Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary

Planning Commentary Directions: Respond to the prompts below (no more than 9 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts; both the prompts and your responses are included in the total page count allowed. Refer to the evidence chart in the handbook to ensure that this document complies with all format specifications. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

1. Central Focus a. Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in this learning segment.

!he central focus of the three lessons that " planned for my learning segment is the literary device known as irony. "rony is the expression of one#s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite$ typically for humorous or emphatic effect. %urther$ the focus will narrow as " discuss the three different types of irony with students. !he three different types of irony are dramatic irony$ situational irony$ and verbal irony. Dramatic irony is irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play. &ituational irony is irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended$ so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected. 'erbal irony is irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another$ or uses words to convey a meaning that is opposite of the literal meaning. !he concept of irony is important for readers to understand because it is a literary device used in all types of writing and$ when understood$ allows readers to read a complex text for deeper meaning. !he use of irony allows writers to convey this deeper meaning without having to state it bluntly. "n other words$ irony works to shape meaning to help create multiple layers of meaning. "rony also creates the opportunity for the author to provide comic relief$ which helps to keep the story interesting for the audience. "f the audience doesn#t understand irony and what irony adds to the story$ they may not fully understand the text. (hen a writer is using irony$ they are depending on shared understanding between them and the audience. %or the irony to work$ both the reader and the writer need to understand that what is written is not )uite what is meant. !here is a gap that exists between the surface meaning of the words being used and what is meant and it re)uires a close of the text to understand the meaning. *nce this gap is worked out$ it can lead to a pleasurable sense of satisfaction in the reader as well as a deeper connection being made to the writer or the text. +
b. Provide the title$ author (or$ if a film$ the director)$ and a short description (about a paragraph in length) of salient features of the text(s) that a reviewer of your evidence$ who is unfamiliar with the text(s)$ needs to know in order to understand your instruction. "f there is more than one text$ indicate the lesson(s) where each text will be the focus. ,onsider including the following in your description- genre$ text structure$ theme$ plot$ imagery$ or linguistic features$ depending on the central focus of your learning segment.

!he text that is being used for this learning segment to teach the concept of irony to students is the short story .!he /ift of the 0agi1 by the author *. 2enry. *. 2enry wrote primarily in the late 3455#s and early 3655#s and his stories were known to include plot twists. .!he /ift of the 0agi1 was originally published December 35$ 3657. .!he /ift of the 0agi1 is one of these stories with a plot twist and the ending of the story exemplifies the
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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary

idea of situational irony. !he story spans 897 pages in the textbook and takes an estimated 379:7 minutes for students to read. (hile some students are exposed to this story in earlier grades$ they are not exposed to many of the elements within the story that make this a complex text. +
c. /iven the central focus$ describe how the standards and learning ob;ectives within your learning segment address students# abilities to construct meaning from$ and interpret complex text create a written product interpreting or responding to complex features of a text

