3) (1 minute) wrap-up/intro of assignment for next two days Students actively listening. - Now that weve talked about a likely audience, were going to start drafting a response to _______ (fill in audience students identified). - (to be spoken last, if more time is needed, either allow students time to start drafting, or move to extension activity(ies) below, depending on student understanding/readiness) For tomorrow, I want you to please think about what sort of language, word choice, tone, support/evidence, etc. you will want to use in order to reach your intended audience, and write down at least two ideas for what you might want to say to the other comments.

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Extra/extension activities for day 1, if time permits. (5 minutes) class or small group construction of short response. (Scaffolding). - So, if we were to respond to the first comment, what, in general, would we want to say? This doesnt have to be well formed yet, just what idea or ideas do you want to get across? Write ideas for content on empty board space, or take down targets and write. - Good! Okay, so, if we want to say _______ (pick one idea thats on the board), but make it so X (audience we picked out) will read it, what should we make sure we have in our response? Point to the target responses as students explain them. - Alright, so if we want to make sure that X will keep reading, we should rephrase this so it ______ (pick element of target, such as focuses on students/their kids or uses complete sentences). Model how I would rewrite the phrase we wanted to communicate using that element. - Example: students want to say we arent getting handouts; its help because our families cant do it by ourselves. If the intended audience is parents, and one of the elements of reaching parents is to focus on the children themselves, then we could rewrite the above as Families cant always financially support their children. Sometimes they need assistance to give the kids food and shelter.

Students listening, keeping notes open. Provide ideas for content of response.

Students respond with ideas, from target of audience.

Students actively listening, and writing example in notebooks.

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(This isnt perfect, but it does perform the element we focused on). DEPENDING ON TIME, continue modeling adding elements to each re-write (2 minutes each), allow students to practice one change with their group (5 minutes), or wrap up (45 seconds). Day 2 (Students applying) 8:00-8:03 1) (1 minute) (Written on board) Group members #1 and #3 pick up the articles from the basket, please. Get into your groups of four and pull out your (brainstorms from homework/sample rewrite/own draft from yesterday). Walk around and check that students have something written down. 2) (2 minutes) Reviewing yesterdays explorations (with targets on board) - Alright class! Welcome back! Yesterday, we explored how writers might choose to write differently depending on who they wanted to read their piece. And we thought that X (audience from yesterday) was probably the most likely audience for reading the comments on the article, so thats who we should write to. - We can look back at our target to see what sorts of things we should be sure and pay attention to as we write. (indicate target on board) We want to be sure we _____, ______, and _______ (three hits or almost hits). We also want to be sure that we dont ________, ________, or _______ (three misses or mostly misses). - Does anyone have any questions on what these mean or

Students attempt their own re-write.

Students get into their groups. Half of the students pick up the reading for groups reference. Each student gets out their writing from yesterday.

Students actively listening.

Students oriented toward the targets.

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what they look like? Facilitate peer q&a. 8:03-8:15 1) (2 minutes) Redirect class to activity for the day - Okay, now that weve refreshed our memory, lets start getting out drafts sorted out. Youre going to quickly skim through the comments again and pick one you wish to respond to. You can respond to a specific comment, or to one of the threads of comments. Take 30 seconds to place your initials next to your chosen comment. Ready? Go! Wait 30 seconds, and observe students if they seem ready sooner, continue. - Awesome, good job everyone. Now that we have our comments we wish to respond to, were going to practice what we started yesterday. First, I want you to quickly write down what the core idea is you want to say. Dont worry, this can change, but we want to work today on figuring out how to express this idea in different ways. You have 30 seconds to quickly jot this down. (remember, this was homework) 2) (10 minutes) Individual -> partner work on re-writing the comments/responses. - Okay, now that we have some idea of where we want to go, lets get started trying to re-write some of these. Were going to do this just like yesterday. Each of you will pick one of the elements that hits our audience, X. You will focus on re-writing your idea in a way that includes that element. (Re-read example from yesterday) - So, each of you are going to try that once. Make sure you

Students ask questions, and help each other clarify.

Students actively listening.

Students (sharing comments page with desk/table partner) mark the comment they wish to respond to. Students reconvene toward Teacher.

Students write down their initial ideas (they can simply take out their homework).

Students orient toward Teacher. Students actively listening.

