TEXT AND WRITTEN

RESPONSE
Miss McKee Fall 2020

[School]
[Course title]
Unit: Text and Written Response
Rationale

In this unit, students will engage with a series of texts, including a poem, a short story, and two
ted talks, and a series of "scenarios" that I will compile or write as necessary. After listening to
or reading each of the texts, students will have the opportunity to respond to each of these texts.
The purpose of this unit is to establish my expectations of their written work, as well as assessing
what level my students' writing is at after almost six months of being outside of a classroom. 

The central point of this unit is to give my students a chance to experiment with writing and
engage with writing in a low stakes scenario, as the assessment in this unit will be all formative.
There are many intertwined objectives within this unit, and they will be achieved via a variety of
goals and methods. This unit allows for the growth and development of students’ own thoughts,
giving them the space they need to see that there is not one “correct” answer when enjoying
literature, but rather individual experiences that are valid. The low stakes approach that I am
taking with this class is to enforce that, to help them “be brave” in taking chances, and hopefully
beginning to set the tone of welcoming ideas and accepting wrong answers within my classroom.
Finally, it is essential that I have a solid idea of where the level my students’ writing is, so that I
can adjust my unit plans in order to support them in the best possible way.

Timeline

Unit Length: two weeks (nine class periods)

The unit will begin with reading an identity poem and discussing as a class factors create an
identity. Students will then be given the task of creating their own identity poem. From that
point, we will engage with a short story; I will decide during the first week if I will read the story
to them or have them read it themselves or in groups. It probably will not be in groups,
considering social distancing, but I may find another alternative, perhaps doing a whole class
reading. Or I may refrain from asking students to read in class until later on. We will then watch
two TED Talks that center on diversity and the importance of being aware of multiple
perspectives, two points that are key to identity and analysis of literature. From there, students
will be given a variety of “If…Then… What” scenarios, that will challenge them to create text
responses that are more creative and original. The final assignment of the unit will be a “Who I
Am” letter, that will allow the students to take a few key traits from their letters and further
elaborate on them. The purpose of this assignment is two-fold, as it will give them a chance to let
me see into their lives, as well as assess their ability to follow directions when given specific
guidelines, as I will have very specific expectations for this one page letter.
Essential Question:

How can I best share my perspective of a text with others?

Key Questions:
What is inferential, literal, and critical thinking?
How can I use inferential, literal, and critical thinking when engaging with texts and stories?
What are some brainstorming methods I can use when I get stuck writing?
What are differences between video and text?
What makes up an identity?
What are some different forms that I can use to share my identity?
How can I structure a paragraph?
How can I use a topic sentence to guide my writing?

Sample Response Prompts:

This made me think of…
While this was read, I felt like…
This reminded me of the time…
I enjoyed this text/part because…
I did not enjoy this text/part because…

Learning Objectives
1.1. review, reread, discuss and reflect on oral, print and other media texts to
2 explore, confirm or revise understanding

1.1. seek out and consider diverse ideas, opinions and experiences to develop
3 and extend own ideas, opinions and experiences

discuss and respond to ways that forms of oral, print and other media texts
1.1.
enhance or constrain the development and communication of ideas,
4
information and experiences

experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions
2.2.
and genres, such as magazine articles, diaries, drama, poetry, Internet
1
passages, fantasy, nonfiction, advertisements and photographs

2.2. expect that there is more than one interpretation for oral, print and other
3 media texts, and discuss other points of view
 2.2. explain connections between own interpretation and information in texts, and
4 infer how texts will influence others

2.3. discuss how the choice of form or genre of oral, print and other media texts is
1 appropriate to purpose and audience

2.3.
compare the usefulness of types of media texts
2

2.4. create oral, print and other media texts related to issues encountered in texts
1 and in own life

4.1.
use paragraph structures to demonstrate unity and coherence
6

4.2. use words and phrases to modify, clarify and enhance ideas and descriptions
1 in own writing

5.1. compare own with others' understanding of people, cultural traditions and
1 values portrayed in oral, print and other media texts

Student Resources

The Danger of a Single Story – Chimamnada Ngozi Adichie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

Who I Am poem – K. Huculak

Magic Carpet short story - Mitali Perkins

Writing Journals

Teacher Resources
Whole Novels for the Whole Class – Ariel Sacks
Cult of Pedagogy
Letter Rubric
Assessment
Assessments
Intro Letter
Title Who I Am poem Responses
Learning
Outcomes Type Form
(Formative/Summative Form Form
)

Weighting N/A N/A N/A

1.1 Express ideas and
develop understanding,
Experiment with language X X X
and forms, Express
preferences
2.2 Experience various texts
Construct meaning from
texts X X
Appreciate the artistry of
texts
2.3 Understand forms and
genres X
X X

2.4 Generate ideas

Structure texts X X X

4.1 Appraise own and

others' work
Revise and edit X X

4.2 Attend to grammar and

usage
Attend to spelling X
Attend to capitalization and X X
punctuation
 Assessmen
Assessment Assessment
t
Brief Description FOR
OF
Tool Learning
Learning

After reading my own identity poem, student will create their

Who I Am
own identity poem. Finding key aspects of their own identity to
Identity X
include. Expectations center around length and breadth, and full-
Poem
rounded snapshots of their identity.

Text Written journal style response to “The Magic Carpet”.

X
Response 1 Expectations focused on completion.

Text Discussion and written response to “A Single Story” ted talk.

X
Response 2 Expectations focused on completion.

Choose two traits. Explain what they are, why they’re such a large
part of their identity. Expectations focused on length, paragraph
Identity
structure, sentence structure, descriptive writing, “and, X
Letter
additionally, also” language, and paragraph structure (topic
sentence, closing sentences).

Differentiation
This unit is primarily focused on getting to know the students, both personally and where their
level of writing is. Therefore, I won’t provide much variation within assignment submission, as
this will serve as part of the benchmark to understand where I will need to differentiate
assignments later on in the year. I will consider the level of thought taken in discussion,
perspectives in writing, and other variables when reflecting on students, their well-being, and
their academic abilities and challenges.