!he standard that this learning segment addresses is ,,&&.<=>9=iteracy.R=.6935.7 >naly?e how an author#s choices concerning how to structure a text$ order events within it (e.g. parallel plots)$ and manipulate time (e.g. pacing$ flashbacks) create such effects as mystery$ tension$ or surprise. "n this learning segment$ students will learn to recogni?e the three different types of irony. 0ore specifically$ students will be exposed to situational irony in .!he /ift of the 0agi1. &ince irony is a concept that a vast ma;ority of my students haven#t been introduced to$ understanding the concept will allow them to read the short story for a deeper meaning. (hile reading the story$ they will answer discussion )uestions that begin in the knowledge section of @loom#s !axonomy and progress into the comprehension and analysis sections. "n the formal assessment that " will give to students they will be asked to create a written product in the form of an essay )uestion that will re)uire them to respond to the effect of irony in the story in 89A sentences. +
d. <xplain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between textual references$ constructions of meaning$ interpretations$ and responses to a text to deepen their learning of <nglish9=anguage >rts. 0y plans for this learning segment begin on a 0onday and in the beginning of the class " will access prior knowledge by holding a brief discussion about what they think irony is and then " will administer an informal pretest to students to see what they know about irony and the three different types of irony. !he three types of irony are situation irony$ verbal irony and dramatic irony. !his assessment will not be graded$ but " will collect the student responses to see how much the students know about irony so that " can ad;ust my future instruction and see how much they learned by the end of the unit. %ollowing the pretest$ " will then move into defining the different types of irony for the students while they write these definitions in their notebooks. " will have students watch a short !<D !alk video clip about each type of irony to provide students with a visual connection to what each type of irony looks like. &tudents will write an example of each type of irony in their notes in addition to the definitions. >t the end of class " will ask students to provide me a recap of what we learned in class and then " will pro;ect different situations onto the &mart@oard and will ask students whether they believe the situation provided is ironic. !his informal assessment will tell me what students learned during the class and whether they grasp the concept enough to move into story. " will then build on this lesson by coming into class on !uesday and having a 7 minute discussion with the class about what we discussed the previous day. *nce " feel that students remember the material from the previous class$ " will then ask them to read the short story .!he /ift of the 0agi1. (hile they read this story they will answer comprehension )uestions so that "
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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary am able to see that they are understanding the story. >t the end of class " will bring the class back together to hold a discussion about the story and how the irony in the story allowed them to read for a deeper meaning. " will wrap up the learning segment on (ednesday by tying together the previous two lessons with a formal assessment that asks students to define each type of irony and provide an example. !he final )uestion on the formal assessment will be an essay )uestion that asks students to respond to the text and analy?e the effect that the irony in the story has on the audience and the way it allows readers to come to a deeper understanding about the characters in the story. !his essay )uestion will also ask them to make a connection to their own lives to make the )uestion more meaningful to them. + 2. Knowledge of Students to Inform eaching %or each of the prompts below (:aBb)$ describe what you know about !our students with respect to the central focus of the learning segment. ,onsider the variety of learners in your class who may re)uire different strategiesCsupport (e.g.$ students with "<Ps$ <nglish language learners$ struggling readers$ underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge$ andCor gifted students). a. Prior academic learning and prere)uisite skills related to the central focusD"hat do students know, what can the! do, and what are the! learning to do# " talked with my cooperating teacher about what he believes my advanced ninth grade students were exposed to in the eighth grade and he believes that students were introduced to the concept of irony as a broad idea and is something that exists in the world$ but they do not have a deep understanding of irony. "t is likely that they did not discuss recogni?ing irony in a text as a way to come to a deeper understanding about the text. !his is why " plan to administer a pre9 test to students. " want to see what they know about irony and the specific types of irony so that " can ad;ust my lessons accordingly. + b. PersonalCculturalCcommunity assets related to the central focusD"hat do !ou know a$out !our students% e&er!da! e'periences, cultural $ackgrounds and practices, and interests# !he school where " teach is an urban school district where an estimated :EF percent of the city population lives below the poverty line. !he ma;or industry that keeps the city going is a large steel factory that was founded in 3655. >s of the :535 census$ there were 84$ A68 people living in the city and the population density was 3$476.E inhabitants per s)uare mile. 4E.EF of the population was white$ 33.GF >frican >merican$ .:F Hative >merican$ .7F >sian$ 3.AF from other races$ and 2ispanics made up E.4F of the population. " grew up about :7 minutes away from this district so " am familiar with the area and what the students experience in their everyday lives. !he school provides students with opportunities similar to the surrounding school districts. 0y students play on the football team$ baseball team$ soccer team$ participate in the Dungeons and Dragons club$ marching band$ drum line$ dance$ sing$ and play in their own bands. 'ideo games are popular with both the male and female students and they also like to peruse the internet by looking at websites and watching videos. > small portion of my students have experienced homelessness and many of the students have

