Unit Plan: Literary Elements in Fiction

Language Arts / Grade 4

Big Ideas

Exploration, expansion, and colonization had varying consequences for different peoples.

Concepts:

  • Exploration
  • Colonization
  • First contact

Essential Questions

Students will keep considering…

  • How do conflicting ideas affect progress?
  • What makes one culture seem more appealing than another? 

Evaluative Criteria

Teacher Evaluative Criteria:
Geography extension/ mapping skills: Students create (3D model, online, or draw) the island, including natural resources found on it, geographic location in relation to other landmarks, location of settlement, etc.

Rubric:

Differentiation:

Adaptations:
> Students present one part of the project (oral debate OR written report)

> Written report is submitted in alternative form (drawing or mind map)

Evaluation:
Develop rubrics to assess this project. Suggested evaluation branches: oral debate, policy proposal, realistic suggestions for compromise between two communities.

Extension:
Quiz evaluation: can be open book and based on big ideas/ essential questions (synthesis) rather than fact-based recall.

Paragraph writing:
Scaffold assessment with feedback on thesis statements, paragraph outlines, practice arguments.

Possibilities for paragraph expansion:
> Peer review paragraphs
> Create rubric with students; have students self-assess

Possibilities for project expansion:
> Study culture of indigenous groups around the world (e.g. music, food, religious traditions, etc.)
> Have students create map of the world during age of exploration to show specific information. E.g. natural resources, migration patterns, languages, etc.

Project evaluation:
Develop rubric to assess research skills (quality of sources, bibliography), presentation skills, information found (accuracy, relevancy).

Monitoring Progress

Teacher will monitor progress:
Teachers can monitor progress through ongoing formative assessment including but not limited to:

> Note-taking (extracting big idea from text)

> Primary source analysis

> Group discussions

> Optional assignments: journal entries, etc

Potential Student Misunderstandings:

N/A

Resources

WEBSITES

PRIMARY SOURCES

BOOKS

  • Pathways by Michael Cranny
  • Crossroads: A Meeting of Nations by Michael Cranny
  • Weslandia by Paul Fleischman
  • Raven Steals the Light by Bill Reid

OTHER

Reflection

How will teachers and their students reflect on and evaluate the completed project?

Constant feedback from students and dialogue after each activity outlined in the Learning Events will help to direct and adapt what is explored in the next activity. Self, peer and teacher evaluation of the Performance Task and its alignment with the essential questions.

Teacher:
Next time I teach this unit I would…

Allow students to select the short stories that link to Identity.

Student:
My students needed:

Process:
Product:
Content:

Potential Student Misunderstanding:

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

EXECUTE THE LEARNING PLAN

LEARNING EVENTS:

  • These learning events/activities are suggested activities only. 
  • In some cases the plans are not fully completed lesson plans. 
  • The teacher may choose some lessons/activities to span over several lessons. 
  • Teachers may add, revise and adapt these lessons based on the needs of their students, their personal preferences for resources, and the use of a variety of instructional techniques.

Learning events are enriched for students when teachers consider the “WHERE TO” acronym and guiding organizer by Wiggins and McTighe.

> Click here for more information on WHERETO

Where To

Where: Where are we going in this lesson Why? What is expected of my students during and after this lesson? • Present the performance task to students early in the unit • Post essential questions; students can generate their own questions as well • Check for  misconceptions
How: How will I hook and hold student interest during this lesson? • Use a provocation as an entry point • Present students with a mystery or challenge
Equip: How will I equip students for expected performances? How will I make sure to teach the foundational skills so that they can understand and complete tasks? • Access understandings and experience with solid instructional practices • Consider strategies that work for divers e learners • Incorporate literacy 44 strategies
Rethink and Revise: How will I help students reflect, rethink and revise their ideas, writing, and tasks? • Have students rethink the big idea • Have students reflect on  their learning  to build understanding
Evaluate: How will students self-evaluate and reflect on their learning after each lesson/task?

Some ideas for self-evaluation include:

• Ticket out the door • Rubrics and checklists • Formative assessments and feedback

Tailor: How will I tailor learning to varied needs, interests and styles? (refer to the NVSD Adaptations Checklist). • Differentiate to your students with the product, the process and the content
Organize:   How will I organize and sequence the learning in each lesson and transition to a new lesson? • Start with the end in mind
Please note that the order in which teachers present this to their students is not mandated to the order of the acronym.

 

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

Activity 1 - Pre-assessment

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

 

Pre-assessment (Activity 1)

Pre-assessment quiz or paragraph answer:

  • What or who are we referring to when we talk about the characters in a story? (people, animals, things in a story)
  • How does a writer develop characters? (by sharing appearance, thought, words and actions)
  • Write a brief character description of a best friend, a criminal etc.

Activity 2 - Present Essential Questions for Each Element

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

 

Present Essential Questions for Each Element (Activity 2)

How are words used to “capture” a character?

Using the evidence in the text, how can I better understand character?

Activity 3 - Defining the Element

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

 

Defining the Element (Activity 3)

Direct Instruction

Define the literary element and record the definitions into a quick reference dictionary to be used as required.

Activity 4 - Language Features, Structures, and Conventions

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

 

Language Features, Structures, and Conventions (Activity 4)

Introduction of nouns, proper nouns and adjectives using Schoolhouse Rocks videos.

Activity 5 - Connected Lessons

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

 

Connected Lessons (Activity 5)

These lessons allow for in-depth exploration of the language feature and element introduced using non-fiction texts from a variety of cultures.

Should include read-a-louds and independent reading activities where examples of the literary element are clearly illustrated and then independently sought.

Activity 6 - Performance Task

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What makes a great story?
  • How do you write a great story?

 

Performance Task (Activity 6)

Re-administer pre-assessment quiz or paragraph question.

Return original character description to each student. Explain the purpose and role of an editor. Ask the student to edit their original works to demonstrate their learning of both literary element and language feature.

A self-reflective journal entry could also be written in answer to the essential question(s) for this element. Students could use this to gauge personal relevance of experience and document learning. This process facilitates involvement of the Core Competencies.

The following resources are made available through the British Columbia Ministry of Education. For more information, please visit BC’s New Curriculum.

 

Big Ideas

The Big Ideas consist of generalizations and principles and the key concepts important in an area of learning. The Big Ideas represent what students will understand at the completion of the curriculum for their grade. They are intended to endure beyond a single grade and contribute to future understanding.


Visit the Ministry of Education for more information

Core Competencies

orangecommunicationCommunications Competency

The set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media

bluethinkingThinking Competency

The knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development

greensocialSocial Competency

The set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society


Visit the Ministry of Education for more information

Curricular Competencies & Content

Curricular Competencies are the skills, strategies, and processes that students develop over time. They reflect the “Do” in the Know-Do-Understand model of curriculum. The Curricular Competencies are built on the thinking, communicating, and personal and social competencies relevant to disciplines that make up an area of learning.


Visit the Ministry of Education for more information

Additional Resources

First People's Principles of Learning

To read more about First People’s Principles of Learning, please click here.

For classroom resources, please visit the First Nations Education Steering Committee.