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write your element, like for this I would write focus on kids, before your re-write. When you are done, share with your partner. Im going to give you 10 minutes to try this, then well come back together and talk about what we need to do for the next re-write. Check in with at least 4 of the 7 groups (8 partner sets/16 students/). 8:15-8:27 1) (2 minutes) Reconvene and introduce next re-write. - Alright! I heard some great discussion (call out one or two specific students who had good re-writes or ideas let them know first, when I hear them). ____ (and _____) had some great ideas. Would you (indicating student) like to share? Pause and model attentive listening while students share - Great points yall. Okay, were going to do this one more time. This time, pick a different element that hits X, and re-write your last statement to incorporate that element. When you share with your partner, youll talk about how your new wording uses both of the elements. Any questions? 2) (10 minutes) Walk around and check in with at least the other three groups (6 partner sets/12 students). Note one or two students who have good insights or re-writes. 8:27-8:41 1) (4 minutes) Reconvene and introduce next re-write. - Alright! Great job everyone. It seems like youre getting the hang of this. Is it starting to make more sense how

Students attempt a re-write based on some element that hits their audience. Students share their re-write with their desk/table partner and talk about how the new wording shows the element they focused on. Students reorient themselves toward the Teacher.

One or two students share their ideas/re-writes. Students actively listening. Students ask questions. Students begin activity; they re-write based on a different element (writing it on their paper). Students share their re-write with their partner and talk about how the new wording shows their chosen elements.

Students orient themselves toward Teacher. Students actively listening.

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writing about the same idea can say different things depending on how you write it? Pause for acknowledgement or questions. - Okay, were going to do one last re-write for today. This time, though, instead of focusing on something that hits our audience, were going to focus on something that misses our audience and try to get rid of it in our responses. So, in our example yesterday, if parents are usually missed by writers using bigger, more complicated words, we need to make sure that we dont have many of those in our statement. - We said (read aloud) Families cant always financially support their children. Sometimes they need assistance to give the kids food and shelter. Some of these words are maybe too complicated for some parents to know. So we can re-write using different words, like this: (write on board and speak aloud) Families cant always take care of kids. They need help sometimes for food and a place to live. - Does that make sense to everyone? Pause for 10 seconds. - Good. Now, youre going to try it the same way weve been doing. 2) (10 minutes) Walk around and check in with as many students as possible.

Students nod or shake their heads. (Or have confused looks or ask questions). Students actively listening.

Students actively listening and taking notes.

Students ask any questions they have. Students re-write their statement. Students share with their partner what they changed and why.

8:41-8:50 1) (5 minutes) Sharing/Conclusions - Alright class. Thanks for such a great discussion. What did Students orient themselves to Teacher. you guys notice as you kept re-writing? Students respond to prompt.

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Sample follow-up questions in case discussion dies down - Did your ideas get any clearer? - Did you feel more confident in your ability to write to this audience? - Was it easier or harder to keep re-writing? - Was it easier to re-write with hits or with misses? 2) (4 minutes) wrap-up and homework Student actively listening. - Okay, so, for homework tonight, I want you to re-write this statement one more time. You can choose either a hit or a miss to focus on, but be clear on your paper which element it is. You will end up handing these in, and Ill give you feedback, but this is a participation grade. I also, on the same sheet or an attached sheet, want you to give me 3-5 sentences explaining why you chose to focus on the hits and misses that you did, and why you changed the writing the way you did. If you want, when you hand these in, I can post the final re-write for you online, without your name). If you would like me to, please tell me that on your paper so I can see it when you hand it in. Are there any Students ask questions. questions about what your assignment will be? - Okay, so for the last couple minutes of class, I would like Students listening to directions. you to work in your groups. Youll need one person to write, and make sure they can keep the paper until next class. Tomorrow, were going to start writing letters, which are longer than our statements weve been working on. These letters will be to three different people, but about the same topic. What Id like you to do with your group is to brainstorm different topics that you could write about.

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These can be things like my dog or why lunch should be off-campus or what music is popular. Just get ideas down on paper right now. If you think youve got all the ideas you might possibly want to write about, raise your hands and we can check in. Any questions? Pause for 10 seconds. - Okay, then lets get started. Walking around classroom and helping groups who might be confused or unsure. END OF LESSON.

Students ask questions. Students work with groups to brainstorm ideas until the bell rings.

Adapted from Brown University Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template (2008)