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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary parents who are divorced or they do not live with their parents at all. >ll of the students in my class are considered to be advanced students. !he area community around the school has various assets for the students to utili?e outside of school. !here are football fields$ baseball field$ soccer fields$ parks$ and skate parks that are all open to the public. !he community also has two homeless shelters and there are various food pantries. Parent involvement is relatively high in the advanced classes as compared to the other classes in the ninth grade$ but there is still room for improvement. + (. Supporting Students% )nglish-*anguage +rts *earning Respond to prompts EaBc below. !o support your explanations$ refer to the instructional materials and lesson plans you have included as part of !ask 3. "n addition$ use principles from research and,or theor! to support !our e'planations. a. <xplain how your understanding of your students# prior academic learning and personalCculturalCcommunity assets (from prompts :aBb above) guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials. &ince " believe my students have little to no knowledge of irony$ the lessons " created are lessons for students who have little to no knowledge of irony. " will begin the class on 0onday by accessing the prior knowledge of my students to see what they know and also remind them of some discussions they may have participated in in the past. >ccessing this prior knowledge will provide me with the basis " need to move into lessons that focus on irony. "n addition$ " know that many of the students are interested in technology and are stimulated by visuals so " chose to include videos in the first lesson " will be teaching. !he students in my school are fascinated by the internet and their generation is among the first to grow up in a world where the internet is widely available so " try incorporate internet videos and music into as many lesson as possible. @y showing students that " am up to date with the internet and the different resources available online$ it shows them that " am someone they can relate with. !he school does not have the funding to provide each student with a textbook$ so this means the only option is to read the story in class. !he lessons " planned do not include any homework assignments or work. (e assign one homework assignment a week to students and the return on this homework is often spotty so " do not incorporate much homework at the moment to avoid ruining grades in first couple weeks of school. 0uch of this is due to the lack of parent involvement$ so it is important to accomplish most$ if not all$ of the learning tasks in the classroom for maximum benefit. !he primary research and theory " accessed while designing these lessons is the research performed by 2oward /ardner. !he 0ultiple "ntelligences !heory proposes that there are seven ways$ or seven intelligences$ that people understand in the world. !he learning segment that " planned for irony accesses four of the seven intelligences. !he intelligences " will be accessing in this learning segment are linguistic$ visual9spatial$ interpersonal$ and intrapersonal. %or this reason$ " made my lessons multimodal to incorporate as many different styles of learning as possible. +

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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary b. Describe and ;ustify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class, indi&iduals, and,or groups of students with specific learning needs. ,onsider students with "<Ps$ <nglish language learners$ struggling readers$ underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge$ andCor gifted students. !he primary research and theory " accessed while designing these lessons is the research performed by 2oward /ardner. !he 0ultiple "ntelligence !heory proposes that there are seven ways$ or seven intelligences$ that people understand use to understand the world. !he learning segment that " planned for irony accesses four of the seven intelligences. !he intelligences " will be accessing in this learning segment are linguistic$ visual9spatial$ interpersonal$ and intrapersonal. !he linguistic intelligence is the ability to spoken or written words. &tudents will be given the opportunity to participate in class discussion during the first lesson when they are asked to talk about what they remember about irony. During this discussion$ it is my hope that students will hear what other students discuss and it will help activate their prior knowledge. 0any of the students had class together in the past so it may be helpful for students to hear what their peers remember. !hey will also actively participate in a class discussion after finishing .!he /ift of the 0agi1. !his discussion will feature open ended )uestions that allow the students to analy?e and interpret different scenes and characters in the text. (hile reading the story$ students will be answering comprehension )uestions in writing to further develop their writing skills. !hey will also take a written assessment at the end of the learning segment. 'isual9&patial is the ability to mentally visuali?e ob;ects and spatial dimensions. " will access this intelligence by showing students videos about the different types of irony. !here are three clips in my lesson from the !<D talk education series. &ome of the students may have heard of !<D talks from previous teachers or searching the internet on their own time. <ach video runs about three minutes long and does a good ;ob defining each concept and constructing scenes that students will find both funny and entertaining. &tudents will be told to write examples from these videos in their notes so that when they go back to their notes they will remember the videos that we watched in class. &tudents who prefer the visual style of learning may be given the option to draw a scene on the formal assessment instead of a written example. "nterpersonal is the ability to communicate effectively with other people and to develop relationships. " will access this intelligence by holding discussion with students about the story to deepen their understanding about the text. *ral discourse allows students who have more developed oral skills than writing skills the opportunity to display their knowledge. !hey will have the chance to share their thoughts and opinions with the class and will work toward developing relationships with peers by being respectful throughout the discussion. Hinth graders do not have a lot of experience in holding class discussions so it is important to mediate the discussion and ensure that everyone is given a chance to talk.

"ntrapersonal is the ability to understand one#s emotions$ motivations$ inner states of being$ and self9reflection. &ometimes these types of students prefer to work on their own. &tudents
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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary

will have the opportunity to work by themselves on the discussion )uestions that " hand out for them to complete while reading the text. " will also access this intelligence through the formal assessment at the end of the unit by asking students to respond to an essay )uestion. Part of this essay )uestion asks students to analy?e the text they are reading and the second half of the )uestion asks students to relate their answer to their own lives to self9 reflect. +
c. Describe common student errors or misunderstandings within your central focus and how you will address them. !he most common student errors or misunderstanding within my central focus is that students are unable to recogni?e the difference between irony and coincidence or something out of the ordinary or unusual. "rony is among the most misunderstood and misused literary devices. " will address these errors and misunderstandings by providing students with multiple examples of irony to reinforce the difference between irony and coincidence. >fter providing examples of the different types of irony " will pro;ect different situations onto the &mart@oard and have students tell me whether the situation is ironic or ;ust a coincidenceCsomething unusual. *ne set of situations will be situations that are clearly ironic and the other set of situations will ones that are ;ust a coincidence or not ironic at all. "f the class seems to be able to identify the difference between these situations$ " will then be comfortable in moving forward with my lessons. + -. Supporting )nglish-*anguage +rts /e&elopment hrough *anguage a. *anguage Function. "dentify one language function essential for students within your central focus. =isted below are some sample language functions. Iou may choose one of these or another more appropriate for your learning segment. >naly?e <xplain >rgue "nterpret Describe Justify <valuate &ynthesi?e

!he language function that is essential for students within my central focus is the ability to analy?e a complex text. >s " understand analy?ing$ it means to learn the nature and relationship of the parts of something by a close and careful examination. + b. "dentify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to practice using the language function identified above. "dentify the lesson in which the learning task occurs. (/ive lesson dayCnumber.)

>t the end of lesson 3 on 0onday$ " will pro;ect different situations onto the &mart@oard and students will take a moment to analy?e the situation and determine whether the situation is ironic or a misuse of irony. >naly?ing these situations before reading the story will allow them to more easily recogni?e the ironic situations in the story and what makes these situations ironic. During lesson : on !uesday$ students will read .!he /ift of the 0agi1 and will answer comprehension )uestions that encourage the students to analy?e the text as they read. !he discussion that follows the reading will also encourage students to analy?e the text by referencing specific scenes in the story. %inally$ in lesson E on (ednesday students will be formally assessed over the learning segment and one of the )uestions asks students to analy?e a specific scene in the story that demonstrates situational irony. +

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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary c. +dditional *anguage /emands. /iven the language function and learning task identified above$ describe the following associated language demands (written or oral) students need to understand andCor use 'ocabulary 1lus at least one of the following &yntax Discourse ,onsider the range of students# understandings of the language function and other language demandsDwhat do students already know$ what are they struggling with$ andCor what is new to themK (hile reading the story$ students are likely to encounter vocabulary they have not witnessed in their everyday lives because the story was written over 355 years ago. " will make students aware that the language they encounter may not be something they recogni?e. !o support students who may not recogni?e these words or phrases$ the text has definitions at the bottom of each page for the vocabulary that students are likely to struggle with. " will remind students before they read the story that these definitions are available to them and to get my attention if they have any further )uestions. During lesson L3$ students will engage in oral discourse about irony and the different types of irony to come to a better understanding of these concepts. &tudents will also engage in discourse about the different elements of .!he /ift of the 0agi1 during lesson L: as a way to analy?e the complex elements of this text. &tudents likely will not recogni?e the word discourse but they will recogni?e the word discussion. !hey will have a general idea of the way oral discourse is supposed to work$ but " will remind them before discourse begins that there is an acceptable way to act during class discussion. !he oral discourse they experience in high school will be different than the oral discourse they experienced in earlier grades. !he issues will be more complex and the topics will be more mature. d. =anguage &upports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed in your response to the prompt. Describe the instructional supports (during andCor prior to the learning task) that help students understand and successfully use the language function and additional language demands identified in prompts 8aBc. >s " mentioned earlier$ the textbook we use in our classroom provides instructional support for vocabulary that students will likely not recogni?e. @efore reading the story$ " will remind students that there will likely be vocabulary in the story that they do not recogni?e so it is important for them to check the bottom of the page when they do not recogni?e a word or a phrase because that is where it is explained. "n addition to this$ " will model this behavior by reading the beginning of the story out loud and when " come to a word or phrase " do not understand " will go to the bottom of the page and explain the word out loud >s students work on their comprehension )uestions " will circle the classroom to monitor student work and answer any )uestions as they arise. >t the end of class " will informally assess student knowledge of analy?ing a text by holding a classroom discussion. + .. 2onitoring Student *earning

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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary "n response to the prompts below$ refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the materials for !ask 3. a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct evidence of students# abilities to construct meaning from$ interpret$ andCor respond to a complex text throughout the learning segment. "n the beginning of lesson 3 on 0onday " will administer an informal pretest to students that assesses their level of understanding of irony and the different types of irony. !he pretest asks students to define the different types of irony and provide an example if they are able to. " will then tell students that " will collect the pretest but that it is for my own knowledge and not for a grade. !his will show me what " need to focus on in the following lessons and " will be able to ad;ust those lessons accordingly. >fter " collect these pretests " will orally and informally assess this knowledge by asking them to verbally express their idea of what each type of irony is. >t the end of lesson L3$ " will informally assess student knowledge of the lesson by asking students to recap what we discussed and will then move into pro;ecting different situations onto the &mart@oard and asking students to determine whether the situations are ironic. &ome of the situations are good examples of irony$ while others are not examples of irony. !his information will help me determine whether it is time to move on. During lesson : on !uesday " will formally assess students as they read .!he /ift of the 0agi1 by asking them to answer comprehension )uestions. !hese )uestions will be collected at the end of the class for a grade to make sure that students are reading and understanding the story. >t the end of class " will informally assess the students through a discussion about the text. "n this discussion$ " will ask students open ended )uestions that encourage them to analy?e specific characters and scenes in the text. "f " feel that students are grasping the concepts that " am teaching " will then move on to the formal assessment during the next lesson. During lesson E on (ednesday " will administer the final formal assessment for my learning segment. !his formal assessment will again ask students to define and provide an example of each type of irony. !his section of the test will resemble the pretest " administered during lesson L3 so " do not believe there will be any surprises. !he final )uestion on this assessment will ask students to analy?e the irony they encounter in .!he /ift of the 0agi1 and then will ask them to relate this to their own lives. !his )uestion serves the purpose of analy?ing a scene from the text$ the characters$ and to also apply a feature of the text to their own lives. !he assessment will be collected for a grade to provide me with the data necessary to determine whether " am able to move on from irony. + b. <xplain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning. ,onsider all students$ including students with "<Ps$ <nglish language learners$ struggling readers$ underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge$ andCor gifted students. !he design of my planned assessments allows students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning by giving students the opportunity to use their multiple intelligences. "n the formal assessment$ students will demonstrate their knowledge in a written discourse about the focal concept of my learning segment. !hey will respond to various prompts. " will also accept written scenes to explain the various types of irony if this is how they choose to demonstrate their
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Secondary English-Language Arts Planning Commentary knowledge. !here will also be a formal written assessment while students are reading. !hese will be discussion )uestions that students will have the entire period to complete. During the informal assessment$ students will demonstrate their knowledge through oral discourse about the text. " will ask students various )uestions to elicit responses and in this discussion we will examine the text to further analy?e and interpret different scenes and characters. !his provides students with the opportunity to engage in oral learning and will teach them the appropriate way to conduct oral discourse in a classroom. Hone of the students in my class have any accommodations so they will all be given the same formal assessments and asked to complete the assessment in the same period of time and environment. !he assessment is the only planned activity for the period so each student should have more than enough time to complete the work. +

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